Mastery Journal @lillythigpenblr-blog - Tumblr Blog

Month 12: Final Project

My first goal of this course was to learn proper and helpful pitching techniques. This course did not directly cover pitching techniques as much as it covered presentation techniques. I find, however, that my goal was met regardless, and these techniques go hand in hand. We had a guest lecture from a professor from the creative presentation course to remind us about the key components of a great presentation. Also, the presentation of my business plan gave me an opportunity to display these skills to create a great presentation. This is a great skill to have moving forward.

My second goal was to learn how to positively take professional criticism and incorporate it into creating a better product. This goal was definitely met between last month's course Business Plan Development and this month's course. Last month, Steve gave each student personalized critiques for every section of our business plan that we turned in. This month, Bill gave us even more suggestions for our business plan as we added the final sections and made other changed to our plans. Even during my final presentation, I received more critiques and recommendations from the panel. Throughout the past two months, I've been given a lot of feedback that I had to practice receiving with grace and incorporate to the best of my ability.

My third goal was to learn how to create a profitable business plan. I feel that throughout this entire degree, I have learned how to create not only a profitable business plan but a profitable business. The last two months have focused on attaching numbers to our final ideas. This has made me pivot certain aspects of my business due to trying to make my business financials make sense. I dropped an entire service that did not bring a lot of money into my business but took up a significant amount of time and was slightly off-brand for the company. I also have had to realistically price the services that my company will be providing. Suggestions from the panel during my final pitch and throughout the month have allowed me to really explore what a business in this industry has to do in order to be profitable.

#mastery journal #month 12

Month 11: Business Plan Development

My first goal for the Business Plan Development course was to learn what types of projects are the most profitable on digital platforms. This topic was not covered in this course. However, this topic was heavily covered in the previous course Media Publishing and Distribution and in the Digital Marketing course. While certain media will be more popular on certain platforms, the success of a project relies more on making sure the project is getting in front of the intended target market who can easily purchase or support the project. My second goal was to learn the standard structure of a business plan. This goal has been heavily met by this course as we have been compiling information for our business plans this entire month. Also, our professor was very informative in sharing how the business plans he's had experience with had to be individually shaped to match the business it represents. Going forward, if I find myself looking to write another business plan, I plan on also reading Anatomy of a Business Planby Linda Pinson and Jerry Jinnett. My third goal was to learn who to pitch projects to and how to get the information in front of them. This topic wasn't covered in this class. It was covered in last month's course. Overall, my goals for this course were reached in one way or another. As a lot of this class was review, with more importance placed on our personal businesses, I feel more confident in my general understanding on how business plans are created. I also understand their importance in how they help businesses gain investments and create business owners with a solid plan of how to create a business that will succeed for the few first years of operation.

#mastery journal

Month 10: Entertainment Media Distribution and Publishing

The goals I made in this class were quite broad and not fully related to the course. My first goal for this class was to learn how to monetize content on digital platforms. My second goal was to learn how to best distribute independent video projects for a profit. My third goal was to learn which social media platforms are currently the most profitable. My second goal was met incredibly well by this class through our discussions on self-publishing. However, my third and my first goals were not met.

At the time of the creation of these goals, I didn't fully understand the distribution process. I was also looking through a very narrow lens of how to monetize mainly social content, which relates more to marketing than distribution. We didn't discuss self-publishing through the lens of using social media sites as a distribution platform. This class mainly focused on the use of aggregators for a more traditional digital distribution. I would've liked to discuss this area further.

However, this class did discuss in length traditional publishing and book publishing. We learned about the standard process to get a publishing or distribution deal, which are all relatively similar in practice regardless of the content. For instance, a screenplay writer and a book writer both need to hire an agent in order to professionally submit their projects in hope of getting a pitch meeting. This is incredibly helpful knowledge if my company was ever to expand or for any other work as a key position in the film industry. I feel this class filled the gaps in my education about traditional publishing and made my foundation on the subject more solid.

