FNMEC 2026: What I Learned about Networking

I signed up for the FUTURE NOW Media and Entertainment Conference this year in the hopes of learning how to make my dream of becoming a TV/Film writer a reality. But what I took away from those 3 days was much more than that. I learned that this industry is a complex organism, ever-growing and changing, and there is not one way to achieve your goals. 

The people volunteering their time and energy to speak and mentor at the conference revealed that behind the curtain of the shifting entertainment landscape, there are people like them who want to see what students like me are capable of and are rooting for us to do our best work. 

I came into the conference as a ball of anxiety, worried about making a good impression on the people who might someday decide whether or not to give me a job. I feel as though I left knowing that, although it is a competitive job market out there, these were caring people.

My first mentor during the speed mentoring sessions was Eric de Cholnoky, Executive Vice President of Distribution & Business Development for AMC Global Media. He began by asking us what we had been watching on TV recently and where we were watching it. I was awed by his warmth and friendliness and that of the other mentors, but more importantly, by their interest in sharing what they knew with us, and the role we played in the conversation.

I came through the doors of FUTURE NOW, seeing myself as a child who would be awkwardly vying for the attention of these adults. Despite their years of experience and accomplishments, none of the mentors and speakers I spoke with ever made me feel that way. Instead, they were genuinely interested in what I had to say or in what I had to ask. 

Maybe it sounds dramatic, but I felt as if some imagined wall was coming down. Stuart Feldman, another mentor and a writer/producer for television, explained that he had first gotten into writing because a cameraman on the show he was working on heard one of his ideas and told him he had to pitch it; he hadn’t really considered doing that before then. 

What I learned from stories like his and from the repeated mantra of “talk to people,” “reach out,” “make connections and make them last,” was that these people had gotten where they were by building the networks around them. Not just in the job hunt sense of the word, but in the idea that they had made friends and connections that supported them throughout their careers and lives.

These “industry giants" were also very willing to share their knowledge about the industry. The conference opened the doors for this kind of community building. It was more than networking. 

Suzanne Persechino, Senior Vice President of Revenue Research at A+E Global Media, told us that her favorite part of her job is getting to work with teams and finding the perfect people to do every job. This kind of “network” is about more than just reaching some imagined apex.

I was looking around at the people who had come to learn at this conference just as I had. Some were marketing majors; others had just finished semesters studying cinematography. All of them had a desire to create, but they were also relying on each other to break in and be a part of this industry.

Talking to all of the mentors, whether they were on the business side of the industry or the creative one, I learned that everyone has a part to play in the production of art, so making real, valuable connections—not just as a way to find a job—is the best way to ensure that you become a valuable player.