Ope Oladipo/University Photography

Filmmaker Will Gluck '93 speaks Oct. 16 as part the 2015 Munschauer Career Series.

Will Gluck ’93, writer and director of the reimagined “Annie” movie, as well as “Easy A” and “Fired Up,” visited campus Oct. 16 to share career advice with students as this year’s Munschauer Career Series Speaker for the College of Arts and Sciences Career Development Center.

Gluck, who is based in Los Angeles, spoke to students about the challenges and rewards of working in the entertainment industry. 

He encouraged students to run as fast as they can toward their career goals during and after college. He gave an example of two jobs: one a dream job that pays less and the other a job that pays twice as much, but does not have all the interesting aspects that the dream job holds. Many would go for the job that pays more and try for the dream job at another time, but 10 years later, Gluck said, they find themselves stuck in the same boring position. 

Gluck encouraged students to choose the more interesting job, even if it pays less, and be willing to take lower-level jobs first, such as personal assistant, which can open the door for success in many job fields, but especially in the entertainment industry.

“It’s a very harsh world,” Gluck said of Hollywood. “It’s not school. It’s not Cornell.”  

Gluck said his liberal arts education allowed him to “do everything that I wanted to do,” even though he wasn’t sure of his career path while an undergrad.

Gluck’s company, Olive Bridge Entertainment, developed the new television show “Moonbeam City,” which recently premiered on Comedy Central and he is developing the drama “How to Disappear Completely,” for Columbia and Escape Artists, which tells the story of a piano prodigy who attempts to escape the scrutiny of his overprotective parents, a move that allows him to amass a fortune in the stock market and change the lives of those around him.

Gluck told of his start in the entertainment industry, gave tips for networking and encouraged students to take advantage of the opportunities offered at Cornell because such experiences will make you stand out when interviewing for a job.

For example, while attending Cornell, Gluck took a course that focused on product branding and imaging. It was not a requirement for his Asian studies major and English minor, but he said it was an interesting course for him.

On job networking, Gluck told students that many people would rather receive a “snail mail letter” than an email, adding that he receives hundreds of emails a day. Gluck closed by answering numerous questions from students about the entertainment industry and the workforce there.

Breonna Freeman ’19 is a writer intern for the Cornell Chronicle.