Post WGA Strike with Screenwriter and PA Elliot Gordon
Elliot is a writer and a PA at a major studio who is finally able to get back to work. We ask him about the transition back into the thick of it. We cover various topics including frustration with a phone call, the importance of being comfortable in uncomfortable situations, past language experiences, career progression, job security, and appreciation for opportunities.
Transcript
This is Film Center.
Speaker:Your number one show for real entertainment industry news.
Speaker:No fluff, all facts.
Speaker:Now, here are your anchors, Derek Johnson II and Nicholas Killian.
Speaker:Hello everyone, welcome to Film Center, your number one place for studio news.
Speaker:My name's Derek Johnson II.
Speaker:I'm Nicholas Killian.
Speaker:And today we have a special guest we're here with...
Speaker:Elliot Gordon, Elliot.
Speaker:What's up, man?
Speaker:How you doing?
Speaker:I'm doing good, man.
Speaker:Glad to be here.
Speaker:So let me ask you a question Elliot So for our fans, you might not
Speaker:know what how would you describe Elliot does so much stuff?
Speaker:Elliot is a renaissance man.
Speaker:So I mean, I don't I don't I'm not gonna describe you But how would you
Speaker:describe your work to the audience?
Speaker:Uh, a
Speaker:Jack of all trades type of nerd, I find video games equally
Speaker:fascinating as Rubik's Cubes.
Speaker:Like then delving into the entire evolutionary biology of crabs and
Speaker:not crabs He's that kind of writer.
Speaker:That's what And you find inspiration from crabs.
Speaker:Oh, absolutely like the cook like the entire biology of Crustaceans
Speaker:and insects as kind of like living huge cyborgs of Earth.
Speaker:Why, why do so many animals evolve into crabs?
Speaker:Uh, because they're kind of an ideal aquatic life body.
Speaker:And it just kind of keeps happening as convergent evolution.
Speaker:A lot, I read about this, like a lot of them are converging into crabs.
Speaker:But today, we're not going to talk about crabs.
Speaker:What?
Speaker:No!
Speaker:Yeah, I'm just kidding.
Speaker:Like, um, oh, and by the way, as you know, film scenario one is, uh, is on the road.
Speaker:Um, and today we're recording at, uh, Elliot's place.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Uh, currently he has He lives at Right?
Speaker:Heheheheheheheheheheheh Currently he has a dog, Charlie, in his lap.
Speaker:So you might hear, uh, Charlie.
Speaker:She is happily snoring, but that's good because that means she's not gonna be
Speaker:barking and giving us any other concerns.
Speaker:Yeah, she seems, uh, uh, Quite content in your lap.
Speaker:So, um, Today we're talking a little bit about, I don't even want to say,
Speaker:I hesitate to say post writer strike because in actuality, they didn't really
Speaker:get everything that they wanted and it's still kind of tentative, but as you know,
Speaker:Um, the, uh, SAG actors are about to meet again with, um, you know, some producers.
Speaker:They finally passed the 100 days.
Speaker:So, um, you know, Elliot also works in the industry as well.
Speaker:We always want to bring in outside perspectives.
Speaker:Has it being post, I don't want to say post strike.
Speaker:I'll say, I'll say, I'll say it's on a temporary truce.
Speaker:Would you say, is that, is that, is that accurate?
Speaker:Um, I'd say for the writer's strike, it's post strike.
Speaker:Most of it has been ratified, at least to my knowledge.
Speaker:And my job is completely back to normal, as if we've moved past the strike.
Speaker:So, um, we, as we've said previously on the show, we cannot talk
Speaker:about everything because of NDAs.
Speaker:But, Elliot does work on a show that got back afterwards.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:So, um, I mean, what was it like to be on that hiatus for so long?
Speaker:Uh, it was, it was miserable.
Speaker:Um, you're sitting there kind of in the beginning.
Speaker:I thought, all right, maybe this will last like a few weeks.
Speaker:It's just like an unpaid vacation.
Speaker:But then those weeks turned into several months, and it turned into
Speaker:a very depressing summer of sorts.
