Month 6 - Product and Artist Management

Month 6 was Product and Artist Management with Kate Hartig.  I was very excited for this month because artist management is a career path that has always been of interest to me.

This month we had a guest speaker, Annie Kidwell, an actor from the area come in and speak to us. Annie spoke to us about her career and different experiences she has had as an actor. Annie also gave us advice about the business end of the industry and how it is important to have a good relationship with your management so that the talent has the best opportunities presented to them. FAB - Florida Actors/Models Book - is a talent reference guidebook that Annie has compiled including resources for everything from Photographers to Voiceover and Print Agents.

For the Leadership Portfolio Assignment we were to go out into the community and interview an artist manager in the industry. I interviewed Joseph "Screwface" Charles (pictured on right) who has managed acts like Teddy Riley, Blu Cantrell and Day 26. I found this interview to be very beneficial since artist management is one of the career paths that I hope to take.

I have known Screwface for a few years now but have never taken the time to actually ask him about what it is he does. From this assignment I learned how important it is to ask people open ended questions because it gives you so much detail on what it is you are inquiring about. I found that people are so open to talking about what it is they do and are more willing to help when they see your enthusiasm on the issue. I learned a great deal not only about artist management but about the entertainment industry as a whole. Screwface taught me a lot about artist management and will continue to be a mentor for me on my path to success.