When a marketing representative for NBCUniversal reached out to The Daily about writing a feature for the podcast “Seen on the Screen with Jacqueline Coley,” I was ecstatic for the chance to get a peek inside the entertainment industry. Companies like Universal Pictures seemed like giants to me — I will keep showing up to the theater for every new installment in the “Despicable Me” franchise, but I never expected to get an inside look into the company that made it.
Yet, along with other college journalists, I had the chance to meet with President of Domestic Marketing for Universal Pictures Dwight Caines and Rotten Tomatoes journalist Jacqueline Coley in a virtual roundtable on April 7. As they talked about the making and motivation behind the podcast, I was continually astounded by the variety of pathways one could take to launch a career in entertainment.
For anyone looking for insight into getting started in an entertainment career, the podcast is a great place to start. Each episode, Coley sits down with a different NBCUniversal employee to chat about the variety of jobs and pathways that have led them to their current role at Universal Pictures. Whether it’s “Wicked” director Jon M. Chu, actor Ke Huy Quan or different experts in business and marketing, each guest on the podcast shares their own surprising and circuitous journey to finding success in the entertainment industry.
Caines casts the guests on the podcast. His number one criteria is to make sure they’ve had “an array of experiences” leading them to where they are now. As I navigate college, struggling to figure out what I want to do in the future, it’s reassuring to hear that a path that seems murky to me now might open up to unexpectedly bright opportunities.
Arnold Klein, senior director of digital marketing at Universal Pictures, first started by working at the Universal Studios Hollywood theme park in high school, where he was assigned to VIP talent. The relational skills he learned through his high school internship now help him manage talent and influencers.
Caines said he hoped Klein’s experience, among others, conveyed the importance of picking up transferable and soft skills for those looking to break into film.
“If you’re freelancing, be curious. Be a sponge. Learn everything you can on the gig that you’re on, and trust that you will rely on that skill at some point,” Caines said.
The podcast dives into the nuanced backstories of directors like Chu and Chris Sanders of “The Wild Robot.” However, it also aims to highlight different, lesser-known roles within the film industry, including roles in business or television and streaming. Coley added that the podcast works to expand the idea of what a job in entertainment looks like. “There are other ways for you to be in this industry,” Coley said.
The podcast hopes to give students an idea of different roles that might act as stepping stones toward their goal, and introduce niche roles that might even end up as someone’s perfect fit.
I also enjoyed hearing Caines and Coley talk about their own winding paths to their current roles. An aspiring screenwriter in college, Caines started out in the banking industry, working in customer service at JPMorgan Chase. But by holding onto his love for entertainment and picking up transferable skills in his customer service position — notably, a “strong consumer point of view,” he said — he eventually joined the theatrical research department at Sony Pictures.
“What was in my soul as a storyteller, I get to do as a marketer,” Caines said. “As hard as the business is and will continue to be, it’s a lot easier if you love it.”
Similarly, Coley majored in business, but her career as a writer started through a few freelance writing gigs. One byline led to another, including coverage of the premiere of Spike Lee’s “BlacKkKlansman” at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, and eventually she became awards editor at Rotten Tomatoes and host of “Seen on the Screen.”
“I grew up very far away from Hollywood, so the audacity to hope for a career in entertainment is something that is very distant for a lot of people,” Coley said.
Although I don’t think Hollywood will be my first stop after college, I came away from the roundtable feeling inspired by stories of how each guest (and Caines and Coley) found their place in the entertainment industry. From her conversations with guests, Coley has noted one similarity among all their diverse and branching experiences.
“For the most part, [they] just started out as people who love storytelling,” Coley said.