Entertainment Business

Legendary entertainer Gary Owens draws upon his four decades in radio, TV, film, and animation to show you how to break into the voiceover business and carve out a million-dollar niche for yourself with your voice. Sprinkled with priceless anecdotes and tips throughout from well-known actors, producers, and agents, Owens gives you the inside track on becoming a successful DJ, newscaster, announcer, sportscaster, commercial or cartoon voice, or other type of voice artist.

"This is more than a post-mortem of a hit game; it's the anatomy of a cross-media phenomenon that soared across industries." John Schulte "Essential reading for anyone in the games industry." Nitish Mittersain Billions of downloads. Global recognition. Presence in Hollywood, Netflix, Roblox...

From Jenniffer Weigel's radio show on WGN in Chicago called I'm Spiritual, Dammit! comes this collection of podcasts on spirituality in the business place. Included are interviews with Jennifer Connor, CEO of Mustard Girl Mustard, and Kathryn Guylay, author of Mountain Mantras: Wellness and Life Lessons from the Slopes.

Imagine this: You’re trying to price a project, but you’re stuck second-guessing yourself because you don’t know how to balance value and profit. Or maybe you’ve spent hours wooing a potential client, only to find they’ve gone with someone else. Worse yet, you’re knee-deep in a project, only to realise your contract didn’t protect you from unexpected changes – and now you’re footing the bill. If any of that sounds familiar, it’s not your fault.

Howard Bloom - called “the greatest press agent that rock and roll has ever known” by Derek Sutton, the former manager of Styx, Ten Years After, and Jethro Tull - is a science nerd who knew nothing about popular music. But he founded the biggest PR firm in the music industry and helped build or sustain the careers of our biggest rock legends, including Michael Jackson, Prince, Bob Marley, Bette Midler, Billy Joel, Billy Idol, Chaka Khan, and 100 more. What was he after? He was on a hunt for the gods inside of you and me.

Sync Licensing for Record Labels is a quick and dirty guide to navigating the intricate world of sync and music licensing, covering topics like preparing your audio files, the different types of sync royalties, finding unique licensing opportunities, learning what songs are hard to get licensed, understanding performance rights organizations, and building a music network. It also includes frequently asked questions, additional resources, bonus content, and a glossary!

Since man first walked the Earth...in heels, no other art form has wielded as unique an influence on pop culture as drag. Drag artists have now sashayed their way to snatch the crowns as the queens of mainstream entertainment. Through informative and witty essays chronicling over 100 years of drag, listeners will embark on a Priscilla-like journey through pop culture, from television shows like Bosom Buddies and RuPaul's Drag Race, to films like Some Like It Hot and Tootsie, and Broadway shows like Hedwig and the Angry Inch....

In any job it is important to know how to motivate yourself and, of course, other people. In this programme we will look at some of the general patterns of motivation which apply to all of us. We will examine your personal motivating factors and how to use them, then apply the same principles to motivating others. A guide to better management is a collection of twelve titles based on neuro linguistic programming.

Let's not beat around the bush, Covid made a total mess for musicians, producers, bands, DJs, road crew, venue owners, lighting engineers, and anyone else involved in the industry. The main lesson that I learnt from it all…don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Now, during the aftermath of it all, we see the cost-of-living crisis, and now a recession. So, we need to find new ways to protect ourselves from anything that could endanger our livelihoods again in the future.

In recent years, narratives about the music industry tend to hew to a common theme: it was humming along for decades until the Internet and Napster came along and disrupted it. Key Changes shows that this view is incorrect: the industry was actually shaken up not once in the 1990s, but ten times over more than 100 years.

Are you a student or current entertainment professional who wants to discover how others succeeded in the entertainment business? Creating a Career in Entertainment presents real-life examples of how to build a behind-the-scenes career.

Whether it is a director insisting on a final cut, a star demanding a bigger motor home, a producer holding the line on a budget, or a grip with a gripe, it seems that the world of moviemaking is nothing but Sturm und Drang. Shoot Out presents a raucous look at how movies get made and the players involved, from writers, producers, directors, and stars to agents and marketers. For film buffs, aspiring filmmakers, students, and anyone else intrigued by the inner workings of Hollywood, this is the quintessential take on the how, who, what, and why of the film business.

In Vitagraph, Andrew A. Erish provides a comprehensive examination and reassessment of the company most responsible for defining and popularizing the American movie. This history challenges long-accepted Hollywood mythology that simply isn't true: that Paramount and Fox invented the feature film, that Universal created the star system, and that these companies, along with MGM and Warner Bros., developed motion pictures into a multimillion-dollar business.

Carey Perloff, Artistic Director of San Francisco's legendary American Conservatory Theater, pens a lively and revealing memoir of her 20-plus years at the helm and delivers a provocative and impassioned manifesto for the role of live theater in today's technology-infused world. Perloff's personal and professional journey - her life as a woman in a male-dominated profession, as a wife and mother, a playwright, director, producer, arts advocate, and citizen in a city erupting with enormous change.

The fourth volume of the Solo Acoustic Musician series expands on subjects only touched upon in earlier volumes. Michael Nichols chooses in this book to focus on a unique musical environment and subculture — the “open mic” event, at which performers sign up to play. Some are amateurs, some are professionals, and many are Solo Acoustic Musicians. Michael once again strives to give you a truthful and transparent look into a Solo Acoustic Musician's lifestyle by sharing his experiences at various types of open mics, as a performer, as a host, and as a member of the audience.

So you want to be a rock star. Or the next pop sensation. Or a country music artist. Or perhaps you’re more intrigued by vital roles behind the scenes. The Realist’s Guide to a Successful Music Career reveals all the ins and outs of building a viable career in today’s ever-changing music business. With blunt honesty paired with expert insight and encouragement, this empathetic guide covers everything from building your brand and expanding outreach, to finding and playing gigs and smart touring, to critical marketing and developing your sound.

In this funny, irreverent, unique, eccentric memoir, magician Steve Spill reveals how he managed to survive decades inside a rarely profitable, sometimes maddening, but often deliciously rewarding offbeat showbiz profession - magic!

Recommended by agents and acting coaches, Acting in Chicago, 4th Edition demystifies the question of how to build a rewarding, sustainable, and profitable acting career. Everything you need to make a full-time living as a Midwest-based actor is at your fingertips in this updated edition.

Like Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin is an American legend for his longevity and success across a garden variety of different platforms. Martin began as a nightclub singer, performed in a comedy act, starred in films, recorded hit albums, and capped his career by serving as a television host. In fact there may be no star who was better able to transcend the different avenues of entertainment.

J.R. McKee’s 10 Artist Commandments contains the 10 jewels that are guaranteed to propel your artistic career forward, no matter your medium. If you are an artist that is ready to do the business of selling your art, this book is a timeless resource that provides the 10 necessary tools required to build an artist’s career far beyond the Instagram and TikTok era and any era that follows. In this audiobook, you will hear for yourself the answer to every artist’s burning question: What does it take? Ten Artist Commandments is your answer.