Importance of Personal Projects
Recently, I’ve reached my one year anniversary in Los Angeles, so I want to take a moment and reflect on my journey to this point and how it all started. A little over a year ago, I was in the dump. I had probably sent 60 resumes out, hundreds of emails, and had over 20 interviews (including over the phone). I wanted to break into the advertising business. But I couldn’t. No one was seeing potential or willing to take a chance. So how did I end up at this point…
During college, I did all the right things, I participated in ad club (eventually becoming president), made contacts, I helped others figure their career path out, and I helped the school make a slightly better name for its ad program. Only problem was I didn’t know what I wanted to do. During my entire education, I skipped around from wanting to be an art director, to a copywriter, and eventually into account management. I even thought photojournalism was my calling at one point. I graduated, and struggled a bit like most new grads, but I was lucky enough to land an internship at Crispin Porter + Bogusky. But it was for their PR team. I know what you may be thinking, “what the hell Brandon, PR as in Public Relations?” Yes. Public Relations. The team consisted of three people including me. While I had no interest in Public Relations, I did it anyways because I wanted to be apart of CP+B, which at the time was the hottest agency in town.
Of course, while I was at CP+B I couldn’t focus. I found myself hanging with the designers, or the account management people. I still didn’t know what I wanted. When I left, the name of CP+B on my resume didn’t hurt. I got phone interviews with GS+P, BBH, and even W+K, all for positions I wasn’t really in to, but was willing to take the sacrifice. I was excited, something big was about to happen.
Fast forward a year later, and I still was unemployed. No one would bite, and I was starting to freak out. Do I go back to school? During this time, I was also finding my interests in graphic design start to peak again. I had a lot of free time, so I decided to take on after effects and Cinema 4D. Design was something I always understood, but I was always afraid of my own talents. I picked up After Effects and C4D pretty quickly, and so began my journey of self initiated projects. I decided that I would start designing and animating my own projects, and make a demo reel, and I would do all of this by spring time when most studios look for interns. I succeeded. By April 2011, I started sending out my reel to studios everywhere, and within a couple of weeks, I had two studios in LA bite. And by May 2011, I was on a plane to Santa Monica where I would start my new life. Since then, I’ve had the privilege of working at some fine studios including King and Country and Brand New School. And lately, I’ve been taken under the wing of the infamous Nate Howe, who is by far the most talented motion designer I’ve ever met, and who has recently set up his own shop, Nathaniel James.
So what was the point of this long rant? I’ve learned, that it doesn’t matter which school you go to, or where you live. If you have talent, people will notice. And they will mostly notice through the passion and work you put into your own projects. I did a set of boards for Fringe back when I was still unemployed. It was the first set of boards I ever did, just for myself, and creative directors still point it out when I show them my portfolio. Nothing on my site was work related or school related when I first started. It was all self initiated. And it stole the show.
