We recently connected with Nicholas Bogner and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Nicholas thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. One of the most important things small businesses can do, in our view, is to serve underserved communities that are ignored by giant corporations who often are just creating mass-market, one-size-fits-all solutions. Talk to us about how you serve an underserved community.

I hope this is not interpreted incorrectly because I am using the meaning for “underserved’ in a different context than how most people would construe it. I am not talking about the economic disparity in our community, which is unfortunately only growing vaster.

As a talent/lit manager & producer, I am using the word “underserved” as those people in the entertainment industry that typically don’t have access to Hollywood executives, producers and even managers. I have worked hard to have an open door – through certain mentor programs – to what I like to call “emerging” writers who don’t have a famous last name to help them get a foot in the door.

As we’ve seen from shows like “American Idol” and “The Voice”, there is so much talent out there, but without the access of such shows, their “voices” just weren’t heard. That’s true of emerging writers, directors and actors too.
So I hope my openness (as well as many other people in my profession) encourages people from different walks of life and from different countries to remain positive that something can happen for them, presumably they have the actual talent, which of course is very subjective.

Nicholas, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I have worked in various aspects of the entertainment industry. I have worked on film sets, at a major agency and various top-notch production companies such as Mercury Douglas Entertainment (Michael Phillips and Michael Douglas) to Cruise Wagner Productions (Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner. I also worked on the buying side when I was a VP of Creative Affairs at Turner Network Television (TNT) for seven plus years. In addition, I have two produced screenwriting credits as well as several producing credits. Over the last decade, I have focused on management and to a lesser extent, Producing. Management is extremely fulfilling and seems to tick every box that I have worked in previously.

There are plenty of ups and down in the entertainment industry (no day is the same thankfully), but there is nothing more exciting than getting someone their first job and watching them blossom from that point on. Since I have been “in their shoes”, I also have a lot of empathy for the roller coaster career they have chosen.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I loved my job at TNT as a network executive for a flourishing company. We were part of the Time Warner empire for many years, but then the company had a financial setback after AOL purchased Time Warner circa 2001 or 2002.

I was a VP of Original Programming and worked on our expansive movie slate. We made around 12-15 movies a year and approximately 3-4 were under my supervision. But the merger and the 2008 economic downturn really hurt our company and the movie division was disbanded. My contract us up and had to move on.

At the time, there was a big disparity between tv and film – you did one or the other, so it limited the jobs that might have otherwise been available to someone like myself with my experience.

I got the rights to a huge property from a famous author. I managed to secure a huge movie star to the project as well as a very talented and seasoned director, but then the financing fell apart.

It was a challenging time for me, but a management opportunity magically appeared and I’ve been happily doing that ever since.

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

Quality, quality and quality have always been a mainstay for me throughout my career, regardless of what I was doing. I always worked for people with high integrity who did not cut corners and only treated everyone around them with the highest regard and kindness.

As a manager, I put my reputation on the line every single time I send out a script to the market or introduce one of my clients to industry people. So, I always maintain high quality. It does not mean that everything gets snapped up – after all, it is very subjective – but when I reach back out a second time, I typically get a warm receptive and a willingness to entertainment another project or client as the case may be.

Contact Info:

• Linkedin: Nicholasbogner
• Twitter: [email protected]

Image Credits

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