Next Steps
by Erica Barry

Erica Barry
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Next Steps
by Erica Barry
Erica Barry
Follow
The job title “management consultant” may conjure images of grey-haired white men in expensive suits... and you wouldn’t be wrong. By supporting Next Steps, you are supporting a relatable, comic take on the challenges confronted by young women who are trying to find their way in Corporate America.
The job title “management consultant” may conjure images of grey-haired white men in expensive suits... and you wouldn’t be wrong. By supporting Next Steps, you are supporting a relatable, comic take on the challenges confronted by young women who are trying to find their way in Corporate America.
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Story
Mission Statement
Created by two women who bravely leaped into the male-dominated world of management consulting -- after interviewing dozens of consultants about their first-year experiences, we created Next Steps to bring visibility to the experiences of women and BIPOC working in corporate America.About The Project
What's it About?
Similar in tone to HBO’s “Silicon Valley,” this series follows people-pleaser Grace Peabody as she embarks on her first job after graduation. Grace had a perfect SAT score, graduated from Yale, and even plays the damn viola. As a black woman in management consulting, she’s desperate to not be seen as the ‘diversity hire.’ She is willing to jump through any hoop that comes her way -- but at what cost? The first season of Next Steps follows her misadventures on her first case in Butte, Oklahoma. The lessons she learns from her co-workers will make you laugh... and they will make you cry.
Why Us?
While working long hours in corporate America, we asked ourselves… “what could we do to fill up the thirty minutes of free time we have a day?” So we decided to write a pilot. We both love to create and decided to pull our crafts together (screenwriting/directing/acting/producing). Drawing from our experiences working in management consulting, we created Next Steps. Together, we wrote the script, and now we’re ready to produce it. Rachel draws on joke-writing skills that she honed at UCB and will take the helm as the director of Next Steps. Erica used production skills to move Next Steps through development and will use her acting chops to bring Grace’s best frenemy, Lexi, to life.
Why Are We Doing This?
Lured by thoughts of fancy dinners, first-class flights, and company AMEX cards? Welcome to the world of long hours, crippling imposter syndrome, and shoes that hurt.
After conducting a survey of Harvard seniors, The Harvard Crimson reported that while 15.43 percent of the graduating class goes into consulting, only 0.55 percent want to be in that field 10 years later. No other industry is skewed to that degree.
Both Erica and Rachel were going through college, unsure what they wanted to do with their lives. However, when junior year hit, management consulting became the golden ticket to success, happiness, and fulfillment.
We spent late nights preparing for case interviews, hundreds of dollars we didn’t have on business formal clothes, and evenings in conference rooms being wowed by fancy information sessions hosted by consulting firms.
We both ended up taking jobs in consulting.
However, those information sessions don’t tell you about the difficulties - especially as a woman of color in the workforce. We created Next Steps to create an alternative to the narrative in Hollywood that glamorizes high-powered men in the financial services industry (looking at you, Jordan Belfort). We wanted to show the unsexy life of young associates trying to find their way in the world.
What are the Next Steps?
With your support, we are planning on shooting Next Steps on a COVID-19 safe-set in early February 2021. After that, we are planning to submit it to festivals as a short. Contributors at the Principal level and above will be invited to the premiere and will get to see Next Steps before anyone else. After the festival run, Next Steps will be distributed online for viewing.
What about COVID-19?
If there were a case interview question about whether this is the optimal time to create Next Steps, the answer would be a resounding “no.”
We are in the middle of a global pandemic and financial recession; however, during weeks of self-isolation, comedy has been a source of comfort and escapism for millions of people around the world.
To move forward incrementally; however, we have taken drastic measures to protect the health of our team and the financial security of the production. We have postponed production and spent months researching COVID safety to prepare for every possible scenario. Now we are back and more excited than ever to create Next Steps with COVID-19 best practices in place.
Incentives
$9
Summer Associate
You aced the case! Your name will be front and center on the Next Steps website. Your contribution is essential in helping us make this series a reality.