I feel MDP has provided me with a wealth of knowledge about this portion of the entertainment industry. I believe it will prevent me from making "rookie" mistakes on my projects in the future, like sending improper inquiry letters to the wrong type of agent. This knowledge allows me to have a leg up on other creators who have yet to learn this process and will have to spend time doing so.

Moving forward, I would like to learn more about online social distribution methods, like Facebook Watch and YouTube. I know that this is currently is an ever-growing and debated upon space. I know I will need to read industry journals to keep myself updated in this area. However, I feel that my business could profit from this type of distribution for certain projects that have a "viral" aspect to them over traditional online distribution through a streaming video on demand service.

#month 10 #mastery journal

Month 9: Advanced Entertainment Law

My first goal was to learn how fair use is utilized in content on digital media platforms. We discussed how fair use is seen in the eyes of the court versus the public definition. My big take-away from this lesson was that fair use doesn't have a time limit before it kicks in, like how the YouTube algorithm can lead the common person to believe. Fair use has four factors: the purpose and character of your use, the nature of the copyrighted work, the amount and substantiality of the portion taken, and the effect of the use upon the potential market.

My second goal was to gain a deeper understanding of copyright laws and how not to infringe on them. I believe that through this class I can apply a lot of what we discussed about copyright to my business. I also reflected on this idea through my I.P. Audit assignment. As a production company, I have a lot of possible liabilities to consider in terms of copyright infringement ranging from music to props given by a location we are shooting at.

My third goal was to learn how to copyright or patent an idea. By completing my second goal, I learned that these items are not the same and have to be protected in different ways. Our course work for week three involved looking at these methods of protection. We went step-by-step through filling out a copyright application and a patent application. I now understand that a logo should be registered as a trademark and more creative elements like a script can be protected by copyright.

#month 9 #mastery journal

Month 8: Product and Artist Management

My first goal for Product and Artist Management was to develop professional peer to peer communication and resolution skills. This was a topic and skill more covered in last month's class of negotiation and deal making. We didn't really cover this part of artist management in class. It was lightly touched on during week one when we were discussing our leadership styles, however, this conversation provided no new information. I still plan on reading 101 Project Management: Problems & How to Solve Them by Tom Kendrick in order to myself develop these skills.

My second goal for Product and Artist Management was to learn how to handle and dissolve common problems and crises that arise on a project. We talked about being aware of the costs associated with poor risk management. We also talked about what makes a "good" talent to manage versus an artist who probably won't go far. This connects to my second goal as it's good to be aware of possible issues before they arise. I am going to watch a Lynda.com tutorial titled "Having Difficult Conversations" by Britt Andreatta to cover this specific topic more in depth (2013). This tutorial has insight in not only diffusing a situation but how to make it a positive learning experience that enhances communication and relationships.

My third goal was to learn how to understand the product/artist’s customers and what they desire from the product/artist. We didn't really cover customer development and how to leverage that information in this class. We discussed it lightly in pricing principles, but not in depth. This information was mainly repetitive from our Marketing class earlier this year. This is still a topic that I feel that I am lacking knowledge in. I've started watching this tutorial about customer development on Lynda.com by Jay Clouse (2018) to aid my education in this section. I hope to understand how to use existing markets and how to best interact with them.

References:

Andreatta, B. (Producer). (2013, July 30). Having Difficult Conversations [Video file]. Retrieved January 29, 2019 from https://www.lynda.com/Leadership-Management-tutorials/Having-Difficult-Conversations/124085-2.html?srchtrk=index%3a8%0alinktypeid%3a2%0aq%3adifficult+situations%0apage%3a1%0as%3arelevance%0asa%3atrue%0aproducttypeid%3a2

Clouse, J. (Producer). (2018, June 21). Customer Development for Product Managers [Video file]. Retrieved January 29, 2019 from https://www.lynda.com/Business-Skills-tutorials/Negotiation-Skills/553701-2.html?srchtrk=index%3a3%0alinktypeid%3a2%0aq%3anegotiation%0apage%3a1%0as%3arelevance%0asa%3atrue%0aproducttypeid%3a2

