Some people seem confused about Andy Orin sometimes. Why am I doing what I do and not doing other things? Are you serious when you said that thing?
To quote lulzsec, I’m just doing it, life in general, for the lulz. I’ve found it’s the best thing to do.
I was, for example, posting updates on my LinkedIn about a fictional backyard zoo. That’s actually from a short screenplay I’ve been working on, but then I thought it would be pretty funny to update all of my social networks with messages about an illicit zoo that I was running. It’s probably not the best practice, considering that I’m soon going to be looking for work, but I honestly don’t care. It made me laugh.
Some of my friends are crazy about being actors or directors or writers or whatever. I’m not crazy about anything.
Sometimes I like to write screenplays so I do that. I was in an MFA program for a while, but I found it to be prohibitively expensive, so I’m not doing that right now because I can write for free. (My writing instructors were really wonderful, though). I’m not a very good school student because I do what I want. (High school was different because it seemed like a good idea to get good grades to go to a fancy college).
Sometimes I like to write prose stories. That’s mainly what I focused on during undergrad. I went to Stanford because it seemed like it would be a pretty interesting thing to do, and I was able to. Same thing for when I when to Oxford for a while; I got pretty bored at Stanford and needed a kick in the pants. My writing never really got anywhere, but it’s still something I do in my free time.
Sometimes I like to take photographs. It’s pretty good fun. It’s like hunting. My friends used to say I should send pictures to contests and stuff, but my pictures are pretty sloppy and I just do it because I like to.
Sometimes I make webpages and do online stuff for fun. That’s also how I’ve made my money. It’s been good working for Link TV, but I’ve learned as much as I can there. I worked hard and am happy with what I did. I also worked for a start-up, a virtual reality research lab, a bookstore, and volunteered at an aquarium for a while. Oh, and I read manuscripts for a literary agency. I pretty much rejected everything I read for six months because I’m picky about literature (sorry).
Anyway, I don’t have any immediate plans, but I’m going to see what’s up in Los Angeles, and hopefully do something in film and television. There is no glass ceiling and I’m a pretty lucky doofus. It doesn’t always pay very well to be a lucky doofus but that’s okay. I think it’ll become lucrative.
PS. There’s a saying I like that originates from somewhere in Africa:
The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago. The second best time is now.
I think it has something to do with time traveling botany.
cocopunk 