We were lucky to catch up with Erica Mountain recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Erica , thanks for joining us today. What do you think Corporate America gets wrong in your industry? Any stories or anecdotes that illustrate why this matters?

In the entertainment industry, older executives lean on experienced, successful writers, directors and actors to invest in. These experienced professionals are less risky because executives use their past performance as a gauge for how successful their future projects might be. The first problem with this line of thinking is that a fresh idea normally comes from gaining a fresh perspective and a new voice is better able to bring a fresh perspective. Secondly, the entertainment is entering a brave new world…the same romantic comedies and “A list” actors are not bringing moviegoers to the theater and once tried and true storylines are falling flat at the box office so, resting on the same laurels is actually proving just as risky as investing in a new idea.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I was originally a professional dancer and I got my first break as a dancer in the first STEP UP movie. Though I had been writing musicals and performing in theater shows in high school and college, I fell in love with being on set. I love movies and I totally geeked out with this behind the scenes experience. I then moved to New York City and I got a job at the famous Broadway Dance Center Studio while I went to as many auditions as possible. After three years on that grind, I was poor, hungry and a little fed up with putting my body through the rigorous dance life. In fact, I was standing in snow while waiting to audition for Beyoncé when I thought back to STEP UP and the behind the scenes experience that I loved.
I wanted to be a part of the collaborative process without breaking an ankle every month…I also wanted to get out of the snow! So, ai dusted off some of my old musical and film scripts and I decided to apply grad school in Los Angeles.
I attended USC’s MFA screenwriting program so I could hone my craft and applied for every internship I possibly could so I could learn the lay of the land. The rest is history!

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I had to stop “pipe dreaming” and set realistic goals. The path as any creative professional is crooked, unclear and infuriatingly foggy. I would get a job offer as a Writer’s PA on a great TV show or an assistant at a top entertainment agency and instead of evaluating whether I could handle the long hours or whether I could afford my apartment on the salary, I would hear a little voice that said “take this job because you’ll have so many chances to talk to agents and one of them is bound to love your script and ask to rep you.” Now, of course it is always important to weigh the pros and cons of any opportunity but it is imperative to be realistic about the pros. It is quite the long shot to assume I will become a client of an agent that I’m assisting…similarly, now, I must be realistic about my writing career. Not every spec script I write will sell and not every outline and pitch I craft with a great producer will get purchased by a studio. Unlearning the “pipe dreaming” pitfall has helped me to cope with the reality of working as a creative professional through the ups and downs of this career.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

I would have to say that the best source of new clients has been my desire to get to know others in my industry without asking anything in return. Before moving to Los Angeles and beginning my career in the entertainment industry, I never realized the true importance of professional relationships. Now that I’ve been in this industry for ten years, I can look back and see that every job that I’ve received has come from professional relationships that I’ve maintained. Just being willing to talk to people or take a meeting to get to know someone new is such a beneficial practice as I might be able to help them down the road or vice versa.

Contact Info:

• Website: Ericamountain.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/erica.mountain/
• Facebook: Facebook.com/emountain/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emountain1/