We recently connected with Dante Rusciolelli and have shared our conversation below.

Dante, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Has Covid resulted in any major changes to your business model?

COVID-19 changed the entertainment industry overnight. It was a shock to our system. We all have done things a certain way for a very long time. When Covid hit none of us knew how long this will last or if any of us were going to live, let alone work again.

Many agencies and production companies went out of business during this time. We were very lucky to make it through. We had to learn how to do business in other ways. Nothing was filming so we couldn’t even get our clients auditions. We figured out how to get our celebrities and influencers paid sponsorship deals. That was never our focus before but it became a big part of our revenue even today

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am the co-owner of Golden Artists entertainment with my wife Rebekah Kochan.

She and I are both stand-up comedians, writers, actors and directors. For 37 years I have done stand up all over the world and on television. Even though I run this company I am still on the road doing my shows from Las Vegas to Egypt. I have a very loyal fan base and most of my shows sell out

10 years ago my wife and I were writing for Joan Rivers on the TV show Fashion Police. I was directing movies and commercials for different companies all the time. One day my wife said to me “Why are we doing all of this work for everyone else when we are the talented ones? Why don’t we start our own company?” She is so much smarter than me. This is why I love her. We started Golden Artists Entertainment. We are a production company that makes movies and documentaries. We are also a booking agency that specializes in stand-up comedy, brand sponsorships and more. And we have a management department, where I manage 70 clients currently. Many of our clients are household names, some have Academy Awards, Emmys and Golden Globes.
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Has your business ever had a near-death moment? Would you mind sharing the story?

After we came out of Covid the entertainment industry went right into a year-long strike between the actors and the writers. It was like going from the frying pan and directly into the fire. We were all so happy to be back to work and then this happened. Again this strike put a lot of companies out of business. Again we had to adapt. We had to downsize and get rid of some employees. Because of this my partner/wife and I had to learn all of their jobs. It actually made us stronger and better. We no longer had to rely on others to do things for us. After learning their jobs, their jobs became obsolete. We also had to take a look at what we were spending as a company and try to downsize that as much as possible. It worked. Lastly we had over 250 clients and we decided to cut most of them and just keep the most viable. We would not have done this had we not been through Covid and a strike. However this made our company so much stronger!

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Our reputation in this business is very good. This is a very cutthroat business, however I stand out. I don’t lie, cheat or steal and I am very open about everything. I’m trying to change our business and it’s working. I believe that when good people all get together they can do good things.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.goldenartistsentertainment.com/
• Instagram: @Dantethecomic
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dantethecomic/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dante-rusciolelli-850b06143
• Twitter: @DanteTheComic
• Youtube: @Dantethecomic2522