For The Record

The Slim Issue

Fall 2012

The premier sports and entertainment student publication at the University of Georgia

The average person associ-ates the film and enter-tainment industry with

one place: Hollywood, Cali-fornia. Anyone who hopes to make a career in filmmaking is expected to relocate to Los An-geles and try his luck against a million other wannabe movie stars just like him. What you probably didn’t know, how-ever, is that a new hotspot for filmmaking has emerged right here in Georgia thanks to state tax incentives and labor laws. Now if you hope to enter the film industry either in front of or behind the camera, you may not have to look much further than the city of Atlanta. Earlier this year, while most of us left Athens for spring break, major celebrities including Justin Timberlake and Clint Eastwood spent the week filming Trouble with the Curve at The Globe and other downtown locations. Last summer, the ensemble casts of What to Expect When You’re Expecting and American Re-union were spotted around Atlanta working on their re-spective films. The recent Foot-loose remake featured scenes shot in Acworth, Covington, and Senoia as well as metro Atlanta. These are just a hand-ful of recent films that have chosen the state of Georgia as the backdrop to their films, and at this point you may be asking yourself what would motivate filmmakers and actors based in

California to travel across the country to film a movie. For the answer, simply look at the story behind the production of the 2010 Miley Cyrus film The Last Song. Originally intended to be filmed and set in the beaches of North Carolina, the film’s pro-ducers identi-fied the beach-es of Tybee Island, Georgia as a suitable second choice for filming. The filmmak-ers ultimately decided not only to relocate production to Tybee Island but also rewrite the film to re-flect the change in setting. The deciding factor in the reloca-tion was Geor-gia’s recent Film, Televi-sion, and Digi-tal Entertainment Tax Credit, which refunds up to 30 percent of production expenses for films, television series, music videos, interactive games, and animated productions made in the state of Georgia. With this, The Last Song became the first film to be set in Tybee, and its production is credited with creating 500 summer jobs, $8 million in local revenue, and

$17.5 million in state revenue. The benefits to students aspiring to join the entertain-ment industry resulting from this tax credit program are numerous. These films fre-quently call for extras from the local area rather than attempt to transport extras from Cali-

fornia to Georgia, which opens a valuable door for inexperi-enced actors. Non-speaking background roles are an im-portant starting point for those seeking a career in acting, and these films frequently turn to Atlanta agencies specializing in extra placement, such as Extras Casting Atlanta and CL Cast-ing. UGA students can watch the upcoming movie The

New Georgia Policies Bring Hollywood Closer to Home

Photo Credit: ScreenCrave.com

Hunger Games: Catching Fire, to see members of the UGA Ballroom Performance Group in the background of a scene, as the film recently called for extras in the Atlanta area with ballroom dancing skills and cast a group of UGA students in the production. Students

hoping to work behind the scenes should pay attention to this influx of entertainment productions as well, as this tax credit produces jobs on the other side of the camera as well. Another benefit to aspir-ing entertainment professionals in Georgia comes in the form of labor laws. Though unions are most often associated with

manufacturing and physical labor-intensive careers, unions are also very prominent in the entertainment industry and govern the projects and work-ing conditions for member ac-tors and filmmakers. The most famous actors’ union in film is the Screen Actors Guild, or

SAG. Actors who join SAG are restricted to working on films and projects sanc-tioned by the union as long as they are within the union’s jurisdiction, and only SAG members are permitted to work on these projects. To become a SAG mem-ber, an actor must have achieved a certain amount

of experience or have worked on a SAG-approved project, but these projects are reserved for SAG members. This rule has served as a barrier to entry for many aspiring actors who flock to California or New York hoping to find their big break. Aspiring actors in Georgia, however, are in a sense exempt from this rule as Georgia is known as a “right-to-work”

state, meaning no employer can compel a worker to join a union, not even SAG. For this reason, films and television series produced in Georgia are not limited to only hiring SAG members, so non-SAG mem-bers can more easily acquire roles and experience to become eligible to join SAG in the fu-ture. Joining the actors’ union entitles an actor to certain benefits and working condition guarantees, but a novice actor in a right-to-work state is at an advantage when it comes to getting those first few roles to list on your resume.If you are interested in pursu-ing an acting career in film after graduation, don’t be dis-couraged by the daunting task of relocating to Los Angeles to compete with a horde of other Hollywood hopefuls. Your career may find its beginnings right here in Georgia.