Speaker:You know, like, I'm applying to a bunch of different jobs
Speaker:just to make some extra money.
Speaker:I, I worked on a few student thesis films, cause that was the only thing being made.
Speaker:And made a little bit of money doing that, but I remember just even
Speaker:for basic jobs, like I applied to Universal, the theme park, and the Six
Speaker:Flags, not even they would hire me.
Speaker:You know what's crazy, because like a lot of, a lot of people went straight to the
Speaker:theme parks, usually it's the easiest, uh, one of the easier jobs to get.
Speaker:As someone who used to work for Universal and their theme parks,
Speaker:it's always better than Disney.
Speaker:I always liked, when I was younger, I always loved Disney and Universal.
Speaker:I loved working at Universal, just because like You on your lunch
Speaker:break, you can technically go get a beer and then go back to work.
Speaker:That makes the job way more tolerable.
Speaker:Now, now Elliot, I would have a question for you.
Speaker:With your job being on hiatus, were you checking for daily updates?
Speaker:Were you checking for like, what was that like for you day to day?
Speaker:Were you guys Were you on standby with your, uh, with the production company?
Speaker:Were you on, like, talk to me about what the weekly or daily life was like.
Speaker:Like, how did you even know that you were still employed?
Speaker:Yeah, when the strike first happened, um, they gave us the information, you know,
Speaker:that like, you know, the show's gonna go dark, um, but the moment the show
Speaker:is back That's why I said it, go dark?
Speaker:Well, that's like the industry term, like Bravo 6!
Speaker:The show has gone tar gone dark.
Speaker:That's a Bravo 6, yeah!
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:But, yeah.
Speaker:But they said, you know, once the show returns, everyone can
Speaker:come back in their positions.
Speaker:No one's job was ever supposedly compromised as far as I knew apart
Speaker:from we didn't have a return date and you know, no one knew everyone,
Speaker:everything was just speculative.
Speaker:That's as far as like really, you know, there wasn't any info to go off of.
Speaker:Everyone was just kind of, you know, keeping their fingers crossed, hoping
Speaker:for a quick solution that So, it was just radio silence until you came back?
Speaker:Kept in touch as coworkers.
Speaker:Yeah, of course.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Did you ever hang out with your coworkers from that time?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Plenty of times we would meet up for drinks before it started getting
Speaker:really expensive to keep meeting up for drinks because while you're unemployed.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:So, you know, we had, being forced into being hyper ugal is never fun.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Um, but it was also kind of humbling in a sense to be way more careful with every.
Speaker:Finance, but also, you know, just going grocery shopping became a
Speaker:very soul destroying activity since it's still, everything is just
Speaker:such a heavy expense in this city.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:But I think the biggest fear, though, for me will forever be
Speaker:just that kind of nihilist of view, like, this is just never ending.
Speaker:It just felt like, you know, the negotiations kept getting postponed, they
Speaker:weren't returning to the table, and it just felt like they were not interested in
Speaker:ever meeting the demands of the writers.
Speaker:And, you know, the agreement they ended up getting, I'm very happy
Speaker:that they got, you can't always expect them to get everything.
Speaker:I'm hoping that it sets a precedent for even lower level employees like myself
Speaker:to eventually be able to have better negotiating power for future jobs.
Speaker:Cause that's something I think frustrated me about the strike was I mean, to
Speaker:be fair, you, you, you got this job.
Speaker:Um, I don't want to say recently exactly, but it is, it is, it is like
Speaker:you haven't been there for years.
Speaker:No, this is my second year.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:It's your second year.
Speaker:You know what I'm saying?
Speaker:And so, you know, when you found somewhere like you feel
Speaker:like is your production home.
Speaker:It feels like, you know, because it's such a big part of your life.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And just to have it taken away, and you're like, I don't even
Speaker:know when it's coming back.
Speaker:That must have felt crazy.
Speaker:It felt crazy, but I think what many, especially lower tiered employees
Speaker:like myself, were feeling was that, you know, we supported the strike
Speaker:on principle and empathized with all the demands of the riders.
Speaker:I think it was that we felt...
