The LMU College of Business prepares its finance students to meet the business community’s needs with a unique and innovative Entertainment Finance course. LMU is the only school in Los Angeles teaching entertainment finance to finance majors; other schools only teach it to film students.
In its third year, LMU’s entertainment finance course is helping both students and entertainment industry executives by providing qualified applicants to fill entry-level positions – a challenge according to hiring managers. In fact, entertainment industry professionals are so keen about LMU’s entertainment finance course that many have committed to participate in its mentor project. Federico San Martin, Vice President of Global Consumer Products at The Jim Henson Co., noted “What a great opportunity to be able to help students meet and interact with professionals in the Entertainment industry. As a former alumnus of Loyola Marymount University, I wish I had the opportunity to participate in a program like this.”
The mentor project gives students at least one friendly point of contact in the entertainment finance world and develops students’ knowledge of the local entertainment industry landscape. “It is so hard for undergraduates to network with working professionals because the students feel like they have nothing to contribute to the relationship,” said David Offenberg, who teaches the course. “Thankfully, we have a terrific group of mentors who get a lot out of the experience and really look forward to helping the students get their foot in the door.”
All of the mentors for Spring 2016 are LMU alumni, including executives from a wide range of companies in the Los Angeles entertainment space:
- Entertainment Partners
- 20th Century Fox
- The Jim Henson Co.
- LATV
- Lionsgate
- Live Nation
- Netflix
- Paramount Pictures
- Sony Pictures
- Three Point Capital
- Universal
If you are interested in participating as a mentor, please contact Professor Offenberg at David.Offenberg@lmu.edu.