Business School for the Hopelessly Creative

I used to run with a pretty wild crowd. In the 1980s, I lived on Polk Street in San Francisco, which had fallen from grace around the same time that freebase cocaine made its appearance on the streets. Once a stately urban gay neighborhood, Polk Street had disintegrated into a drive-by delicatessen of troubled young boys. This was before the internet, mind you, so the only way to proffer one's wares was on the street or, if the hustler had hustled up enough business, in either the Bay Area Reporter or the Sentinel (a Republican-owned gay newspaper).

Add to this mix a shy, starry-eyed homo from the suburbs, recently returned to California from an Eastern boarding school. Too proud and too shy to sell himself, he chose instead to observe. But like a social anthropologist, eventually the observer becomes a fringe member of the group he has chosen to study. No, I never turned tricks for a living (okay, one, but it was awful) but I did start to hang out with the transgendered prostitutes, the junkies, the wayward youth and of course the fabulous drag queens. My roommate John was a bitter, soft spoken waiter from Modesto. For the big parties (Gay Pride, Halloween) he transformed into Vickie Vomit, a transvestite terrorist with exploding bracelets and breasts concealing grenade launchers. A fearless defender of the deaf and hard of hearing, he once beat a hustler to a pulp with his high heels. The hustler probably never knew that John was an avenging angel for his dear gay friend who fell victim to the hustler's larceny during an ill-fated trick.

John taught me the proper forms of address: "girl" for your friends, "girlfriend" for people whose beads you are about to read, and "Miss Thing" for the great unwashed masses. He taught me to shake out a wig, the correct amount of white Aqua Net to use, and how to select a dress that conveys both sexiness and a sense of humor at the same time. We dragged together, and it was great.

Now, flash forward 20 years. I just got accepted to business school at USC. I am a portly bear with a goatee. I look a lot like my dad. In the interim, I spent time in the mental health system, gave up drugs, worked for the Italian government (no, not a schizophrenic delusion!), produced a documentary on Mexican wrestlers, and addressed the United Nations on two occasions about the virtues and pitfalls of internet telephony via satellite. Future posts will be concerned with recounting the attempts of this square peg to soften his edges and fit into the big round world of business.

Resumeblog

duncan@duncanmacleod.biz
http://www.duncanmacleod.biz/



Duncan MacLeod
Highlights of Qualifications
Excellent Presentation Skills
Multi-lingual
Senior Manager with strong financial background
Television and Film producer
Sports documentary filmmaker
Product Developer and Manager
International Marketing

Employment
Sr. Account Manager DVD Client Services– March 2005 to Present
Blink/Ascent Media, Burbank, CA – Develop and maintain relationships with Fortune 500 clients. Meet with key players to identify and resolve service issues. Plan and manage changes to workflow procedures. Enforce Sarbanes compliance. Prepare and bill 1-2 Million in invoices per month. Manage and deliver Blu-ray projects. Supervise Account Coordinators and Billing personnel. Provide revenue and expense forecasts to upper management. Train new personnel in procedures.

Independent Producer – November 2001 to August 2006
Huby Pix, Los Angeles, CA – Produced, Directed and Edited La Lucha! (Image Entertainment 2005), a feature documentary on Mexican Wrestling. Shot and produced segments for independent productions.

Assistant to Producers – March 2003 to November 2003
Fox Television, Century City, CA – Assisted two producers on a pilot and series. Obtained legal clearances. Coordinated shoot days. Managed audiences and guest stars. Coordinated writing sessions. Resolved production hassles quickly and efficiently.

Account Manager – April 1999 to October 2001
Verestar, Santa Monica, CA – Brought new products to market from inception to release for satellite communications firm, created over 50K in monthly passive revenue, formally presented products to large audiences at global political conferences and trade shows, used Salesforce to forecast and build client relations.

Coordinator Post Production Finance – August 1997 to April 1999
New Line Cinema, West Hollywood, CA – Maintained production budgets, reconciled bank statements and vendor statements, tracked and located purchase orders, assisted President of Production with special projects.

Office Manager– December 1994 to August 1997
Istituto Italiano di Cultura, San Francisco, CA – Managed busy cultural office of the Italian Consulate in San Francisco. Produced and presented film festivals, art exhibits, and lectures.

Education
San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA
BA Italian and BA Cinema

California State University, Los Angeles, CA
Graduate Certificate in Business Management

USC Marshall School of Business
MBA Marketing (in progress)

Languages
Italian – expert fluency – speak, read, write
Spanish – expert fluency – speak, read, write
French – advanced fluency speak, read – intermediate writing skills
Portuguese – interemediate fluency – speak, read, write.

Skills
Software: Power Point, Soundtrack, SAP, Xytech, Salesforce, Access, Excel, Quickbooks, Word, Final Cut, Filemaker.

Business: Platform Speaking, Reporting, Scheduling, Budgeting, Sales, Training, Accounting.

Production: Producing, Editing, Directing, Production Accounting, Line Producing