Three years of living in California! I’ve made it this long? WOW! I have a love/hate relationship with this state.
Love:
the weather, the beach, my clients, the scenery, hiking up mountains, mountain biking, snow is only a few hours away, the cool nights, everyones positive energy and drive, constant enthusiastic people I am around…
Hate:
traffic, prices (rent, food, bars) and some of the stuck up ego eggo waffle looking fuckers.
Doing a pro to con battle though, looks like the Pro wins…
But yeah, three years ago today I was just getting into Phoenix to stay the night with a friend before I arrived in Cali the next day. I had no idea what I was getting into or what would happen. I dropped out of my apartments lease around Jan 05 to move in with someone to save money. Started working crazy hours in order to save up enough money as I possibly could before May and dropped out of college. I’d say I sacrificed a lot in order to acheive the so called ‘dream’ or happiness if you will in my opinion. By May I had 3 grand saved up, packed everything I could take with me into a 95 Saturn, which is super small by the way, and started driving West.
I arrived May 10th, 2005 and immediately got thrown into the industry. Had an unpaid internship for six months and somehow managed to make 3 grand last that long. I have no idea how I did it. My saturn even ended up dieing in the middle of the internship and I still bounced back with a new car.
Come November my internship was coming to a close and I didn’t even have the slightest clue what my next step was going to be. I was working 12 to 14 hour days every day for almost 6 months straight without any sort of payment. Well, I was paid with knowledge and experience, but with money….ha no! Well it finally all paid off. After my internship was over, I was asked to start a company with two other guys. This was the birth of The Filmcore.
In 2006, we worked on over 50 music videos and a TV Pilot starring Michael Madsen. I was super, super busy and was loving every minute of this new lifestyle. Needless to say and with all bullshit aside, The Filmcore ended in November 2006 due to different career paths.
In 2007, I started up my own company and got it’s feet off the ground. I directed around 15 music videos and produced a hand full. Also began doing quite a bit of DVD work such as authoring and case wrap designs.
This year, I directed a few music videos so far. But the music industry is in a weird transition right now. The budgets are coming down, way down. Tons and tons of people are getting laid off at record labels and the top dogs that are use to doing the huge, huge budgets are coming down and snatching up the lower budgets. See where I’m going here…
So on that note, I wanted to get out for a bit and let the music industry breath in order to see what was next on the horizon. Also, these labels want the world for hardly any money at all. I was and still am tired of selling myself short.
Then boom! in late April, I found a company that wanted me to work for them. www.carjunkietv.com Great group of guys and it’s only 2 miles away from where I live. It’s pretty laid back and I have a ton of fun in doing so. For instance, on Earth Day…we lit a car on fire. On Cinco De Mayo, I walked in the shop and was greeted with a Corona. I love it. And to top it off, I ride my bicycle to work everyday! Beat that shit…
so yeah, go check out www.carjunkietv.com - don’t miss the Junk Box section where you can view The April Fools Joke (I wasn’t hired yet when this went down, but it gives you a look into the guys I work with)
Life is pretty grand and I’m excited of all the good and the bad that I’ve been through out here. Some of the greatest three years of my life so far and I’m sure things will only get better!
Happy 3 Years California! My hat goes off to you…you big state you!
2 months ago