Speaker:involuntarily conscripted into the strike since everyone's work got shut
Speaker:down and we have gained nothing from it.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:You know, we're still like PAs are generally non union.
Speaker:We don't have a lot of salary negotiating power because our positions are easily,
Speaker:you know, they remind us how easily replaceable we are all the time.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I felt really bad, especially when, cause me and Nicholas, we went to the marches.
Speaker:Yeah, me too.
Speaker:But then me and Nicholas, because we're on the radio, we weren't really affected
Speaker:as much by the strikes, you know?
Speaker:So it's like weird.
Speaker:Cause you're like, you, you do like, you know, we support the strikes.
Speaker:We believe in them and things like that.
Speaker:But then again, we're not being directly affected by it.
Speaker:Like, so now that you're, now that you're back, um, is there been like any major
Speaker:change or is it just like back to normal?
Speaker:Like everyone asking, like it never happened or.
Speaker:I mean, I don't think anyone's acting like it never happened.
Speaker:I think everyone's just very excited to be back.
Speaker:Um, I sure as hell am.
Speaker:You know, I'm very, very pleased to just be back to my job, cause this
Speaker:is the one time in my life I've ever been able to say I love my job.
Speaker:And yeah, and in the, the entertainment industry, that's a very rare thing where
Speaker:most people will have many stories of working for very unpleasant people, but
Speaker:I have nothing negative to say about the show I work on or the crew I work with.
Speaker:Everyone is amazing.
Speaker:And I'm very grateful for that.
Speaker:So that's why I was especially ecstatic to be able to return to work as they are.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:Fun to work with and work for.
Speaker:It's a great team and everyone is treated with so much respect.
Speaker:And it was like very sad to not be able to participate in that
Speaker:for so long, but now we can again.
Speaker:Oh, before we get too far again, uh, also you want to
Speaker:tell everyone where you're from?
Speaker:Oh, okay.
Speaker:Um, originally I'm from...
Speaker:Hey, you don't get to be a mystery, sir.
Speaker:Not on this show.
Speaker:Not on this show.
Speaker:Well, what if I make up a mystery backstory?
Speaker:Well, now everyone's gonna know.
Speaker:Now, now, now you know.
Speaker:You could have done that.
Speaker:I probably wouldn't have even said anything.
Speaker:I didn't know he was from Dragon Land.
Speaker:That's awesome.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:He's from Sven.
Speaker:From Sven?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:The mythological creature of Sven?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Well, it's kind of close to where I'm from.
Speaker:I'm originally from Sweden.
Speaker:But I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area for the majority
Speaker:of my life since I was nine.
Speaker:You, uh, Oakland, right?
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Great place.
Speaker:Let me ask, did you, uh, Did you always, like, I like people have a lot of negative
Speaker:things to say about San Francisco, but then I always hear people from Oakland,
Speaker:and they're like, Eh, it's alright.
Speaker:I have, I mean...
Speaker:It's not like L.
Speaker:A.
Speaker:is any less trashy or capable, capable of being trashy, you know, San
Speaker:Francisco and Oakland have a lot of issues as well, but I love going there
Speaker:and I loved growing up there, so to any haters of the Bay Area, no, you
Speaker:don't know what you're talking about.
Speaker:I wouldn't live in L.
Speaker:A.
Speaker:if it wasn't for the industry, like, I would happily...
Speaker:If I could afford to live in Oakland and just fly from Southwest, from
Speaker:Oakland to Burbank every day, every day, I would rather do that.
Speaker:It's an hour flight.
Speaker:You're not losing any time compared to LA traffic.
Speaker:That's true.
Speaker:So what would you say is the difference between the Bay area and, um, Los Angeles?
Speaker:I heard there's a huge difference.
Speaker:Uh, there.
Speaker:It, it kind of, it's hard to say In the bay everything is a
Speaker:little more chill and laid back.
Speaker:There's just a lot more of a vibe where everyone's more inclusive
Speaker:and you know, more like relaxed.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:But like imagine like a couch potato and you come home and they're
Speaker:like, Hey, welcome, sit down.
