Follow That Passion (Part 6 of 7)
This is the sixth of seven retrospective blogs exploring how recognizing and honoring one’s passion often creates a rich, satisfying life. Continuing from Part 5, this section illuminates the business side of the question…
How can one earn a living in the entertainment design industry?
The entertainment industry is ever-expanding in tandem with technological advances. A successful entertainment designer understands technology at whatever level they can comprehend, while tapping experts and tools able to translate artistic concepts into viable engineering solutions. I’ve long been challenged with math, though I can build a multi-page spreadsheet to work through calculations. I never picked up the essence of electronic design, yet through sketching, photos, and perhaps a computer or physical model, can communicate what needs to happen in a show sequence to a Ph.D. electronic engineer.
If you can understand technology at a ‘black box’ level, you’ll be a more effective and efficient designer. Consider the black box to be the function needed to enable your design. There’s no need to understand the circuitry, component, or wire gauge minutia inside, only what the box function needs to accomplish to manifest your idea. Learn everything you can about how to enable your creative vision, then… never stop learning!
Connect the dots of stories, technologies, talent and agreements to manifest your vision
Entertainment is defined as an ‘agreeable occupation for the mind, solving a puzzle, a divertingly adventurous, comic, or picaresque diversion.’ Today there are augmented and virtual realms, edu- and infotainment, scripted and non-scripted, docudramas and socially responsible features on large and small screens. Architecture animates via projection mapping, water becomes a display screen, and LED-laced garments present flowing media shapes and patterns. Media is both entertaining and enlightening - materializing across new formats as technology empowers fresh concepts. Your concepts! The result is an expanding universe of people telling stories in myriad ways.
Entertainment is also a business, involving non-disclosures, proposals, illustrations, written agreements, org charts, detailed drawings, complex spreadsheets, schedules, milestones, and of course, deliverables (the things made and services performed for a project).
The art of entertainment business is much too involved to cover in depth here, though it is important to be aware of some basics. You don’t need to be an MBA or Hollywood business whiz to succeed in the entertainment world, as long as there are colleagues around you sharing the same vision - committed to support your every step of the way under sometimes intense scenarios. This point is very important, for without it, unnecessary challenges lurk in the shadows - challenges capable of altering, derailing - even terminating the best creative intentions.
On the money side (known in business as ‘compensation’ or ‘remuneration’), long before you’ve firmly planted your foot in the door with a project or job, ask around regarding what something or some service might cost, and of course - go online to read industry articles on websites such as LiveDesign, Lighting & Sound America, and AV Magazine. Here’s a global resource link to discover lighting, projection and sound equipment manufacturers, price lists, design entities, and related show business information.
The best in the business often begin at the bottom
At first, just get involved in projects, even if on a gratis basis (no payment). Be a prop handler, costume wrangler, or cable runner in a local theatrical show. Help paint sets at a scenic shop and assist in the graphics shop, or help a photographer in their studio. Lend a hand loading gear in and out at a summer outdoor concert series. In doing these activities you will learn what you enjoy doing and, more importantly - what you don’t enjoy, while developing an open mind. Sometimes one must slog through a swamp to reach the verdant hillside.
Sharpen the skills and core knowledge you want to later promote and purvey for income. Some of the most successful people in show business began as an assistant in a basement mail room without windows. Marty Sklar, former president of Walt Disney Imagineering, was rumored to have sold rubber snakes in front of Disneyland’s® Jungle Cruise early in his career.
Learn the importance and value of business components by experiencing as many aspects as possible while interacting with as many people as you can. Keep an ongoing log of who you meet and where/why you met, including phone numbers and email addresses. Note their interests, favorite movies, quirky food and drink delights, places visited in the world, etc. Personal contacts are a key part of any business development effort - especially in the highly personal entertainment industry. The adage “It’s not what you know - it’s who you know” applies more today than ever.
In between laser shows, here are several of Geoff’s early design and production projects in the early 1980s (left to right): Wrangling squirming earthworms for a photo shoot, the entrance to a futuristic fundraising event, and a self-made lathe to accurately and quickly paint pin striping on dozens of cylindrical exhibit elements.
Once you feel confident to contract a small project, or portion of a project on your own, discuss what you believe is a fair price for your services. Negotiation is a normal part of bringing a project up to speed. It’s when client representatives and contractors come to the table to get real. If you’ll be a full, part-time, or temporary (“temp”) employee, find compensation details at websites such as Payscale.com, SimplyHired.com, or Salary.com, then break out the amount of time you’d expect to work on the project and see if it meets your real world needs.
