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At one time, I thought having a roommate was not only a good idea, it was an absolute necessity. Two people means half the bills, right? Not in Hollywood. It's like the AIDS sexual partner formula - not only do you live with this person, you live with all their friends, and all their friends eat your food and use your phone and sleep on your couch and borrow your CDs. At one time, there were seven of us sharing a 2-bedroom townhouse, and I would circulate the $200 phone bill only to find out that the other six people were only accountable for $35 of the total bill. Yeah - it must've been ME who called your mother six times last month.
The "best" place to look for roommates was the bulletin board at The Musician's Institute right off Hollywood and Vine. Nothing says "26 and broke" quite like a music student. But, having been through the roommate mill too many times before, I was very selective this time. I found a guy who exhibited all the traditional signs of being an adult. He was in his 30's, married, had a job, and didn't live in Hollywood. JACKPOT!!
This guy live in Florida and convinced his wife that it was time to leave corporate life behind and pursue his frustrated musician dreams. If he didn't do it now, he would never do it. And, while never doing this was just fine with his wife, she agreed to make the transition and stand by her husband while he chased his dream. The contact number on the roommate ad was for the wife's sister, and she and her three kids joined me in the local apartment search.
After several weeks, we found an apartment, and now it was just a matter of waiting for the actual bodies to show up and occupy it. Having been through enough letdown in Hollywood thus far, I didn't jump on the apartment. I wanted to wait until this guy actually showed up and was ready to pay and sign when I did. I'm glad I handled things that way, because he never showed. It turns out that his wife's unfulfilled dream was to have a husband to wasn't going to quit his job and drive across the country to go to rock star school.
So, for all of you who send me e-mails from places other than California and want to know if and when you should "make the move", the answer is simple: do it before you can no longer do it. Sure, you can enter contests and write to agents from Kentucky, but if you want to live the Hollywood life and learn the business, this is definitely the place to be. When I moved out here, I had some clothes and a filing cabinet - basically, whatever would fit into my car. Ironically, if I had a wife, there wouldn't have been a place for her, either in my life or in my car. There's an old saying: Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.
Don't just plan. Do. |