Speaker:While in LA every time you meet someone new, they can present
Speaker:themselves as very friendly, but.
Speaker:And this is like, you know, most people in LA work in entertainment.
Speaker:And I definitely feel like here they, they're always sizing you up.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Every person that you meet, um, is, it seems like every time
Speaker:you meet them instead of them being, Hey, how are you doing?
Speaker:It's just like.
Speaker:Well, how can I position myself exactly to get what this person has or to in some way
Speaker:get his contact information so that I can leverage him leverage him and Infiltrate
Speaker:what he has so I can get That stuff.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And I, and I think the problem is they're, most people are really bad at it,
Speaker:'cause they're like, they're always like, I would, I would much rather
Speaker:respect someone who's just mask off.
Speaker:Like, how can I use you?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And just like talk shop with me.
Speaker:'cause I'm like, okay, let's use each other.
Speaker:I'm fine with that.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Upfront, you know, just being honest about Yeah.
Speaker:Like if, if, if I see that this person has something I want.
Speaker:I'm not going to be rude to them, but I'd say like, you could just ask.
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:What is wrong?
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:Like, Hey, I see that you're really great at this.
Speaker:Let's work together.
Speaker:People don't like to do that.
Speaker:I was like, Oh, Oh, how can I use it?
Speaker:They like, they want to meet up for drinks five different times before they set up,
Speaker:give the manipulative, like one liner.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:I'm like, and I'm like, I don't need to have wasted, like Over 150 on small
Speaker:talk that's gonna lead to nothing just for you to pitch something at
Speaker:me or see what you can get out of me.
Speaker:Gosh, that happens so often.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Do you have any, do you have any specific examples that were particularly bad?
Speaker:Uh, I think at my first job that I had, where I worked a lot more in,
Speaker:Management and talent representation.
Speaker:And so I dealt with a lot of assistance from other managers and agencies.
Speaker:And, you know, they always want to like, let's schedule drinks,
Speaker:even though we're all overworked.
Speaker:And I was like the last thing I'd want to do after a 12 hour day, sitting behind
Speaker:a desk at the office, go get hammered.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Like I just wanted to, you specifically, I just didn't want to do that.
Speaker:Like I'm, I'm a pretty social person, but I also run out of steam eventually.
Speaker:And at that job, I ran out of steam every night, but I forced myself to network.
Speaker:It's the worst word.
Speaker:Okay, so everyone has a place where they're like, Oh, this is my go to place
Speaker:when I want to network with someone.
Speaker:And everyone has a go to place where it's like, I'm here
Speaker:because we're actually friends.
Speaker:Where is your networking place?
Speaker:Uh, I rarely pick the spot.
Speaker:Because I don't care , that is, I like that.
Speaker:I, and I want them to know that, like that's how little effort I'm
Speaker:putting into this fake meeting.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:That like some like, and I, I sometimes went into them definitely with probably
Speaker:the wrong attitude, which I do regret.
Speaker:I wish.
Speaker:Mm-Hmm.
Speaker:Like, you should never just be rude in that situation.
Speaker:But I definitely felt with some people, it's like, I get that you're, you
Speaker:know, we're all new here, we're just trying to get to know people, but.
Speaker:It just sometimes felt so forced that I was just not really putting
Speaker:the effort into the conversation.
Speaker:I would happily cancel on a lot of events all the time just because I
Speaker:was just, I did not feel like going.
Speaker:And...
Speaker:Because it, it seems so forced.
Speaker:It seems so, like, I, it, I would respect, like you said, I would respect you so much
Speaker:more if you said, This is what I have.
Speaker:This is what you have.
Speaker:What can I do for you so that you can do for me?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And...
Speaker:Sometimes we had those types of conversation and it led to like some
Speaker:good cooperative partnerships and just exchanging ideas or just getting to know
Speaker:someone who had insider knowledge on one aspect of the industry that I might not
Speaker:be very know the jargon of, which was always just useful, but also just making
Speaker:friends in different places so you can kind of learn what they do and they want
Speaker:to learn what you do, but sometimes you could just see like they were Sometimes
Speaker:asking way too many invasive questions.