By: Laura Revolinski

New Georgia Policies Bring Hollywood Closer to Home

Photo Credit: ScreenCrave.com

In the 2011-2012 season, less than 121,000 people attended the University of Georgia’s home basketball games. It was a rough season for the Bulldogs – they lost their starting players to the NBA and graduation and they were forced to start over with a promising, yet noticeably inexperienced, team. Attendance fell by nearly 10 percent from the previous season and the Bulldogs went 15-17 overall. The Lady Bulldogs had a bet-ter 2011-2012 season. They finished 22-9 overall, but their attendance for all home games barely scraped 60,000 people total.On the brink of the Bulldogs’ 2012-2013 men and women’s basketball sea-sons, the athletic association realized that they needed to increase dwindling game attendance, especially within the Athens community. On Oct. 12, 2012, University Union and the UGA Athletic Association hosted an event at Stegeman Coliseum called Basket-Bash. Union is UGA’s premier event coordinators. They are in charge of all Dawgs after Dark, movies at the Tate Theatre and concerts. Union also has a history of engaging the Athens com-munity, so it was a keen decision to partner with Union for this event. The goal of BasketBash, a pep rally which featured a half-court shot attempt for free tu-ition and a ton of prizes, was to increase the profile of the Georgia basketball teams by introduc-ing them to the student body and general Athens community in a fun and entertaining way. Over 3,000 people attended the event with 30% of the attendees being non-UGA residents.From the moment guests walked in, they were inundated with basketball. Guests surrounded the basketball court, watched the Georgia basketball players introduce themselves and even got the opportunity to view the Georgia basketball teams in action. From a business perspective, events can take a marketing plan to another level. For ex-ample, the NBA All Star Game is an annual event hosted by the National Basketball Association that includes a faceoff between the best players from the east and west coasts. Since the people get to choose the players in the game, it is a great way to engage fans. Cities that host the event also generate a lot of revenue and the NBA is able to garner new fans in these cities. The NBA created the All-Star Games because the president and the publicity director of the NBA wanted to generate interest in the NBA, which had fallen by the wayside due to the popularity of baseball in 1951. The NBA created this event for a similar reason University Union and the Athletic Asso-ciation hosted BasketBash. Both organizations wanted to increase popularity and viewership. Events can be costly, but they can also be rewarding.

By: Simone Banna

Photo Credit: Dawg Sports

BasketBash Aims To Increase Ticket Sales

Whether you are a sports fan or not, most people have been to an athletic event. At these events, you see the players taking their positions, a crowd cheering them on and some type of mas-cot running around. But do people ever look into the details? Who is running this game? From the music, to the commentators, to the sponsors, how beneficial are these elements to a sports event? The food, commercials, and giveaways are all made possible by those teams’ sponsors. First, we must understand what a sponsor is. It is defined as the provision of resources, (mon-ey, people, or equipment) by an organization directly linked to an event or activity in exchange for a direct association to that event or activity (Sandler and Shani, 1993). In other words, organizations provide event resources in hopes of exposure for their businesses or companies. Businesses and or-ganizations purposely put money aside for advertising. Sporting events are the largest and most popular way to advertise. Some companies and organizations use 13.9% of overall money for sports advertising. Major examples include: Sprite and the Slam Dunk Contest, Doritos and the Super Bowl, and UGA and Chik-fil-A. Speaking of our beloved University of Georgia, some of our sponsors include Papa Johns, McDonalds, Chik-fil-A, Texaco, and Raising Canes. In a small college town like Athens, Ga., advertis-ing at sporting events can attract almost half of the city’s popula-tion. Next time you are at a UGA basketball game, notice the free McDonalds and Raising Canes gift cards they give out or the Chik-fil-A coupons that resi-dence halls provide. However, food is not the only successful resource. Texaco provides free gas at our basketball games. Car companies are also just as popu-lar. The overall goal is to cre-ate more favorable outcomes for the organizations. This means an increase in profit and stock returns. The more advertising a company provides, the higher chances of attracting new cus-tomers. So the next time you go to a sporting event, look around ask yourself the question…… what company is gaining by provid-ing resources (money, people or equipment) for that event? When you answer this question, then you will really know who is running the game and growing their customer base at the same time.Sponsors.

