Yesterday I put on my “I’m A Mentor” clothes (I dressed like me, only a little more uppity), dropped blueberries down the front of my white tunic top while eating breakfast (like a boss), and waited through the morning until my meeting with the girl who wanted to meet with me about working in Entertainment. She called last week and I had no idea what to expect. What’s it like working in Entertainment? Good question.

It’s taken me two years to feel comfortable saying that I work in entertainment. Somehow now it feels less like an accident than it did last year. Somehow it feels more like I am really at home in this industry with it’s VIP passes and showcases since someone looked really carefully at my hodge podge of experience and said “That makes the most sense for us” – since instead of falling into a job, I really fought it out for one.

“What’s it like?”

She was a friend who was younger than me at high school, wanting reassurance before really committing to take the plunge.

“It’s…”

I thought about the first music producer I met who made open passes at me in meetings when I was 21, nearly reducing me to tears in front of my co-workers. The shouting matches in the other room that make a whole TV crew wince in sync. The sinking feeling of everything almost falling apart before delivery – where my stomach falls and I feel like I’m going to be sick, before being washed over by an eerie “do or die” calm. Feeling like you have super powers when you hold things together. Pitching. Knowing the right brand of down jacket a person should buy for winter movie shoots. Watching a show in the theatre from the lighting grid. Putting the final stamp of approval on a buy, or an ad mat, or an eBlast, or a myspace re-design. Picking up tickets at the Will Call and knowing you’re part of it. Hearing the audience gasp and applaud, and knowing you’re part of it. Being moved by something profound happening on stage, and knowing in some way you’re part of it.

After giving lots of ideas for websites and online portfolios to get in on projects, some thoughts on starting out and making connections, this was what I came up with:

“It’s hard.

You should try as many different sides of it that you can so you know what pace you like to work at. It’s hard, but… Producing something tangible is addictive.

I couldn’t imagine working in another field. Working in music is where I’m happiest – I’m really glad I found it.”

It’s funny how sometimes you say things before you realize how true they are.

{photo from photo.fm}