Speaker:It's mainly about your job, mainly about the people you work with.
Speaker:Either take or clear it.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:But they really wanted to try to tap in.
Speaker:What's the address?
Speaker:What's the passcode to get into the back door?
Speaker:Yeah, but they'd be like...
Speaker:What chips do you eat at work?
Speaker:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker:Is it Ruffles?
Speaker:Does it get waves?
Speaker:I mean, cause we've all...
Speaker:movies about entertainment, like you'll have two executives on the phone and
Speaker:they're very polite and then they hang up and then they're like, I hate him.
Speaker:So that happened all the time at many of the jobs I had.
Speaker:And I felt like sometimes other assistants would try to be like playing investigative
Speaker:journalist for their boss to try to figure out who they're all spies.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Like they're trying to figure out for man.
Speaker:Like I, when I saw the For some, like, have you seen The Offer?
Speaker:No, I have not.
Speaker:Uh, the show The Offer is about the, uh, the making of the Godfather.
Speaker:Right, right.
Speaker:And, uh, uh, uh, uh, I think Teller's in that.
Speaker:Miles Teller?
Speaker:Miles Teller, yes.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Yes, he does a fantastic job.
Speaker:Um, I remember watching the, I mean, like, even though this is
Speaker:supposedly decades ago, I feel it.
Speaker:Because, like, his people who work under him are always telling on somebody else.
Speaker:They're always trying to point it out.
Speaker:And then, I don't know, after I saw that show, I was just like, I was like
Speaker:hyper aware of other people doing it.
Speaker:It was so weird.
Speaker:It's like, you know, when you're playing punch buggy There's there's
Speaker:you haven't seen a punch buggy all day But as soon as you start playing Punch
Speaker:Buggy, there's like 55 Punch Buggies!
Speaker:It's like, everyone has a Punch Buggy!
Speaker:Yeah, I mean, if, when you're alert, and you feel a little bit of that paranoia,
Speaker:It's kind of like, I felt the same whenever I was an intern in college
Speaker:at any place, I always wanted to be...
Speaker:Like I hustled a lot.
Speaker:I wanted to be like with every executive that came in the office.
Speaker:Like, Hey, do you want some coffee?
Speaker:Do you want some coffee?
Speaker:Hi, how about you?
Speaker:Would you like even more coffee?
Speaker:I can fill up the entire fridge with more coffee.
Speaker:Oh, look, I just can inject you with coffee.
Speaker:I mean, you drink that much coffee anyway, so you might as well have a coffee.
Speaker:Ivy, I can make, I can make that happen.
Speaker:Um, but because I always felt like, you know, they tell you.
Speaker:The difference between a good intern and a bad intern is the one who brings
Speaker:them their coffee at the right time and make you want to be the one that
Speaker:makes them smile and and they're like, they're teaching you this and university
Speaker:film classes, especially like in.
Speaker:Yeah, this was, my university had an LA program, which I really enjoyed.
Speaker:It was my final semester of college.
Speaker:And you go to your internship during the day and then you have night classes.
Speaker:So like, I liked that you actually apply yourself during the day.
Speaker:And I got to meet some cool people and intern for some cool
Speaker:studios, but I definitely found sometimes that the way that.
Speaker:We had guest speakers come and talk to us about like how to move up and
Speaker:how to be a good lower tier employee.
Speaker:And some of the things they said really bothered me because it was like they
Speaker:were proudly justifying the very shady type of hiring practices that, um,
Speaker:newcomers into the industry have to go through when they first arrive here.
Speaker:I tell a lot of people when they, um, When they first get here.
Speaker:I'm like all of those you will see a whole bunch of entertainment jobs all
Speaker:over job boards And it's like oh these must be super easy to get there on it
Speaker:be there on no They legally have to put those up because they used to not even
Speaker:advertise Right entertainment jobs until it was like hey, you can't do that.
Speaker:You have to advertise so So, look, well you're, uh, I think you're also a writer.
Speaker:Mm hmm.
