Thought Spiral #28, why you shouldn't go to Hollywood

Listened to Thought Spiral Test Show #28. 

Comedian Andy Kindler talks about how he got discouraged as a musician, in part because negative feedback affected him far more than he realized. Kindler came to L.A. when he was twenty as he pursued a career in music.

I've transcribed part of this as accurately as I could. It seems much more fluent listening to it than reading it.

J Elvis Weinstein

Josh Weinstein said:

"...but that's every twenty- or twenty-one-year-old who's pursuing something--and especially--you came to L.A. to do it which...that to me seems, like, almost insurmountable. You know, and even though my wife started in L.A. and got a record deal, you know, but it's still like--it doesn't seem, you know---it's like, because I come from Minneapolis where there's a local scene, you know, and people become sort of local heroes before they, you know, build their audience and get that self-confidence in a world that's more supportive than L.A. where you're gonna feel like you suck most of the time, you know, in any pursuit."

Kindler said, "Well, I think the advantage for me was, when I came out to L.A. and I drove cross country and I was in a relationship like I couldn't stand--it was just a terrible drive, but it was a great drive, too, I really wanted---I didn't come out to L.A. to make a music career, I came out to L.A. to feel bad about what I did in another environment. You know what I mean? Why not be by the beach and hate yourself? And---"

"So it was just like, 'I want to live in L.A.'"

Andy Kindler

It's so strange to me that people go to New York and Los Angeles hoping to hit it big instead of pursuing success someplace that a person might actually want to live.

Of course, they both moved to Los Angeles when they were about 20 and did pretty well. 

Someone who did something smart was a girl who was into beauty pageants. She moved to Wyoming because the population was so small and the competition so limited, she easily became Miss Wyoming World and got into the Miss USA pageant. She didn't win. She was first or second runner-up. If the winner had quit in disgrace, she would have been Miss USA and would have had a shot at becoming Miss Universe. She later turned out to be dangerously deranged.

I say go someplace easy.

Weinstein comments that some people are "super talented" but aren't driven to succeed. Some people aren't very talented but do have the drive to succeed. The ones who are highly talented and highly driven are the ones who always succeed.

The highly talented ones with a drive to succeed can fend for themselves. The ones we need to worry about are the untalented but driven and the talented but undriven. They're the ones who need to find a place where the competition is less fierce. Like Toronto with its thriving movie and television industries. Israel is a horrible country controlled by murderous inbred racists, but they have their own TV and movie industry. You'd have to be chosen by God, but how much competition would you have there? If only Monaco had a movie industry.