$19
1st Year Associate
You got that signing bonus! Just like all new hires post those cringe LinkedIn updates, we're going to let everyone know about it by sending you a shout-out on our show website and a special meme for your favorite social media platform.
$49
1st Year Consultant
See Next Steps in action before anyone else! With a $49 contribution, you will receive an invitation to our virtual table read of the script with the cast and crew. And if that weren't enough, we'll send you a personalized thank you video.
$99
Principal
You're big time now! You'll receive an on-screen Special Thanks in the credits of our first episode and a personalized thank you note from the team.
$199
Partner
$299
Senior Partner
Getting VIP facetime without ever clicking into an Excel sheet? Say less! We're naming a character after you (or a friend) in one episode & you will be invited to our premiere.
$499
Alexander Thornton III
Your dad runs the company! Good for you. You don’t have to do anything, but we're making your Associate Producer, just for being our favorite son! We'll list you as an Associate Producer on the IMDb page and in the end credits of the pilot.
$999
Alexander Thornton II
You’re the head honcho! We're making you a Producer of the pilot where you'll receive top-level communication as we move through the Pre-Production/Production/Post-Production stages of Next Steps. We'll list you as a Producer on the IMDb page and in the end credits of the episode.
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Wishlist
Use the WishList to pledge cash and loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an incentive directly.
$9
Summer Associate
You aced the case! Your name will be front and center on the Next Steps website. Your contribution is essential in helping us make this series a reality.
$19
1st Year Associate
You got that signing bonus! Just like all new hires post those cringe LinkedIn updates, we're going to let everyone know about it by sending you a shout-out on our show website and a special meme for your favorite social media platform.
$49
1st Year Consultant
See Next Steps in action before anyone else! With a $49 contribution, you will receive an invitation to our virtual table read of the script with the cast and crew. And if that weren't enough, we'll send you a personalized thank you video.
$99
Principal
You're big time now! You'll receive an on-screen Special Thanks in the credits of our first episode and a personalized thank you note from the team.
$199
Partner
$299
Senior Partner
Getting VIP facetime without ever clicking into an Excel sheet? Say less! We're naming a character after you (or a friend) in one episode & you will be invited to our premiere.
$499
Alexander Thornton III
Your dad runs the company! Good for you. You don’t have to do anything, but we're making your Associate Producer, just for being our favorite son! We'll list you as an Associate Producer on the IMDb page and in the end credits of the pilot.
$999
Alexander Thornton II
You’re the head honcho! We're making you a Producer of the pilot where you'll receive top-level communication as we move through the Pre-Production/Production/Post-Production stages of Next Steps. We'll list you as a Producer on the IMDb page and in the end credits of the episode.
- Updates
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Current Team
About This Team
Erica and Rachel met at the Claremont Colleges in 2017 while fulfilling what turned out to be a life-changing general education requirement. Erica, Pomona College class of 2019, worked as a performer at Disneyland before stumbling down the rabbit hole and landing a job at a Big 4 consulting firm. Her improv skills and nerves of steel served her well during interviews. She is now an ex-consultant working in media. Rachel, Claremont McKenna class of 2020, fit neatly into the box of people with a lot of different interests but no clearly defined path. Her longtime love for Seinfeld, 30 Rock, and television, in general, occupied a prominent place in her extracurricular pastimes, but it wasn’t until she interned in management consulting during the summer of 2019 that she seriously considered a career in media. In the spring of 2020, right after the world fell apart, Erica and Rachel embarked on a mission to write something together. Fueled by a creative spark and a desire to create, they burned through brainstorming sessions and drafts until they arrived at a topic that deeply resonated with them: starting your career with the safe and prestigious option, only to feel miserable doing it.
We hope our audience can relate to the frustration, fear, and excitement of starting a career based on vague notions of what lies ahead only to find yourself on the worst carnival ride ever. The whiplash of being a high achiever to battling imposter syndrome after graduation. The need for validation from a supervisor, as well as the realization that this need is unhealthy. The appeal inherent in becoming a “suit” when you have no idea what else to do. We believe our concept captures a wide audience of talented young adults who desperately want to succeed and project a mirage of confidence while taking their first step in the corporate world.
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