Taylor Baker – UTLA Spring 2013
Listening to Lev Spiro talk about his experience in Los Angeles in the entertainment business was both inspiring and terrifying. Directing is not my field of choice, but the basic principles of his talk easily apply to many fields in the entertainment industry. In part, nothing he was saying was a surprise to me as everyone I know told me “good luck, your going to need it out there” before I left. Which was, well a little less than encouraging. But alas, Lev Spiro gave some really great advice, and it is always incredibly nice to hear a tale of success in this crazy industry.
One thing that stuck out to me the most was his advice to present yourself as being dedicated, passionate, and driven. Naturally, being on the bottom of the totem pole as an intern that was a mindset that I was already committed to. However, I was telling people “well I really want to act or be an art director”, which is terrible!! While yes, I can be interested and actively engaging myself as much as I can in both of those fields, I need to present myself professionally as a dedicated example of one of those things. In the same accord, I have to make money! When Lev told us about how he fancied himself a boom operator for three years to make money, I was intrigued by his approach. I am planning on going to production assistant route, preferably in the art department, whilst taking improv classes and going to auditions in the interim. This approach mirrors Mr. Spiro’s and it is nice to know that it can last for a while and be lucrative, however, it was a reality check to hear that you have to be able to know when you have gotten too comfortable doing that and not what you really came out here to Los Angles to do.
I was especially appreciative of the fact that Mr. Spiro didn’t try to trick us into thinking we were going to get treated nicely by people. He told us flat out that we are going to be judged constantly, on...