Randi Michel

Randi Michel, a Lecturer at Annenberg School for Communication, heads up the New York office of management-production company Artists First and is Emmy Award-winning producer. She is a Visiting Lecturer in Cinema & Media Studies in the College of Arts & Sciences and has been active at Penn as a leader and mentor since she graduated. She is a founding member of Penn Arts & Sciences Professional Women’s Alliance and serves on the Director’s Advisory Council of Penn Live Arts and as an Alumni Ambassador.

Who are you beyond your CV and resumé?

I am a loyal Penn alum. I loved my time at Penn—it’s shaped who I am. I am a lifelong fan of cinema, a devoted mom to two great teenagers, a wife of a Penn alum, an enthusiastic lecturer in both the Cinema Studies Department and the Graduate School of the Annenberg School of Communications and their new Master’s degree in Communication and Media Industries. And… I hope a good human.

Can you tell us your arts pathway to where you are now?

I have always been a fan of the arts—all types, all media: live performance, TV, film, theater. Growing up in LA, I had a ton of internships through high school and during my summers home from Penn. When I started narrowing it down, I realized the business aspect of show business was more for me. As an arts lover, I could do great things: I could help artists and performers become what they wanted to be. So, by my junior year at Penn, was walking around telling my professors I wanted to be an agent. I think even earlier—maybe at Annenberg in my sophomore year—I mentioned to Professor Joe Turow that I wanted to be an agent, and he said, “You don’t have to know that yet.” But then I spent a summer in the mailroom at the William Morris Agency in the months before my senior year, and that cemented my desire. It was everything that I felt I had the skill set and the passion for. When I graduated Penn, I went back to William Morris and started in the training program there. And I stayed there for 22 years. So, when they say your first job’s never your last… well, for me it kind of was. But then I took a turn to management and production and left the agency business to be more hands-on with my clients and produce film and television with them. And that’s where I am now, for the last 13 years. I’ve really only had two jobs since I left Penn.

What about agency work spoke to you so young?

I love making deals. I don’t want to sound like anyone else in the public space, but it’s true, I do—I love negotiating, I love finding great material and interesting filmmakers for artists to work with. I work with actors, specifically, and finding that great director or producing team for an actor to go work with and see what they come up with is so fun. And I have a passion for making the best deals for them, building their financial prospects, movie by movie, show by show, building them up as a business, as a brand. I love that.

What has the University of Pennsylvania and the people there come to mean to you?

I just think the arts at Penn, combined with all the various internship possibilities that the school provides, and the disciplines of the Annenberg School and the Cinema Studies Department, not to mention Wharton—these all create a situation where students can straddle both business and the arts and figure it out. For example, in my cinema studies class, I have a lot of students majoring in cinema studies but also minoring in consumer behavior. And there are also Wharton students in my classes who are doing operational management and operational psychology. Penn is a great place to polish up your passions and your skill sets and aim them toward the arts. Certainly, you can learn how to navigate and engage with the business side of the arts world, as well. And I think Penn’s very, very fortunate to have Timothy Rommen as the Vice Provost of the Arts looking after the arts, integrating the arts into the curriculum and into student pathways at Penn. It’s why I thrived there and became successful, in my opinion, that kind of integration. To have a shepherd and overseer of that work is very special. Students should really be aware of these possibilities, these new pathways of thinking. And the opportunities to build lifelong friendships and—through the alumni networks—to continue learning and connecting, it’s all so important. Penn is really a family at the end of the day. It goes beyond the four years. It was a family for me, for sure, during my undergraduate years, but to this day Penn is a place where I continue to learn from and connect with other alum and faculty.

Do you think being an undergrad here has affected your teaching?

It does. I think I understand a Penn student. And I’m very impressed by them. That makes my teaching so much more fulfilling… because I’m really learning from them at the same time I’m teaching them, and it’s this wonderful give and take. I like opening doors for other kids, taking care of other people’s kids by giving them facts and pathways—affording them that. I think we all have to pay it forward. It takes a village: there’s a social contract we are fulfilling when we teach. I believe that.

A current project or excitement for you that you want to share?

Everything I’m doing is top secret at the moment! I can tell you that my excitement is derived from the talent of my clients: Queen Latifah, John Travolta, Travis Scott.  Because they’re so exciting, anything I’m working on with them—although it may currently be under wraps—brings me great joy and fulfillment. I’m still as excited about my work and my job as I was coming out of Penn day one into the mailroom at William Morris. And I think if you can say that about whatever career path you choose, you’ve totally won.