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I really do NOT want to waste my time with education that proves worthless anymore in terms of finding employment. From now on, my education has to benefit ME first. That said, if I can use that education to find regular paid work, I would be DELIGHTED!!!



Sam, I feel like I know you I've read your posts now for several years. Of course, this is only an internet forum so I could be way off base so please feel free to ignore what I'm about to say. You seem like a good guy, very emotional and your signature line says it all "follow that dream". Time to get real, buddy. You're 50, I'm 64 and I've been there and done that. The difference is I made this decision when I was about 35. I was a full time musician up to that point and was actually barely making a living at it. Believe me, that's a major victory in the music business. You have to bite the bullet and take real solid business and accounting courses. They're not too hard, not like the hard science stuff like nuclear engineering or something. Companies want accountants to keep the book and figure their taxes. Forget the "fun" stuff like trying to be an engineer in a music studio. Let me tell you a story about that. I met a guy at my attorney's house two years ago who just sold his sound design business for something like 3 million to Disney, my attorney negotiated the deal that's why he was invited to the party. I'm pretty good at being friendly and conversational and gaining somebody's confidence and I got him talking about how he got started and it's the same old story. His family owns a thousand acre or so horse ranch in Manitoba Canada, worth millions. He's a sound engineering grad and then went to Hollywood. After many months of pounding the pavement and meeting people he finally got in a studio as a unpaid intern. His duties were to come in for the graveyard shift as a janitor and gopher. Six months he did this and got to know one of the engineers who finally let him sit in the control room during some 3am sessions and he began to get some hands on experience, still unpaid mind you. How was he living? Three guesses and the first two don't count.
Did I mention he's a coke freak? That and his parents my friend. When people talk about networking in Hollywood that's the unspoken way they network. Sam, colleges all over the US turn out graduates by the thousands every semester in all aspects of film and music and all of them are chasing maybe 10 jobs?
Another brief one just to rub it in. Another guy I know is a graduate of the Berkelee School of Music in Boston as a piano performance major. He's a fabulous, monster player, he can read and play any style plus he's a pretty decent singer. Killer studio musician. He was absolutely starving in New York for 4 years and came out here thinking he would have better luck. I happened to talk to him a few weeks ago. He now has 45 music students, is making a living and does a 2 night a week restaurant gig for $75 a night. He never got even one studio gig anywhere around here in the last 5 years. Nada, squat, nothing. As far as I know he's pretty straight, that's probably why no studio work. I doubt it's any different in Europe but I've never been there so I don't know for sure.
It really pains me to be a big wet blanket because I had that dream too for many years but you can't follow it any more. Don't waste your time and effort taking anything that's remotely connected with the entertainment business in any form except maybe law school.

Bob

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