A Year of Job Searching in Hollywood

Has it really been a year? No. Yes. Whoa. I turned my life upside down when I decided to move to Los Angeles. I am Midwest born and raised. Before I packed up my Uhaul and headed west, I had probably spent a cumulative two weeks in California since I was five, but the lure of sandy beaches and a big city overtook me. I wanted to move here more than anything, and I was going to no matter what. Did I have a plan? Not really. (I don’t suggest this) Did I have a job? Nope. Was I even sure what I wanted to do? Nope. Yes, I thought of all these things before I moved, but I didn’t care. I just kept telling myself that it would all work out.

Well at the six-month mark, I was working at BCBG (kill me) and interning two days a week at a film production office. I loved my internship, but my retail job was making me go brain dead. I knew I had to find a real job asap. I began my long search for really any type of entry-level job in the entertainment industry. The one thing that continually kept getting in my way was my lack of experience. Seriously? All the jobs wanted the same thing. At least one year working on a desk at a talent agency. OK, well then I will go be an assistant at a talent agency. Nope, it is not that easy. There are thousands of people who want to be assistants at talent agencies, which is why the agencies have their “agent-in-training” program. This is a joke. Your first job in the program is delivering the mail. I am not kidding, and everyone in the mailroom has at least a college degree if not a J.D. After a couple months of learning your way around the office and everyone’s names, you are pulled out of the mailroom into the “floater” pool. As a floater you fill in on agents’ desks when their assistants are either out of town or sick. You could be a floater from anywhere to a day to a year. When a desk (finally) opens up, the agent usually interviews candidates out of the floater pool. Usually. Sometimes they bring in outside people, so it’s back to the floater pool until another desk opens. Your day finally comes, and you have been hired as an agent’s assistant! Yeah! You are so happy that you giddily sign a year contract without thinking about the fact the last two assistants needed therapy after being on this desk. There you have it, the gateway to any job in Hollywood. Crazy. For me, I wanted it. I heard horror story after horror story, but I didn’t care. I wanted into the elite club of a male-dominate field. Unfortunately it is next to impossible to get into this club unless you are a male or went to an Ivy, which I’m not and didn’t. Also, if you don’t have a referral good luck even getting HR to email you back! There is always the option at working for a boutique agency, but unless it’s a big boutique there isn’t much room for advancement. You want to work for the big four! After numerous attempts and a couple of interviews, the reality of me working at an agency was looking bleak. Great. If I can’t get the gateway, how am I going to get any of the other jobs I really want?

I pondered this for another couple months as I applied to an endless amount of jobs. I lost count on the number of jobs I applied for around 100. I applied for 100 jobs! Maybe you are thinking that I am a slacker or that I didn’t do well in college. Both false. I graduated with distinction with two degrees from the University of Kansas. I ran the student-run PR firm and was an executive member of the PR club. I was in countless honor societies and was even an executive member of my sorority. I’m a catch! Somehow all this stuff adds up to nothing, zilch in Hollywood. It is now month 11, and I am completely unemployed. I have enough money for six more months in LA if I continue to be unemployed, and I am about to sign a year lease. I hope you are starting to feel my panic just a mere two weeks ago. Maybe it was time to pack up my bags and admit defeat. Things were looking grim, but I still had my faith that I was going to find a job! I could feel it in my bones that change was right around the corner. Boom! Out of nowhere, my internship offered me a job! I have already gone on and on about how much I love this company, but I could not have asked for a better opportunity. I had to keep myself from crying when they offered me the position. The best part, I get to skip the elusive agency desk. No mailroom for me with my two degrees! I am on the path to my dream job as a producer and literally couldn’t be happier. I smile a lot. I mean a lot. I am pretty sure people think I am crazy because I am so happy. Whatever. I live in gorgeous Los Angeles and have an amazing job.

The lesson of the story is this. Finding a job is LA is hard. Finding a job in the entertainment industry next to impossible, but if you bide your time something amazing will eventually happen!

New Experiences: Week 2 and 3

I started this blog post last week, but I didn’t quite get around to finishing it since my life was turned upside down by getting a job! So please forgive the fact that some of the events come prior to my last post.

