In the rough business of Hollywood, the Northwestern mafia helps take care of its own.
The outfit helps School of Speech alumni looking to make a hit in show business get their feet in a few important doors.
About 60 students got the lowdown on the mafia, also known as the Northwestern University Entertainment Alliance, Monday night in Norris University Center from Speech alumnus and former alliance chairwoman Heidi Hiller.
The 400 members of the alliance’s West Coast division help recent graduates settle in when they move to Los Angeles. Hiller, who graduated in 1989, compared the alliance to an upperclassman bringing a freshman to a party. They’re not going to introduce you to everyone at the party, but they’ll get you inside, she said.
“If you stand in the corner and don’t talk to anybody, big deal,” she said. “But if you talk to the person on your left, on your right, now you’re networking.”
The entertainment business is about using all six degrees of separation to your advantage, said Hiller, a part-time actress who recently appeared on an episode of “Boston Public.”
For example, alliance board member David Gersh graduated from NU with Sherry Lansing, a Paramount executive and the “most powerful woman in Hollywood,” Hiller said. Alliance members use Gersh’s connection with her when they need a favor from Paramount.
“It’s all about who you know,” Hiller said.
Most of NU’s prominent entertainment names are involved in the alliance. Board members include Garry Marshall, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Charlton Heston.
There also is an alliance branch in New York, with about 175 members, Hiller said.
The alliance was formed in 1991 when school officials asked a few alumni to begin a network, Hiller said. Alliance members program panel discussions, a fund raiser and other informal meetings throughout the year, along with sending United Talent Agency job lists to members, organizing peer support groups and producing a “Cliff’s Notes” guide to moving to Los Angeles.
Memberships cost $20 for recent graduates and $40 for all others. Alumni can apply online at www.nuea.org.
Speech junior Erika Bennett said she probably will sign up right away.
“It’s never too early to start the whole networking thing,” she said. “There are a lot of Northwestern people out there.”
Students shouldn’t rely on the alliance to do everything for them after they graduate, said Peter Miller, an associate dean for Speech who introduced Hiller.
“You will find a job for yourself,” he said. “They will help you, but that responsibility is yours.”
