The "Big" Moving to LA Thread

Justin Aguirre

Justin Aguirre

Well-known member
This is going to be long;

Background
​

For the past year or so the thought of moving to LA has been in my mind. And now with the realization that the universities I applied for are not going to happen. I've decided to finish out my AA degree at my community college by the fall and make the move by next year either in the spring or summer. I'm not a stranger to LA, I've pretty much spent half my life there. My dad is a LAPD sergeant and has worked in a few different divisions over his career span (Hollywood being 10 years) so I can say I know my way around pretty well.

Myself, I am going to become a cinematographer and my future roommate will be a screenwriter. We've been talking about moving in together for a while now and we both will be ready to go by the beginning of next year. So until that time we are making plans, checklists, and goals we need to have completed by that time so we can make this move hopefully as stress free as possible. This will be our first time living on our own and out of our parents house. I've enlisted the help from a few friend's of mine to offer advice on what it's like to live with a roommate and also what it's like living in LA.

Why I Am Making This Thread?​

I asked myself that question a few times while writing this and I think I found two answers.

First, DVXuser is a family of like-minded filmmakers who gladly help out one another when they can. I am asking from you guys for support for our journey because I know this is going to be a rough road ahead and we will get stressed out. Many of you actually live in LA and I would love to hear about any advice, tips, etc. you have to help us out.

Second, I want to use this thread to help other beginning filmmakers make their move to LA easier. From the people that I'm meeting and the people on this site many are moving here from out of state. I've been lucky that my move will be somewhat an easier one, I'm moving from Newport Beach, roughly a 45 minute drive to LA. I want people reading this thread to get a better picture of that's ahead for them and to better prepare themselves for their first visit.

Research​

I've spent some time searching the threads on this site for any information that could help me out for this trip and these are some I've found so far:

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=171092&highlight=move&page=3
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=83958&highlight=moving
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=165042&highlight=moving
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=166314&highlight=moving

I know there are more and I will add to this list as I dive deeper into the search function on this site.

Housing​

For the very important topic of housing we are looking for a price point of 1400-1500 a month for a 2 bedroom 1(or 2) bathroom apartment. The only real needs we have is a space for 2 cars and laundry either on-site or very close by. We are going to be looking at the following areas:

Downtown LA

Hollywood
Apartment buildings north of Hollywood Blvd. near Franklin look very promising. Mainly are older but look well maintained on the outside. The neighborhood looks like a lower-middle class area but with plenty of 20-somethings out jogging and plenty of expensive cars in the driveways. Lots of trees and didn't really notice many bars on people's windows.

Apartment buildings south of Sunset Blvd. near Fountain look so-so. Most are older and many look like they could use a good cleaning. The neighborhood is kind of split, there are streets where the housing looks great and everything is well maintained and then there are streets where the houses look like Section 8 people live there.

Fairfax
We only came down here for one reason, Park La Brea (http://www.parklabrea.com). It's a insanely huge apartment complex with roughly 4,000 units. The place has towers and small 2-story townhomes. We have heard lots of comments about this place both very good and very bad. We did get lost driving around inside because all the buildings look the same and there are mainly one way streets that can trick you. The buildings look very nice and there are fountains and gardens everywhere. It's across the street from The Grove/Farmers Market, LACMA, and CBS studios.

For a 2BR/1Bath it starts at $1451 (as of 5/22/09) and a 2BR/2Bath starts at $1551 (as of 5/22/09). You need to call and make an appointment to view a model/empty apartment because of how busy the rental office can get. When we stepped in there where 4 other groups of people there and the lady behind the desk told us a wait of 1 hour (min). As we get closer to our move we will be back to view a unit as we both love this place the most, so far.

North Hollywood
West Hollywood
Burbank
Echo Park
Silverlake
Culver City
Century City

Just by doing some research online at a few different apartment rental websites we have been able to find places that meet our requirements so we know it is possible. We are planning on making a few day trips to LA to scout out neighborhoods soon. I am going to try my best to give details on those locations so if anyone else is heading out here they can have a little preview of that to expect.

Job​

Another area we are going to be working on this summer/fall is finding jobs. I have no illusions of finding a job DPing a multimillion dollar feature or even finding DPing roles on indies. I know I'm about to enter the lions den and especially now with the ecomony it's going to be tough. Still, I am going to do my best to get some sort of job at a studio, I've even considered being a tour guide at Warner Bros.

The next few months will be a combination of responding to job postings, interviews, cold calls and spending whatever other free time I have at Mole Richardson. They have an amazing educational program that is free and I've taken a few classes there and I am going to do the networking thing with my fellow students. Also, Larry Parker is a very cool guy to know.

Video Blog​

Okay, this one may or may not happen. I am going to do my best to have some sort of video blog with my future roommate about our whole experience. Something for ourselves we can look back on and give us some self-esteem and motivation to continue on if we get overwhelmed. And for others to view and hopefully get a little something out of it for their move to LA.

In Closing​

In the words of the Joker, "And here we go.."
 
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Okay, well it turns out we both have the day off today so we are going to take our first neighborhood location scouting trip. We are most likely going to hit the all the Hollywood areas and maybe Burbank.
 
Los Feliz is cool too, but if you're looking at Hollywood and Silverlake you'll probably cover this ground, because it's right in the middle of them.
 
Okay well, just now came home from LA.

We were mainly in the Hollywood/Fairfax area and learned a lot. We wrote down the names of a few promising buildings and when we came to an area we felt looked good I fired up my iphone's GPS and the Apartments app to get a brief glance at what the rents were going for in the area. So from first glance here is what we saw:

Hollywood

Apartment buildings north of Hollywood Blvd. near Franklin look very promising. Mainly are older but look well maintained on the outside. The neighborhood looks like a lower-middle class area but with plenty of 20-somethings out jogging and plenty of expensive cars in the driveways. Lots of trees and didn't really notice many bars on people's windows.

