Interview with Nicola Murphy

When I was interning for Letterman in New York City, I stayed in a dorm in Brooklyn reserved for students going to school in the area and students that were currently doing internships. We were randomly assigned roommates and I think it is safe to say that both my roommate Nicola Murphy and I felt very lucky to have gotten assigned to each other, and have become great friends since. Nicola came to New York in 2008 to attend the American Academy of Dramatic Arts from Dublin, Ireland where she enjoyed doing local theatre. With us both having great interests in Drama, we got along quite well. We even moved in together for a bit after our dorm life, and remain great friends today. Although I came back to Seattle to finish school, Nicola has been in New York since 2008 and has since become the Producing Director of a new theatre company called Fundamental Theatre Project. Although just only over a year old, the company has produced works with the talent of Alec Baldwin, Anthony Rapp, and Kate Mulgrew and will be producing a work for the first time at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this summer!

Although I talk to Nicola pretty frequently, I recently sat down with her to have a chat specifically about how she handles many negotiation situations that she finds herself in on a day-to-day basis. As a Producing Director, she is responsible for the production of all shows and events related to the Fundamental Theatre Project. What does this consist of? The list is quite extensive. It involves hiring of designers/crew/director etc, and coordinating schedules among the team. She also responsible for creating and working with budgets and dealing with actor/director unions. She mentioned to me that all productions involve a high level of negotiation. She is constantly negotiating rental and space fees with designers and directors and quite frequently negotiates schedules with the entire casts and crews.

After hearing about the types of things she deals with on a day-to-day basis, there were two major things that Nicola mentioned that have helped her in her career so far. The first one is respecting status. In the entertainment industry there will always be a ton of egos that one has to deal with. She states, “Dealing with a whole team of people from cast to crew to director to press & marketing can become tricky, but it is part of my job to ensure everyone feels empowered, and secure in what we are trying to accomplish so they can best do their job, and we can have a successful show.” I think “empowered” is a great word that she used. Things will always run a lot more smoothly when whomever you negotiate with feels appreciated and respected. After that respect is established, you are able to move forward in working together on a common goal. The second piece of advice she gave me was to always try to see where the other person is coming from before going into a negotiation. It will help you be able to come to a more realistic agreement and will keep you and the person you are negotiating with from becoming unreasonably defensive. Nicola states that it is very important to, “approach the situation with a great level of understanding, and openness. It is all about trying to make the situation work for the good of the show which is more important than any single individual contributing to make it happen.” For only having her job for just over a year, Nicola has some great advice that I will take with me to my adventures in the entertainment industry! Feel free to check out her website here along with a New York Times article.