The entertainment world, in particular, is changing every minute. This is partly because technology is changing every thirty seconds and the industry is desperately trying to keep up even though they have no idea what they’re keeping up with. Old business models don’t work (not that they all worked before), and everyone is scrambling trying to get a toehold in the future. Trouble is that’s like trying to hold a soap bubble.
But if you made a living doing one thing for twenty years there’s a good chance that job doesn’t exist, or if it does, they don’t want you doing it. I’ve always believed that it’s a good idea to find an alternative skill before the bus that takes you out of show business pulls up in front of your house.
For me it was directing. But I’m an extreme case. I also became a baseball announcer, and set off to write in different formats (like say a blog for example). So I’m not saying emulate me. I’m crazy. But finding something else that sparks your imagination or you feel might serve a need is a good course of action to consider.
A number of my friends have done that and I want to salute them.
Another future cookie mogul is my buddy Ray Richmond. Ray has been an entertainment journalist since before cable. For years he was at the Hollywood Reporter. Currently he’s writing for Deadline Hollywood Daily, the Nikki Finke juggernaut. But on the side he came up with a great idea – ACCURATE fortune cookies. Our whole lives we’ve opened fortune cookies and read these lame optimistic predictions. Imagine slipping somebody a cookie with a fortune telling him he’s a hopeless loser who shouldn’t even try. This is one novelty item I want when I invite friends over and fire up the wok. You can check them out here.
Other colleagues I know have started restaurants, a limo company, become radio talk show hosts, and self-publishing has opened a whole new world to writers tired of having their spec screenplays rejected because Miley Cyrus is not attached.
But the common denominator is that all of these people took it upon themselves to go off in a different direction. Good things can happen. And I’m a firm believer that you make your own momentum.
You may change your life for the better – and that turns out to be an accurate fortune.
15 comments :
Any thoughts on Last Man Standing replacing Alexandra Krosney? They're on thin ice airing on fridays anyway.
By the way, what does it mean when they let an actor go for "creative reasons"?
2 minutes in, I see they haven't only recast the oldest daughter, they changed half of the cast, the kid is now 5 years old instead of 1 and the kid's father is also someoene else. Is that a good idea?
Thanks for this post. It's inspiring, and I am always up to support new cookie moghuls.
Oh my, cookie prices a bit dear but will still have to try them
Tell me about it...
From bein' an oldies DJ, science show creator and host, radio time salesman and voiceover guy...to co-creating a funeral home marketing company: www.americasgreatfuneralhomes.com
...and there's more potential and activity here than with anything I've done in the past twenty years. I'm grateful.
Nothing like a crushing economy and disappearing profession to spur motivation!
Reinvent or remain. :)
I'm trying to peel Bonnie off the ceiling after she read this. Thanks so much, Ken! (And thanks for forcing us to update our website for the new Survival Cookie.)
@Richard...the cookies are 3 ounces each. People have eaten them as a quick lunch when they're really pressed for time and they say it works beautifully. Thanks for trying them! We know you'll like 'em.
-Howard
I spent nine years as an appellate bankruptcy attorney, then six years as a stay-at-home mom, and now seven years and counting as an author of five YA novels and eight humorous books for children. The attorney gig paid the best, the SAHM gig was the hardest, and the author gig is the most fun.
Cookies? Very cool. Can one make a career out of eating them?
You may change your life for the better
Or you may fail miserably and lose everything you have.
Either way, it's a change.
An interesting link I found: the floor plans of some famous homes, from FRIENDS, I LOVE LUCY and FRASIER, and more. Hope someone does the same for MAD ABOUT YOU and THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/stacylambe/15-floor-plans-of-tvs-best-homes
I had read in this blog some time ago that someone had recreated in his back yard the complete set of MASH. I wonder if anyone has done the same with Frasier's house. Why not? I mean, there are people who turned their living room into the bridge of the Enterprise.
Thank you Ken, for your post and for the support. Indeed, my reinvention has been borne somewhat of desperation. The motigating factor and bonus is that I haven't felt so challenged and alive in years -- maybe decades. I surely appreciate the ink, or the cyber equivalent. And it's an honor to be included in a post written with such grace and eloquence. You continue to write like an angel.
It's for this very reason that I've decided to start an inner-city Mime Workshop. Nothing captures the feeling of social disenfranchisement and urban decay better than a man trapped in an invisible box. Especially if he's wearing a beret.
I think they'll relate.
@Studio Exec #2: You're clearly an original thinker and have no place in Hollywood.
La Cabina.
A 35-minute film made for Spanish television in 1972.
About a man trapped in a glass box.
If you've not seen it before, avoid all spoilers. No subtitles needed.
Two of my previous jobs: print shop and keypuncher. Both obsolete. Cars I've had: Plymouth, Olds. Both defunct. I've also killed more than a dozen businesses by giving them my trade. Reinvention is my life.
It is good that you are discovering more of your self.talents and passion.Keep it up I know that you can do more for a batter you.
@Mike, I like the cut of your jib. Come work for me.
On second thoughts, we can't really afford to take anyone on right now.
Maybe if you're interested in interning?
Do you have any experience with cleaning pools?
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