“Everyone’s like, ‘Oh, you have a cushy life–you just sit around and write.’ I’m like, ‘No, it’s actually really hard.’ As I like to say, I wish my job was being a bricklayer–because I would lay the bricks, the wall would be built, and that would be it. Nobody could deny that it’s a fucking brick wall. Nobody’s gonna come along and say, ‘Mmm, I think that brick should be over here.’
I stay positive because most days, I don’t have to get up until I want to get up. I also work in my pajamas for most of the day. I get to go to movie premieres, and have people vaguely acknowledge my contribution. I stay positive because I love my life.
You know, I had an office job once, for a year and a half, and I was suicidal. I was twenty-two–maybe I was suicidal anyway. But I mean, I love that I actually get paid, more or less, to do what I do. And whenever I’m feeling whiny and sorry for myself, I’m like, ‘You’re not homeless, you’re not dyin’ of cancer, you slept until ten, you get to go out and party tonight. Your life rules.’”
– Guinevere Turner (American Psycho, “The L Word”), excerpted from “Tales From the Script”
“You know, I had an office job once, for a year and a half, and I was suicidal.”
This.
You know there’s this misconception that Hollywood is evil and soul-sucking. And I say the following not only to defend it but mostly, and more importantly, because I’ve worked in so many other fields that it is too important for me to not point out the big elephant in the room:
Workplaces are made up of hopelessly, irrevocably flawed people and whether it be education, healthcare, technology, non-profit (all of which I’ve had the misfortune of working in), there’s peril at every corner. We are cattle to every employer. Co-workers will always try to cram you into a ditch. You will always have to brown-nose to be heard.
This is why it’s important to do what you love, so that, like Guinevere Turner, you may overlook these flaws and find fulfillment amidst the muck.
Thanks for posting Scott.
Exactly.. Pointing how similar Hollywood is to places like Silicon Valley, Wall St, Madison Avenue and Washington DC in terms of working conditions, and the gigantic egos and monstrous assholes one has to deal with, only serves to highlight how special an industry it is in every other way.
Working in jim-jams is my favorite. But, I really love researching all sorts of crazy things for my characters and their environment.
Although, I do worry that the FBI will knock on my door wondering why I keep searching on “C4, weapons and body gear used by FBI:HRT, etc.