Okay so my new experiences for this (two weeks ago) week might not be exciting for everyone, but they were big steps for me. I have been looking for a roommate for the past few weeks, and my search was beginning to look slim. Finally on Tuesday, I had a breakthrough! I met my potential new roommate for coffee over in West Hollywood to see if we would be a good match. After some light conversation, we both laughed at the fact this felt the way online dating probably feels like. Thankfully she turned out to be super nice and normal! As an added bonus she has a puggle, which I’m very excited about because I am a huge dog lover. I finally felt like my apartment search could officially begin because I now was for sure looking for two bedrooms. On Thursday, I went to my first apartment showing all by myself. Sometimes I get nervous doing things by myself, but LA has definitely helped me to break out of my shell. For me both of these were big steps toward my new adventures in Los Angeles.

Now onto last week! Last week I was offered and accepted my first real job in the entertainment industry. It could not have come at a better time! After a crazy week, I am already getting into the groove at the office. I know I am at the right company, and this job is better than any others I have interviewed for! After almost a year as an intern, I always covered the desk (ie: answered the phones) during my company’s “Monday Meeting.” Since my job is more front of office, I figured I would still be covering the phones during this meeting. The producer of my company surprised me last week by inviting me to the Monday meetings. I have always wanted to sit in on these meetings because it is when a lot of important decision are made. Yesterday I experience my first five-hour meeting, and I loved every minute of it! I was able to contribute my opinion, and it wasn’t scoffed because I am new. From this part of my job, I will be able to get a firm base and further understanding of the industry and the developmental process. This knowledge will help me move up the totem pole to one day be an full-fledged assistant, then a developmental executive, then the vice president of development and production and finally a producer!

Life is good, and I can’t wait to update everyone on all my new weekly adventures! I promise I will try to make them more exciting new time!  

My Big Break

My own desk!

After a year in Hollywood, my situation was beginning to look desperate. Last week I was on the verge of being roommateless, homeless and unemployed. Not exactly a winning combination when you are trying to make it in Hollywood. As I contemplated signing my new lease, I feared the worse for my current situation. I have enough money to last me six months, and then I would be flat broke with nowhere to turn. Going home isn’t even really an option because my parents are considering moving to my grandma’s farm. My fallback would be to move in with one of my sisters, her husband and children. Not exactly the dream of any (almost) 24 year old. Last Tuesday, I was beginning to feel the dire aspects of my situation. First on my list of things that needed to be accomplished- find a roommate. After countless efforts of trying to find a roommate through this LA website, a girl finally responded! We met up that day and immediately decided it was a good fit. Okay, one thing down and two more to go. The obvious next step was to find an apartment. On Thursday, I found a dream apartment: reasonable priced rent, central West Hollywood location in a quiet neighborhood. Things were starting to go in my direction. Friday, I had lunch with my friend on the Warner Brother’s lot and laid it on him hard that he needed to help me find a job. As another persuasion technique, I baked him cookies since it was his birthday. Bribe or not- he agreed. I could feel it in my bones that I would have a job by my birthday.

Monday, I planned to put down the deposit for my dream apartment, unfortunately this didn’t go as planned. The apartment had been rented out over the weekend! I cursed myself for not putting down a deposit on Thursday, but it was too late to change anything. This started my Monday on a sour note along with the fact I screen my company’s horror film at 10 a.m., which isn’t exactly a pleasant way to start the day. My day brightened when I saw two of my favorite Glee stars at my local sandwich spot. Coming back in the office, I was in for a big surprise that I never saw coming. Our development executive popped out of a meeting to tell me that our company was going to hire me! I almost cried but thankfully kept it together. He said he just wanted to give me a heads up, but I needed to act surprised when I got the official offer. I wanted to yell on the top of my lungs and dance around wildly with my hands over my head. For the past year, I have fallen in love with the company I intern at. I believe in the projects they take on along with the people who work here. It is a small operation, but it is a successful one. I never imagined I would get to be truly part of this team. All the rejection I faced at other companies made getting this job ten times as rewarding!

There was still one thing on my list that didn’t seem to want to work. Now that I was a full-time employee, how was I going to find an apartment?! Thankfully, I was able to do a half day Tuesday and secure an apartment. Of course this wasn’t an easy feat, but after three apartment duds my roommate and I found a gem on the board of Hollywood and West Hollywood. I guess a girl can have it all. Well all I need for right now- a roommate, an apartment and a dream job. Persistence pays off. It is a lesson I have learned time and time again. Even if everyone is telling me no, I will keep trying if I am passionate about something.

