Join Michael T. Strickland at LDI2022 at 3pm on Friday November 18 as part of an industry panel on the main floor of LDI. The panel will be moderated by Seth Jackson and Nate Alves of Darkroom Creative and includes Marcel Fairbairn of Gear Source, tour manager Marty Hom, and Upstaging co-founder Ms. Robin Shaw.
The Entertainment Industry requires a single organization as a representative before Congress. Everyone who is dependent on people assembling needs to speak as one the next time there is an event like COVID 19. From day one of the pandemic everyone on the Hill ignored entertainment. Here is why:
- Entertainment has no PAC.
- Entertainment has no Lobby.
- Entertainment has no unified NAICS Code to establish our real size.
- Every legislator stated that they cannot and will not listen to the thousands of voices they are greeted by from the Entertainment sector.
Although the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis states the entire industry is $1 trillion dollars employing 10 million people, that is not what Congress looks at. Congress looks at the NAICS Codes, and this is a system few in the industry even knew existed prior to the pandemic. Entertainment is scattered across hundreds of codes, all picked at random. Thus, entertainment has no relative size to Congress.
Inversely, The Airline Association, The Restaurant Association and the Automotive Industry come as one before Congress, in battleships.
Entertainment comes in a thousand canoes.
- Establish an active lobby
- Establish a PAC and make proper contributions.
- Establish a single, overarching NAICS code to give us size in the eyes of Congress.
The Federal Government now has the blueprint to shut the country down again and should the government decide to do it again, entertainment will be at zero again.
Here are 5 events that could cause the Federal Government to shut down all public gatherings:
- Another health issue, or a perceived one.
- An energy emergency.
- A security issue related to war or threat of war.
- A societal unrest issue.
- An unforeseen issue.
This all begins with a definition of who is considered entertainment:
The entertainment industry includes any individual or entity that earns a livelihood as part of creating, producing, or delivering a product, event or experience, or any related support given thereto, for enjoyment of others.
The following list of entities is a starting point to define those that will be included.