Speaker:And, uh, have you found that since working where you work, has it been, uh,
Speaker:being around so many creative people, has that really helped your juices flow?
Speaker:Uh, in some ways.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Um, seeing how the writers at the show I work on, how they function, what they
Speaker:do, they're all really, really friendly.
Speaker:Um, when I meet them and so kind of seeing their job process and seeing in general
Speaker:what's expected when you're a staff writer on a show, no matter if it's a comedy
Speaker:show, a drama or Hollywood, uh, Like a comedy show or like a non scripted show.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Like a live show.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And you kind of see the different types of approaches that the writers apply.
Speaker:And as a, an aspiring writer, it, it is very valuable to see.
Speaker:I think it also, like when I look back at the internships I had as well,
Speaker:where I did a lot of script coverage, that's kind of where I perfected.
Speaker:My own story analysis kind of strategy, and seeing how I personally
Speaker:experience a story, what stands out to me, and where I think the flaws are.
Speaker:Cause I was always very harsh when I did script coverage, but I
Speaker:figured I might as well be, cause we should have that standard.
Speaker:Everyone should get really, I don't want to say harsh notes.
Speaker:Those aren't, those aren't the goal.
Speaker:The goal is like helpful notes, but it's usually the most
Speaker:helpful notes that are harshest.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:And then, um, so you said that you did a lot of, uh, it seemed like when
Speaker:you were talking that you did a lot of internships, how, um, how did you end up,
Speaker:um, choosing the place that you did or did it choose you or did it choose you?
Speaker:Sometimes.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:One of the, my first ever internship was.
Speaker:A friend of a friend, I had contacted a family friend who
Speaker:ran an advertising business.
Speaker:And he said, well, sure, you can come intern for us, but
Speaker:what good would that do you?
Speaker:You want to work in film.
Speaker:So he called up a So he sent me the contact info of some film people he's
Speaker:worked with since he works in advertising.
Speaker:Um, that's how I got my first one.
Speaker:They were very cool.
Speaker:The other ones I was But if you guys listen You reached out, you
Speaker:gotta reach out, you gotta reach out if you're not reaching out,
Speaker:you're not contacting people, you're staying stagnant, you will be.
Speaker:We talked about this all the time on the show.
Speaker:You have to keep pushing.
Speaker:You have to keep producing.
Speaker:You have to, you have to be okay with knowing that you
Speaker:are going to annoy people.
Speaker:You cannot be afraid of calling strangers on the phone, even though
Speaker:everyone, you know, millennial and Gen Z is afraid of calling people.
Speaker:What's going on with that?
Speaker:I mean, I think it's just because it's much easier to just send a text
Speaker:and be done with it like because I mean, being from the South, like,
Speaker:everybody talks on the phone.
Speaker:Like, everybody talks on the phone.
Speaker:Possibly for too long.
Speaker:Possibly, possibly for too long.
Speaker:Nobody really likes sending text messages, but when I got out here to L.
Speaker:A., nobody likes to talk on the phone.
Speaker:Nobody.
Speaker:For any amount of reason.
Speaker:And they especially, if they do talk on the phone, they definitely don't want
Speaker:to talk for an extended period of time.
Speaker:No, they want to...
Speaker:Like, get to the point of why am I calling you, bye.
Speaker:I, I have, I have a very bad habit of calling people, like, while I'm driving.
Speaker:Cause I just use my car phone.
Speaker:Yeah, but that's what I do as well.
Speaker:It's a perfect time to dr call people in LA when you're stuck in traffic.
Speaker:Yeah, I mean, that's what I cause that's what I used to do down in South.
Speaker:But then, when I come over here to Los Angeles, I was like, okay, cool.
Speaker:You know what, text me then.
Speaker:Well, I'm talking to you right now.
Speaker:And also, I'm driving.
Speaker:Yes, what the, why?
Speaker:Why would I text you while I'm driving?
Speaker:So, I, the reason why I say it's a bad habit is because I keep calling
Speaker:the people who know I'm there, who I just know, like, oh cool, text me man.
Speaker:No, that's why I'm calling you.
Speaker:So I won't have to do that.