#month 8 #mastery journal

Month 7: Negotiation and Deal Making

During Negotiation and Deal making I had three main goals. My first goal was to develop better verbal negotiation skills. We covered non-verbal communication in the Mastery course of this degree program. Our practice negotiations were based on very common situations that arise in this industry that we should be prepared to handle. This practice helped me to better understand where my verbal skills are lacking and what I can do to better them. I feel that with every practice negotiation I improved. I know that there are areas that I still need to work on. However, now that I have this sense of awareness and knowledge of how I should be negotiating, I feel I can continue to continually make strides in improving my verbal negotiation skills. I have also been viewing selected lessons in a Lynda tutorial that involves business negotiation skills to reinforce my learning (Croft, 2017). I plan on continuing working through this lesson slowly.

My second goal was to gain more knowledge of negotiation in the film industry by studying relevant cases. In class, we talked about entertainment related cases quite a bit. Our last assignment for this course involved completing research on an entertainment case and giving a presentation to the class about it. I not only learned a lot about the situation I looked into, but my peer's presentations gave me the knowledge of 7 other cases and how they were handled. The source that I wrote for this goal was a look into TheBig Bang Theory salary negotiations. This was also the topic for my presentation in class. In studying and hearing about these cases, I feel that it connects our lectures this month to tangible, relevant industry news. I've definitely become more aware of alternative dispute resolution and litigation cases in the industry as a result of this class.

My third goal was to gain knowledge on how to make an effective deal that leaves both my project and the individual satisfied. This was the main focus of the course this month. Mr. Miles emphasized the importance of mutual gain negotiations over win-lose negotiations. He also cleared up a lot of myths and exaggerations about negotiations. His course made me feel a lot more comfortable about negotiation. It taught me that I shouldn't be so afraid of being taken advantage of in a negotiation that I get defensive and sacrifice the deal itself. Creating mutually beneficial and effective deals is a large component of being successful in this industry. I will be using this knowledge a lot as I move forward with my business and with any other professional negotiations I am involved with.

References:

Croft, C. (Producer). (2017, July 18). Negotiation Skills [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.lynda.com/Business-Skills-tutorials/Negotiation-Skills/553701-2.html?srchtrk=index%3a3%0alinktypeid%3a2%0aq%3anegotiation%0apage%3a1%0as%3arelevance%0asa%3atrue%0aproducttypeid%3a2

#month 7 #mastery journal

Month 6: Digital Media Marketing

In Digital Marketing, I had three main goals. My first goal was to learn about how to create offline, physical marketing by studying real campaigns. This goal was not fully met by this class as it focuses on digital marketing. However, this goal was created to further my learning outside the classroom. I have in my personal time reviewed some of these traditional marketing campaigns, like the campaign run for Deadpool 2. Also, Dan sharing his experiences in digital media campaigns have also widened my understanding of campaigns as a whole. I learned a lot about target markets and how buyer personas work. These concepts are the same between both traditional and digital media.

My second goal was to learn how to create a digital marketing plan for a short film. This goal was created before I shifted my company to cater to other businesses instead of a homegrown audience. Throughout this course, I learned how to create digital marketing campaigns for my production company. This can all be applied on a smaller scale for a short film. For instance, I've learned a lot about how to use metrics on social media pages to gauge how content is performing and tailor it to reach the intendent audience.

My third goal was to learn how to properly promote my personal brand online. This class mostly focused on our business marketing. However, there were several things that can be carried over to my personal brand. For instance, I will take my new knowledge about website optimization to help my website occur more organically in searches. This will help job recruiters, who are searching for me in hopes of establishing my credibility, find my site a lot easier. I still plan on reading Me 2.0: 4 Steps to Building Your Futureby Dan Schawbel to assist in this process as I know I still have a lot to learn.

#month 6 #mastery journal

Month 5: Entertainment Business Finance

My first goal this month was to learn how to effectively crowdfund a smaller film project. We didn't directly talk about this goal of mine. However, we did discuss the issues that arise from crowdfunding since smaller projects often get overlooked in comparison to the celebrity fundraising efforts that are significantly more popular. I might be better off asking for a loan or independent money from investors rather than trying to crowdfund. I did watch this Lynda.com tutorial that focuses specifically on funding independent projects to help me understand this process more (https://www.lynda.com/Kickstarter-tutorials/Crowdfunding-Campaigns-Independent-Film/490925-2.html). Through the creation of my pro forma income statement I have also done a lot of research into the monetary requirements of creating a company that carries out these types of small projects.

