How Does the Program Work? We contract with Radio/TV Stations, Recording Studios/Record Companies, and Film/Video Production companies to train and mentor aspiring talented apprentices. Who Will My Mentor Be? A mentor is a professional in the field, for example the Program Director/Production Director of a local radio and TV station, the owner or Chief Engineer of a recording studio, or a Film Producer or Director. Why is Your Graduate Employment Rate So High? The mentors, leading working professionals in their fields, dread the day when they might have to sort through the resumes of college graduates who haven't a clue what the business is really all about.

The inevitable employment through our apprentice program is in large part due to the fact that training is always done ONE-TO-ONE. One student apprentice, one instructor or mentor.

Rather than the faceless resume, it is far more realistic to expect that they will hire their own private student apprentice that they have hand-picked, groomed and taught on the job, in the real world.

Has This Method Been Around Very Long?

Our method is not new. It is a throwback to the apprentice method of training during the Renaissance period. In the 12th century, if you wanted to be an artist you didn't go to school, you went to work for an artist and you were not paid for your labor. On the contrary, you paid for the privilege of working for free. And people stood in line to do it with the right master. If your father wasn't already doing it, or your uncle or at least a cousin, it was the only way to enter a profession.

Can I Work This Around My Present Job and Schedule?

If you are accepted into the program, your training can take place during your off-hours, evenings and weekends and can be completed in four to nine months. Because these apprentice programs are self-paced and literally one-to-one, they can accommodate any schedule. No matter what your schedule might be, you can fit this in. It might take you longer to finish, but you can definitely do it. You can't use that old excuse that you don't have time to do what you've always wanted to do.

What if My Schedule Changes?

The expectations are that most applicants can manage at least once-a-week sessions in the beginning and let that weekly assignment session "evolve" into the needs and requirements of the parties involved. The nature of the "relationship" is that it can be adjusted from once-a-week meetings to five times a week, to once every month and everything in between. It can be stopped, put on hold, sped up, slowed down, or moved to another city if need be.

What Does the Placement Include?

You will receive the same text material and homework assignments of any school, college or university program. (The curriculum and any pertinent textbooks or manuals is determined by the individual mentor). The difference — and it's a big difference — is that your mentor/instructor in our program will not be a college professor or a grad student with 30 - 60, or more, other students vying for attention in a classroom or lecture hall. They will be a working veteran — a professional who is currently in the field — the Program Director, Chief Audio Engineer, Film Producer or Director.

What is the Placement Fee?

Our placement fee is $6,950* for Radio and Recording and $7950 for T.V. and Film. Compare that to so-called traditional or typical trade school tuition in Broadcasting, Music, Recording or Film, that can run from $20,000 to as much as $80,000! If you've been interested in doing this for a while and have been checking out these training facilities, you are well aware of the costs. Colleges and universities, of course, are even more expensive. The resulting loss of income during this period of time (as much as four years) adds even more to the cost.

With the Apprentice-Mentor method, you work your training schedule around your work schedule, enabling you to earn as you learn.

Why Do You Cost Less Than Other Schools?

The reason why our apprentice training program is so affordable compared to college or specialized training schools is that our overhead is nowhere near that of a training facility or a college. The studio, building, and all that equipment is already there. We don't own or maintain the property. The only cost is for your instructor, the relative text material and administration.

What Does the Mentor / Instructor Get Out of This?

Fifty percent of the placement fee goes directly to your tenured mentor/instructor. A tenured mentor (one who has successfully mentored a "student" for us) is paid somewhat more than a first-time mentor.

That's worth noting, because the most important part of the education process is the faculty or the teacher. We recognize that importance and reward it accordingly. Your mentor/instructor also receives an incentive of up to $1,000 for your employment. However they will not jeopardize their organization or accept you in the first place if they don't think that they or someone else in the industry could hire you after some on-the-job training.

It's as simple as that.

Realistically, What Kinds of Jobs Are Available to Me?

Be prepared to start at the bottom of the ladder, and you may have to keep your day job to pay the rent, at least at first.

Starting off usually begins with part-time work, nights and weekends, the hours no one with a lot of experience wants.

But the opportunities are endless. They are created through your talent, drive, hard work, cooperation and your association and one-on-one rapport with your mentor. They are created from being there . . . from just doing it . . . from being the right person, at the right time with the right contacts.

Many of our apprentices are hired very early on in their training, months away from formal completion of the program. As with all aspects of life and work, talent is usually recognized and rewarded when you make your desires known, but you must be given the opportunity to display your potential and abilities in the proper arena where it will do some good: on site and on-the-job.

Do I Need a College Degree to Work in the Entertainment Industry?

No. Obviously higher education can only benefit an individual and is encouraged, but it isn't required.

Wouldn't I Be Better Off Going to College and Getting a Communications Degree?

If you're thinking about college, you will be far better off getting an English degree, an Arts degree, a Political Science degree or a Music degree. Educate yourself in other areas.

The results speak for themselves. Even the best college curriculums in the country don't place more than ten to twelve percent of their communications majors into paid, entertainment positions. When you do graduate and apply for a entertainment job with that communications degree and resume in hand, you find yourself one of a hundred other applicants for the same position. Never mind that you have a great personality and you're a hard worker. You don't know anybody. Nobody knows you. You still don't have any experience!

Most school curriculums simply don't provide students with the experience necessary in the entertainment industry. They are "pretend " environments and can't effectively communicate the economic realities of having to attract documented ratings to be sold to advertisers.

Many Program Director/Production Director of local radio and TV stations, owners or Chief Engineers of recording studios, and Film Producers or Directors believe this: bad habits learned while "playing" in school give aspiring employees such an unrealistic picture of the real entertainment business, they are often considered worse off than someone with no previous training at all!

The difference between the school atmosphere, and reality is so great it has always been necessary to retrain these graduates when they come to work for real. Not only do studios and stations have to retrain these graduates, but they actually have to undo many of the bad habits picked up at school. It's so much easier for them to simply take on their own prescreened ZDT apprentice, from their local community, and train them personally in the real world of entertainment!

How is an Apprenticeship Different From an Internship?

Most entertainment organizations cooperate with the local schools by taking on interns. It used to be a very good way to break in to this business. Today, there are still some very good internship programs out there. On the whole though, internships don't provide anything resembling the learning experience they used to. The problem is that every college, university, and broadcast school in the land wants to get its students "in the door" and into an internship. Entertainment organizations are literally bombarded by requests to take on interns. They can't possibly provide a meaningful educational experience to people in these numbers. As a result, most interns these days spend their time in the promotions department handing out bumper stickers in front of concerts and such, and never get anything resembling training or work.

ZDT apprentices on the other hand, enter the station differently. They're in a contractual relationship with their mentor who has literally been hired to train them personally. The ZDT curriculum is specific in its intent to develop skills leading to work. The goal, from day one, is employment. Your mentor is even given a cash financial incentive, paid only when you find work in this business, at a studio or station where you trained, or at another studio or station across town where your mentor "knew somebody".

Who Are You?

We are industry professionals offering on-the-job, one-on-one training in Radio/TV, Recording, Video, Film, and other specialized fields throughout the U.S., Canada, the UK and Australia.