Apartment buildings south of Sunset Blvd. near Fountain look so-so. Most are older and many look like they could use a good cleaning. The neighborhood is kind of split, there are streets where the housing looks great and everything is well maintained and then there are streets where the houses look like Section 8 people live there.

Fairfax

We only came down here for one reason, Park La Brea (http://www.parklabrea.com). It's a insanely huge apartment complex with roughly 4,000 units. The place has towers and small 2-story townhomes. We have heard lots of comments about this place both very good and very bad. We did get lost driving around inside because all the buildings look the same and there are mainly one way streets that can trick you. The buildings look very nice and there are fountains and gardens everywhere. It's across the street from The Grove/Farmers Market, LACMA, and CBS studios.

For a 2BR/1Bath it starts at $1451 (as of 5/22/09) and a 2BR/2Bath starts at $1551 (as of 5/22/09). You need to call and make an appointment to view a model/empty apartment because of how busy the rental office can get. When we stepped in there where 4 other groups of people there and the lady behind the desk told us a wait of 1 hour (min). As we get closer to our move we will be back to view a unit as we both love this place the most, so far.


After that we met up with a friend of mine in Studio City for a late lunch and he gave us some advice on living together (more on that later) and offered some areas for us to check out. We started to make our journey though Burbank but got a little sidetracked in Griffith Park. We ended up at the Observatory and the original Bat Cave. Haha. We did take the drive back into Hollywood on Los Feliz and really like the neighborhood. We are going to plan a day and check it out more.

We ended up closing our day at Amoeba Records on Sunset and then made the journey home. All-in-all a good day.
 
well, past 90 days, I think you have to get a working visa. I have some friends from Japan, and they just graduated for college here in LA, and they have a student visa right now, and after 10-12 months, if they're not working, they have to get a company that will support a working visa.

Not really sure on all the details of that stuff, I know there is an artist visa... I think it's good for 5 years, no positive though. ....and that's a whole application process on it's own.

Sorry to be the downer, I feel bad for some of my friends because I don't know how you can really freelance if you're from another country.... then again, maybe Canadians get special rules.
 
Robbie Comeau said:
Should I get a working visa? Or will I survive with freelance jobs?

Robbie
Click to expand...


It's been a while since I dealt with this, but...

...I hired on a Canadian friend at Amblin back in the day; he had obtained a work visa based upon his academic/professional background (which was systems software/electronics) and used that to get a job with a security monitoring company while he searched for the work he wanted. The particular type of visa he had required him to appear once a year in (Vancouver?) to renew; don't know if that particular visa is issued now, or how it presently works. He did some independent-contractor-type VFX and set construction work; when I had an opening to hire him we were doing digital VFX work so his visa was sort of kind of suited to getting him in (I had to make the usual statement about the unavailability of qualified US citizens; since there was a creative dimension involved I could honestly say that no one else I interviewed was as suited to the work as he was).

I guess what I'm trying to long-windedly get across is that you might consider finding a US employer who's willing to make the necessary statements to get you permitted. Since your particular aesthetic sensibility is unique to you, an employer can honestly say that you're the man they have to have, and no one's going to second-guess that judgment.
 
Just thought I would give a small update. The move to LA was always going to happen just I was waiting to hear back from a few LA univeristies I had applied for as a transfer student. I got the last one back today from USC and it's a uniformed decision, I got shot down by every school I applied for.

So, this move to LA has taken some new meaning for me. Like, I was preparing myself for it and was using the move as my plan B but now it's turned into my plan A.

So all that means is that I am going to work harder to really get myself out there and make something of myself... So.. yay?
 
My brother and I are moving tomorrow. We leave Vermont in the morning and drive across this great nation until we get to LA. We found a place in the echo park/silverlake area that is a steal: 3br for $1400. Found it on craigslist and a friend of ours checked it out and took care of everything for us.

It seems what everybody says is true about work: it's all who-you-know. I have one interview lined up and a couple of other possibilities. I'm still sending out several resumes a day but i think it will probably come down to friends keeping their ears open for us. Fortunately, we've saved up enough to last about 6 months if it comes to it. And we have a few freelance gigs that we're already signed up for. But, boy, a steady paycheck sure does feel nice.

This is an exciting time for Adam & Evan Beamer!
 
Some encouragement for people thinking about taking the plunge:

In the last month or so before we moved i sent out probably 80 resumes. Out of them all, I heard back from only one: a trailer house hiring an editor. I found the job on entertainmentcareers.net.

I arrived in LA on friday. They set up an interview with me for monday. The interview went well and they had me come back in on tuesday to cut a trailer as kind of an audition. They seemed to like my cut and they gave me some notes for a round of revisions to see how well i could follow them. And the next day they hired me.

So, apparently it's not all about who you know! Just keep sending out resumes and hoping for that one in eighty.
 
More good news for people who are worried about being able to find work in LA. My brother just got a job as a PA on a pretty big movie with 3 big stars. He just called them up and sent his resume. Less than two weeks after we moved in and we both have jobs already!
 
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Update: 4 months in and we're both on to our 2nd jobs.

Evan finished working as office PA on The Runaways (Kristen Stewart, Dakota Fanning) and is now working as office PA with the same production coordinator at Parks & Recreation on NBC. It looks like he'll be moving again with the same production coordinator to another feature.

I left the trailer house to cut a feature called Death And Cremation (Brad Dourif, Daniel Baldwin, Jeremy Sumpter). We're just finishing the movie now and I'm looking for the next gig!
 
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