Writers, actors, filmmakers, artists, designers, and other creatives are taught young that choosing to be a creative professional is risky business. It doesn't have to be.

In this workshop you'll learn:

• Why earning a living as a creative looks like luck or magic from the outside.
• Why it is not the tight-rope walk you've been told it is since you were born.
• How to understand exactly what you need to do to build a creative business so you can swiftly do it.
• How to find fans and turn them into paying customers.
• Why taking big risks, and making big investments usually doesn't pay off, but running lots of inexpensive experiments almost always does.
• How having money to invest into your creative business can be a blessing or a curse.
• How to figure out what you might have been doing wrong.
• How to determine what "works" and what doesn't when it comes to the products and services you sell.
• Practical examples of how most creatives go off the rails in trying to create a sustainable way to get paid for their work.

This is a very practical, brass-tacks, rational workshop that helps you understand, intuitively, what you need to so so you can do it. Furthermore, you'll understand why what you've been doing previously hasn't been working wonderfully well even though you've got a lot of skill, talent, and commitment.

If you have any questions about this workshop, please email me at nancy@nancyfultonmeetups.com. You can find in-depth live and online how-to workshops at www.nancyfultonmeetups.com and NFM24.com.

Music in this Episode was licensed for commercial use from Pond5.com.

Only people have money to buy things. Whether it’s an independent producer with funds to purchase your screenplay, an investor with money to put into your film, a studio exec shopping for a book or podcast to license, or a director looking to hire an actor . . . only humans ever pull the trigger on purchasing things.

That means you need a business network within the entertainment industry that will actively help you find the people who actually want to buy what you sell. In this event you learn the art and science of building and entertainment industry network swiftly, comfortably, and cost effectively.

Topics addressed:

• Where and how to find networking events that lend themselves to making real connections.
• How to very comfortably meet people at events
• What to do with their business cards
• How to introduce yourself to a group, and one-on-one, so people remember you well
• How to reach out to people after an event comfortably
• How to give people leads on potential opportunities
• How to accept leads from others graciously and without obligation

This is the perfect podcast to listen to if you really struggle with networking, building professional relationships, and using those relationships as a springboard to great opportunities. You can find written lecture notes and a video with slides covering this material at https://gumroad.com/l/wJbwL

Music in this Episode was licensed for commercial use from Pond5.com.

This interview is designed to review good business practices that can help you side step a lot of legal hassles.

Justin Sterling is founder of The Sterling Firm, a full-service civil litigation and transactional law firm devoted to Business Law, Entertainment Law, and Personal Injury cases. The Sterling Firm is dedicated to helping clients obtain maximum compensation, achieve cost-effective legal solutions, and resolve legal conflicts efficiently. You can learn more about Justin at www.TheSterlingFirm.com and www.linkedin.com/in/justinsterlingesquire/

Topics addressed in this interview include.

• 3 Myths People Believe About Litigation
• 5 Mistakes People Make that Often Lead to Litigation
• What to Do Business Deals Start to Fall Apart
• Things to Say (and Avoid Saying) When Someone Offers to Sue You
• Preparing to Win the Court Battles You Hope You Never Have
• What to Do When Litigation (or Arbitration) is Inevitable

Questions? Email nancy@entertainmentindustryevents.com.

Music in this Episode was licensed for commercial use from Pond5.com.

This is the perfect podcast to listen to if you want to produced one or more projects with a friend or family member. It provides very specific advice and step-by-step guidance that will help you avoid specific risks and stumbling blocks in forming businesses that incorporate on these relationships.

Over time most of us working in the entertainment industry develop close personal, professional, and creative relationships with people who seem to share our vision for the kinds of projects we want to produce. Some of us are even fortunate enough to have family members in the industry who want to work beside us to bring common dreams to fruition. And, indeed, one can point to some very long term production partnerships like the Coen Brothers, the Wachowskis, Michael Bay, Brad Fuller & Andrew Form, that have turned out to be incredibly profitable and creatively powerful over many decades.

Having said that, one of the most dangerous things you can do from a financial, personal, and a creative perspective is to commit to producing a project with a friend or a family member without carefully weighing the risks and taking significant steps to limit them. It would be a shame if deciding to produce a film with someone you love and love to work with resulted in the termination of an important relationship and an expensive financial disaster. It’s also true that even people love you can make expensive mistakes that cause you significant personal, professional, and financial harm.

Music in this Episode was licensed for commercial use from Pond5.com.

This is a great interview to listen to if you feel stuck and need help moving your career in the entertainment industry forward. Jim Jermanok (jimjermanok.com) is an award-winning writer, director, stage and film producer based in New York who started his career as a beloved agent at ICM representing leading lights like Alan Arkin, E.L. Doctorow, Helen Hayes, Ben Kingsley, Shirley MacLaine, Arthur Miller, Dudley Moore, Andy Rooney and Henry Winkler, among many others. He is also an entrepreneurship expert and speaker who actively works with creative pros to help them earn more from their work. His recent bestseller, BEYOND THE CRAFT: What You Need to Know to Make A Living Creatively! (http://amzn.to/2hmx6YQ), and the workshops he delivers worldwide help entertainment industry creatives master the skills they need to achieve their personal, professional, and financial objectives.

