As I laid on my bed one hot afternoon, my phone began to ring. As our work demand, calls are normally received from unknown numbers, and this wasn’t an exception. To my surprise, the person was calling from somewhere in the Brong Ahafo region. His mission was pretty simple; he wanted to be an actor.

As easy as it may sound, he made it known to me that he has been blessed with the talent of acting. With no education and very little experience in acting, he believed he can act very well because he’s endowed with such talent.

Just like this young man, many people in the entertainment industry today consider talent to be the only driving force for the success of their various careers, be it songwriting, performing, acting or any other. They fail to realise the obvious truth that talent isn’t just enough for them if they really want to succeed.

Talent can be said to be the starting point in every career. It is therefore up to the person (whether musician or actor) to develop such aptitude. There exist several talented people in the entertainment industry; therefore it requires constant practice to develop it in order to put one ahead of others. Several entertainers we have in our various industries don’t spend time to understand their talents, not to talk of developing it. This explains why the end results of most entertainment products we have are shifted to one particular direction.

This is show business; and that is serious business. Any actor, musician, songwriter, entertainment writer, sound engineer, etc who gets involved should treat it as real business. When the business aspect of it is realised, then more time and effort will be dedicated to upgrading oneself from the talent level to a whole new different height.

Being a talented person in the entertainment industry without taking the time to understand the rudiments of the business side of it can be described as being tantamount to a company that makes great products, but no one hears about it because they have no marketing department. It is shocking to find out that a lot of our celebrities and upcoming entertainers falter at this. When little cedis and dollars begin to fill their bank accounts, they fail to realise other aspects of the business.

Further education in their respective fields has become a no-go area for them. It’s time for them to realise the entertainment industry isn’t just about the talent (which is only a minute aspect in the industry) they possess, but how they train and develop the talent into something worthwhile.

If this is taken seriously, there will be a massive change in our entertainment industry.