By: Briana Belser

The Benefit of Being a Sporting Event Sponsor

Photo Credit: CSTV.com

Major vs. Independent: Fan Enthusiasm Diminishes the Impact of Major Labels The rush of excitement a fan receives once seeing their reflection on their favorite artist’s or band’s new album is priceless. The equivalent, in today’s terms, would be the anticipation a fan feels at 11:59pm waiting for the midnight iTunes release. That excitement and anticipation, mixed with happi-ness is what artists strive for, work for, and what up-and-comers are determined to get. Few at-tain this upper echelon, balanced, bundle of emotion, but the love of the art keeps artists going. How and when individuals get to this point in their careers is where the new-age argument begins: major label deal ver-sus an independentlabel deal. Despite the distinctive paths, the common goal remains clear. However, misconceptions arise where the general public believes the only way to prosper in the industry is through a major label deal. While the mainstream divulges more into the major players, there is a new sense of appreciation for the independent. As re-cent as mid-October, independent hip-hop artist Macklemore, in collaboration with Ryan Lewis, released their debut studio album, The Heist, sellingan impressive 78,000 records in the first

week. In comparison, Big Sean’s debut album Finally Famous this past year, sold 84,000 in the first week, with a major label backing.

October 17th, celebrating his win, Mackl-emore tweeted:

“The fact that a small group of people re-cording, mixing, editing videos, and ship-ping albums from a 500 sq foot room can push 78,000 first week is a testament to the fans. They are the ones that pushed this album, spread the word, and brought so much attention to what we do. The music industry is coming to a point where what big companies have on their agenda can’t

compete with what people want. You guys who sup-ported this album made is #2 on the Billboard charts. No budget, no cosigns, no radio department. Just people that connect and care about the art enough to buy

it, stand behind it and spread it amongst friends and family. 78,000 sold indepen-dently. I could have never dreamed this. Thank you all #sharkfacegang.” It truly is an ode to the indie fans. They are the ones that went out tothe stores and purchased the albums. They are the ones that go to the shows to support compositions they believe in. They are the ones that help elevate the artists to success. A major label might have a recognizable name and, sometimes, a greater impact on larger audiences, but ultimately a few thou-sand superficial fans of a major label artist will no longer suffice to propel that artist into success. The tables have turned, and now a handful of fans backing an indepen-dent artist are the major contributors to that artist’s popularity and financial success. Big companies can give the big ad-vances for artists to create their albums, they can develop these large marketing

“The fact that a small group of people recording, mixing, editing videos, and

shipping albums from a 500 sq. ft. room can push 78,000 first week is a

testament to the fans. “

strategies with the big budget they provide, but the way these artist’s connect withtheir fan bases is something that just cannot be mimicked. Like Macklemore’s Sharkgang, fans dictate the prosperity of the art and ulti-mately seal the artists’ fate concerning

career longevity, financial success, popular-ity, and many other factors which encom-pass an artists’ career. This is why major labels may have once been a major deal in the music industry, but now independent artists have the upper hand because of the undying support of their fans.

