Bill Draper Forum

                  

                This forum was a very unique experience to become more acquainted with the media-arts lifestyle through a business related viewpoint. Bill Draper, production manager at Warner Bros, spent two hours with us, detailing his history and “lucky” rise to success in his field of work, and several different tips to help us during our journey. One of his most prominent themes, of course, was the focus on how competitive this job is, and that the Hollywood lifestyle is not for everyone. Overall this was a great opportunity to meet a top-level production manager, and get some insight into what awaits us after graduation in that almost-imaginary place often called “the real world.”

                 

              Bill's specific history, as he explained, was one very, very blessed and lucky. He was lucky enough to get into BYU, and later one of the 8 students selected for their BFA in theatre and film. He originally didn't want to do film studies, and was studying business, until a friend suggested a fine arts class that captured his attention and pushed him to change majors. His experience in business was one of the attributes that he explained greatly helps in his line of work; having a background in business is a good attribute in the film industry. After working for Disney, he bounced around several companies, and was eventually offered a job at Warner Bros where he steadily rose, and has been there for 19 years.

               

              His lifestyle is very busy, and he is always working to the point where even on vacation, the phone calls are still constant. He explained that film industry jobs are competitive, to the extent that if he died today, there would be someone at his desk by monday. He also said that there is no “route” to success, that there are many different ways to go about it, but that the most important elements to have are talent, and hard work. Hollywood doesn't care about color, position, etc—they care about talent, and the ability to deliver. Bill expressed the importance in going to Hollywood prepared with an “arsenal” of material, that you know back and forth, both ready to be confident about presenting it, and ready to accept when others tear it apart. Seems like a fun road ahead.