Goodbye Century City, Hello Santa Monica

The company move is finally upon us - after a good (ish) year in Century City the company is off the a more creative space in Santa Monica. Reasons for the move include, but are not limited to: bad ghosts in the office, the awful corporate atmosphere, new executives and lack of funds. Thats right, Santa Monica will be cheaper than Century City. Naturally, there are pros and cons to both locations. I for one will be glad to get out of this office though - hopefully some big changes will happen in the new building.... However, there are-

Things I'll miss about Century City:

-The proximity to my house. Don't get me wrong, it still takes me 30 minutes to get there during morning rush hour - but hell, it's closer than Santa Monica.

-The Starbucks in the ground level of my building. I don't even need to go anywhere to get my morning coffee! Amazing. They know my order. More amazing (or embarrassing)!

-The way the elevator says "going down" when I return to the lobby. I can't help but laugh... EVERY time.

-The awful fashion sense of people who work in a corporate setting. I'm especially fond of the ones that dress nice, but where tennis shoes.

-The view. I'm on the 21st story and can see out to the ocean. Even in Santa Monica, I'll rarely see the ocean.

-The Century City mall. It's so close! It has awesome food! It's an escape during lunch time, and it has a movie theatre we sometimes go to instead of doing work.

Things I'm looking forward to in Santa Monica:

-Being ocean side. I won't be able to see it, but it'll be there. Maybe somedays, I'll even go down there, just because I'm so close.

- The new building. It's an old abandoned warehouse that we're converting. It's going to be cool (and hopefully) creative. And hopefully I'll finally have a new assistant to help me out!

-The Daily Grill. I've missed it and there is one around the corner from my office. This will end poorly for my wallet, but so well for my stomach.

-TruYogaLA. I'm going to start doing yoga. Mark my words. There is a studio around the corner from the office, and while they don't have early morning classes as I'd hoped- they do have one I can do after work, or at lunch. We'll see how that goes!

-The bus. I'm going to take it. So long to my driving commute, and hello to the bus. Sure it might be sketch (because come on, who rides the bus in LA?) but its going to be an hour where I'm not wanting to kill myself in my car. Its an hour where I can do something else. Its an hour that my car isn't polluting the planet. I'll take the risk.

There is some bad too though, like how I have to contact every single person in contacts to tell them that we've moved. Or have to pack the entire office in boxes. Or how I need to order new stationary, business cards, letterheads, etc. because no one in the office had the foresight to plan ahead. How about how I still don't know the new phone number so I CAN'T do any of those things? Augh! The first few weeks in Santa Monica will be a mess, but then it will hopefully calm down. I'm going to really need that yoga.

Keeping Up Appearances

So much of what we do is looking like we do something. So much of work is looking like you're doing work. So much of success is looking successful. You can never play the game if you don't look the part.

Take, for example, the idea of assistants. How many of us are necessary? And how many of us are here simply to make our bosses look for official/powerful/higher on the food chain? Sometimes quite literally, we find ourselves shopping for our bosses outward appearance. Commenting on their outfits. Making them feel good about how they look (so they in turn, don't rip our heads off).

We're here, not because they can't answer the phone themselves (although, at this point many cannot because they're so used to us) but instead to make it look like they're so busy that they cannot pick up the phone.

What about your room? Is it clean? Why do you clean it? Sure there are sanitary reasons to. Sure it makes it easier to find things. but many of us can live in our messes. We don't, because it hurts our appearance. Invite someone over and you clean. Need to look the part, after all.

Speaking of looking the part, let's think about fashion. An industry dedicated to how we appear. Make-up. Plastic Surgery. Hair Salons. Boutiques. Designer Clothes.

So why do we do it?
Because if you don't appear like you care about yourself. No one else will either.
So clean that room. Buy those jeans. Hire that assistant.

Play the game.



So with that, I'm off to see THE JONESES (a movie, quite literally about keeping up appearances, keeping up with The Joneses.)

Old Hollywood Called, I Answered

As you all know by now [and if you don't, you stumbled upon my blog in a drunken google search and have found yourself to be a loyal reader ever since, and I thank you] I have been working at RKO Pictures for about a month now. My official title is "executive assistant" which is fancy talk for office bitch.

I can't talk about much because I'm bound and gagged by a confidentiality agreement, and anything else I say of a negative nature could result in the loss of my job. So I'll spare you the frustrations, and talk of long hours. I won't talk about the employee who I want to punch in the face. I'll leave out the tid bit about how another assistant should have been hired by now and hasn't. About how I'm working really fucking hard. I'll forget to mention that assistant is also sounding board for yells.

Instead opting to tell you, I love my job. There's lots of times where it may seem like I don't. Like I can't wait to get out, move on. But at the end of the day, I'm doing something that millions can only dream of: I'm getting paid to make movies.

Sure, I only do very minuscule tasks. Sure I'm not in the credits (yet, baby) but my job, at it's very core - is essential to the final product. Believe me, if they didn't need me, I wouldn't be working here. So there you have it- any time you hear me complain. Any time I get home at 9pm after an eleven hour work day - hand me that friendly reminder. It's all I need.

RKO is doing some pretty exciting things right now, like a movie starring ******* ********* about ***** and another, a romantic comedy called *** *** **** ** *****, starring **** *****.

Sorry, that's the confidentiality agreement talking. But trust me, it's not all bad. I know what you're thinking, RKO hasn't made a movie since.... Citizen Kane, It's A Wonderful Life, King Kong (the original! [RKO sold the rights to King Kong to Universal. We didn't play a part in the remake]).

Well we're back. Ready for our second renaissance. Ready to churn out some new classics.

Everyday I'm greeted by two Oscars and a Citizen Kane "Rosebud" Sled. And while I hated the movie, I've got have respect for what it's done. It's kept us around, and it's brought me on board.

So you're wondering what I do? I assist. Plain and simple.

Coffee. Printing. Copies. Staplers. Cleaning. Packing. Organizing. Phone Calls. Emails. Meeting Scheduling. Reading. Watching. Commenting.

Any script in consideration has to go through me first. I'm the second filter (the interns are the first) which is actually pretty cool. Think of the power. Every movie you see, an assistant read that script. Liked it. Passed it on.

I'm in love with storytelling, so that's the best part of my job. It's what makes the yelling worth it.

That and the paycheck.

So thanks RKO, for walking me into the "real world." In due time, I'll walk away. I'll grow older and end up in a dream job.

But I'll owe it to you.

You hear me dream job? You hear me Focus? Paramount Vantage? HBO? Showtime? I'm coming after you next.