By: Kisan Patel

Men’s Sports More Lucrative than Women’s at UGA

Although football is the most expensive sport at the University of Georgia ($2 million), it is also the most lucrative ($68 million). It’s no surprise for university students. After all, UGA students pile into Sanford Stadium consistently and spend hours cheering for their foot-ball team. Somehow this fervor is missing from other sports at UGA, particularly women’s sports. As women continue to achieve parity in politics, jobs and education, it is remarkable that this equity is not reflected in UGA’s athletics. In fact, the gender inequity begins before college athletes even play their first games. The athletic association spends $1 million recruiting men’s teams and $500,000 recruiting women’s teams. Football has the highest total operating expenses ($5,992,981) while men’s basketball has the second highest ($848,498). Women’s basketball has the third highest ($651,570) and women’s equestrian had the fourth highest ($347,904). In fact, the total expenses of football and basketball surpass all other university sports. Albeit expensive, football and men’s basketball still bring in the most revenue. UGA football receives $74 million in revenue while UGA basketball receives $8 million in revenue. Women’s basketball, the third most lucrative sport, does not even scrap one million in revenue. Arguably, the women’s basketball team is known for being one of the best women’s basketball teams in the nation. The gymnastics team also continues to rank year after year. Still, these women’s sports are not generating the amount of money that the men’s teams are. But is it reasonable that football and basketball generate the most money since they swallow the bulk of the expenses? Fundamentally, if it weren’t for men’s basketball and football, the athletic association would probably be facing net losses. There is still no explanation for the disparities in income of men’s sports and women’s sports. To be fair, basketball and football are more popular sports. In fact, men’s baseball doesn’t bring in a lot of revenue. Undoubtedly, there could be something larger at play. Gen-der inequality continues to affect all aspects of life in the United States. Perhaps UGA students are less enthusiastic about female sports. Perhaps the athletic as-sociation does not market women’s athletics enough. Will there ever be a time where people pile into a women’s gymnastics game like they do for football games?

By: Simone Banna

entrepreneurs:

Students at Work

Being your own boss is the dream of many college stu-dents, especially when faced with the highly competitive job market. But a group of UGA students We talked to one of the founders, Darien LaBeach, to learn more about what drove them to start a business and the dif-ficulties of balancing student life with being a business owner.

FTR: Tell us about the Society of Greater Things. What is your primary service, and who are your clients?DL: The Society of Greater Things is a video production company providing high-caliber video services to our clients. Our clients are people or organizations that find themselves in need of a video. Some clients we currently have and others we’ve worked with in the past include busi-nesses, individuals looking for wedding videos, and – our

biggest clients – sororities. FTR: How did you and/or your friends decide to start a business? And how did you decide to get into the video production industry?DL: I’ll answer the second part first. SGT originated from a few friends getting together and bonding over a camera. David, Robbie, and I had experience with making vid-eos before we came to college, and our freshman year we had some fun making funny shorts with a few guys on our hall. We entered a film in the Cam-pus Movie Fest film competi-

tion where stu-dents are tasked with mak-ing a 5 min-ute short in film in one week. In short, our

film was terrible (laughs). Our video was called Palin-drome, and we had the great idea to film half a movie and then just play it forwards and in reverse. It was a cool idea that we didn’t implement very well.After that, we made a few more films and entered them into a film festival my friend Justin Blyden started at Ciné called The V.H.S., or The Vid-

eographer’s Hella-Big Show. Back then, the contest was monthly, and as a group we won a few times and enjoyed what we were doing. One day, Justin messaged me on Facebook asking what I thought about having my own show. He was moving to Atlanta but didn’t want to see The V.H.S. die here in Athens. I talked to the guys I made films with, and we all decided that it would be a cool project and wanted to make it even more legitimate. First, we thought about mak-ing The V.H.S. a non-profit organization but when that didn’t work we just kind of said, “Why don’t we just start a business?” It was something a few of us had talked about some time before but didn’t know what to do. It was one of those things where we said, “You hear about these people who talk about how they start-ed a business in college, we’re in college, why haven’t we done that?” So our business was related to the event (The V.H.S.) that we wanted to put on but it also gave us a way to make money doing what we were passionate about and an immediate way to have our business reinvest in our com-munity. We’re a collective, a group, a society. We’re pas-sionate about what we do.FTR: How much planning did you do before officially open-ing for business, like drafting a business plan, laying out the articles of organization, etc?DL: The amount of time spent planning was about 3 months

