Escape from Orange County
Submitted by VPhan on Sat, 07/10/2010 - 2:32pm
Don’t be turned off by the title of this article. Please lend me your imagination and attention for just a moment of your time. Say I was to go to any Starbucks for a coffee in Irvine. If there were only 20 people there, how many of them would likely work in the entertainment industry and would be able to help me advance my career? Maybe one if I’m lucky but more chances than likely the number would be zero. Now imagine if I went to any Starbucks in Los Angeles for a coffee. Out of the 20 people there, more likely than not at least 10 of them would be working in the entertainment industry and would be able to help me advance my career.
A little over a month ago I unfortunately lost my home in Fullerton and was forced to move to my condo in Pasadena. Initially I was very hurt by this move because my entire life is in Fullerton. What hurt me most is that the house I lost used to belong to my deceased father and was the only thing I had left of him. After I moved to Pasadena and lived there for a while, the advantages of living in Los Angeles County started kicking in and I no longer regretted my move.
First of all, I live close enough to the studios to be there within twenty minutes should I get a call out of nowhere (which actually tends to happen a lot in this business) asking for me to work, yet I’m far enough from Hollywood to not have to deal with the drama of Hollywood (anyone who has worked on professional sets knows exactly what I’m talking about). On my morning strolls I have literally bumped into people who I have worked on sets with in the past, only for them to ask if I would be interested on working on their current projects.
When I was an undergrad, I was already driving up to LA every weekend to work as a production assistant at the studios. During these many treks I often asked myself why there’s only a handful of people from Orange County actually working in the industry. Orange County literally neighbors LA County yet there is way more people from the Midwest or East Coast working in entertainment than people from OC.
The reasons are quite obvious if you really think about it. People from Orange County have developed this extreme comfort zone that they never want to break out of. We live in nice little suburban neighborhoods and live occupant little lives buying things we don’t need with money we don’t really have. We hide behind an illusion of wealth making soul-crushing payments on things we had no business purchasing in the first place. Driving up to LA, a place that always is in the news, is something terrifying to average OC person.
People from Orange County usually aren’t that serious about making it in the industry. Of course they say they are but when it comes to actually laying out the ground work and putting in the grinding hours to make it, they taper off and divert their attention elsewhere. Do you want to know why people from LA have way more chances of making it in entertainment than we do?
The reason why LA people have a higher tendency of making it is because most people who live in LA aren’t from LA. They tend to have come from somewhere in the middle of nowhere like Wichita, Kansas. Making it to LA to work in entertainment has been their life’s dream so they’ll do everything they can in their power to make it because if they don’t, they’ll have to return to Wichita. That would be absolute failure to them.
People from OC on the other hand aren’t as willing to put in the work to make it because if they don’t make it, they’ll just go back to their parents’ million dollar house in Laguna, which isn’t that bad to them and was more comfortable in the first place anyway.
Another huge reason why most folks from OC tend to not be able to cut it in entertainment is out of sheer utter homophobia. A lot of people who live in Orange County are heavily on the right wing and have no tolerance towards homosexuality whatsoever. It’s sad to say this but in my short lifetime I can’t even count how many times I’ve seen OC people treat homosexuals like they’re diseased and contagious.
I’m sorry to break the news to you, but whom do you think you’ll be working with, if not working for, in Hollywood? Homosexuals tend to do very well in entertainment because of their creative energy and because they can work tirelessly around the clock since they usually don’t have wives or children to come home to every night.
Even though I miss my hometown of Fullerton I think moving to LA was the greatest decision I ever made in my career. Hopefully one day the OC Screenwriters succeeds in our goal of bringing the entertainment industry to Orange County. When that day happens, or if I become such a big name writer I can write from anywhere, I will move back to Fullerton. The OC Screenwriters have a daunting task at hand but I think if we can get enough people like you to be dedicated to our cause, I’ll be able to see it happen in my lifetime. If not, I’m still happy over here in LA. Plus, at least over here I don’t have to deal with bros driving raised trucks slamming energy drinks or guys named Chad, Brett, or Blake driving luxury cars that obviously belong to their parents. 
Victor Phan
Torture Chamber Productions
July 10, 2010
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Point Taken
I'm not saying it's impossible to have a screenwriting career outside of Hollywood. It is very possible. Mark has lived in Costa Mesa and I've lived in Fullerton for years and we both are able to sell screenplays on a pretty consistent basis. We've just been very fortunate to have those already established connections that would allow us to work from home.
My point is, when you're in Hollywood and are in the mix, more opportunities open up for you since you're seeing all of the major players on a daily basis. Most recently, I was able renegotiate the contract for one of my screenplays that is being developed by a studio right now. The producer made me a partner in the film, so now I get the same share of the box office gross as the investors due.
The great part of the deal is that the film will hit theaters within three years.
So was it impossible for me land this jackpot of a deal if I weren't in the mix? Off course not. Now . . . was it highly unlikely this deal would've happened if I weren't in the mix constantly communicating with the major players?
Very much so.
OC bashing
Wow. Fleeing OC to avoid energy drink swilling rich white homophobes named Chip? What an interesting filter you look though. Possibly accurate in terms of regular exposure and increasing your odds of bumping into someone other then Chip (though Chip may have just signed a deal with CBS) at Sprouts. Still, pretty phobic take.
Got this from Screenwriting Manifesto. It's from a pen pal of John Hughes and mentions his need to move out of Hollywood... http://wellknowwhenwegetthere.blogspot.com/2009/08/sincerely-john-hughes...
As TJ once said "I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it." ....even in the oft vilified OC. Mike
An opposing point of view from Ted & Terry
Who the hell are Ted & Terry? Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio. If you're still confused, you can read their bio here;
http://www.wordplayer.com/company/welcome.html
Anyway, here is their advice on moving to LA;
http://www.wordplayer.com/columns/wp33.I.Love.LA.html
A lot of OC people don't really get it
Great post...I couldn't agree more. In my classes at the community college, I've met people born and raised in the OC who don't really get what it's about. Sure they want to become the next great director, writer, producer, news anchor, news producer, etc...but don't understand three things...what this business is really about story telling and making it as real as possible, the hours and sacrafice really needed to make it, and thinking about different or other ways to make money in this business. Instead, they focus on the glitz, glam, and fashion which is something that they can already get in the OC.