GEMA

Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business Launches its First Ever Course on Media and Entertainment

 October 30, 2021

Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business announced the launch of its first ever comprehensive course focused on the entertainment and media industry. The course, entitled “The Business of Media & Entertainment Industry: Strategic Decision Making and Industry Upheaval,” was a seven-week class, which debuted on January 18, 2022, targeted to MBA students.

The course sets to understand media and entertainment through the lens of business model evolution and will examine the history of the industry from its beginnings in audio to film and television through to today’s streaming revolution and social media content explosion.

The course will be co-taught by Professors Michael O’Leary and Steve Schiffman. Professor O’Leary has taught in the business school for over 20 years and was a policy analyst and management consultant before that. Professor Schiffman brings deep expertise and in-depth knowledge as an experienced senior executive and entrepreneur in media and entertainment, including at companies such as the National Geographic Channel, the Washington Post and NASCAR. He also previously taught at Northwestern’s Kellogg MBA program.

Professor O’Leary explained why Georgetown is creating this course now: “Georgetown has a long history of alumni who have gone on to have impressive careers in media and entertainment. Given the activities of those alumni, the interest of students, the radical technological changes and the incredible strategic challenges in the industry, it seemed only natural to introduce a course to help students learn more.”

When asked why he is excited to launch this course, Professor Schiffman noted that, “More change has happened in the media industry in the past five years than in the previous 50.

With the emergence of new business models, disruptive technologies and major power shifts, there’s never been a better time to learn about the media industry and how it applies to general business.”

A major component of the curriculum will be bringing in guest speakers for each class, including a range of industry executives – many who are Georgetown alumni with senior level roles across all aspects of media and entertainment. “In teaching this course, I’m excited to be receiving the support of our amazing alumni guests,” added O’Leary.