Today was a good day. It was relaxing, in a sense. More relaxed and chill than the past 4 days have been.
We had breakfast this morning in the hotel with Rocco Hindman, an OU alum (I don't think I need to clarify this anymore) and a behind-the-camera talent agent. I had no clue that there were agencies out there helping FILMMAKERS to get discovered...I thought they were exclusive to people who can belt a high C...and that has never and will never be me. But yeah! This guy works at an agency that find talented directors, producers, writers, script supervisors, etc, that haven't been discovered yet. It was pretty cool. Never a job I would personally get into, but these agencies always need people in the mail room, so I won't disregard it for one of my first jobs quite yet.
After Rocco left, Matt Rhodes (alsoanOUalum) came to speak to us. He is a producer and has worked on such films as Passengers, Southland Tales, A Different Loyalty, and Freshman Orientation (it's okay, I had never heard of any of them either). All in all he's produced 21 films in his producing career. He started his own business called Persistent Entertainment, playfully going off of how "persistent" he was when he was starting his career. Wow, could this guy really talk about himself. He told us at the beginning of his shpeel (which lasted approximately 90 minutes) that he was going to give us brutally honest advice and not sugar coat anything. "Okay," I thought, "I'm completely fine with that." And I would've been fine with it, if he had actually given us some brutal and non-sugar coated helpful information. Can you tell I wasn't crazy about this dude? I'm not even sure why yet. There was just something about him that did not sit right with me. An observation I've made being out here is that a lot of people who we know were in our shoes maybe only 5, 10, or 20 years before us are now the cockiest people on the face of this earth. I don't know why that is. All we ever hear is "you have to start from the bottom; pay your dues; blah blah blah." I get that; I truly truly get that. I'm not expecting to move out to LA the second after I graduate and be like "Yo Spielberg get off your high horse 'cause a new producer's in town" (please picture me saying this very ghetto-like for a better intimidating effect). I know bottom feed is what I'll be first but JEEZ do you have to be so cold-hearted? I'm sorry for venting through a blog. In a way, meeting people like that was good this week. I will not let this cut-throat industry turn me into a Grinch. No way no how.
Well, after our extremely insightful session with Mr. Rhodes, we headed back to downtown Hollywood for a nice, relaxing lunch and a tour of the Kodak Theatre. No pictures allowed in there, but boy was it cool. This is where they hold the Oscars, American Idol Finale, and lots of other high costing shows. It was a really cool, cheap experience I think everyone should partake in if they're in Los Angeles. We also unexpectedly ran into an OU alum, who is some head honcho in and around the theatre! This guy was so impressed that 20 of us had come out here for spring break that he gave us each a free hat! Just goes to show that bobcats have one of the strongest bonds in the business. :)
After we had walked around Hollywood Blvd for a little while, we got back on the bus and headed over to the Atlas Digital Production Center for a tour. I was especially excited about this tour because they strictly specialize in post-production. Finally! Some insight from editing freaks! These guys edit lots of reality shows and game shows, such as Survivor, American Idol, Deal or No Deal, Minute to Win It, Real Housewives of (Insert County) County, Jersey Shore, and a million others. They showed us around a pod on the first floor, which is basically a big living room with about 8 editing suite rooms off of the big room. Lots of colleges I visited in high school had their studios set up like this. It was cool to see some familiarity.
The tour went upstairs to people who were editing for the Disney Channel only. We were allowed to wander around, and so a few classmates and I ended up in a suite where a woman was editing a promo video for the Disney Channel show Good Luck Charlie. This woman freaking changed my life in a matter of 10 minutes. She was so upbeat and outgoing. Since I am such an editing geek, I was asking her tons of questions on how she likes editing promos and where she got her start, etc. She actually started working at Showtime and Nickelodeon in NYC and then moved out here after she got a job offer from the Disney Channel. I asked her how she likes LA. "It's just different," she said. "I like LA, but I loved getting my start in New York. Everyone in LA thinks they can crap on you because everyone has that 'I-suffered-so-you-have-to-suffer' attitude. People in New York actually want to help you start your career and they don't wanna be a prick to you either. Once you got some experience and a real resume, then you should come out to LA." Maybe I liked this woman so much because she told me what I wanted to hear. I wanted to freaking kiss her. All I've heard all week is "I shoved everything I owned in my car, drove it 3,000 miles out here with nothing but $400 and some granola bars." Seriously. From everyone. I think it was starting to freak me out a little bit because after being here, I don't know if LA is really the right place for me as a 22-year-old. Starting out at a job that's maybe only 7 hours from home and where I might be a little more respected sounds more than perfect to me. I know I'm still going to start at the very bottom of the food chain, but I'm completely okay with that. I was also so giddy watching her cut pieces and mix sound and hit the spacebar in the editing software she was using. Another thing that hit me today is that I've been hearing from directors, producers, scriptwriters, cameramen, and assistants all week. No editors until today. I was in my glory. I am so convinced that it is the job for me.
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| Her 3 monitors for editing |
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| The view from her suite! |
Tonight we attended an OU alumni dinner, where we got to watch some videos from the 48-Hour-Shootout we had about 2 months ago and also network with different people in different fields. It's slightly intimidating, going up to someone and introducing yourself when everyone knows you just want to get their email address. Nah, just kidding, it is so good to network for socialization purposes too. Being a bobcat and trying to find a production job really do go hand in hand. We've got a great little troop going for us.
Tomorrow we're off to Universal Studios for some true fun and no professionalism for the day. Don't be jealous; it's supposed to rain.
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