All it took was one final project to throw a Senior Project Manager over the edge. One morning, after brushing her teeth and prepping her lunch, she took a hard look in the mirror and said *&&hat;%$ it and rage quit, throwing away her white collar life to be reborn as a dirty, dirty creative person!
Goodbye Bagel Fridays, whiteboard schematics and stand up meetings! Hello indie stages, horrible auditions, low pay and bleeding for your art even if you can't eat!
But said Senior Project Manager couldn't turn off her organizational brain when she entered the theatrical world. Despite the thrill of being being bathed in the spotlight of the stage, the tragic climax of horrible production management, hiring fickle talent and screaming personalities reminded her of her past cubicle life...just without the calendar alerts.
From Boardroom to Blackbox: A Project Management Primer For Actors, Producers and New PMs is an easy to read book geared to educate artistic, non white collar people to learn good organization practices and personal branding while being comical about it.
If you're a new actor that wants to learn some technological tips, and branding advice, to further your career, this book is for you.
If you are a producer who can't wrap your head around the concept of organizing a budget, scheduling a show or firing difficult talent in a respectable manner, this book is for you.
Finally, if you're a new project manager and you have no idea what you're doing (neither did I when I first started), then this book is for you! You'll get golden nuggets like the following:
“Scrum is like the CrossFit of project management: douchebags brag about it but it rarely does anything long term. The term 'Scrum' was taken from a formation in Rugby where a whole bunch of sexy, determined athletes form a huddle to gain possession of the ball.
So some dudes thought it would be cool if software could be developed like said game; small groups, quick turnaround and software that works. Huzzah!”
From Boardroom to Blackbox: A Project Management Primer For Actors, Producers and New PMs is a book meant to be a humorous, endearing, inspiring and an easy way to get the reader's feet wet about being organized from a business perspective, all while telling it like it is. Organization is hard, but when done right, and with a laugh, it can bring longevity to any career be it artistic or corporate.
Kate 'Kano' Bassett is a former Senior Project Manager who used to work for companies like Microsoft, Electronic Arts, Fox, Turner Television and various Silicon Valley Startups. Now, she's gone native, writing wonderfully horrible books, coding kitschy mobile games and throwing dudes around in jiu jitsu class. She is currently trying not to be bitter!
