Everything Happens for a Reason

For the entire year and a half I have been living in LA, I have been holding on to the idea that my life is unfolding EXACTLY the way it is supposed to.  Though I've had a lot of fun, most of my time here has been frustrating.  But I knew there would be a day when I could look back and see the purpose of it all.  Today is that day.

I received a call today that I got a job...and I start Monday.

I believe that every internship, temp assignment, and my experience at the gym, all contributed to getting this job.  I was able to bring up a lot of what I've learned from those experiences to the three interviews that they called me into.  

For my third interview, I committed the biggest faux pas anyone can ever make for an interview...I was late.  I thought I gave myself plenty of time for traffic, but I had not anticipated rush hour, 10-mile an hour traffic for the entire way.  

Though it was difficult, I kept telling myself not to freak out, and understand that this will all work out the way it is supposed to.  Lo and behold, the moment I was walking in the door, the coordinator from MY VERY FIRST INTERNSHIP was walking in the other direction.  If I hadn't run into her, I would have never known she worked there.  

After my internship last year, she gave me with a letter of recommendation.  I knew she would back me up if anyone asked her about me.  I'm not sure if she put in a good word for me or not, but trust me, I made sure everyone the interview know that I knew her.  

I supposed I'll find out when I start next week.  On Monday at 9am, I will be starting a front-desk/assistant job at a major entertainment studio.  

A Year of Reassessing

At this point, I've lived in LA for almost a year and a half.  I came to LA with a specific strategy to achieve my goal.  When it was clear that progress was not being made, I reassessed my strategy.  I reassessed my strategy about six times in one year.

The first reassessment came in September 2011.  At that point, I had been in LA for four months.  I had two film development internships, one of which I had quit for a SUPER low-paying job as a script reader.  I hadn't had a single interview for a full-time job in the industry.  The experience writing script notes and coverage had proven to be a useful skill, but I clearly needed to do something different.  Especially because this blog as about breaking through the small screen, not the silver one.

I had heard many times that the best way to break in to the industry is through one of the big agencies (WME, CAA, ICM, UTA, APA, Paradigm), and none of the agencies would even look at me unless I had a connection in LA.  Therefore, I decided to start an internship at a smaller talent agency.  To find out what happened to that internship, check out the blog post I wrote about it in October.

At that point, I was feeling tired of working without pay or any real benefit to me.  So, I decided to forget all of the advice I had heard about needing an internship to get a job in the field, and focus on getting an actual full-time job instead.  I got a part-time job at a gym, and started a full-time job of actually looking for work.

Fast forward eight ridiculously long months later...and I was still working at the gym.  Reassessment #4: Maybe I should give the internship thing another try.  The next internship ended up being as dead end as the rest of them, but something exciting happened.  A temp agency that works primarily with Lionsgate hired me on as a temp, leading to reassessment #5.

The temp agency was calling so much, two days of work with them was equivalent to five days of work at the gym.  I still had my job as a reader, and they brought me on as a freelance marketing assistant too.  I was now in a position where I was actually being paid real money, to work at a real media company, doing real work!  And Lionsgate even has a TV department!  Hooray!

I have been a temp for four months now, and I have learned a lot from the experience.  All of this learning has led to REASSESSMENT #6.  Stay tuned to the next blog to learn why it's time for another reassessment, and what my new grand plan is.  

 

Captain Obvious

It bugs me when entertainment media gets it as wrong as the networks do.  I'd like to break into development because I feel the need to play the role of Captain Obvious.

An article from The Wrap makes the same sweeping generalizations as the networks seem to make about why certain shows didn't work this year.

One common theme the article identified in failed shows is how many of them took place in the past.  The article cites the failure of Pam Am, Terra Nova and Alcatraz as examples.

Those shows did not fail because of their setting.  They failed because they were boring.  The characters were flat, and the weak plots did nothing to encourage me to tune into the next episode.  The shows the author called surprise hits were Once Upon a Time and Grimm.  Those shows are awesome, regardless of their settings.  Therefore...not cancelled.  

I've got to give the writer, Tim Molloy, some credit for pointing out some of the obvious flaws of this shows later in the article.  However, in regard to The Playboy Club's cancellation, he left out one crucial fact.  The Playboy Club aired directly after The Sing Off, and opposite of the season premiere of Two and Half Men.   

This means that their lead-in audience was a completely different demographic than the target audience for The Playboy Club, and their target audience was really eager to watch a show on another network.  I tweeted about this months before the show aired.

I honestly believe that NBC set that show up to fail, and was more interested in generating publicity about the network through the show.  Maybe it's me.   

Giving Credit Where it is Due

Last week, unlike The Hollywood Reporter's Tim Goodman, I calmly railed against ABC's new show Work It.  After watching the premiere of Showtime's House of Lies, I was compelled to give the new show credit for what it is doing right.  I can't speak for whether the show will be popular, I can't find a review out there where people think the show is any good.  However, the complaints about the show have nothing to do with Don Cheadle's performance as Marty.

