Gayle Dickie
Gamer WorldNews Entertainment
Studio City, CA USA
"The most important thing you need to know about making a deal is identify what you don’t know. If you identify what you don’t know, you ask the right questions to get to that point to find out the answer."
Career Roadmap
Gayle's work combines: Business, Entrepreneurship, and Communicating / Sharing Stories
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Day In The Life
Skills &
Education
Advice for getting started
I think you have to have a strong sense of self. Unless these people were uber successful or had tried to do something no one else had done, I viewed them as either standing in my way or not being supportive. I learned to just nod or say yeah you might be right and then just MOVED ON. Naysayers HATE it when you agree with them.
Here's the path I took:
High School
Associate's Degree
Business/Corporate Communications, General
Santa Monica College
Associate's Degree
Political Science and Government, General
Santa Monica College
Vocational
Arts, Entertainment,and Media Management, General
University of California-Los Angeles
Vocational
Playwriting and Screenwriting
University of California-Los Angeles
Vocational
Business Administration and Management, General
University of California-Los Angeles
Here's the path I recommend for someone who wants to be a Producers & Directors:
High School
Associate's Degree: Finance, General
Bachelor's Degree: Journalism
Graduate Degree: Business/Corporate Communications, General
Doctorate: Marketing/Marketing Management, General
Learn more about different paths to this career
Life & Career Milestones
My path in life took a while to figure out
1.
Started her career working as a paralegal in the music industry for record labels—she enjoyed the environment, but realized the entertainment side was more interesting to her than the law side.
2.
She decided to take a chance and called Orion Pictures to ask about a job—ended up speaking to the head of personnel, who hired her on the spot to work as an assistant in syndication.
3.
Worked as a syndicator for over 10 years selling television shows for companies like Viacom Enterprises, Blair Entertainment, and Tribune.
4.
Got the opportunity to help fund a two-million-dollar movie project that ended up being shown at the Cannes Film Festival.
5.
As she saw the rise of more forms of digital entertainment—video games, in particular—she noticed there was a void in how news about this market was spread to the masses.
6.
In 2015, she bought the URLs for what would eventually become Gamer World News Entertainment and began building a network around gamers and esports.
7.
There are now 13 channels on the site with what she calls "potato chip style content,” catering to a wide variety of gamers and topics so visitors can get what they want quickly and efficiently.
8.
Says, “I didn’t set out to create your daddy’s ESPN”—her main goal is to license the content and cement gamer news in mainstream entertainment.
Defining Moments
How I responded to discouragement
THE NOISE
Messages from undefined:
No one in the world has done what you are trying to do- it can't be done. Plus, you're a female in a man's world.
How I responded:
I think you have to have a strong sense of self. Unless these people were uber successful or had tried to do something no one else had done, I viewed them as either standing in my way or not being supportive. I learned to just nod or say yeah you might be right and then just MOVED ON. Naysayers HATE it when you agree with them.
Experiences and challenges that shaped me
In business and entertainment, you are always faced with moments where you make agreements and people don't follow through. Sometimes you have to pursue legal action, but sometimes it's best to avoid that route.
As a woman in business, people are always trying to claim the rights to what I've created.
There are people who have tried to bribe me and wanted money for this or that. You just do what you need to do and move on.
When I worked as a syndicator, I worked on the road 40 weeks out of the year pitching tv shows 25 times a week. It was very stressful having to travel all of the time and worry about meeting your quota.