Story by James Bradicich
Photos by Lori Craig
Warner Bros. Television Group President Bruce Rosenblum spoke about his journey from law student to entertainment executive before an audience of USC Law students, faculty and staff at an event hosted by the Entertainment Law Society March 5.
After graduating USC with a bachelor’s in accounting and receiving his J.D. from UCLA Law School, Rosenblum’s career was jump-started when, during law school, he accepted a job as a tour guide at Universal Studios.
“It was my first introduction to the entertainment business,” Rosenblum said. “As a tour guide, I quickly recognized how much television impacts people.”
Originally, Rosenblum was set on becoming a tax lawyer and as an undergraduate at USC, he took as many tax-related courses as he could. However, he eventually realized his heart lay in a more creative industry. Since Rosenblum did not have a great deal of prior experience, he started at a small entertainment firm, for which he credits a great deal of his industry aptitude. At the firm, he was quickly partnered with his mentor, Ernie Del.
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| Bruce Rosenblum |
After working at the firm for some time, Rosenblum decided that being a lawyer was not his true calling. He noticed that some of his friends were working at studios and he was able to land a job at Lorimar Television as a director of business affairs, taking a pay cut in the process. However, he knew it was the right decision.
“Working at Lorimar gave me the opportunity to work outside of law, but at the same time use my law and business backgrounds,” Rosenblum said. “It’s negotiation, it’s making deals with actors, directors and producers. You get the ability to interact with people on the creative side of the business and it really helps structure business relationships without having to think as much about the legal implications.”
Rosenblum said he had no “lucky break;” rather, he took the initiative to handle business affairs for first-run syndication, animation and domestic distribution. The skills and experience he acquired from these jobs were invaluable to his success.
“The more I learned different parts of the business, the broader my palette became,” Rosenblum said. “Take opportunities to learn even if you think they’re below you and still say yes. It will give you opportunity for growth and people will see that when it’s time to move up.”
Warner Bros. acquired Lorimar in 1989, making Rosenblum an official Warner Bros. employee. He was subsequently promoted to run the Warner Bros. Television Group in September 2005. Rosenblum credits his degrees in accounting and law as imperative to his success as an executive.
“I’m not currently a business affairs executive or a lawyer, but I am overseeing six to seven groups of businesses and these businesses have their own business affairs people and lawyers,” Rosenblum said.
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| Bruce Rosenblum answering questions |
Switching topics from his personal road to success to current television trends, Rosenblum noted the growing importance of television in the entertainment industry.
“People are now seeing TV as a business which makes a lot of money and that has a lot of diverse career paths,” Rosenblum said.
Due to changing consumer preferences, major networks have had to change their business strategy. The same consumer who used to watch shows on the television screen have now switched to Hulu, Amazon, Netflix, mobile phones, tablets and laptops. Now, the problem facing networks is how to continue monetizing the shows on these various video streaming platforms.
“People watch more than five hours of TV a day,” Rosenblum said. “However, this also means that people are watching their DVRs and On-Demand.”
This poses a problem for advertisers who are paying considerable amounts of money for 30-second broadcast spots. Rosenblum noted that a strategic way to continue advertising a product is to utilize product integration in the respective shows’ plot line. By doing this, the brand is assured the consumer has direct exposure to the product being advertised. With the changing climate of the industry, Rosenblum gave the audience sound advice on how to become acquainted with the industry.
“If you want to get into this business, read Variety Online, Deadline Hollywood, Hollywood Reporter Online,” Rosenblum said. “You need to know what you want to do in the business and the more you read and understand about the current state of our business, the more equipped you will be to enter our business in whatever role you ultimately choose.”
Rosenblum was recently elected Chairman and CEO of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
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