The Business of Entertainment: Broadway to Hollywood

Student Learning Outcomes, Goals, Objectives:

Students successfully completing this course will be able to:

• Demonstrate appropriate and ethical oral communication messages for given contexts and communicators to increase knowledge, foster understanding, and/or promote change.
• Analyze and evaluate messages according to context, audience, intent, and other principles of oral communication to contribute to the ongoing development of knowledge and relationships.
• Craft and refine a personal narrative "elevator pitch," and then deliver a verbal presentation before the class with a specific target audience in mind.
• Select an "entertainment hub" for their city research project, and in a group, explore the market’s financial needs and avenues for making a living as an artist in that market. This results in a final group presentation to a classroom of their peers.
• Research and present possible industry jobs in their targeted corner of the industry. Ideas and research must be presented articulately and persuasively.
• Participate in a final mock interview (with a specific audience in mind and dependent on each student's career plans). They could select a mock interview with an agent, manager, reporter, or future employer. These mock interviews focus on crafting the proper narrative within the ‘given circumstances’ of the interview and the ways in which the student can shape and effectively deliver the message.
• Interact with industry leaders/guest speakers who will discuss the challenges of the entertainment industry, tools they've used to overcome roadblocks placed in their way by industry gatekeepers, and solutions for a more equitable, accessible, diverse, and inclusive industry. Students will interact with questions and respond with appropriate follow-up and engagement. Students will write journal responses based upon their visits with these guest artists.

Course Grading Information:

Activity/Performance Measure	Percentage/Points
Elevator Pitch (attempt #1)	3%
Resume (attempt #1)	7%
City Research Project Paper and Group Presentation	10%
Journaling (pre-midterm) about each of our guest speakers	6%
Journaling (post-midterm) about each of our guest speakers	14%
Class Participation (pre-midterm)	6%
Class Participation (post-midterm)	14%
Industry Jobs Research Paper and Oral Presentation	10%
Budget for moving to entertainment hub	10%
Elevator Pitch (attempt #2)	1%
Resume (attempt #2)	1%
Social Media Account (clean-up of existing or creation of new)	1%
Digital Database Profile (Actors Access or LinkedIn)	2%
Mock Interview	5%
Final Quiz	10%

Evaluation and grading of student work is both subjective and objective. There are “hard” grades of quizzes and final exams that are objective and finite in evaluation, while “soft” grades of preparation, presentation, mock interview, discussion, group project, and participation are subjective from the instructor’s viewpoint.

Grading Scale

Percentage	Letter Grade
≥ 93.0%	A
90.0%-92.9%	A-
87.0%-89.9%	B+
83.0%-86.9%	B
80.0%-82.9%	B-
77.0%-79.9%	C+
73.0%-76.9%	C
70.0%-72.9%	C-
67.0%-69.9%	D+
63.0%-66.9%	D
60.0%-62.9%	D-
<60.0%	F

Attendance/Participation:

ATTENDANCE: You must be present to learn, experience, and discuss. Our TA will take attendance daily. You may miss class THREE times with no explanation or repercussion (that’s a full week of class). Those ABSENCES may be due to sickness, death in the family, a doctor’s appointment, or just a “personal day." No excuse is needed for the instructor.

BUT every ABSENCE after the excused three will be a 5 POINT (out of 100) REDUCTION from your FINAL GRADE.

If you arrive late, it will be your responsibility to see the TA after class to ensure your attendance has been recorded. If you are more than 15 minutes late, you will be considered absent for the day.

3 LATES = 1 ABSENCE; DON’T BE LATE!!

CLASS PARTICIPATION IS MANDATORY and will be 20% of final grade. Discussions, special assignments, etc. not specifically outlined in this syllabus will be considered CLASS PARTICIPATION and be subject to grading. Included is our final class debriefing.

As this class meets the MAC requirement for your degree, there will be LOTS of opportunities and assignments where you will be speaking. Over the course, students will become more comfortable with their verbal communication skills and thus more marketable as future employees.

Course Materials Purchased by the Students:

No course materials are required.