Favorite Movies

Visiting my friend at the Warner Brothers lot, a group of his fellow employees started discussing their favorite movies. I really started to think about my favorite movies. If anyone asks what my all-time, favorite movie is, I automatically respond Breakfast at Tiffany’s. It is hands down my favorite movie, but what is my second favorite? I drew a blank. I want to be in the movie business. Why can’t I think of my other favorite movies? When I read scripts, I gravitate to in depth, unique plots and developed characters with true emotions. I started thinking about movies that I can literally watch over and over without getting bored. Other than Breakfast at Tiffany’s a slew of other Audrey Hepburn movies come to mind: Sabrina, Roman Holiday, Charade, Wait Until Dark. All fantastic! If you haven’t seen them, do it- now! It’s a shame Audrey only won an Oscar for Roman Holiday because her performance in each of these movies is breathtaking. She is able to fully encompass each character however different the characters are from one another.

What about modern day movies? This year I loved The King’s Speech, Black Swan and Midnight in Paris. Last year I loved An Education. What about my all time modern day favorites? I would have to go with Pride and Prejudice. My friend Emma and I probably watched this movie at least 30 times our freshmen year, and I still love it. Jane Austen is an absolute genius, but then again I am going back to the old writers even if the movie was made recently. After thinking about it for a while, I decided to break it down my favorites by genres.

Drama is up first. Inception. How can you not like Inception?! Christopher Nolan is an absolutely brilliant. The more times I watch Inception, the more I like it. The characters blend flawlessly into the completely unique plot that literally blows my mind. Okay onto the rest of the list: Across the Universe, Atonement, Blow and the Harry Potter series.

Next genre- romantic comedies. There is nothing necessarily profound about rom-coms. They tend to be very stereotypical and fall into a cookie cutter formula where the main characters fall in love in the end. The best ones are able to steer clear of the clichés (for the most part). Newly topping my list is (500) Days of Summer. Next to Garden State, this movie is able to capture all the best feel good feelings of a rom-com without being overly cheesy. Others on my list include: Garden State, You’ve Got Mail and Love Actually.  

Now onto a genre that isn’t exactly known for its cinematic genius- cartoons. A lot of cartoons have little to no plot, but Disney and Pixar have been able to mix a heartfelt plot with comical characters. My favorite cartoon from my childhood will always be The Lion King. Let’s not even discuss it. It is amazing! In my second grade yearbook picture, I actually wore a Nala t-shirt. That is a little embarrassing to admit, but I just wanted you to realize how far back my love for The Lion King goes. Others making the list: Lady and the Tramp, Finding Nemo, Monster’s Inc and Toy Story 1 & 3.

For my last two genres, I only have one movie in each. It isn’t that I don’t like comedies and science fiction; I do but for some reason none really shine. For comedies, I love Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. This could possibly be considered a drama, but it is just so darn funny. Maybe I am more inclined to it because I have a little thing for Robert Downey Jr. Finally my final genre- science fiction. There is one series of movies that standouts from the rest. The Twilight Series. Ha- no I am totally kidding! Star Wars. No, I am not kidding. I love Star Wars. My roommate makes fun of the fact I will always watch it when it is on TV. It doesn’t matter if it is the original three or the new three. I like them all.

What are your favorite movies? I have probably left off about a hundred classics, but I am always looking for good movies to watch and would love suggestions!

New LA Experiences

After living in Los Angeles for almost I year, I feel I have somewhat boxed myself in. I used to do new stuff all the time, but it has began to trickle down over the past few months. Yes, I try new restaurants a lot, but I still get into ruts. I have done most of the big tourist attractions, but there is so much more to do in LA. I think the thought of saving money kept me from experiencing all that LA has to offer. In reality, Los Angeles has tons of free things to do. So I am making a vow. I am going to get out of my box, and I am going to try new things. Each week I am going to try to do something new. To kick off my adventures with a bang, I decided to do a variety of new things this past week! Easing my way into trying new things, I took my little furry friend, Rufus, to a park. Unfortunately LA doesn’t allow dogs off their leash, but Rufus and I lounged on a bench for a while until kids overtook the small park. Rufus isn’t exactly accustomed to children and began wildly jerking on his leash. At this point, I was done for trying new things for the day and quickly scooped up Rufus and exited the park.

