The journalism students who attend Florida A&M University with aspirations to become entertainment correspondents may change their minds if they don’t like competition.
Actress/model Melissa Ford cautioned students about the competition that comes with being in the entertainment business.
“I see everybody when I go out for an acting role,” said Ford. “When I’m up against established actresses who have been twenty years in the game I know that my chances are next to nothing.”
With slim chances of opportunities in the entertainment business, FAMU students may want to re-think their options after graduation.
“It’s definitely a benefit of keeping an open mind when it comes to where you fit in the entertainment industry,” said Ford. “Because it’s so large and it’s so many different things that you can do.”
For the journalism students at FAMU who hate to write, blog or produce scripts, they may not want to step a foot inside of the entertainment arena.
“I’ve basically gone from one thing leveraged my popularity in different aspects of entertainment to get me into another realm,” said Ford. “I’ve gone from doing music videos, appearing in magazines, in calendars, basically branding myself.”
Ford says having a good or bad work ethic starts in college. She also says the people who are successful in the entertainment industry are usually hard workers and are versatile in entertainment.
“It’s not necessarily being a jack of all trades,” said Ford. “It’s doing your research to find out what interest you.”
If receiving a high profile acting job interests you then it’s a couple things you may want to think about. For the women in the School of Journalism and Graphic Communication, imagine competing against Angela Bassett or Halle Berry for a acting position. For the men imagine competing against Omar Epps or Denzel Washington.
The majority of broadcast journalism students who aspire to be in-front of the camera on networks like BET and MTV may have to do a little soul-searching. Ford says if you are willing to deal with what it takes to become successful in the industry then you have a chance of being successful.
“When it comes to being on camera, there’s only a few jobs available,” said Ford. “And you going up against such steep competition that you do yourself a disservice by not investigating other possible avenues.”