LSU alumni and executive producer of Celtic Media Centre Patrick Mulhearn spoke to students about the importance of teamwork at the Lod Cook Alumni Center on Thursday. The event was the first segment in the “Speakers: The Series” hosted by Student Government and the LSU Alumni Association.
Lia Ramirez, a biological sciences senior, said she decided to come to the Speaker Series because she was interested in learning more about the state’s growing film industry.
“Acting is one of my hobbies that I do off on the side,” she said. “I’ve actually been an extra in a movie so I thought this would be cool because he’s the director of such a large movie studio.”
Mulhearn, who earned a political science degree from the University in 1997 and a liberal arts degree in 2000, encouraged students to think creatively when it came to their future careers and their role as future LSU alumni. He also criticized state legislators for their lack of teamwork and cuts on the Louisiana film industry.
“Teamwork is the only way LSU and Louisiana is going to get out of this budget crisis,” he said, mentioning that tax incentives for film companies make up only 3 percent of the state’s total tax incentive framework.
Mulhearn emphasized the importance of the film industry not just as a way to solve the state’s budget crisis, but as a way to slow the “brain-drain” of college students leaving the state after graduation.
A Jan. 12 Politico study ranked Louisiana as the worst in terms of economic development, education and healthcare. Mulhearn noted that this study, when compared to a 2014 Harvard study that ranked the state as the “Happiest State in the United States,” was paradoxical.
“If you want to stay in Louisiana after you graduate, something else is motivating you: L-O-V-E,” Mulhearn said. “It’s the people, the culture, the food, the football.”
Louisiana ranks No. 1 in the nation for film production, but Mulhearn said it is important for young people, specifically college graduates, to lend their skills and talents to the economy to help Louisiana rise in the national ranks for other fields.
Mulhearn insisted that the most important part of teamwork is the ability to communicate with others and to stay up-to-date with current news and media.
“It’s ok to know a lot about pop culture, and it’s ok to watch a lot of TV,” he said. “Pop culture is how we communicate with each other.”