Music in this Episode was licensed for commercial use from Pond5.com.

Bridget Fitzgerald is an actress, comedienne, and model. She is also a member of National Lampoon's sketch comedy team, making a sketch comedy podcast heard by half a million monthly listeners. Her web series SmileyBridgeTV has had 1/4 million views, and she attributes some of that success to two audiobooks: "How I Exiled My Inner B*tch” which she acted in and "iHumpty" which she produced as well as acted in. You can learn more here: http://www.bridgetfitzgerald.com/ and http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2804002/?ref_=nmbio_bio_nm

Her investment in producing audio content and a SAG New Media web series has helped her get more and better acting roles and writing gigs. It’s also allowed her to establish herself as a producer, co-producer, and director. She’s been asked to work as a judge in writing contests and consults with those producing web series, podcasts, and audiobooks.

Topics addressed include . . .

• Why Hollywood Now Favors Actor/Writer/Producers, Actor/Producers, and Writer/Producers
• Using Podcasts and Audiobooks to Generate Revenue
• Hiring Union Actors for Podcasts and Audiobooks
• The Process of Producing a SAG New Media Web Series
• Finding and Creating New Business Relationships and Business Opportunities

Remember you can find more resources for creative pros at www.NancyFultonMeetups.com.

Music in this Episode was licensed for commercial use from Pond5.com.

Writer/Producer Nancy Fulton brings you an audio recording of her interview with Organized Crime Expert Christian Cipollini.

Award-Winning author Christian Cipollini is a freelance journalist, book author (https://www.amazon.com/Christian-Cipollini/e/B00CP95F4K), organized crime historian and collector. A frequent guest lecturer at universities and a consultant to movie and television producers, Cipollini has also appeared as a consultant on episodes of Reelz Channel Series "Gangsters: America's Most Evil," History Channel Series "United Stuff of America" , AHC's 'America: Facts vs. Fiction', and served as a consultant & Location Producer on National Geographic Channel’s critically-acclaimed series DRUGS, INC. You can learn more about Christian and his work at www.GangLandLegends.com.

Topics covered include:

• An overview of organized crime. What it is and isn’t, the problems it “solves”, and the problems it causes.
• A quick but important timeline for organized crime in America from the 1900’s through to the modern day. The Mob, versus the Mafia, versus the Drug Cartels, and why distinctions matter.
• A primer on the origin, temperment, and tactics of organized criminals. What Hollywood usually gets right and what it gets wrong.
• Organized crime in America today. Major conflicts, major players, and major impacts we see every day.

If you have questions about this event, please contact me via the podcast home page at www.AudioIron.com.

Music in this Episode was licensed for commercial use from Pond5.com.

Have you worked with a toxic person or business that has made you really rethink your work as a writer, screenwriter, filmmaker, or other creative pro? Does all of Hollywood feel like a den of thieves and difficult people? If so, you'll find this interview with Dr. Rhoberta Shaler important to hear.

As a relationship consultant, mediator, and speaker, Rhoberta Shaler, PhD (ForRelationshipHelp.com) helps the partners, employees, exes, and adult children of the relentlessly difficult people she calls "Hijackals®."

Her work has been featured on FoxNews, PsychCentral, Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping, The Good Men Project, eHarmony, Care2, Greatist, Pulse, and The Needs, among many others. She is the author of sixteen books, including Escaping the Hijackal Trap: The Definitive Guide to Dealing with Relentlessly Difficult People. Even the US Marines have enlisted her help.

You can learn more about Dr. Shaler’s work at ForRelationshipHelp.com and via her YouTube channel, ForRelationshipHelp. She is also host of two podcasts: Emotional Savvy: The Relationship Help Show and Save Your Sanity: Help for Handling Hijackals®!

In this video Dr. Shaler discusses:

• Why she uses the term Hijackals (R) to describe predatory and abusive people instead of more clinical terms like Narcissistic Personality Disorder, Antisocial Personality Disorder, and Psychopath.
• Why some people seem to attract and be attracted to Hijackals and others never seem to encounter them at all.
• How and why Hijackals destroy careers, relationships, projects, and people and why those witnessing their behavior so frequently don’t step in to stop it.
• Why trying to help a Hijackal be a better person usually results in more damage rather than an end to the abuse.
• An initial understanding of how to work with, or live with, a Hijackal when walking away is too expensive.
• Why most people who have had to cope with Hijackals for prolonged periods of time need professional help to recover.

If you have questions about this podcast, please email nancy.fulton@yahoo.com. I look forward to hearing from you. You can find more online and face to face events at www.NancyFultonMeetups.com.

Music in this Episode was licensed for commercial use from Pond5.com.