Syllabus of Dr. Elliot McGucken's Artistic Entrepreneurship & Technology Class

EPIC STORY & THE HERO’S JOURNEY IN
ARTISTIC ENTREPRENEURSHIP & TECHNOLOGY 101
Class Syllabus, Dr. Elliot McGucken
Pepperdine University, Spring 2007
email: drelliot@gmail.com cell: 919-270-0732

Teresea Ciulla of Entrepreneur Magazine writes, "Can you actually make your passion your profession? According to Dr. Elliot McGucken, a professor at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, who's teaching the university's first "Artistic Entrepreneurship & Technology 101" class, the answer just may be yes. McGucken's class, which is comprised of a group of 45 students majoring in law, business, art, computer science, journalism and music, focuses on teaching students about creating value over just making money, about letting their higher ideals guide the bottom line. After all, as McGucken says, "Successful companies aren't successful because they make money—they're successful because they create value." Class projects range from a classical music video to a hip hop curriculum and textbook to an online art gallery to a freshman's record label that's signed more than ten bands to a social network being programmed by three computer science majors. Students are seeing that to the degree they succeed in creating useful art and ventures, they'll be able to support their passions with a profitable business. . .Looks like McGucken's found a way to inspire a new generation of artistically minded entrepreneurs to follow their passions—and make a living.”

Class Structure: AE&T will be based upon the stages of Joseph Campbell’s Hero with a Thousand Faces. Every entrepreneurial venture has an Aristotlean three-act structure with a beginning, middle, and end; and every aspect of classical story, including the call to adventure, crossing the threshold, antagonists, mentors, reversals of fortune, the seizing of the sword from the stone, and the return on home, may be found in the realm of entrepreneurship and the life of entrepreneurs. Every class will begin with a general lecture, followed by a “closeup” lecture focusing on case studies or specific verticals, followed by class participation and presentations. Visiting speakers will join us from time to time.

Class Texts: Dr. E will provide excerpts form his forthcoming books, Artistic Entrepreneurship & Technology 101 and Hero’s Journey Entrepreneurship. John Bogle’s Battle for the Soul of Capitalism and Joseph Campbell’s Hero with a Thousand Faces, Nolo’s Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights, and the Rich Dad’s Own Your Own Corporation are also required.

Class Mentors: Students will seek out and study both classical and contemporary mentors.

Fundamental Class Concept: IDEALS ARE REAL: The same ideals which guide higher art also guide business and law—ideals will be your most valuable asset on this journey. Artistic entrepreneurs create both monetary and spiritual wealth by following ideals.

Class Multimedia: The class will focus heavily on live technology demos including ecommerce, video game technologies, digital rights management, social networks, digital production and distribution, videos, and more.

Student Deliverables: An independent project will be the focus for each student. Each student will research and deliver a full business plan (15+ pages), and operating venture, work of art, collection, or production. The theme will be manifesting a single idea in multiple mediums, including web pages, blogs, and wikis. Students can work in groups up to three members, and each group will be responsible for several presentations, including a final twenty minute presentation at the semester’s end.

Student Blog: Every student will blog their journey, including resources, reflections, and insights.

Reserve Readings:
Art:
Aristotle’s Poetics by Aristotle
Aristotle’s Poetics for Screenwriters, by Michael Tierno
The Ultimate Writer’s Guide to Hollywood, Skip Press
The Hero with a Thousand Faces, by Joseph Campbell
The Sacred Romance, by Jonathan Eldredge
Story by Robert McKee
Screenwriting is Storytelling by Kate Wright
The Writer's Journey, Second Edition : Mythic Structure for Writers (Paperback)
by Christopher Vogler
Law:
The United States Constitution
Patent it Yourself, Bill Pressman (nolo.com)
Free Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity, by Larry Lessig
Nolo.com
Business/Entrepreneurship:
Think and Grow Rich, by Napoleon Hill
The Warren Buffett Way, by Bill Miller
The Art of the Start, Guy Kawasaki
The Big Picture : The New Logic of Money and Power in Hollywood by Edward Jay Epstein
Own Your Own Corporation: by Garrett Sutton, Robert T. Kiyosaki, Ann Blackman
Classics:
The Western Canon by Harold Bloom
Shakespeare
The Inferno, Dante
The Odyssey, Homer
The Bible
Biography:
Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography
Losing My Virginity : How I've Survived, Had Fun, and Made a Fortune Doing Business My Way by Richard Branson
iCon: Steve Jobs : The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business by Jeffrey S. Young, William L. Simon
Technology:
Slashdot.org

Web Resources:
wikientrepreneur.org
artsbusinesstech.com/forum
artsentrepreneurship.com
nolo.com, uspto.gov, slashdot.org, gamasutra.com, variety.com
libertyfilmfestival.com/libertas, afrfilmfestival.com