Speaker:I don't like to text.
Speaker:I like to talk to people.
Speaker:I do too.
Speaker:And I think, like, sometimes...
Speaker:I do not pick if, if someone calls me and I'm not in the mood to pick up the
Speaker:phone, I'm not going to pick up the phone unless, I mean, unless it's like,
Speaker:I assume it could be important, but, but most of the time, like, I don't get
Speaker:offended if someone doesn't pick up.
Speaker:I'm normally can just call my friends and be like, how you doing?
Speaker:And a few of them who are now used to me calling them, they are okay with it.
Speaker:But other times some friends are like.
Speaker:D do you need anything?
Speaker:And I'm like, I'm just saying hi.
Speaker:And they're like, what do you need from me, ? Can I, can I just check on you?
Speaker:Like, can I just, yeah.
Speaker:Like see how you're doing.
Speaker:It's like, what is the deal with the devil?
Speaker:I can't say hi.
Speaker:Yeah, they, they're like, oh, uh, yeah.
Speaker:I'm cool.
Speaker:Um, can I, like, can't we, can you text me if you need anything?
Speaker:Uh, like you just made it weird now.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:, like, I was calling casually to see how you were doing.
Speaker:And all you had to do was just, Yeah, man, I'm doing pretty well, you know.
Speaker:Today, you know, I kinda got stuck in a little bit of traffic.
Speaker:And then that's all you had to do.
Speaker:But now that you made it weird, Now we can have the conversation I wanted to have.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I mean, actually, I'm gonna take back that advice of being comfortable on the phone.
Speaker:Stay uncomfortable, that way we'll just get promoted instead.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Won't get replaced by people who get brave enough to the phone.
Speaker:I mean, I remember one of my proudest phone experiences was at one job
Speaker:I had where we were trying to get a client to a convention in France
Speaker:and the convention organizers were really bad at organizing travel.
Speaker:My boss didn't realize that I spoke French, so I kind of went French Karen
Speaker:on, on the event organizers because they were just being really difficult.
Speaker:How many languages do you speak?
Speaker:I know at least three that you speak.
Speaker:Yeah, so, I mean, I speak Swedish and English fluently, and I'm pretty good
Speaker:at communicating in French, but It is still really hard for me to understand
Speaker:because they just speak so fast.
Speaker:But I can express myself in French really, really well.
Speaker:Do you know any other languages?
Speaker:I mean, I'm studying Spanish now since my wife speaks Spanish.
Speaker:It's probably good to know.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It's probably, probably a good idea.
Speaker:One question I would ask you, and this is really pervasive throughout the industry,
Speaker:is when it sounded like when you were talking about being an intern, it was
Speaker:basically that they were They were talking to you about how to be a better servant.
Speaker:Yeah, so Now that you've gotten I wouldn't say Very high up, but you're
Speaker:a lot higher than a lot of people in Los Angeles What would you like?
Speaker:Can you speak to that service?
Speaker:And what he's asking it doesn't get better Uh, yeah, but you,
Speaker:it's, it's, it's such a hard question to answer because there's no such thing
Speaker:as no matter how famous you get or successful you get in this industry,
Speaker:there's no such thing as job security.
Speaker:Um, I will.
Speaker:And I, and I mean, I had, I was lucky enough to have coffee once with the
Speaker:former showrunner of King of the Hill.
Speaker:Oh, that must have been fun.
Speaker:Yeah, he was very, very friendly and lovely to talk to, but he told me that...
Speaker:You know, he's been on top and then once the show is over, he's
Speaker:like, Oh, now what now, now it's like you're back to point zero.
Speaker:So whenever the show I'm currently working on, whenever that ends and who knows when
Speaker:that will end, you never know when the.
Speaker:Producer can just be like shows over and like that.
Speaker:You never know when life is going to hit you like the strike did.
Speaker:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker:So, but you're, but this is, you're currently working a job that you're
Speaker:a lot more comfortable with is, would you say it's your, your, um,
Speaker:the favorite one you've got so far, best job I've ever had in my life.
Speaker:So, um, So, yes, it got better from the older jobs.