While I enjoy trying out new restaurants, that same mentality hasn’t transcended to trying new bars. I have found a few select bars that I love and rarely try new ones. Keeping with my theme though, I convinced some friends to try a new, small lounge in Hollywood. A cute old man in tails and a top hat welcomed us to The Lounge Next Door. There was an instant speakeasy feel as we were escorted through velvet curtains into a room of exposed bricks, dim lighting and intimate couches. Adding to the 1920s theme, the waitresses were clad in classic flapper dresses and long-stranded pearls. Many classic cocktails adorn the menu along with some new favorites. Upon our waitress’s suggestion I ordered the Hotel Nacionale, which smoothly combined rum, lime juice, pineapple gomme and apricot brandy. The drink was delicious but unfortunately super tiny for its $12 price tag. After checking in on Yelp, I whispered a secret word to our waitress to receive a free appetizer. We ordered the spinach and goat cheese pizza that was also topped with spinach, walnuts and roasted apples. The strange ingredients actually married well with each other. I can say I will be back to The Lounge Next Door.

The next day, Jessica and I continued with our new tradition of Saturday beach days. Instead of going to an LA beach though, we headed south to Orange County. I have been to the OC a couple of times, but never farther south than Huntington Beach and never actually to the beach. Our adventure was going pretty well until good old Google maps took us on a toll road. This normally wouldn’t be a problem, but neither of us had enough change to pay the toll! Jessica ended up asking the people behind us for the 65 cents we were short. Cruising deep into the OC, you see a completely different part of Southern California. There are orange, barren hills and purple-colored mountains in the distance. Cookie cutter mini-mansions line the canyon valleys with identical red roofs. We branched off from the highway and began our crawl to the beach and suddenly we were there. The deep blue ocean off Laguna Beach greeted us with cloudless skies overhead. We found a small cove beach and set up shop. The views were absolutely breathtaking. After a few hours the tide unexpectedly washed up and partially drenched us! We saw this as a sign it was time to go. To avoid the toll, we took Highway 1, or the PCH, north through other OC beach towns. It was my first time through Newport where a lot of Jayhawks call home. We turned off the PCH when we hit traffic from the US Open Surf competition in Huntington.

All in all, this past week marked a new start in my LA experiences. I fully plan to keep up my pledge to try new things and broaden my own horizon.

The Reality of Rejection

In the last seven months, I have applied for more than 100 jobs. 100! From all those applications, I have landed ten interviews. So many people come to California because it is the land of opportunity. Well, let’s just say that time has passed. Los Angeles has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country at 12.4% and remember that only includes people who are collecting unemployment. I hate blaming the economy because it feels like a coup out, but in reality every industry has been hurt by the recession. Sometimes I dream about being born a mere three years earlier, and how this wouldn’t even be a problem. Back to reality though, I was born in 1987, and I graduated into the worst economy since the late 1980s. (F)un-employment has lost its luster over the past few months. All I want is a job in the entertainment industry. You would think after being met with such an overwhelming amount of rejection, I would give up, but I’m not ready to give up. It’s hard to get a job in the entertainment industry or even a foot in the door. Well my light knocking on the door is now a pounding.

In college I didn’t get the internship I wanted on the first try. I took another internship that turned out to be a great learning experience. The next year I reapplied to my dream internship and landed the position. This was a great lesson in perseverance. If I hadn’t had this experience, I am not sure I would still be living in Los Angeles. There is only so much rejection one person can take until you begin to doubt yourself. Doubt can start as a small seed planted by one person. When you have more than 100 seeds planted, it can grow rapidly and become overbearing. Even though I have encountered more rejection than I have ever faced in my life, I refuse to doubt my passions or myself. I am passionate about the entertainment industry whether it takes me down the developmental production path or to a talent agency. I love Los Angeles and can’t imagine living anywhere else. I can only see myself living in two other cities, New York and Chicago, but I ruled both out a long time ago since I am not exactly a lover of the cold. I have faith in myself that things will turn around and all this will only make me a better person and employee in the end.