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My POV
by Brian A. Wilson
WHEN IS YOUR INDEPENDENCE DAY?
The Fourth of July may be in the figurative rear view mirror, but it's still a good time to think about Independence Day. Not just that of your country, but YOUR independence day.
This Fourth of July marks four years since my wife and I pulled up stakes and moved to LA. We had a great house back east. We had easy jobs pulling in a hundred grand between us. We had more leisure time than we knew what to do with.
And we were bored silly and dying creatively.
We looked at a calendar one day in early '97. We picked my mother's birthday, May 8, as D-day to move west.
Then we panicked and ran out of the room.
Big changes sometime take a little getting used to.
Our deadline shifted a couple months, but we made the move. We wouldn't trade the experience for all the film in Kodak. OK, maybe we'd trade the satanic mover for, say, five thousand feet of film. But that's it.
All has gone well. I have five feature scripts in inventory. We're shooting our first feature this fall. We've written/directed/produced two shorts. Rose is wrapping work on an episode of "Resurrection Boulevard" tonight. In addition to working on another feature, I'm writing for a reality show that'll premiere on PAX this fall.
In short, we're glad we declared our independence from the easy way out.
What about you? Are you planning to make the move to LA? Are you really going to do it, or is it just a comforting daydream? This Independence "season" may be a good time to consider it.
I don't recommend it for everyone. It's tough moving, tough starting at the bottom, tough breaking in. You have to love the work and love the hours, and not, at least initially, be in it for the money.
But for some of you, there's nothing else to do. When it's what you need to do, when it's what you want to do, it becomes a compulsion. Like settlers heading out of Kansas City on the Santa Fe Trail, you ignore the tales of woe and caution, pack up your stuff and go.
The path isn't easy, but the daring traveler is rewarded abundantly. The people who work in showbiz are some of the most engaging, entertaining, talented people I've ever met in my life. There's an amazing energy when you fall in with the right crowd, with everybody pursuing a common goal, individually, if that makes sense. Resources for improving your work pour out of the mailbox and, seemingly, every doorway one passes.
If you love movies and TV, there's no place to live BUT L.A. If you love stock trading, you live in New York. Oil business push your buttons? It's Houston for you. Movies and TV? Hollywood is still the epicenter, and if you're going to be in this business up to your eyeballs, you've got to be here.
So think about it. If you're not here yet, will you be? When? Set a date. Pick your own Independence Day.
Then watch your dream come true.
Keep writing.
Brian Wilson
L.A.
bigtex@loop.com
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