This year, Hollywood came to the District. The dysfunctional troupe of “The Real World” cast members have been sighted at Rhino Bar and Pumphouse, and the bejeweled women of the upcoming “Real Housewives” parade through the streets with cameras filming their every move. During last year’s inauguration weekend, Rihanna was spotted shopping on M Street and Josh Groban visited The Tombs.

Our city might not be quite as star-studded as L.A., but Georgetown graduates, at least, have attained prominence beyond the Hilltop in their own right. Instead of strictly pursuing careers in government, Hoyas have been popping up all over the globe in the fields of medicine, business and, most recently, entertainment.

Georgetown alumni finding success in show business is nothing new. Malcolm Lee (CAS ’92), best known for directing movies like The Best Man and Undercover Brother, could once be found strolling through Dahlgren Quadrangle and lounging on Healy Lawn. Jonathan Nolan (COL ’98) wrote the short story that served as the basis for the 1999 film Memento and co-wrote The Dark Knight. William Peter Blatty (CAS ’50) famously wrote The Exorcist and its adaptation for the screen and Bradley Cooper (COL ’97) graduated with a degree in English before he took his friend out for a bachelor night to (nearly) remember in The Hangover.

The former chairman of ABC Entertainment, Stuart Bloomberg (COL ’72), and Richard Battista (GSB ’86), CEO of Gemstar-TV Guide International, are both Hoyas. But in recent years, more Georgetown graduates have decided to pursue careers in the entertainment industry — directing, screenwriting and developing television shows.

Blake Harris (COL ’05) entered Georgetown as a student in the McDonough School of Business, but could not suppress his passion for literature. “I had never really read a book for fun until my senior year of high school,” he said. “At that point, I decided that my goal in life would be to write a book, or books. I became highly interested in fiction and novels. … By sophomore year, I had switched to [Georgetown] College to try and improve my writing as much as possible while at school.”

Harris’ hard work paid off. He has successfully integrated himself into the film industry with the establishment of his own film production company, Flying Penguin Pictures. He didn’t get there overnight, however.

“I applied to a few screenwriting programs and several fiction MFA programs and got rejected from all the places I was interested in going … I didn’t know how to continue forward with writing in a world where I’d have to provide for myself,” he said. Harris ended up working at Fimat USA, LLC, a financial brokerage firm, and spent his free afternoons and weekends pursuing his writing.

“I think my biggest misconception of turning writing into a profession was that I thought if I just keep writing, that [other] stuff will take care of itself,” Harris said. “Well, it doesn’t … at some point you want your writing to be seen — be it by strangers or agents or any[one] — you need to proactively work to figure out how to accomplish that.”

Six months after graduation, Harris finally did. After meeting a childhood acquaintance on the field of an adult slow-pitch softball game in their hometown of Chappaqua, N.Y., the two realized that the intense competition between adult professionals could make for a great movie.
“Here we had successful professionals — doctors, lawyers, bankers — laying it all on the line, yelling, fighting for a ridiculous game of slow pitch softball,” Harris recalled.

And so the movie The Flying Scissors, based on a Rock Paper Scissors game, was born, and Harris’ film career began.

While Harris was supporting himself and writing on the side, his classmate and friend Brian Nathanson (COL ’05) was attending a screenwriting program at the University of Southern California. Today, he writes screenplays on a freelance basis.

“The way you get a job as a writer is either you write something on your own and try to sell it, or, what I’ve been doing more recently … and more often than not, how you get jobs … is trying to get assignments where there’s a book or a pre-existing brand, like Harry Potter, and you write the movie for it,” Nathanson said.

He has sold two scripts so far, which is unusual in the industry for someone who is only 26 years old. The first script was sold to Disney’s Scott Rudin and the second to Appian Way, Leonardo DiCaprio’s production company.

Nathanson’s experience at Georgetown helped him cultivate his talent as a writer. Originally from L.A., Nathanson was an aspiring screenwriter from an early age, but used his time at Georgetown to provide him with a change of pace — he majored in government and did not take any screenwriting classes, though he credits the works of literature he read in college, including ones by Dante Alighieri, as inspiration for his screenplays.

“I really enjoyed my years at Georgetown, and I do think it was helpful for my writing to get a full world view,” he said. “I considered after high school — it was recommended to me — to stay in L.A. and go to USC or start writing. Going to Georgetown allowed me to meet different types of people, get out of that bubble, take different classes and have different kinds of experiences. That is what my writing is a reflection of.”

