Digital Dish

Entrepreneurs in the Entertainment World

November 23, 2008 7:09 PM

A friend and I were having a late lunch in Hollywood when this topic came up. Like me, she’s an entrepreneur who has come from another market into television, and we often share the same wounds, scars and elation as we find our way around the industry’s processes.

We both absolutely love it. I’ve never worked in a business so full of cool, creative people. Entertainment’s like the mix of everything Internet and media business combined with what there is to love about being an entrepreneur.

But the one topic that comes up a lot is the sort of expected lack of your involvement in certain areas of your project by people in the business.

For example, if someone was shopping an Internet company for me, we’d have many talks about messaging, why it’s relevant, etc., beforehand. Or, if there was a big meeting with a prospective sponsor, she’d be expected to attend.

In entertainment, it seems that it's common that people hand over their ideas to others.
I don’t mean any one group in the market, but overall.

I know people can become so experienced in their line of work that understanding and adapting ideas comes quick and easy. But it can also have a downside.

It’s not hard to tell or understand an idea. Where it gets tricky is in communicating and understanding why the idea will work or have value.

Everybody has experienced these kinds of situations where things didn’t work out.

It’s been surprising at times find people who are comfortable trying to sell my ideas without ever asking why I think it could be successful, but luckily I have had plenty who have done just fine with the gist of information.

I wonder, though, as more entrepreneurs branch out from the business, and more come into it, is there anything that people should specifically watch for?

That’s going to be the topic of a future post.