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Seize Any Opportunity to Apply Your Craft
Last Friday I attended a gathering of The Los Angeles Film School’s Program Advisory Committees. As a member of the Game Production Department’s PAC, I had been called in for a presentation about the school’s recent developments as it was readying to have its accreditation renewed.
During the presentation, we were reminded that the LA Film School was celebrating 14 years in Hollywood, on Sunset Boulevard across the street from the famed Cinerama Dome movie theater. The graduating classes last year were their largest in its history, and the school was inaugurating its Bachelor of Science degree in Entertainment Business.
Of course, I was more interested in developments with the Game Production program. The school offers an Associate of Science Degree in Game Production, with the goal of providing students with a solid foundation for pursuing a career as entry level producers, level designers, QA testers and game designers.
After the presentation, we broke up into smaller meetings between each department’s advisory committee members and faculty members. With the recent news about the widespread layoffs at Zynga’s Los Angeles office, I asked whether graduating students were having any difficulty in finding jobs. As it turns out, Game Production graduates have had no problems getting work at the big local publishers such as Activision and Disney.
However, there aren’t enough jobs at the big publishers for every graduating student, yet all of them have their sites set on working on the next Call of Duty and won’t take any lesser opportunities. Of course, we older folks knew how volatile the game industry is, and that there are many opportunities beyond the developing the types of games that the students tend to play. In fact, there are big opportunities now in gamification for business and training, as well as game-based learning in education.
I reminded the faculty that I had hired two of their graduating students as producers at my last company, a “mom and pop” outfit located in far-flung Rolling Hills Estates that primarily develops marketing-oriented casual games for the AAA publishers, and now they are producing Mickey Mouse and Skylander games.
The advice that I suggested they pass along to their students is that they seize any opportunity to practice their craft, because one never knows where that opportunity will eventually lead them. I got in the industry by working for a “garage operation” when I graduated from college, and now, years later, here I was advising a college on how to produce games.
E3: The Gang’s All Here!
Last week I made my annual visit to the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), the big trade fair in Los Angeles for the computer and video games industry presented by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA). Unlike other video game trade fairs that are open to the public, E3 is an exclusive, industry-only event. Persons who apply to attend must provide proof that they have some professional connection to the electronic entertainment industry. In my own case, I scanned and emailed the proper credentials to the E3 folks weeks prior, and my badge was waiting for me at the door when I arrived at 8am on Wednesday. Unfortunately, it was a busy week for me, and I had only one day to attend the show this year.
My interest wasn’t so much in seeing the latest games — although I did manage to visit every booth, large and small, in the North and West Halls and waited in line to attend demonstrations of some of the bigger games — as it was in meeting up with old friends and colleagues. I wasn’t disappointed. Very soon I ran into a a group of my former coworkers from Jet Morgan Games, and we spent a few minutes catching up. Later on, I also ran into old colleagues from THe 3DO Company.
My boss from Say Design was at the show that day, and he sent me a text message to meet up with him that the L.A. Marriott down the street for some business meetings. When I arrived at the Marriott, I found the place even more packed than the convention hall. As I wound my way through the hotel lobby and bar, I ran into my old boss from 3DO, a client for whom I had done some consulting, and a former colleague from Spin Master. They were all there conducting meetings, and some had not even stepped foot into the convention center yet. This is where all the Cool Kids were.
Eventually I met up with my boss. After a couple of hours of meetings, we decided to head out to the parties. First up was the Women In Gaming International (WIGI) party, which no less of an authority than Forbes describes as “one of the most popular E3 after parties”. I’ve attended the WIGI party at both E3 and GDC every year, and I’ve found it to be consistently the best party to attend.
This year did not disappoint. I ran into a fellow LA Film School Program Advisory Committee member as well as members of the schools faculty, and we talked long into the evening. I somehow lost my boss and never did make it to any of the other parties. But it was worth it to strengthen some of my existing connections for some things we may be working together on in the future.
If you are attending a game industry trade show for the first time, here’s my advice to you:
- Find out ahead of time where all the parties are — you can usually find out from the event’s official website or Facebook page — and RSVP for as many as you can.
- Hang out at the bar of the event’s “official” hotel. That is where all the people you are probably most interested in meeting are hanging out.
David Mullich 