For Harris, Georgetown also allowed him to find his niche and outlet within the campus community. He wrote for THE HOYA for a short period of time, before becoming a regular writer for the Georgetown Lampoon. Harris also started the Georgetown Book Club, which lasted for about two years.

As for the ways that Georgetown helped him pursue writing after graduation, Harris said that his years on the Hilltop gave him an opportunity to foster his passion. “Georgetown didn’t help me in any specific way other than giving me four years to cultivate my hobby, which evolved into a career with some great teachers … [and being] constantly surrounded by highly intellectual and highly entertaining people.”

Harris and Nathanson are not the only two who made it big after graduation. A number of Hoyas have entered the industry and kept in touch with one another, forming lasting bonds as both Georgetown alumni and career contacts.

Josh Pincus (MSB ’04) first worked for Société Générale, a European financial service company, until he decided to follow his passion, working his way up the entertainment ladder, starting as agent’s assistant. Now he is a creative executive for Gore Verbinski’s production company, Blind Wink Productions. (Verbinski is best known for his direction of the Pirates of the Carribean series.) Charlie Andrews (COL ’04) became a director of drama development at NBC Universal, working on television shows like “Heroes,” “Las Vegas,” “Friday Night Lights” and “Trauma.” Tara Ahamed (COL ’05) worked at the Creative Artists Agency for a few years after graduating and is now working for Jerry Bruckheimer Films.

Many did not start out with a career plan that included working in the entertainment business. “When I came to Georgetown, my initial intention was to go into law,” Ahamed said. “I was a government major, and after taking some international law classes with professor [Christopher] Joyner I thought I would pursue a career in the legal profession. … [I] was slightly more career-focused when I was at school.”

Andrews agreed. “When I first started at Georgetown my focus was government — that was my major, with minors in Spanish and theology. I knew I loved television and I knew in the back of my head I wanted to pursue entertainment, but it didn’t seem like a career that would work.”

Andrews ended up teaching himself about the industry by reading material on Web sites that focused on entertainment, which he suggested anybody interested in entering the field do. “Take any classes that are offered, join any clubs that Georgetown has [related to the business]. You have to move out to L.A. and start at the bottom. … You’re the lowest man on the totem pole, you’re wearing a polyester suit and giving tours, filing copies. … It’s a lot of networking, but it pays off in the end if you trust the right people.”

Georgetown’s solid educational base and commitment to its students is reflected in the work of these young and talented alumni.

“A lot of what I do is working with writers and giving them critical feedback on their material. … My experience at Georgetown, being a government major, I used that muscle often, even though not in the same exact way it’s still very analytical and I do a lot of the same things,” Andrews said.

“Georgetown was profoundly important to shaping who and where I am on a personal level,” Ahamed said. “One of the striking things that I first noticed about the entertainment industry is the importance of friendships. Georgetown not only teaches you how to be social in a variety of different circles and settings, but also instills in its students a strong sense of academic responsibility, which in turn translates into corporate responsibility.”

Ahamed is currently working for the president of production at Jerry Bruckheimer Films, and found that the network of Georgetown alumni is not limited to government and law. “As a newcomer trying to navigate this industry, [older classmates and friends] proved to be a huge support system to me,” she said.

Nathanson echoed Ahamed’s sentiment. “More and more Georgetown people are coming out here,” he said of L.A.

This may be in part because of GEMA, the Georgetown Entertainment and Media Alliance, which was founded in 2002 with the aim of increasing Georgetown’s ties in the entertainment and media community by developing strong relationships with Georgetown alumni in the field. Battista, the founder and chairman of GEMA, said in an interview on the GEMA Web site, “GEMA is not just for people in TV and movies. … GEMA is for any Georgetown alum, student or parent involved in any part of the entertainment and media world including journalism, theater, advertising, new media, publishing and many others.”

Georgetown alumni are constantly making strides in the entertainment fields. More and more graduates are entering the industry, and although Hoyas may get discouraged by the statistics of those who go on to make it, Harris gave some advice.

“The worst thing that will happen is [someone] will say no,” he said. “There is nothing wrong with hearing ‘no.’ … If you hear enough ‘nos,’ you’ll start to hear some ‘yeses.’”

And hopefully, through the growing presence and active involvement of alumni in this industry on Georgetown’s campus, the ‘yeses’ will come quite sooner than ever before.