New seminar examines entertainment industry
The Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies will offer a new seminar in entrepreneurship in the spring focused on the entertainment industry. The two-unit course will expose students to multiple aspects of the field and provide them with the tools necessary to establish their own successful venture.
Adjunct Professor Michael Napoliello of the Marshall School of Business hopes to attract students from different departments and schools within USC. He has designed the course to encompass various facets of the entertainment industry, including cinema, music and sports. By recruiting a diverse group of students, Napoliello aims to encourage cross-collaboration and facilitate engaging class discussions.
“The class is not just for business school students,” Napoliello said. “By having a mix of entertainers and specialists and business people and entrepreneurs, we hope to create some exciting synergies.”
Napoliello, a producer at independent production company Radar Pictures, will teach students the fundamentals necessary to succeed within the dynamic, fast-paced climate of the entertainment industry. Students will analyze trends throughout history and learn how to respond to modern-day challenges in the digital age.
“Some of the things we’re going to discuss is how to anticipate next steps, when next steps are always so important,” Napoliello said. “We are going to try to understand the future, but we’re also going to look for the timeless values that make people in the entertainment industry successful.”
Napoliello said the seminar is pertinent to USC students because of the university’s strategic location within Los Angeles. The course will feature a field trip and guest lectures from people involved in diverse aspects of the industry, such as marketing, production and sales.
“We have access to the most important people and places in the entertainment industry, and we are going to take advantage of that,” Napoliello said.
The director of the Greif Center, Helena Yli-Renko, proposed the idea for the course in response to student demands.
“We get a lot of students from across campus who are excited to do something entrepreneurial in the entertainment field,” Yli-Renko said. “It was a coming together of student demand and a really terrific faculty resource that enabled us to offer this really unique new opportunity for students.”
Though the majority of students who pursue seminars in entrepreneurship are non-business majors, Yli-Renko said the course will attract more arts students than in semesters past.
Napoliello described the entertainment industry as one of mavericks and innovators, an ideal environment for newcomers and professionals alike to learn and develop new ideas.
“Entertainment entrepreneurship is one area where we’re all figuring it out as we go along, everyday, students included,” Napoliello said. “Ultimately, the entertainment industry is a really exciting place to learn entrepreneurship because it’s been entrepreneurial from day one, is entrepreneurial today and will continue to be entrepreneurial.”