guys! :D Finance major wanting to work within the entertainment industry

hey guys,

so i just want to know what your thoughts are on a position i decided to take

so, im a junior at college and also a finance major. i've always loved movies and video games. i love the entertainment industry. in fact i interned at the weinstein company (used to be miramax) last year and loved it! i worked in the finance department and somewhat learned about film finance. the project the company was tackling last year was "The Inglorious Basterds". i had to look at box office trends for historical fiction films within a specfic time frame; then look at how much brad pitt makes on average in the last couple of years.

but anyway, thats most of what i do in the internship and the data i take is organized by my boss; who then brings everything to the CFO. my boss tells me that the CFO does risk analysis and other stuff.

so yeah, what do you guys think of this? the main reason im asking for feedbacks and your thoughts is because i dont know where to start or what to really do to get a start into those industries! lol. i mean, most people expect finance graduates to go top IB firms; but im just not intersted in those things. i want to apply my work to the video game/movie heck maybe music industry.

I thought about going to the career center in my school and ask for counseling but I DOUBT they would be any helpful; so any thoughts, feedbacks are welcomed guys! :)

thanks!!! :D *im really hyper because ive finally realized what i want to do, and it feels good :)

PS. please excuse the typos, and I live in NY. i dont know if geography plays a huge role? maybe most HQs are located in the west?

I think you will get more meaningful and helpful feedback from finance professionals who are actually working in the industry. Leverage your past internship and talk with the people/supervisors you worked with. Ask them about their career paths, about how they got into the industry. Ask them for other contacts who may be able to give you advice. Then set up informational interviews with those people. In other words, network.

One question you should definitely ask is whether it would be beneficial to get IB experience first. There's a certain cache attached to having a well-known IB firm listed on your resume. Plus, you will find that many professionals in the C suite come from IB or "Big Four" global CPA firm backgrounds.

You may also consider consulting with placement professionals, i.e., headhunters. Robert Half is a national placement company specializing in recruiting fiancne and accounting professionals. However, there are other recruiting companies out there, some better than Robert Half. I suggest finding an executive recruiter who sub-specializes in the industries with which you are interested.

Lastly, even though you are skeptical about your college's career center, you should still check that out. You never know. Even if they can't help you out, they may be able to point you to people or resources who can. You paid for the services offered at the career center with your college tuition. You should take advantage of it.

Good luck!

I think you will get more meaningful and helpful feedback from finance professionals who are actually working in the industry. Leverage your past internship and talk with the people/supervisors you worked with. Ask them about their career paths, about how they got into the industry. Ask them for other contacts who may be able to give you advice. Then set up informational interviews with those people. In other words, network.

One question you should definitely ask is whether it would be beneficial to get IB experience first. There's a certain cache attached to having a well-known IB firm listed on your resume. Plus, you will find that many professionals in the C suite come from IB or "Big Four" global CPA firm backgrounds.

You may also consider consulting with placement professionals, i.e., headhunters. Robert Half is a national placement company specializing in recruiting fiancne and accounting professionals. However, there are other recruiting companies out there, some better than Robert Half. I suggest finding an executive recruiter who sub-specializes in the industries with which you are interested.

Lastly, even though you are skeptical about your college's career center, you should still check that out. You never know. Even if they can't help you out, they may be able to point you to people or resources who can. You paid for the services offered at the career center with your college tuition. You should take advantage of it.

Good luck!

sogni_belli

thanks a lot! i will definitely check my school's career center. the thing with networking, i've attended internship fairs in my school and im also in a finance society that is run by alumnis that are succesful. the alumnis work in the big IB firms; and the internship fairs i attend are full of IB firms and other companies that are not related to entertainment. for some reason, i get a feeling that if i ask people who work in IB about their thoughts on the entertainment industry, theyll give me the cold shoulder and look down on me. im sure they would like, laugh inside when i mention the video game industry especially.

but you know what, its what im passionate about so whatever ill just ask them straight up.

also about headhunters; haha i interned over the summer in a recruitment firm for hedgefunds. god it was not fun. the lying i had to do just to get people to give up their employment information defeated me. it was crazy that i quit after 90 days. so so not fun; but on the other side, im sure theyll be helpful in supplying me with opportunities.

thanks a lot! cdrom and sogni_belli! :) very helpful advice!

Movies actually create little mini-companies to help support and finance themselves. Basically, everyone's job is temporary. I believe (though not 100% sure), they outsource all their finance work accounting firms. Then again, I don't really know what a finance major does in the real world.cd_rom

We control your money!! Muahahahahahahacarrot-cake

when i work im going to advise lthe developers to not include a portion of a game and make them DLCs even though theyre already in the disc, so the company gets more profit.

wassup???

:D :D

i might be able to help. send me your resume :D *looks for name so I know which company to avoid if his scheme is put to effect" :P