but it was a very nonconven-tional process. The business plan was technically a work in progress. Our main goal was simply to put on a film festival, so that was where we focused most of our efforts. After our first two shows, we had a retreat in the mountains where we hashed out what we wanted to do and how we wanted to tackle it. We spoke to a couple of people also who owned their own businesses to get some insight as well. Spencer was the point man for figuring out all that we need-ed to do paperwork-wise since his father owned his own business and helped us figure out what we needed to do. FTR: Tell us about your quar-terly film fest. How does it relate to SGT’s operations?DL: The V.H.S. provides ama-teur, auteur and professional filmmakers with the opportu-nity to showcase their work on the big screen. From its inception, The V.H.S. came to be due to the recognition of a schism between the talent and the business interest in Athens. Through sponsorship of business interest, the show also gives artists exposure to people and organizations who could use their [video pro-duction] services. One of the hardest things to get as a film-maker is exposure for your project. Athens being such a great incubator for the arts, we wanted film and video to flourish here as well. Since then, we have implemented another award for filmmak-ers called the Judge’s Choice. Based on the expertise of three

judges from the Athens com-munity, University of Georgia film department, and Grady School of Journalism and Mass Communication, they provide insight for filmmakers about why their film does well and how they can do better. One thing that we will be unveiling at our next show is the Judge’s Roundtable. Winners of the Judge’s Choice and People’s Choice awards, along with other filmmakers, will have the opportunity to sit and talk with judges about their work, what was good what wasn’t and how they can better their work in the future. The V.H.S. is not just about the filmmak-ers but the audience as well. We try to make sure that the audience who has come to love the show is getting to watch the highest caliber vid-eos as well.FTR: The next film fest will be November 28th. What is the process of organizing and promoting the festival?DL: To have a festival it only takes two things: films and an audience. As long as we have those we have a show. But I guess realistically in order to get those things it takes a little bit more. We identify every-thing that we need for each show and then delegate who will take care of what aspects. For a while, we all had our hands in every aspect neces-sary to make the show a suc-cess. At first, we used a list of emails for artists who had submitted films to the festi-val in the past and contacted them directly. It was time consuming but the personal

touch helped us out as we were making the transition to us being the new faces of the show. We didn’t use paper promotions until a few shows later and they have helped. We have had our DJ announce it on his radio show through WUOG, and we have talked to classes. However, Facebook events and Twitter have been our main promotional tools. Now, we have one member of our team Alex Sheridan, Di-rector of The V.H.S., head the planning and organizing of the festival. She single-hand-edly identifies what needs to be done at by what timeline to make the show a success. But honestly, the best promo-tional tool is simply word of mouth. That just means that our mouths have to work on overdrive when comes festi-val time comes around and she gets the team going. She contacts Ciné about the dates and times for the show, and ensures that we have prizes ready and judges. She’s great. FTR: Would you say that be-ing a full-time college stu-dent has been an advantage or a disadvantage with re-gards to running a business?DL: Being a full-time college student has been an advan-tage to a certain point that it has given us a uniqueness that not many other business owners have. Plus, it gives us a fresher outlook on ideas and problems that we face coupled with the fact that everything is new for us so we have no cynicisms or reservations to try something.

Continued..