My second goal this month was to learn what pro forma income statements are and how they are used. This goal was exceptionally met by the course itself. I now understand the difference between pro forma income statements and regular income statements. It is interesting how pro forma statements work at predicting the future spending and earnings of a company with or without prior data of how the business operated.

My third goal this month was to learn how to manage my personal finance as a freelancer. We discussed this very lightly as part of the course. A lot of things that were covered, I already had understood at a basic level. However, due to this course, I have a greater understanding of interest rates and how the banks operate in that area. Relatedly, I have opened up an online savings account with a high-interest rate for a secondary savings account that I don't regularly see. I think not constantly seeing this money reflected on my bank statements will let me leave this to grow more. This was more of a deeper understanding of personal goal for me this month. As I have been having trouble adjusting back to a campus and part-time job lifestyle, I let this goal slip through the cracks. I still am looking into reading The Money Book for Freelancers, Part-Timers, and the Self-Employed: The Only Personal Finance System for People with Not-So-Regular Jobsby Joseph D'Agnese and Denise Kiernan for more information.

#month 5 #mastery journal #ebf

Month 4: Business Storytelling & Brand Development

My original goals for this course involved more storytelling through marketing. My first goal was to learn how to be an effective storyteller through marketing. My second goal was to learn how to effectively track how a campaign was performing. My third goal was to learn the benefits of having a personal brand in comparison to building up an organization or business instead. Overall, I think I was either mislead by the course information provided to me or misunderstood that original information. I’m sure these marketing questions will be answered later, however, these goals were set with the idea that I already understood a lot about basic branding and that I would be able to dive deeper into how to put storytelling into making my brand successful, which in a way I did.

Some of my goals were met by this course and some were not. My second goal was not met at all as it was a topic that was not covered. I should have tried more in my personal time to attempt to meet this. My third goal was met. I learned that having a personal brand can be helpful to a companies brand. However, they both should have separate goals, identities, and branding ideals. Also, I learned not having a personal brand in the entertainment industry is not an option. My first goal was met in the way that I learned a lot more about brand storytelling than I thought there was to know. I learned a lot more about how major brands implement their brand history and brand identity prism to create a strong and memorable brand. For instance, Pixar lets their internal values to control the quality of the content they produce. They have a peer review system named “Braintrust” that they use to make sure they are living up to their company belief of creativity, free speech, and unique ideas which the audience can see translate over into the quality of their film. I’m using this tactic on my own company brand since the concept for the brand stems from my personal belief in wanting to experience more life through the content I create.

#EBMS #MASTERY JOURNAL #MONTH 4

Month 3: Project and Team Management Reflection

My first goal for this course was to learn how adequately budget and how to stay within budget on an independent project. This class wasn't truly budget oriented. It was more so about learning how to include budgets and why they were important for a project plan. I am unsure if this was done with the mindset that we'd be working with an accountant, but it kind of let me down. The budget wasn't a priority for this project. In fact, we were told to role play and make those budgets larger than realistic in order to meet other requirements for the paperwork. I hope there is another class where budgets are discussed at greater length and have more importance in the course.

The second goal that I set for this month was to learn how to motivate myself and a team towards our goals. I don't feel that I only learned that from this month but more so from a combination of the last 3 courses. Learning this month about personality types has made me realize how much personality plays into teamwork in biological ways. This applies to all teams. People with ENTJ personality types may be better organized and precise leaders than ESFP people who may lead trusting heavily in their teammate's visions. It can help you decide which people may be better at completing certain tasks or working with certain people. It's more useful than I thought to know the personality types of your teammates. I thought that the MBTI was as true as a teen magazine's horoscope reading, but throughout this class, I have realized that my judgment was wrong.