Cheadle's role is in the kind of casting that the African-American community has been pleading for.  This is a mainstream show, with an African-American male in the lead.  It could have easily been cast for a Caucasian male, just like all of the formulaic shows on the USA network that House of Lies is being compared to.  He has a white ex-wife, and a son that actually looks biracial.

Unlike ABC's Work It, House of Lies addresses transgendered people in a tasteful and realistic way.  Marty's son, Roscoe, successfully auditions for the role of Sandy in Grease.  Marty's dad, Jeremiah, played by Glynn Turner (Col. Taylor from A Different World) is an ex-psychologist who encourages Roscoe.  Marty even stands up to Roscoe's teacher when she suggests Sandy's role should go to a girl.

Throw in the lesbian sex scene, and you've got a show that advances representations of inter-racial relationships and all kinds of minorities on television.  It doesn't work hard to break down stereotypes, and this is the OPPOSITE of a preachy show.  Therefore, regardless of whether this show is any good or not, I give it mad props for how these themes are addressed.  Personally, I think this show is interesting and original, and for now, I plan to keep watching.

Taking a Break

As a member of the LGBT community, I come across all kinds of articles related to the issues of "my people".  Over the course of the last few weeks, I've come across a number of articles about how Work It is offensive to transgendered people.  I decided to check it out to come to my own conclusion.

As a TV-phile, I think it's great that TV brings these issues up into the mainstream and understand that networks air programming that people find entertaining, regardless of their level of controversiality.  Sometimes, I think some organizations and critics go overboard in accusing shows of being offensive.  

However, I thought this show was WAY more offensive to women than it ever could be to transgendered people.  This show is not about a man who wants to be a woman or is making any fun of transgendered people.  This about a man who has run out of unemployment and does whatever it takes to get a job to support his family, even if whatever it takes involves dressing up as a woman.  

Therefore, he and his friends believe that the only good jobs available are for women.  At the beginning of the episode, the men fear that women are taking over the world and planning to use men only as sex slaves in the future.  A female character explicitly says that only women are considered for the positions, leading the men to dress up as women to gain employment there.  

There are a number of jokes at women's expense: the desperate single mother, tampons, and being overly emotional.  In the scene where the main character is hired, the interviewer is impressed with his knowledge of clinical trials because "all of the women who apply for this position believe that clinical trials are a place where Lindsay Lohan visits."  This is just one example of how this episode clearly implies that the company prefers to hire women, regardless of their incompetence.  

This sort of thing is why I'm interesting in working at a network, to stand up for women when this kind of episode is written.  I'll be back in LA this week, ready to kick my job search to the next level.  Wish me luck, everyone!

California Paycheck

Though I haven't even cracked the small screen, I am now receiving a paycheck as a California resident.  This entire time, I haven't really felt like I permanently lived here, because I have never had a job here.  I appreciate the fact that I didn't have to look for a job outside of my field, it just materialized.

Christmas is coming, and I decided I wanted to make some extra money.  I took as many scripts as I could handle from the screenwriting competition and randomly found myself a job.  Being unemployed, I feel like a great use of my time is to visit the gym, at least every weekday.  A couple of weeks ago, I noticed a sign at my gym that they were hiring at the front desk.

I got the job almost immediately.  I haven't mentioned it until this point, because I wasn't sure if I could keep it.  I will be leaving for Chicago for almost three weeks, and in my experience, jobs like this do not allow you to stay onboard after leaving for an extending period of time.  Yesterday, I found out that my job will stay be waiting for me when I get back.

The gym's location is close to the wife's place of employment, are during the same hours when she is working, and are flexible enough for me to take on a new internship or have meetings around it.  Though it doesn't pay much, it's nice to have a paycheck and have something to keep me busy.

In other news, I have encountered a new challenge in my quest to break through the small screen.  It's nothing I can't handle, but it certainly affects my perspective.  Stay tuned to learn about this new hurdle...

Handling Frustration

A lot of my blogs are about how positivity and faith lead me to know that I will break through that small screen. However, I haven't talked about how I persevere through the discomfort of not having a job. Between internships, I've been bored. It's no fun applying for jobs and new internships, and there are days where I am frustrated.

I've had this part-time script reading job to keep my mind engaged and put a small of money in my pocket. But sometimes, there are no scripts to read. I try to take these times to write screenplays of my own. When I don't feel like writing, I watch streaming episodes of Netflix. When Starbucks' WiFi is too slow for that or I grow tired of watching Lost, I read a book. I do my very best to stay motivated and trust that the perfect opportunity will present itself.

I've spoken about the wife, and how her job helps pay for us to survive in LA. But I haven't spoken of how we believe in a prosperity consciousness. All religions have some kind of writing that involves God providing wealth for believers. Even non-religions speak of a law of attraction, indicating that if you believe in something, including money, that it will come to you.

We focused on faith, believing that we can thrive in LA. The fact that we haven't gone a day without a place to live or food to eat serves as a reminder to us that our faith worked. This kind of reminder serves to prove to me that I will find the perfect job at the perfect time. I appreciate all of you in your support and your positive energy in making this happen for us.