I was pretty down on my luck. My family was in disarray. My mother and brother were both deep into a heroin addiction, and my father was unable to deal with the situation. I had recently become...
I was pretty down on my luck. My family was in disarray. My mother and brother were both deep into a heroin addiction, and my father was unable to deal with the situation. I had recently become unemployed and my girlfriend and I had abandoned our 2nd try at being together after I caught her kissing another man. I had to move back into my family's house and seeing my mother and brother descend into addiction was painful. It was bad.
I played music at a local bar in exchange for drinks and a little bit of pay. Nothing big, it was just something to do to stay sane while I looked for work. Having a place to be every Wednesday night was what kept me going.
After playing a show one Wednesday night, I decided to head to another bar. I chose the bar at random. While there a group of people entered and one of the people in the group was a girl I went to high school with The whole group of people sat down around me and we started talking. Turns out one of the guys, Mike, was pretty cool - into sci-fi, video games, etc. We became quick friends. He'd come to my shows, go to parties, and introduced me to a bunch of new people. Mike worked as a line producer (think "accountant for tv and film) for a small production company.
One day, Mike asked me if I'd be interested logging footage for this new TV show his company had made. Logging footage is monotonous and low-paying work where you simply watch footage and then write down what is happening, but I jumped at the chance. I was hungry for work, and since I never wanted to be home, I always offered to stay late and do more work. In a few months I was promoted. In a few more months, my pay was raised enough to save money and buy a car.
Seven years later I'm making over six figures a year and am working with Oscar-winning filmmakers. I think about what would have happened if I didn't go to that bar, on that day, at that time. It's chilling to think that the biggest decision I've made in my life has been "Hey, I think I'll go for another beer here."
I was pretty down on my luck. My family was in disarray. My mother and brother were both deep into a heroin addiction, and my father was unable to deal with the situation. I had recently become unemployed and my girlfriend and I had abandoned our 2nd try at being together after I caught her kissing another man. I had to move back into my family's house and seeing my mother and brother descend into addiction was painful. It was bad.
I played music at a local bar in exchange for drinks and a little bit of pay. Nothing big, it was just something to do to stay sane while I looked for work. Having a place to be every Wednesday night was what kept me going.
After playing a show one Wednesday night, I decided to head to another bar. I chose the bar at random. While there a group of people entered and one of the people in the group was a girl I went to high school with The whole group of people sat down around me and we started talking. Turns out one of the guys, Mike, was pretty cool - into sci-fi, video games, etc. We became quick friends. He'd come to my shows, go to parties, and introduced me to a bunch of new people. Mike worked as a line producer (think "accountant for tv and film) for a small production company.
One day, Mike asked me if I'd be interested logging footage for this new TV show his company had made. Logging footage is monotonous and low-paying work where you simply watch footage and then write down what is happening, but I jumped at the chance. I was hungry for work, and since I never wanted to be home, I always offered to stay late and do more work. In a few months I was promoted. In a few more months, my pay was raised enough to save money and buy a car.
Seven years later I'm making over six figures a year and am working with Oscar-winning filmmakers. I think about what would have happened if I didn't go to that bar, on that day, at that time. It's chilling to think that the biggest decision I've made in my life has been "Hey, I think I'll go for another beer here."