Nid Noy's Journey Into the Death Star

[Nid Noy]

Hi All,
I just got back from Boston, MA and got interviewed by the big "A's" main competitor in the digital video realm.

They're offering some good dough.

Pluses: Starting over, good dough, lots of travel, major career boost, meeting lotsa contacts in major production houses, will travel Asia. Can make a major difference at this company. 97% of all Hollywood film and TV post uses this tool. Can pile up massive air miles and hotel points. Make TONS of important contacts. Can take a 2-3 year contract. Steady gig with 6 figures. 3 weeks paid vacation.

Minuses: Not a very creative job, relocation to the east coast (west coast Cali native) with brutal winters and sticky summers. Giving up west coast friends and family. I may lose credibility with contacts. It's akin to Luke Skywalker joining forces with Darth Vader. ;-) 75-90% on the road travel - exhausting!

May say yes or no to this opportunity. The alternative is to stay in the Apple realm and move to LA specializing in HDTV post-production.

Your input: should I go to LA and go for the gold right now or should I go for the East Coast rock star travel king job with the dark side?

Looking to hear your ideas and responses.

[stevem]

Not knowing anything about the industry its pretty hard to comment, but it just sounds like your trying to convince yourself to stay where you are. Sometimes you need to step out of the comfort zone.

[marc26]

i would take the job. you can always go back to being a piss poor creative artsy person if you dotn like it!

serious, you can always go back, id take the better financial opportunity.

but ive been on wall st for 11 years now, so im a money hungry scoundrel!

[Nid Noy]

Originally Posted by stevem

Not knowing anything about the industry its pretty hard to comment, but it just sounds like your trying to convince yourself to stay where you are. Sometimes you need to step out of the comfort zone.

Good point Steve. It's tough though when your comfort zone is one of the most liveable and beautiful cities in the world. I see what you are saying though. Sometimes you have to leave the familiar behind to get anywhere in life.

[Nid Noy]

Originally Posted by marc26

i would take the job. you can always go back to being a piss poor creative artsy person if you dotn like it!

serious, you can always go back, id take the better financial opportunity.

but ive been on wall st for 11 years now, so im a money hungry scoundrel!

It's not a HUGE amount of dough, but it is regular and significant. It's not the change that scares me as much as those brutal Boston winters.

Say Paul, you're the Boston expert. Where should I be looking for an apartment? I'm thinking a *****in' loft in the North End, Back Bay or Cambridge. Where would you live? Being close to the airport would be good, as I am traveling so much.

If I make it out there, you can be sure that when you visit home - I'll be waitin' for you at the bar.

It's been a couple of weeks since the interview now. BOY are they dragging their feet. Now all that's left is a video conference with the VP. We'll see what happens then.

[stevem]

So have you made a decision yet??

Also are you able to us what that secret project you were working on is yet??? Did you have anything to do with Madagascar, watched that the other week and it was great.

[Nid Noy]

Originally Posted by stevem

So have you made a decision yet??

If they offer 100K or better, I'm all over it. Under 90K, I think I may pass. If I do take the job, some of my smarter colleagues suggest that 3 years with the company could yield 20 years of contacts. So as Paul suggests, I could do my time there and return to the creative realm if I get burned out or wish to move on.

Also are you able to us what that secret project you were working on is yet??? Did you have anything to do with Madagascar, watched that the other week and it was great.

No, it hasn't come out yet. No sign anyway. There have been 2 films from Pixar that have been recently announced, "Cars" and "Ratatouille".

Ratatouille is a movie which follows the adventures of a rat named Ratatouille who lives in an extremely fancy restaurant in Paris overseen by an eccentric, world-famous chef.

Cars needs to be out for a full year before Ratatouille will be officially released as a result of the recent deal with Disney.

BTW, I noticed that you are beginning to see Disney films on the iTunes store. Interesting....

[stevem]

So long as you dont loose your skills in the meantime.