My search for work in Los Angeles has been pretty hard. I've basically have no results to show for my work... I realized that in order to make it in this city, you really have to have some strong connections - an IN. And to make those connections you have to BE all of the following three things: smiley, professional, and flirtatious. I find that the hardest part of looking for work in the U.S. is that fear of commitment. How could I work for a company in a place so far away from my family, friends, and home? Could I make a new home somewhere else? Would it ever feel like home? Or even A home?
I arrived to Los Angeles with a pile of connections - those who I have personally met and those I was told to contact. Many of these people ignored my initial and follow up emails, but some did in fact find time to reply. In the two weeks I have been here, I've sat down with an enormous amount of professionals: producers, camera people, TV developers, actors, talent agents, graphic designers, animators, illustrators, editors, photographers, screen writers, directors, musicians, and then... some more actors! All of which seemed pretty happy to meet me. Although this sounds nice in a little list, as far as helping my career, nothing means nothing until something becomes something.
But I think Something - (dramatic pause) - is forming.
Hal (One of my CouchSurfing Hosts) invited me to a game of Poker with a bunch of his friends from around town. We ate fancy Pizza and played with even fancier poker chips. It was a pretty great night. But it wasn't great because of the cute, punk girl I got to meet, or the domination of the poker table leaving me with $14 in winnings! The night was great because Hal offered me a job. With my eyes wide open, I accepted!
I arrived to his house the next day at 11AM. Hal asked me to begin organizing his website archive. What Hal does is sell Time-lapses of city skylines and country sides. He has been traveling the world for the last 2 years and has created an archive of about 300 different Time Lapses from all over the place.
The way this works is quite simple. After setting up a satisfying frame, Hal sets a timer to take a photo every 3-4 seconds for two and a half hours. After making them into a movie and adding some fancy post-work, it looks something like these pictures below. Its pretty amazing to me how much work went into these considering that his archive must include (1 picture every 4 seconds for 2 1\2 hours... that's approx. 2,250 photos a time-lapse. Then you have 300 of those... so......) 675,000 photos! That's all in high quality, and must take up a few Terrabytes! Wow, I'm impressed...
Therefore I decided to extend my time in LA so that I could spend more time with Hal and learn as much as I can from him. .. Besides working with Hal, I've had a few other opportunities that I'm watching grow... I joined an animator in the efforts to create a daytime cartoon. I wrote down a short story, he liked it, and wants to try and develop some projects together. Bsides that, I also have a few interviews for a post production company here and in New York that might turn out to be interesting. Also, I am hopefully editing a clip for Annalynn Maccord for a fund raiser this September. And who knows what else I'll find...
But Nothing means Nothing until Something becomes Something...
Either way, one of the most important things I can pass on from this blog to people trying to learn from my experience in LA is that if you're falling behind... Networking is key. ;-) So, no matter who you meet, always treat them like the most important person to your career.
I arrived to Los Angeles with a pile of connections - those who I have personally met and those I was told to contact. Many of these people ignored my initial and follow up emails, but some did in fact find time to reply. In the two weeks I have been here, I've sat down with an enormous amount of professionals: producers, camera people, TV developers, actors, talent agents, graphic designers, animators, illustrators, editors, photographers, screen writers, directors, musicians, and then... some more actors! All of which seemed pretty happy to meet me. Although this sounds nice in a little list, as far as helping my career, nothing means nothing until something becomes something.
But I think Something - (dramatic pause) - is forming.
Hal (One of my CouchSurfing Hosts) invited me to a game of Poker with a bunch of his friends from around town. We ate fancy Pizza and played with even fancier poker chips. It was a pretty great night. But it wasn't great because of the cute, punk girl I got to meet, or the domination of the poker table leaving me with $14 in winnings! The night was great because Hal offered me a job. With my eyes wide open, I accepted!
I arrived to his house the next day at 11AM. Hal asked me to begin organizing his website archive. What Hal does is sell Time-lapses of city skylines and country sides. He has been traveling the world for the last 2 years and has created an archive of about 300 different Time Lapses from all over the place.
Therefore I decided to extend my time in LA so that I could spend more time with Hal and learn as much as I can from him. .. Besides working with Hal, I've had a few other opportunities that I'm watching grow... I joined an animator in the efforts to create a daytime cartoon. I wrote down a short story, he liked it, and wants to try and develop some projects together. Bsides that, I also have a few interviews for a post production company here and in New York that might turn out to be interesting. Also, I am hopefully editing a clip for Annalynn Maccord for a fund raiser this September. And who knows what else I'll find...
But Nothing means Nothing until Something becomes Something...
Either way, one of the most important things I can pass on from this blog to people trying to learn from my experience in LA is that if you're falling behind... Networking is key. ;-) So, no matter who you meet, always treat them like the most important person to your career.
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