American actor drills youth on creative industry
Larona Makhaiza | Monday February 13, 2023 16:00
Richards has been performing in the entertainment industry for over 20 years now and has more than 20 musical theatre productions as well as numerous television (TV), and film credits to his name. He now owns the Khumo Studios creatives company based in Botswana. The Khumo Masters Gaborone workshop was the second series of events that are to be held by Richards and his first event in the country was last year when he held an acting master class at the UB. On Saturday he turned things around as his Khumo Masters extended over three sessions with the first session offering teachings on the business of entertainment, the second session being screenwriting (from idealisation to script creation), and the last session being directing and producing. At the workshop, Richards urged the attendees to start getting themselves in the business entertainment and told them that the first step with the whole thing is to ask the right questions. “One thing that I have learnt about Batswana is that they are very humble people but very quiet, and this is what hinders a lot of them from breaking through. You need to go out there and ask questions,” Richards stated.
In addition, Richards said in the business of entertainment it is not about who you know but who knows you. He has a belief that one’s work should be able to speak for themselves, and also that the creatives should get their work out there in social media which is a powerful tool, and create that awareness about themselves. Furthermore the American actor reiterated that people in the creative industry should get on the business side of it. He urged them all to work on branding so that they create a good brand out of themselves. “It is not about you, it is about how everyone around you perceives you,” he said. On how people should build their brands, a lot was said around the topic, but one key aspect that proved to be key was when Richards cautioned people of what they put on their social media platforms as it is part of their brands. “You cannot be posing with Savanna at the top of your head and expect people to take you serious,” Richards added.
One other aspect that was touched on regarding the business of entertainment was the issue of contracts as the problems that people seem to have with contracts continues to prevail in present times. And for this Richards advised people not to always get elated when they see a contract and jump on to sign it rather they should take their time to comprehend it, and get an attorney to help them understand the contract before signing it.