Part of TheWrap's series on how the economic crisis is affecting the Industry.

As the recession renders a tough job market even more challenging, aspiring creatives in Hollywood are finding the industry particularly unwelcoming.

That means trouble for someone like recent USC graduate Ben Cohen, who has the kind of pedigree most young writers would dream of.

Cohen, who hails from the suburbs of Minneapolis-St. Paul, studied in the exclusive USC screenwriting program. That gave him not just the luster of a reputable film school but also a bevy of connections.

It also helped land him internships while he was in school, one with Laura Ziskin Productions, and...

"All the business models that we grew up with? They went out the window."

The speaker is a veteran of more than three decades in various facets of the entertainment industry, much of that time as an independent vendor for post-production services. The industry vet, who is in his 50s, didn’t want his name used, or even the specific nature of his business identified; we'll call him Larry, and say that he has carved out a niche providing a post-production service that readies film and television productions for overseas distribution and video release,.

For Larry, the crash of 2008 did not have an immediate affect on his business. The company he owned continued to do steady work both...

The writer was on top of the world.

His first movie had grossed more than $80 million, and he had sold another. Want a Hollywood dream? He had it.

At least, that's what he figured.

Today, the 40-year-old screen scribe -- who fears notoriety from this article will exacerbate his employment situation should he be identified -- is working a two-week temporary job in sales.

"I didn’t have any backend points and I knew that the residuals wouldn’t last forever," he told TheWrap. "But you assume that once you have a hit movie out, more work will fall into place." (Photo of...

Second in a series on how the economic downturn is affecting the Industry.

If your search for television jobs is looking bleak, it may not be your industry's fault.

The problem might be your state's economy.

A record number of TV pilots were made last year, thanks to an increasing number of cable stations getting into original programming. This has been a windfall year for cable and network ad spending. But the money isn't necessarily trickling down to rank-and-file actors, writers and other professionals in Los Angeles, the heart of the industry.

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