My third goal was to become familiar with project management plans for film by studying real examples. I did have a chance to look at some management plans for other projects. However, it was truly hard to find plans for films. I'm sure this relates to the sensitivity of legality and privacy of that information, but I was disappointed to find that The only complete plan I found was the one I listed already in my timeline that was a 2010 project management plan for a student film. (Warren, Boyd, Cohen, Metzler, Simmons, Khandpur, 2010).

References: Warren, J., Boyd, L., Cohen, J., Metzler, M., Simmons, T., & Khandpur, B. (n.d.). Team D: Completed Project Plan [Scholarly project]. In Todd Simmons. Retrieved August 26, 2018, from http://todd-simmons.com/docs/MBA_ProjManagement_Plan.pdf

#month 3 #mastery journal

Month 2: Executive Leadership Mastery Journal Post

This month we had the pleasure of reading Developing The Leader Within You by John Maxwell andThe 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene. Both books this month have given me 2 very different yet strong opinions on what it means to be a leader. John Maxwell writes from the point of view of a pastor; he cares about the people around him and lifting them up. Maxwell's view is very introspective. He urges his leaders to look within themselves and make changes on their perspectives to help them raise others up. For instance, his chapters include attitude, vision, self-discipline. These all surround the idea that what you are bringing to the table greatly influences the leader that you are and if you are dissatisfied evaluate yourself first. I found a lot of inspiration in his chapter about self-discipline. I realized that sometimes I can be an emotionally driven person on projects instead of a character driven person (Maxwell, 201. This has led to some conflict in my past on a project where I had a negative outlook on the project as a whole, so I started claiming that I was stressed and began taking the easy way out of being a leader. I claimed I did a lot; but in reality, I contributed very little. This book overall has taught me that I cannot grow to become a better leader without first trusting my leadership skills, managing my own beliefs and believing that I can always continue to grow as an individual.

Robert Greene's book, The 48 Laws of Power,I found to be rather disturbing in methodology and viewpoint. A lot of his "laws" revolve around pushing down others to lift yourself up. Some may claim that this is a blunt truth of leadership, however, I don't think it should be promoted as such. It's one thing to suggest that your business should work on building a loyal clientele that will stick around; however, Greene having a subtitle of this chapter as "The Science of Charlatanism, or How to Create a Cult in Five Easy Steps" is a direct sign of disrespect to your clientele and your company (Greene, 2007). Reading the law titles out loud would make anyone seem like a madman in 2018. This book seems disconnected from the modern world and most important it is disconnected from the young adults looking to it for guidance. This book seems to be written for someone who has worked for 30 years in an industry, is bitter and claims to want to change their life which means taking an even more bitter approach. It's clearly not written with females in mind as leaders since the words woman, female or even lady are never mentioned in the book. My father is a leadership teacher for the U.S. Army and he's not even allowed to recommend these tactics or convey their ideas in the way that Greene freely does. This book is on par with a pick-up artists handbook, just reading the chapter titles sets off red sirens in your head. Robert Greene does make some valid points in this book, but to get to them you have to search for an underlying message and try to convince yourself that you're not a terrible person in the process. I don't understand how this book was written more recently then Maxwell's and is much more out of touch. Nor do I understand why this title was chosen for this class.

#month 2

This weeks inspiration post comes from an experience I had this week. My mentor, Marcus (in the black shirt), has recently come back shooting a video out of state. While he was away, himself and Kit (in the gray shirt) had the opportunity to take a glass blowing class. After that experience and discovering something called a vortex marble (second photo above), Marcus become obsessed with learning to blow glass and recreate these marbles. It was really inspirational to see him get so excited and passionate over learning a new technique. On Friday, he stayed after work for an additional hour and a half just because that was his only spare time to try to create another marble. He recognizes that he has a way to go on this journey, but is still excited about what he could grow to create.

Vortex image:

Dichroic Vortex Glass Marble [Digital image]. (n.d.). Retrieved June 24, 2018, from https://www.thisiswhyimbroke.com/dichroic-vortex-marble/

#inspiration post #mastery