Open Spaces

After a successful “pilot” of a programme launched in 2019 with Leeds Beckett University's module team for Live Event Coverage, where students interviewed entertainment industry professionals from around the world, The Actors’ Post is back at it again in 2021!

Over the coming days, 9 brilliant and accomplished artistes in their areas of expertise will be featured by a new cohort of talented students from the module. The students and artistes are currently in the midst of a schedule with interviews underway and managed by the students themselves. During these sessions, they will get to test their researching, interviewing and video editing skills, producing a 1-2 minute promo video of their randomly allocated artistes, which will contribute to their assessment grades.

A couple of weeks ago, Alister Albert, the Founder and CEO of The Actors’ Post got an early Easter treat.

After being introduced at the March 2021 meeting for the Board of Trustees of the Barnsley Civic Enterprise (BCE) Limited, he was officially invited by the BCE’s current CEO Helen Ball (on behalf of the Board), to be brought into the team as a fellow Trustee.

After considering several nominations submitted over the last weeks and months, the judging panel at Corporate Live Wire’s, regional Prestige Awards (for the Leeds and West Yorkshire area), selected The Actors’ Post as winner of Media Start Up of the Year. After whittling down the submissions to an enviable shortlist of 5 companies, The Actors’ Post was chosen for this year’s honours. Winners of all categories will be announced officially by Corporate Live Wire’s Press team in due course as they wrap up and confirm all entries and winners.

My initial idea of what 2020 would be as a new year, with all its hope and the meant-to-be broken resolutions every calendar-flip brings, started out with a chat in a WhatsApp group with two of my closest buddies in December 2019. We joked around saying that the advertising tagline “2020 Vision” was going to be woefully overused as companies peddled their products and services, while professing it’s “clear to see” they would be the right choice for our hard earned money.

Whilst juggling work as a Business Analyst alongside being an Actor and Writer, I’ve learned quite a few methodologies, tools and techniques used to analyse, improve and assess businesses, their processes and how to make their operations more efficient. As creatives however, we’re constantly told by our agents/representatives, other self-help platforms, motivational speakers and careers advisors that managing yourself effectively and in a “business-like manner,” is one of the best ways to climb the personal, professional and more importantly (to this website) the entertainment industry ladder.

We are currently in a time where individuality, standing out and achieving notoriety and success has subconsciously and blindly become the carefree obsession of the youth and the preoccupation of the older generation, who are motivated to achieve the lives they never had. However, whilst we are driven and distracted by these modern “ideals,” undertones of the social ills that plagued the 1950’s, 60’s (and beyond) are still prevalent in this world today…Even as we get ready to flip our calendars to 2020.

With the release of video footage of the 12 interviews of global entertainment industry professionals around the corner, The Actors’ Post got some very welcomed news after it learnt that the Live Event Coverage module it worked alongside was nominated for “Best Module” at Leeds Beckett University’s end of year Golden Robes awards.

Over the last 3 weeks, the Founder of The Actors’ Post Alister Albert, has been coordinating the completion of interviews of 12 entertainment industry  professionals who are based all over the world, to be conducted by the next generation of media talents. Negotiating availability with individuals as far north as Canada, in warmer, tropical regions as Saint Lucia and as far east as Indonesia and China, Alister has been working on developing a project and partnership that would be beneficial to all those involved.

On the evening of the 53rd edition of the always electric Super Bowl Sunday, I sat thinking about the countless reports linked to the National Football League’s poster boy Tom Brady and his improbable streak of success that has spanned his 18-year professional career. Vying for his unprecedented 6th Super Bowl title, in his 9th overall appearance in the American Football final is an unbelievable feat! (Just a heads up, numbers and their perceived importance will play a part later on in this piece!). Brady’s status as an all-time great championship Quarterback and leader is unquestionably secure. Many around the world regard him as the G.O.A.T - greatest of all time - at the Quarterback position or arguably, the best player who ever lived and played this game…period! A win on this day (which was accomplished after the time of this writing) would put him, his coach and team, the New England Patriots, in rarefied air; tying him and them with the Pittsburgh Steelers as the winningest entities in the history of the sport to win 6 Super Bowls.

The Actors’ Post and Leeds Beckett University’s School of Computing, Creative Technologies and Engineering have partnered to deliver a unique, innovative and multi-faceted opportunity for students to engage with an external business client, whilst learning key employability and professional skills.

What does the Dan LeBatard Show with Stugotz (hereafter the Show) and the project management framework, Agile Project Management (APM) have in common? Furthermore, how does this relate to artistes and creatives and their approach to their craft and development within the entertainment industry? I'll give you a few seconds to think it through.

Most people, in the western hemisphere generally, went to bed on the night of September 6th, 2017 with the name of another female on their mind.