Thursday, December 30, 2004

Big News Update: When It Rains, It Pours ...

Where to begin?

So today I got got a call in the afternoon from NBC Burbank's page program, which I interviewed with on my trip to LA a short while back. Despite the fact that it's only been a few weeks since I was there, there was already a growing sense of impatience around the 'ol Baram household. "What if you don't hear from them?" and so on. Well today I heard from them -- I got accepted to the page program! Now, I have been telling people recently that if I did get this position I would be excited, but also freak out. Why? Because as I long ago realized but could only bring myself to seriously think about in small doses was the fact that now, suddenly, I have a few weeks to figure out: Will I make the move to California? If so, where will I live? When will I go? I will need to get a car, furniture, a plane ticket. And then the kicker ... How will I pay for all this on the meager salary I will initially be making? Oy. Only a boy raised by a nag-nag-nagging Jewish family could take good news and make it into the biggest stress headache since [insert lame comparison here, I'm too tired to]. Anyways ... as if THAT wasn't enought to think about ...

Call # 2 comes, mere hours later, this time from NBC in NYC. At first I thought it was someone from Conan offering me Mr. O'Brien's chair in 2009, but nope, it was the PAGE PROGRAM (east coast version), asking if I wanted to do an interview with them (I applied in July to both programs). I tried to hold back the tears of bittersweet irony as I attempted to explain my situation to the poor woman on the phone. I had just heard from the program in Burbank, but I WOULD be interested in the nyc program. Only problem is, I was supposed to confirm with Burbank by MONDAY. And so in an interestign twist of events, the woman in nyc says she agrees that my situation is exceptional, and she'll have her manager call me, on, you guessed it, MONDAY. So, MONDAY is poised to be a big day. California being three hours behind could work to my advantage in dealing with this, but STILL ... HOW THE @#$*!# DID THIS HAPPEN? If I knew definitively that I preferred being in CA over NYC it wouldn't be as much of a problem, but here's the thing about NYC:

- Despite higher apartment costs, it is a lot cheaper to be in NYC. I don't need a car, or car insurance, for one thing. I'm not going to be making a lot of money right off the bat, so this is actually a big consideration.

- Aside from about two people, I know ZERO people on the West Coast, let alone the LA area. Almost all of my friends and family are in the East, and many of them in New York or close by.

- While there's not a lot of entertainment shows out of NYC, there is (for now, at least) Conan O'Brien, which I love and have contacts at, and one of my dream shows to work on, SNL.

But, here's the thing about California:

- The NBC program there is all about entertainment. And LA is the place to be for TV. There you have a better chance of being a writer's assistant, or a PA or staffer on any number of shows produced there.

- Much nicer weather, that's for sure!

So I am still kind of torn between the two options. Right now I am leaning towards NYC by a little bit, BUT it's very possible that I may not even be able to move things along quickly enough to make it a viable option. So if I want to do the Burbank program, I may have to give them a yes or no by Monday without having any guarantees about NYC. So this is it. The good news is - well, I got accepted to the NBC page program in Burbank and maybe soon in NYC as well. But, as could ONLY happen to me, things become way more complicated and annoying then they have any right to. Also - I WELCOME any thoughts, ideas, or suggestions. Any opinions other than those of my parents (hehe) are always appreciated. That's it for now. More to report as it happens. Stay tuned.

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