Years ago I was working on a TV pilot in NYC as the entertainment news reporter. Behind the scenes I worked in production and was responsible for getting sponsorship for the show. When my boss told me to go out and get sponsors, I had no idea what to do. So I literally walked door to door in our NYC neighborhood, asking small businesses to sponsor the show through products, services and cash.

TV Pilot Sponsorship

I was so naive, but had so much enthusiasm for the project, that I ended up funding a good portion of the TV show through sponsorships. Years later when I moved to L.A. to continue an acting career, I realized it wasn’t going to be as easy as I thought. After struggling and working many low paying jobs to survive, I remembered the sponsorship I had done in NY and thought maybe I should give it a try.

Theater Sponsorship

The first project I did was a six week run of a play. I found a small ad agency who was willing to pony up $60,000 for a sponsorship deal. In return I was to get them a star-studded cast, lots of publicity, and a star studded premier party. I pulled it off beautifully and never went back to tending bar and waiting tables again. Yes, sponsorship does take a lot of work initially, but it pays WAY better than bartending. AND you get to cast yourself in any part you want. You get to make a living as an artist!

Now I want to teach other artists the tricks I learned along the way about how to make a very good living doing exactly what you want to do. And I want to bring the small business community along, for a mutual marketing arrangement between them and the artists for a win-win situation.