Media-Match.com is a site which helps entertainment professionals and those looking to hire them find each other. Job-seekers (both freelance and permanent) can create profiles and can also search the jobs posted to the site, which come directly from the companies doing the search or from other job sites across the internet. Companies can post jobs directly, as indicated above, or search for profiles of people who do what they are looking for someone to do.

This site is not location-specific. As I am writing this, I see jobs posted for Los Angeles, Chicago, DC, San Francisco, Houston, Franklin, TN and many, many others. Positions range from Casting Recruiter (Nebraska) to Production Manager (San Francisco) to Graphics Coordinator (Los Angeles) to Camera Assistant (Paramus, NJ). There is even a posting for a News Anchor (Buffalo, NY).

The bottom line is that if you are a budding (or not-so-budding) crew member, subscribing to Media-Match.com is well worth the ten bucks a month it will cost you. And if you are looking for entertainment professionals, it is also a great place to get the word out and find people who can do the job. (That set doesn’t light itself, does it?)

 There are many books on the market about the TV writing business. Unfortunately, most tend to fall into one of two somewhat-unsuccsesful camps. Those that are written by academics tend to cover the basics well, but have too much of an outsider POV to give true insight into the actual workings of the biz and the path to success. Those written by actual insiders tend to assume too much “base” knowledge on the part of the reader so the valuable “seasoned veterans” tips and “what to avoid”s go over the head of a rookie.

Writing the TV Drama Series: How to Succeed as a Professional Writer in TV by Pamela Douglas is successful in both conveying the basics and giving the inside scoop, probably because the author is both an academic (an associate professor in the USC School of Cinema-Televison) and a true insider, having had a long career as a TV writer/producer. This book contains solid, current information, such as:

- An overview of the basic TV calendar (pilot season, pick-ups, staffing season, etc.).

- A dissection of the classic one-hour drama script.

- An explanation of how a TV writing staff works and seven mistakes to avoid.

- A breakdown of the different positions on a writing staff.

- A concise explanation of how to break in to the world of TV writing.

- Interviews with other top industry insiders.

This book provides everything an aspiring TV writer needs to know and is current for today’s market with three exceptions: Those doing the hiring these days (the showrunners, with help from studio and network executives) like to read an original pilot by writers they are considering for their staff in addition to a spec sample of a similar show. This is a new development in the last couple of years.

Another change is that with the rise of TV dramas appearing on both premium and basic cable channels and the increase in mid-season replacements being lined up by network brass with itchy trigger fingers, the calendar doesn’t always hold true. Projects can get picked up off-season. The third very recent development is the increasing frequency with which projects brought to pilot by one network, but not picked up to series, are being bought by other networks and cable channels. Lately, what would’ve once been a “dead” project is finding a pulse after being put in the coffin.

So if you are looking for a one-book answer to all of your questions about breaking in as a TV drama writer, pick up a copy of Writing the TV Drama Series by Pamela Douglas. You’ll be glad you did.

Note: If you click on the book cover at the top of the post (like most of the books and DVDs pictured on this site), you will be taken to Amazon, where you can buy this book and/or anything else you want and the gremlins that put this blog together while I sleep will get four cents or something. Consider it well-earned.

Depending upon who you are as a music professional, it’s either a very scary, depressing time or a very exciting, creative time.

For those who are/were part of the old model of the music business, when record companies ruled the world and getting signed was the way (as in the only way) to make it in the recording industry, things are not going so well. The A & R execs and others tied into the mega-conglomerate side of the biz are finding themselves shut out as the market for recorded music issued on CDs shrinks smaller and smaller.

For those who are part of the new model, developing artists and then creating and marketing their music, merchandise, and live performances directly to the fans, there is a freedom to innovate, to get outside-the-box in monetizing the careers of up-and-coming recording artists.

It is a confusing time, though, for those trying to make the transition from the old model and those just coming into the business, not to mention those trying to understand the evolution of the music business from the outside. The general public is starting to think of music as something you get for free off the internet, or buy a song at a time rather than as a complete album. How can an industry sustain itself with a revenue drip-drip-drip instead of a revenue stream coming in?

Musician/producer/engineer/professor/writer Bobby Owsinski has provided a very readable, comprehensive guide to the current music business, aptly titled Music 3.0: A Survival Guide for Making Music in the Internet Age. He starts out by introducing the original (or 1.0) version of the business and the subsequent phases (1.5, 2.0, 2.5) and then presents an overview of the 3.0 model, which is essentially a direct link between the artist and the fan, with traditional record labels, as well as record stores and old-school radio stations (and charts) cut out of the mix.

The rest of the book covers the power players in the business, new marketing and distribution, survival rules, examples of artists who are doing it right, and a section that would be particularly well-worn if I were an artist or manager: “How to Make Money in Today’s Music World.” Owsinski is a music industry vet with contacts in all sectors of the business and he provides quotes throughout and one-on-one interviews with them in the last section. This provides a more diverse point-of-view to the book overall and introduces additional tips, expertise, and ongoing resources (since many of these people have companies, blogs and/or books to seek out).

The only downside to the book is that it’s so dense it will require several reads to really absorb the bulk of the key points. This is not a fault of the book, but just a consequence of having so much information to pass along on one topic. But after the initial read, delving into individual chapters as needed will allow budding music industry professionals to take in and apply what they have learned immediately to their own projects and career journey.

In addition to picking up Music 3.0: A Survival Guide for Making Music in the Internet Age I also recommend checking out Bobby Owsinski’s two blogs, Music 3.0: The Blog Behind the Book and Bobby Owsinski’s Big Picture Blog. He also just released The Music Producer’s Handbook: Music Pro Guides, which I’m sure is just as educational and readable as Music 3.0. If anyone gets to it before I do, let me know what you think!

Note: If you click on the book cover at the top of the post (like most of the books and DVDs pictured on this site), you will be taken to Amazon, where you can buy this book and/or anything else you want and the gremlins that put this blog together while I sleep will get four cents or something. Consider it well-earned.

Like Hollywood Mom Blog which we recommended earlier this year, ChildrenInFilm.com was created to provide information about children working in entertainment.

While Hollywood Mom Blog is written from the point-of-view of the mother of a child actor (actually several mother/managers now write for it), and has a fun, friendly tone, and free content (with advertising its only apparent revenue source), Children In Film has a more serious tone and is primarily a membership site for parents of aspiring child actors and professionals who work with them, as well as a promotional vehicle for a (child work) permit service. 

Children In Film was created by the founder of an agency for studio teachers who became an authority on California Child Labor Laws and then on larger issues related to child actors. The members have forums, share information on and reviews of products and services, create their own profiles, are part of a searchable directory, and get access to a wide variety of information relevant to the profession, such as casting notices and specifics on the laws and rules governing the use of child actors.

Some of these features, usually in a more basic form, are available for free, but to get the benefit of all the features, there is a subscription fee of $16.99/month. If you are the parent of a child actor or a professional who works with them, it seems worth considering membership on Children in Film. The benefit of networking and trading information with other parents of child actors and/or industry professionals, as well as all of the knowledge on the sometimes hard-to-understand rules and laws governing employment of child actors, would probably more than compensate you for the monthly expense.

At the very least, check out some of the free content on the site. The success stories from parents of famous child actors can definitely help the parents of aspiring young actors to avoid some of the pitfalls other parents fall prey to, as detailed on Hollywood Mom Blog’s “Moms Gone Wild” page.