Meet Kathy Schenfelt of SCH Entertainment in Century City

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kathy Schenfelt.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
“I come from a little town in the south of Argentina” I feel like I’ve said that same exact line at least a couple hundred times since moving to LA. I grew up fascinated by the idea of storytelling and the magic behind filmmaking. My local theater went bankrupt when I was nine or ten, and the nearest one after that was five hours away, which meant my imagination had to do all the work. I remember re-writing scenes from my favorite movies and incorporating a new character so I could perform in front of the mirror.

I realized acting wasn’t in my future pretty early on, but I craved opportunity. I was dying to be part of something big and my stubbornness wouldn’t allow anything less than. My knowledge of Hollywood back then wasn’t quite as extensive as it is today, so I went with what I, as a fifteen year old, considered to be the best thing ever: The Twilight Saga. I started with a Twitter fan page that blew up rather quickly, then it grew into a website, and in the blink of an eye I was working with Summit Entertainment’s team on their social media campaigns. Funnily enough, I used to be embarrassed and never told my friends. My mom knew because I lived with her, but that was pretty much the extent of it. Now I can look back and say “yeah, I did that” and see it for what it was, the foundation upon which I built my career. I was a high school kid and didn’t know the first thing about digital marketing, but that was the first time I remember feeling empowered. I was part of this huge thing, and people, older people, wanted to hear what I had to say, and it didn’t matter how old I was or where I came from. By the time I turned seventeen, I had three major motion pictures under my belt.

I was able to cultivate wonderful relationships from the experience and began to do digital strategy work for other studios and talent. My mom is a preschool teacher and I didn’t grow up with siblings, so I’ve always leaned towards working with kids, although my roster currently includes both children and adults. I just think there is something so special about taking on a kid and watching them grow, both in their professional and personal lives. Maddie Ziegler was one of my very first clients. Sweetest girl. I worked with her, and her mom, for six years. I remember writing she was nine years old when she needed a bio for her website. She’ll be eighteen this year.

Flash-forward to 2016, I decided to put an end to my freelancing days and launched a digital marketing & social media agency in Argentina. We started off with two fashion brands and a studio, then picked up influencer marketing. A few months later, I packed my bags and moved to Los Angeles. I can’t tell you exactly when things shifted for me, but at some point I decided I wanted to work with talent on a more personal level, I wanted to apply all my experience and resources and guide them to the best of my ability, so I just went for it. I paid my dues, learned a few tough lessons, I graduated from UCLA in music business, got a dog, got office space, got a team, and founded a new company. I’m turning twenty-six this week, which is pretty exciting because that means I’ve been working in the industry for over ten years.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
The entertainment industry is male-dominated in all areas and aspects, so being a woman is already not great, but being a young woman, especially a Latina one, is an uphill battle. It’s beginning to change, but you still feel the pressure to do better. You have to say things a little louder, shake hands a little more firmly. You want people to pay attention and that can be pretty intimidating when you’re the youngest person in the room. I know what I’m capable of, but it’s not easy to compete with someone who has been doing this for thirty years and knows everybody in town. I’ve always felt like I had to prove myself over and over to gain the respect of those who didn’t think I knew what I was doing.

There was one particular meeting a few years ago that I’ll never forget. I was working with a well-known influencer on a project and we went in to meet with a major studio to pitch them the idea. I walked in, her on FaceTime, and we sat at this huge table with like, fifteen male executives. They asked us to prove why we thought we need more women in positions of power. The irony. I had the perfect answer for them, but it didn’t matter because the top exec was too busy scrolling through Facebook. I remember him showing his colleague something on his phone and laughing multiple times, deliberately interrupting us. I cried in the car after. Looking back, I wish I had ended the meeting right there and then.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
I’m the CEO of SCH Entertainment, the LA-based overarching company behind The W List and Missmanaged.

The W List works with brands and organizations on social media strategy, influencer marketing and talent buying. We work with really exciting talent and have great relationships with their teams, so our partners trust us to find the right people to fit their creative vision.

Missmanaged is our talent management firm. We represent artists, actors, models, and content creators. We’re very selective and only sign as many as we feel we can handle, so our client roster is growing slowly – but steadily. I think that’s more of a necessity than a preference when it comes to management. We don’t want to oversaturate ourselves to the point where a client feels like they have to fight for our attention, so we only take on clients we believe in one hundred percent and we won’t mind getting 2AM phone calls from for the next twenty years.

Having a great team you can count on is key. I have my wonderful day-to-day right hand, Brie Cooper, who’s always on top of everything and keeps me and our clients on track. We have our go-to digital strategy advisor Nick Aiden, A&R consultant Andrea Usuelli, as well as talent agents, creative directors, producers, and photographers we love and trust.

It’s a lot of work and it really does take a village, but the reward is unmatchable.

Contact Info:

• Address: 10585 Santa Monica Blvd. Ste 100
  Los Angeles, CA 90025
• Website: www.schentertainment.com
• Email: info@schentertainment.com

Image Credit:
Jess Spohr

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