However, a disadvantage for us is that we do not have as much time as we might like to devote to the business operations or growth & expansion of SGT. Thankfully, the way most of our work goes we do not need to have daily staff meetings nor do we have operating ex-penses so we can balance our school work and other extracurricular activities while balancing our business. FTR: How do you plan to continue operating your business after graduation?DL: We are currently engaged in UGA’s Next Top Entrepreneur Program where we are com-peting to win a $100,000 investment in our company from GIB investors. If that happens, it would provide us with the necessary capital to step into full time roles with our company and really push forward with expansion and new projects. Since we do not have any oper-ating costs like office space with our business there are certain things that we don’t have to worry about. But with an investment that size, it is something we would like to “worry” about. FTR: What has been the most satisfying mo-ment since you began The Society of Greater Things?DL Since we began SGT, I would say that the most satisfying moment would be when we learned that when the video we made for Al-pha Chi Omega to use during their sorority

rush was played, girls were so emotional that they were brought to tears. [This was satisfy-ing] not because we made some girls cry of course, but because we knew that we had captured their story and the emotions that they had wanted to share with the girls they wanted to join their sorority. That’s all we are after all--storytellers. FTR: What advice would you give a fellow college student considering starting his or her own small business?DL: If you’re looking to start your own busi-ness just do it! There is nothing stopping you. Sure, if you’re a business student or have taken economics you learn about barriers to entry etc. but if you have a good idea then there is someone somewhere who wants to see it suc-ceed. The most obvious reason why would be the fact that they would also be able to share in your success. If you think you have a good idea, figure out what you need to do to make it work and then go and do that. But also, don’t fall in love with it to the point that you can’t walk away or you forget why you started the business in the first place. If you know what you’re doing, what you want to do and have a good team – no one can do everything on their own, no one! – then you’ll be in good shape! Cheers!

By: Laura Revolinski

It is every basketball players dream to walk across that stage in New York City and shake David Stern’s hand. Something about those ex-traordinary players stood out from others across the world. Very few basketball players from high school to professional athletics. Most start off on the collegiate level and have to fight their way to the top. That still does not promise success. Out of all the players who came through the Univer-sity of Georgia, only fourteen have gone on to the NBA and ABA. With basketball season finally upon us, here is an inside look at what these men must do to make it to the top. Every high school has that one athlete who stands out from the rest of his team-mates. It is easy for that athlete to not bring your “A” game every night, but still succeed and be the leader of your team. People from all over come and watch this one individual dominate the floor and say “He is the next big thing.” Take five of those same exact athletes and put them on one college team. Who is the leader now? It is a lot harder to stand out on the collegiate level. Everyone is just like you. It is all up to that athlete mentally to set himself apart from his teammates. One must have that competitive edge and say “I want to be better than the rest.” Not only must he say that, but he has to prove it. He must be willing to stay after practice and work on his game: study film, eat healthy, and increase his basketball IQ. These are just a few examples of what will set one par-ticular player apart from the rest and ensure that he consistently shows up in the game. All these ingredients will equal to high player statistics and a legion of scouts behind any particular player.

Athletes must consider themselves a brand. Marketing should become their middle name. How you play during the season is just a small fraction of what scouts are looking for in a player and March Madness is when it really counts. These athletes are facing their toughest competition and it is so easy to crack under pres-sure. Not only are scouts looking at their perfor-mance on the court, but how they carry them-selves off the court is just as important. Being the best has consequences. People are looking up

to you. No team wants to deal with controversy or a hot head. It is im-portant to stay focused on the main goal. All of this hard work will fi-nally lead to success. Draft day could be your day. Of course there are other alternatives. The NBA has the Development League for future po-tentials as well as try outs and sum-

mer league. Lastly, playing overseas is always an option. Either way, these men are more than just student-athletes. This is their job. They are mar-keting themselves to create a future and fulfill their overall goal: going from college to the NBA. By: Briana Belser

From College to the NBA

Photo Credit: tailgatereview.com

StaffEditor In Chief: Erica Nichole Kennon

Managing Editor: Laura Revolinski

Sports Editor: Simone Banna

Sports Writer: Briana Belser

Music Editor: Kisan Patel

Contactfor.the.record.staff@gmail.com

The Summit 2013 is PESA’s third annual conference, inspired by the Harvard Business School African American Alumni Association’s Leadership Summit, with panels and workshops that

discuss business trends and issues within the entertainment and sporting industries.

March 4th, 2013