Micheal Luisi talks about his career in the entertainment industry
An executive may have hit the pinnacle of his career but may not have yet exhausted his excite-ment for his work. Michael Luisi has been a high-level executive for several huge organizations in the entertainment industry. To most people, these companies are household names, The Walt Disney Company, WWE or Worldwide Wrestling Entertainment, and Miramax Films. After reach-ing the pinnacle of success, the natural process would be to either retire or start your own busi-ness, in a massively competitive industry. .
In 2018 Michael Luisi took on the challenge and opened his own production business. In the in-credibly short time that he began the business, he is in production of 3 different projects that are due to be released in 2020. In the meantime, he continues to research new projects, build rela-tionships, and make new contacts and connections.
Luisi is a native New Yorker. He majored in Law at New York University, while he minored in film. After graduation, he worked as an attorney with a focus on the entertainment industry. He provid-ed representation for individual talent, as well as the advertising, motion picture, and television industries.
Michael Luisi maintained his New York City contacts and connections when he moved to Califor-nia in 2011. These are both powerful and talented individuals that he has done business with in the past. These relationships will serve him well as he goes forward in his business.
Michael is a leader and a force of nature in the entertainment industry. He has an amazing track record for producing engaging content. His reputation for integrity and commitment for each pro-ject precedes him. As a producer, he is credited with over 40 motion picture and television pro-ductions. He bears a wealth of experience. There is no doubt he will go forward in excellence.
Tell us a bit about what you do.
I am a producer in the entertainment industry. I produce both scripted and non-scripted content for television, feature length motion pictures, digital and short fill content and podcasts.
What gave you the idea for Green Flower Nation? How did it start?
I have worked in the entertainment industry for my entire career. Over the last five to ten years, I have been specifically developing and producing motion pictures and television programming. As a result of that experience, I went out on my own. It was a natural transition for what I wanted to do in the next phase of my career.
What’s your favorite thing about your chosen profession?
My favorite thing about my career is having the opportunity to find and develop great material with creative and talented people. We go through the process together. We hope to develop a project that will entertain people for many years to come.
What keys to being productive can you share with us?
I think the most important thing to being productive is time management. I am one of those people who is a list maker. I have always made a list to be able to accomplish everything I need to do each day. I have a laptop and I have an iPhone. I find the best way to manage my time is to hand write the list so that I can cross things off as I go. Sometimes it is a bit overwhelming when I stare down at a fifteen item to-do list. But there is always a sense of accomplishment that drives results as you work your way down the list and are able to cross things off. The most important thing for me is to have an on-going understanding of what I have to do and when I need to do it. I need to meet those timelines.
Tell us one long-term goal in your career
There is a project that I have been familiar with for the last twenty-five years. I can't mention the name of the project. But it is a project that other people have tried to produce, but they have not been successful. My long-term goal someday would be to see that project clear to frutiton. I in-tend to do that.
What’s the most valuable lesson you’ve learned through the course of your career?
The most valuable lesson I have learned is that relationships are everything. It is important to fos-ter, develop and maintain good working relationships. It is important internally in the company that you are working at as well with external partners. It has served me well in my new capacity as an independent producer. Having a wide network of business and professional relationships has al-lowed me to develop a slate of projects that I am currently working on. It has also helped to get the financing I need to get them into production.
What advice would you give to others aspiring to succeed in your field?
I would tell people who are aspiring to get into the field to believe in yourself. It sounds like a cli-ché but it is true. If you don't believe in yourself and what you are doing you are never going to convince others to believe in you as well. This is an industry that you have to get use to and get comfortable hearing the word NO because you are going to hear it a lot. You can't get distressed or discouraged, you've just got to keep pushing through. You have to continue believing in your-self and what you are doing in order to achieve the goal that you have set out to achieve.
What are your favorite things to do outside of work?
The things that I like to do outside of work are skiing and running. Being in California, I like to spend some time on the beach each week whenever possible. I am also a huge dog lover. Spending time with my family and my dog is a big part of my down time.
Name a few influential books you’ve read and/or websites you keep up with that you’d rec-ommend to readers.
There are so many unique and interesting podcasts out there today. I would tell anyone to just go to Apple Podcast or Google Podcast and just start looking around. Sample different shows. Al-most all of them are available for free. For me, it is where I find influential thoughts and ideas and potential concepts for new projects.
What advice would you give your younger self?
I think if I had to do it all over again, I would have probably tried to live and work in California a lot sooner then I did. I spent most of my career working in the movie business in New York which is much harder. I have been in California for the last seven years and the work is infinitely much easier. Being in this time zone makes it much easier to get things done and move things forward. I would say to my younger self to go out to California and see what that may be all about much sooner than I did. I think it may have accelerated some opportunities that ultimately came into fruition. It would be interesting to know where that may have taken me career wise.
I think if I had to do it all over again I would have probably tried to live and work in California a lot sooner then I did. I spent most of my career working in the movie business in New York which is much harder. I have been in California for the last seven years and the work is infinately much easier. Being in this time zone makes it much easier to get things done and move things forward. I would say to my younger self to go out to California and see what that may be all about much sooner than I did. I think it may have excellorated some opportunities that ultimately came into fruition. It would be interesting to know where that may have taken me career wise.
More info:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Michael-Luisi-360394744857959
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaeljluisibio
Twitter: https://twitter.com/michael_luisi_
Chrunchbase: https://www.crunchbase.com/person/michael-luisi-a3f1
Medium: https://medium.com/@michaelluisi