Speaker:I did have better from that perspective.
Speaker:You found somewhere where like you feel like you fit.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And I think the most important thing, and this is another generational
Speaker:thing that I think people our age have a lot of issue with is that when
Speaker:you're in a job that's not good and you feel very stuck and you feel like
Speaker:every day is just Going very slowly and you have nothing to show for it.
Speaker:That's how I felt at my first job out of college But they're the lower jobs.
Speaker:Yeah, but it was then now looking back at it.
Speaker:It was ten months out of my life They were rough, but you get
Speaker:through it And then you move out.
Speaker:You don't have a choice.
Speaker:Yeah, you don't.
Speaker:But sometimes.
Speaker:You have two options.
Speaker:You can either not go through it or just drop dead.
Speaker:Like.
Speaker:You can, I mean, you can quit.
Speaker:If it is really bad.
Speaker:And no one should stay in a job that's abusive.
Speaker:Luckily I've never had, I've never had that.
Speaker:Never.
Speaker:But I think sometimes you have to stick it out.
Speaker:Um.
Speaker:Not for the sake of doing the best job possible, but you also, when
Speaker:you're in that state where you really want to give up, then just
Speaker:push yourself a little bit further.
Speaker:Because the day you decide that you're gonna leave, it's, you
Speaker:walk in the office, and it's not as bad as you remember it being.
Speaker:And I think it's the same as when you're in school and freaking out
Speaker:over a huge exam that you think is gonna define your life forever, but
Speaker:then once the exam is over, you're never gonna think about it again.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:So, apply that mentality to any bad job you have.
Speaker:It will not be forever.
Speaker:You're not a prisoner there and you, but you have to be patient through
Speaker:it because you've got, it'll keep you humble Instead of if you're lucky enough
Speaker:to get a great job from the beginning.
Speaker:Hey hats off to you.
Speaker:Good job But everyone who has worked the worst job, you know in the end
Speaker:I'm not gonna say it's good for you and makes you a better person, but
Speaker:The whole character building thing Yeah, but having some humility just
Speaker:Makes you treat other people better.
Speaker:Cause you know, you don't want to ever be as mean or harsh or unreasonable
Speaker:to anyone, like maybe you had been to, like if someone had acted like that.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So I'm grateful for the lessons I learned at that really tough job I had.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And then me and Nicholas are blessed enough to do this radio show.
Speaker:And it's, and it's a lot of fun.
Speaker:Um, so.
Speaker:You know, Alec, thank you so much for coming on.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:Um, is there anything that you would like to, uh, to plug?
Speaker:Uh, I can't.
Speaker:That's cause he, cause I just thought about that as I was saying it.
Speaker:You can't really say anything.
Speaker:I can't really say anything right now.
Speaker:So how about, how about, do you have any advice that maybe you
Speaker:would give to our listeners?
Speaker:Well, I can, I can actually plug one thing.
Speaker:Um, cause my wife and some friends of ours are starting to put together some
Speaker:creative ideas and we're going to start.
Speaker:We're filming some small sketches, and I can give a preview that one
Speaker:of the ones we're gonna be making in the hopefully near future is gonna
Speaker:be a philosophical discussion between a Swedish and an Italian meatball.
Speaker:A Swedish and an Italian meatball.
Speaker:You guys are gonna be debating who's better?
Speaker:Among other things.
Speaker:Oh, see, look, he can't talk about it.
Speaker:Well guys, this has been Film Center.
Speaker:I'm Derek Johnson II.
Speaker:I'm Nicholas Killian.
Speaker:I'm Elliot Gordon.
Speaker:And we'll talk to you next time.
Speaker:See ya.
Speaker:This has been Film Center on Comic Con Radio.
Speaker:Check out our previous episodes at FilmCenterNews.
Speaker:com Sign up for our newsletter and get the Hollywood trade straight to you.
Speaker:You can follow the show at FilmCenterNews.
Speaker:com.
Speaker:on all major platforms.
Speaker:Tune in next week for a fresh update.
Speaker:Until next time, this has been Film Center.
