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| Entertainment world expert, author, teacher Laurie Scheer holds an Aug. 24 career workshop at Transitions Training Center. |
Thinking of taking a chance and transplanting to L.A? Or just wondering how to accelerate your career when you’re in the far-removed-from Hollywood heartland? In either event, there’s an upcoming weekend workshop with you in mind that could help advance your career in either place.
“Journey into Story Making: Film & TV Style” is the title. Speaker is Laurie Scheer, media goddess/L.A. insider/author/teacher and more. It takes place Aug. 24 at the Transitions Learning Center.
Scheer, a Milwaukee native, will describe the entertainment world and reveal the principles and practices that empower success in a competitive (understatement) industry.
She knows the journey, intimately, having spent 20-plus years in the entertainment industry, working her way from lowly assistant to high-powered executive for some of the world’s most powerful media conglomerates.
Along the way, Scheer has read more than 5,000 scripts and hundreds of manuscripts for scores of production companies. She’s developed many indie features. She’s written “Creative Careers in Hollywood: From Extra Girls to Errand Boys” plus two novels. She’s aught screenwriting, producing, TV and film business courses at Northwestern, DePaul, the U of C and Columbia College. And in 1997, she completed her Master’s, emphasis on broadcasting and pop culture, from DePaul.
We had a chance to ask Scheer some questions about her personal journey and her insights into the business.
RC: What will filmmakers learn from the workshop?
SCHEER: I tell you how to get unstuck in your creative mode, how to move your career forward and make it happen.
RC: How’d you get started in the film biz?
SCHEER: I had no clue what I wanted to do after I graduated from college. I just knew that I wanted to work in “Hollywood.” I would have done anything to work behind the scenes on a production, it didn’t matter what the job was.
RC: Is that what you tell students now? Take any job, just to get in?
SCHEER: I tell them to be a bit more focused on what they want to do, write, direct, act, etc. A career pays off faster if you set out with a specific goal. You can always change that goal later, but when starting out, focus on one area in the industry – it will help you to stay grounded.
RC: What were some of your feelings when you first starting working in Hollywood?
SCHEER: I hated it. L. A. is not a city as we know cities and its energy is so different from anywhere else on earth. It’s a difficult place to get used to. I wanted to return to the Midwest every month but I kept telling myself that I had to give it one year. Fortunately, during that first year I had a great first job in the Dramatic Development Department of ABC Entertainment.
RC: What was your job like?
SCHEER: Even as an assistant I was part of a team that read scripts and helped to attach elements to the new pilots and existing shows like “Dynasty.” Yeah, it was cool knowing what next week’s “Dynasty” plot was before anyone else in the country
RC: And your next job was even better.
SCHEER: I was a PA., my first chance at production, on a new pilot. “Moonlighting.” Who knew that that show would become part of TV history?! My fears eventually melted away into work that I really enjoyed. Twenty years later, I’m still enjoying it.
RC: What insight or perspective did you gain that helped you cope?
SCHEER: Many of my ABC coworkers were from L. A. or New York and didn’t have a reference base for what Middle America was all about. I had some self-esteem problems since I felt I didn’t fit in with this new, sophisticated crowd. My boss reminded me that I probably knew more, first- hand, than anyone in the department because I hailed from the Midwest, the intrinsic place for which they were programming. That was my big asset
RC: Then your insight is…?
SCHEER: Yes, all those fast-paced L. A. types will intimidate you. But remember, you probably have some knowledge that they don’t. It will be very useful for you to utilize your unique talents while never letting them see you sweat.
RC: How has storytelling changed your reality?
SCHEER: Once I became aware of the 12 steps of “The Writer’s Journey,” by the great Chris Vogler, I started to apply those steps. Not only to the films I viewed and the scripts I read, but to my own life.
At any given time we are working within our conscious and unconscious realities and taking on new “special worlds” – of a new job, a new relationship, a new realization or awareness. I’d have to say, then, that I live my life constantly labeling incidents that happen as “meetings with mentors” and “living through greatest fears.”
RC: What advice would you give someone who wants to make a career in Hollywood because they want to share a message or want their voice to be heard?
SCHEER: Follow your intuition. If you do not nurture your art, no one else will. No doubts, no worries, onward – get that message out. You’ll find there are like-minds and caring souls who will embrace you. You will feel the reward. And in turn, you’ll be given the opportunity to continue to produce your art.
Visualize it. Live it as if it has already happened.
Laurie Scheer’s Aug. 24-25 workshop runs from 11 a.m to 1 p.m. at Transitions Learning Center, 1750 N. Kingsbury. Fee is $35; reservations not required.
