SHARE:
Trendsetters in Entertainment: July 2010
Scott Elias, Seth Schachner, Shelly Berg
The Music Man
Scott Elias Random Act Records Founder / Orlando Quote: “I had parents who were incredibly supportive and wanted me to do something I loved and where I could make an impact.” |
Pittsburgh area native Scott Elias played keyboards in clubs five and six nights a week in high school. But in his mid-20s, he moved into film. His long credits include location manager on The Rainmaker, Nell and My Cousin Vinny and co-producer or associate producer on Hugh Grant’s Music and Lyrics and Sandra Bullock’s Miss Congeniality 2 and Two Weeks Notice. “The film side took over from the music side.”
In Orlando since 1998 — his wife, Anna, is from Ormond Beach — he relies on film work for his main source of income, but music is making a comeback. Last year, he and Anna founded Random Act Records to bring jazz musicians such as UCF professor Jeff Rupert to a wider audience. The label name derives from “random acts of kindness” — a 10% “artistic tithe” goes to non-profits. Label artists have made top 10 and top 50 jazz charts.
Anna, 45, actor Don Johnson’s assistant on “Miami Vice” before becoming an award-winning short-film maker, created film company Random Acts Entertainment with Scott, 52, in 2008. They hope to shoot Bones of the Master, based on author George Crane’s account of his unlikely journey with a Buddhist monk returning to China. “Now I’m the guy who goes to investors and says, ‘I need $40 million for this.’”
The Sound of Music
Seth Schachner Sony Music Entertainment Vice president digital business Latin region / Coconut Grove Early music tastes: Elvis Costello, The Clash, Cheap Trick, The Pretenders Enjoying: Spotify, a Swedish music service popular in Europe |
A Columbia undergrad and MBA, Schachner, 47, started in entertainment in California with 20th Century. As a financial analyst, he once stayed up late running dozens of financial projections for True Lies. In 1995, he became AOL’s first business development executive for music. In 1999, he joined Sony. “I had to build my career through lots of sequential opportunities,” he says.
Schachner is on the Florida Film & Entertainment advisory council. He’s dedicated to boosting the music, digital and mobile industries here. “I’m always interested in growth.”
?
All that Jazz
Shelly Berg |