pieces of business, that you may not necessarily
hear if you're just in one specific
position in an office. I think when you're an
assistant, you have a good opportunity to
be exposed to a lot of different sides of the
business. You can learn how things are
done and at what stage they're
done."
JULIE BUTCHCO, MUSIC CLEARANCE FOR
DREAMWORKS
Julie Butchco's introduction to the music
business came as a result of her high
school student government activities, when she
was assigned to hire bands and orga-
nize entertainment for school dances. Upon
entering the University of California at
Santa Barbara, she considered going into
entertainment law, but wasn't convinced she
wanted to be an attorney. "I just decided to
get a job in the industry and see if I liked
it." Resumes and interviews failed to produce
results, until a cousin was able to get
Butchco an interview with the producer
of
The Young and the Restless through
a
contact with one of the show's writers. The
interview was purely informational, as the
show had no openings, but did result in a
referral to a producer at Columbia Pictures
Television. After that interview she was hired
as an assistant in the television licensing
department.
After a few years in television licensing,
Butchco landed an assistant position in
film licensing. Not anticipating another move
quite so soon, it came as a surprise
when a friend called in 1996 to say he had
suggested her for a position at newly
created DreamWorks, and she was requested to
call Todd Homme for an interview.
CASE STUDY:
THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT THIS
JOB:
"All the paperwork that lingers on for months
on end, sometimes, after
a film is done. I wish things could be wrapped
up as quickly as they
are started."
THE BEST THING ABOUT THIS JOB:
"I love the feeling you get when you can
finally clear a song with an
artist or the songwriter. A song that your
director really wants and you
know it's going to be great for the film, but
it's a really hard clearance,
or it might be particularly expensive. Just
knowing that in the end,
you got the approval, and you got it at a price
that you thought was
fair, and you know that everyone was just
waiting for that song to
clear because they really wanted it in their
movie. It's a really great
feeling to know you helped."
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