| By Claire Geddie May 2006 - and, on the French Riviera, the Cannes Film Festival is in full swing. Champagne is being quaffed on every terrace, and in the UK Pavilion, business cards are deftly changing hands. Amongst the movers and the shakers however, hustlers are promoting material of a different nature. They are on site to advertise the Film Business Academy, which, in May 2007, will launch what purports to be the world's first MBA in - as well as an MSc in management for - the business of film. Promoting education seems incongruous amongst the glut of working filmmakers, the parties and the posturing of Cannes. Is there a market for higher education in an industry that gave birth to the casting couch, one in which who rather than what you know is touted as the maxim of maximum value? The answer is a firm yes, according to Terry Illot, director of the Film Business Academy and, notably, the former head of British horror institution Hammer Films. He maintains that there is an industry-wide deficit in business acumen and suggests that "in the absence of business training, and without the benefit of the experience of seasoned practitioners, you are left to your own devices. The result is that it takes 15 years to grasp how the business really works. That's ten years too many." Taking place at London's Cass Business School, which enjoys a globally acknowledged academic pedigree, the courses are being organized and led by veteran business faculty and film professionals, such as producer Jill Tandy (Stage Beauty, I Heart Huckabees) and Illot himself. The intent is to provide a comprehensive induction for working professionals and career changers in the skills required to approach film business at an executive level. Of course, this is by no means the first program for those eager to break into the industry. Countless courses train up-and-comers in the practice, theory or criticism of film. Additionally, business forms a component of other respected degrees, such as the postgraduate program at the Kanbar Institute of Film and Television at NYU, or the BSc in Business Administration (Cinema/Television) at the USC Marshall School of Business. However, this academy is poised to be the first opportunity to study goings-on behind the screen within a purely business framework. Supply or Demand? The landscape of film education is clearly changing, but it is less certain whether there will be changes to the industry's perception of what makes a successful film executive. A blend of serendipity and hard graft has forged many a cinematic career, as hopefuls luck onto a ladder rung and hang on for dear life. Critics might suggest that a conventional classroom-based, purchased education could scarcely prepare professionals for the highly variable and intuitive minefield of the film industry. Illot rejects this notion outright, saying, "I rarely meet an American in this business who hasn't had appropriate - and often thorough - education and training. I rarely meet a European who has. I didn't." Indeed, many of the brains now taking over Hollywood are "suits" credited with the most forward-thinking ideas of the last 25 years. Case in point is Steve Jobs, the mastermind behind Apple, who has managed to become a mogul of both Silicon Valley and Hollywood, helming Pixar and now sitting on the Board of Directors at Disney. Add to this the reality that the Hollywood majors are now largely owned by major corporations: Warner Bros. a part of TimeWarner, Columbia TriStar owned by Sony Pictures Releasing, and Fox subsumed by News Corporation. One gets the distinct impression that the days of Sam Spiegel and silver-tongued hustling may be long gone. In fact, the shift toward hard business skills may not be a product of public demand but of what is now necessary for survival in the film industry landscape. Faced with a stock of studio product, and with audiences that blindly support behemoths like Pirates of Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, one argument is that exhibitors must inevitably limit screens devoted to independent cinema. And as piracy of a different nature rears its ugly head, studio profit margins are protected, teams are tightened and jobs are lost. In the midst of all this, creative and bureaucratic wheat may be forcefully separated from the chaff. Illot continues, "Hollywood was repopulated in the 1980s by reviled suits with MBAs, who now run the studios to Hollywood's benefit." He cites the smooth introduction of the DVD format, ushered in largely by Warren Lieberfarb (a Harvard business school graduate) compared to the "dog's breakfast" of VHS (but makes no mention of the blu-ray/HD-DVD debacle), and goes on to state that "even if the creative community sometimes complains that the suits inhibit creative risk-taking, it should not be forgotten that they made the same complaint abut the moguls." So if cinema is to weather the changes in its short- and long-term future, it must think outside its incestuous box. In particular, the global film industry must learn from other recent overhauls - the dramatic changes in music and television serve as obvious examples - and adopt strategic approaches to survival. Illot is adamant that "we need a new generation of trained entrepreneurs and trained managers with vision, ambition and confidence." So, while an MBA is clearly a significant career investment for any individual, the need for this particular kind of box-office business acumen may point to a larger issue than personal professional growth. This degree, and the others like it that will inevitably follow, offer professionals - and, as a result, the industry itself - the opportunity to prepare for challenges ahead and to play the Hollywood numbers game with Wall Street savvy. It could be an inspiring move toward tactical thinking, and to putting the business back in the biz. For more information on the Film Business Academy, please visit http://www.filmbusinessacademy.com/. |
