Howard Rosen is CEO/executive producer of Roadhouse Productions in Toronto, where he oversees the development, production, financing and servicing of feature/cable films, television series, multi-camera live events, commercials and broadband interactive projects.

‘I have never let my schooling interfere with my education,’ said Mark Twain. About 20 years ago, I graduated with an MBA in international finance and marketing from York University with an aspiration to become VP of General Motors. Concurring somewhat with Mr. Twain, I was never a fan of school and went for the degree hoping that it would help me get a ‘better’ job. But, when I graduated and knocked on GM’s door, it turned out that the job was taken, and my career took a somewhat sideways direction.

My road in entertainment started sanely enough in business affairs with Peter O’Brian at Independent Pictures, but went awry with an innocent observation that if I understood the creative process a little more, I could probably make better deals.

Whether the deals were better, no one will really know, but it did mark a major transition in education from formal to practical. And that is the heart of an oft-asked question by interns and co-op students – for someone to be in this business, what is more important, a formal education or practical one? With the benefit of 20/20 hindsight I am able to say conclusively, ‘Yes.’

Well, yes, the formal side is handy in dealing with production financing, corporate structuring, negotiating with the studios, and particularly how to ‘tap-dance’ while coming up with answers. It also provided, and still provides, a discipline in how to view and dissect situations.

And well, yes, practical education has an important place, too. Years of experience certainly helped me weather many a production and industry storm. The reality of which has sent many a production intern to take refuge in the security of Wal-Mart employment.

At some point the formal training seemed to give way to the practical side. That is, until this most recent economic dive. The bleak economic picture has resulted in a number of major business challenges, the biggest being the significant reduction in advertising expenditures, which means cutbacks in studio production operations, licence fees available and, subsequently, the number of projects produced.

This has necessitated a new or seriously revamped business model, and in very short order. To come up with one has forced me to fall back on some of those very basic MBA precepts of business development and strategy planning. Specifically, cutting operating costs by multi-tasking job functions and production costs by repurposing some product across media.

Over the years I’ve confirmed the adage, ‘Those who can, do, those who can’t, consult.’ I’ve been asked to help other producers with issues regarding their companies – productions in general, and strategic direction in specific.

One business issue some people seem to have difficulty with is looking outside of the ‘box’ and measuring the pros and cons of opportunities, particularly those arising from new technology or ‘outside’ the industy.

In some cases it’s been an exercise in looking at what some of these people do best and measuring how their skill sets can be applied in other areas or industries. In one instance, I helped someone who had expertise in live-event television realize more lucrative opportunities in webcasting and corporate gigs.

Formal education (and certainly not just in business), whether taken in the past or on an ongoing basis, helps to develop some of these business-survival tools. But to discern the good from the bad, the real from the unreal, the practical from the insane, requires real experience.

When it is all said and done, and it comes down to the crunch, you need it all: education, experience, instinct and luck. I think it was that great entertainment industry sage, Theodore Roosevelt, who best summarized a key approach to success in this business:

‘Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell ’em, ‘Certainly, I can!’ Then get busy and find out how to do it.’