Month: February 2023

When I worked at Easy Street Records, we had a very prominent musician come in to do a signing to promote his then upcoming album. He is a very well known artist, especially in Seattle since this is where he hails from. I personally was not, nor currently am, a fan of this particular person. That said, I pride myself on my customer service skills and was determined to make this individual feel welcome and comfortable. I always set my expectations for myself very hard and tend to take it harshly if I do not deliver. In this instance I should have done some light reading or research on this guy. If I had, I would have known that he is famously sober, and a recovering alcoholic. I did no such research though and shortly after he arrived, I very casually offered him a complimentary alcoholic beverage. Now, the failure of this story comes from me not achieving the level of professionalism I pride myself on. The musician though, also could have handled the situation in a much kinder way than he did. He proceeded to lay into me about how I should have known better than to ask him that and that I was a complete moron for not knowing that he was in recovery. While yes, I easily could have figured that out, it is my belief that it truly was not part of my job to do such research and could have been informed his team. So, in that respect I think this counts as a failure to meet my own expectations and also a failure at developing trust on both my end and his. From that moment on though, I always did research on whoever was coming to the establishment and how I could give them the best service I could offer.  

My top three hard skills would have to be:

• Sales
• Operations
• Marketing

I am an excellent sales person. I have a lot of charisma and am very good at reading people and understanding what they’re looking for and how best to approach the situation. I’m great with operations because I am very detail oriented and great at overseeing projects with many moving parts. Marketing ties back to sales, I am very charismatic and work exceedingly well with people, and I put passion behind my words and that really helps get people on board.

For my soft skills I would say:

• Adaptability
• Organization
• Time-Management

I have spent many years working in coffee shops and I can confidently say I have a great deal more soft skills than these three, but these ones I can confidently say I am outstanding in. I can work well in any situation no matter the pressure. I keep highly detailed planners and when at work I have a system to keep my high volume lines moving at an optimal pace. I have been a manager at a few different establishments where I would have to see the day to day goings-on of a particular shop. I made sure everyone got breaks on time, and that we were prepared for a major rush.

In the rest of my time in the creative academy the skills I would like to develop most are Risk Management and Accounting. I think both of these would lend themselves very well to my trajectory and detail orientation. Specifically I believe risk management would help me to strategize my projects while Accounting would help me budget the productions in a smoother fashion.

As for soft skills Decision-Making and Conflict Management. These skills would greatly boost my self-esteem as a director. I am very good at delegating tasks and keeping a team working together but it never hurts to learn more efficient ways to settle disputes and to be more confident in knowing that I have the ability to let others know what they need to do on a specific project.

My name is Ethan Fields and I am studying film & photography in Seattle Central College’s Visual Media Program. I am a queer director and cinematographer and a deep believer in the storytelling capabilities of film, especially the horror genre. I find horror films and the queer experience to be intrinsically linked. For many queer individuals’ real life can be just as scary as a horror film. I come from a small town in rural Appalachia where being yourself in the wrong place could mean VERY bad news. My dream is to create films that put often ignored stories like my own in the spotlight but on a backdrop of fear and terror with a beautiful, dark, and moody atmospheres that hopefully any viewer could connect with. Working well with people and bringing their hidden potential out is one of my biggest strengths and I am an asset to any set. I love working with other talented people to create a common vision that can resonate with so many others.