If you take the employee path noted above, a clear, concise resumé is what to provide to a prospective employer. If you will contract to provide services and handle everything that goes with such effort, list your skills and services in a simple, easy-to-understand proposal format. For an initial pass I prefer the 'one-page' - a single sheet of paper with a concise services summary paragraph, a few bullet-itemized highlights with prices assigned to each line, and a grand total below. Don’t spend time detailing your effort until the project “holds water,” as show people sometimes say.
If you aren't sure how much to charge, determine a range with a low and high number, varying no more than 20% from the two. As insurance, provide a 10-15% contingency as a final line item based on a subtotal of your overall services - just in case you or your client forget some details. If all goes according to plan, the contingency is not charged, for which the client smiles as you shine for effective project management.
Get everything in writing so everyone understands what you are proposing, creating and delivering - and to what schedule and budget
Clients often prefer a "not-to-exceed" agreement so they know how much to budget. However, if it's impossible to predict the general scope or duration of a project. The solution is to work with a "time and materials" provision. Regardless of agreement type, keep a running log of your activities, to be reported in a bulleted summary to your client once every two to four weeks to avoid assumptions and misunderstandings when it comes to paying your invoice. Get paid every two to four weeks to cover your out-of-pocket costs.
If you have fulfilled all your agreement commitments to date and payment is late, you have the right to stop work unless otherwise stated in what you signed. In some cases, stopping work is the most effective method to leverage receiving payment. This is show business, not show friendship. Don’t be intimidated by a client who keeps asking for just little more time to pay, or the classic: “Oh, our accountant said the payment just went out. Uh, check your postal mailbox (or bank account if a direct deposit) in a couple of days.” If you’re in business long enough, you’ll hear some variation of this.
Regardless of how you move into your first projects, ALWAYS have a written, mutually-signed labor/services agreement in place before starting any work - especially before handing over any deliverables (items you have procured or made, whether tangible or in electronic document form). Protecting your intellectual property (IP) is just as important as your labor, services and physical creations, so include provisions for all IP in your agreement. There are numerous online resources to find agreement forms and related documents across a diverse range of formats, including Non-Disclosure Agreements, which protect your earliest concepts before a labor/services agreement is drafted. Have a look at LegalZoom and LegalTemplates.
When you have the essential elements of your agreement organized in writing, have an attorney who specializes in contract law in your state or municipality review and comment on the document, then take the attorney’s advice to fine tune the provisions and language. Attorney time may seem expensive at first, however, it’s far more expensive to lose revenue and labor time chasing after payments or dealing with a lawsuit. A poorly executed agreement is an open door to future issues, and some people will take advantage of it — to your disadvantage. Fortunately, most of my clients have been wonderful and fun to create with.
At some point, your client may require your working under their agreement drafted by their attorney(s). You still need an attorney on your behalf to look over such a document, since chances are the client agreement favors their interests in the event of a discrepancy. Such agreements are usually fine to work under, however be sure you have a complete understanding of every provision before signing. Don’t treat a project client agreement like an online software agreement. They are not the same.
The terms ‘contract’ and ‘agreement’ are often interchanged, assumed to mean the same thing. A contract is the final step in preparing to commence work on a project. With agreements for the clarification and protection of concepts and intellectual property, description of materials, direct labor, subcontractors, delivery and fee schedule(s), exhibits and other details in hand, a legally binding contract is prepared with appropriate language. The contract document brings everything together as a complete legal instrument able to be entered into a court of law in the event of a dispute, or success. Think the formation of a larger business entity following the raging success of the project.
Based on the project scope (i.e. all the details), be sure you understand what degree of documentation you need before showing up to the work site. If the project is hand lettering a sign over the course of a day or two for $1,000, a simple one or two page agreement is likely all you’ll need. If you and a dozen other people will produce a 30-minute animated motion picture with custom proprietary software for a healthy seven-digit budget, you’ll need a comprehensive, attorney-engaged contract.
Finally, in business, as in creative development, it’s important to appreciate the differing viewpoints of those around the table and throughout a studio, including the administration office. A savvy creative individual in the entertainment design business understands the creative process is collaborative. Everyone’s input matters. Everyone puts on the show together.
You will find yourself in challenging situations as your career develops, though know with insight, awareness, and compassion, things will eventually work out.
Go to Part 7
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