Tonight’s LA sky is giving me some gnarly Vietnam flashbacks. (Taken with instagram)
a digital scrapbook of the life of film writer and director Jeremy Michael Cohen
• Back to Jeremy's Website
• Ask me anything
Jeremy Michael Cohen
• Back to Jeremy's Website
• Ask me anything
Jeremy Michael Cohen
@Pirates game. #PITTSBURGH #feelslikehome @ponzon24 @jrc5053 (Taken with instagram)
“
What in your past has given you inspiration or a unique point of view which you bring to USC?
A lot of the people I grew up around went to jail or fell into some form of obscurity. Then I went to college where everyone I was around was on their way to successful careers. The people I grew up with didn’t differ too much from the people I went to college with. They bleed the same blood, they cried the same tears, and they even laughed the same laughter. Unfortunately, they caught different breaks in life.
I say this to say that people, no matter the race, gender, or socio-economic status, don’t differ. We are all human beings trying to make sense of this crazy world we live in. I bring that perspective to every character I write, every actor I direct and every story I tell.
”(Source: cinema.usc.edu)
“IN the world of condiments, as in major league baseball, there are heavy favorites and underdogs. Ketchup and mustard are the division leaders, of course. But my allegiance is to pickle relish. Not commonly used by chefs and often relegated to the bottom shelf in supermarkets, relish is like a small-market team that is overlooked and always out of contention — say, the Pittsburgh Pirates of condiments.”
Best taco stand in LA right now. At Hoover and 20th. (Taken with instagram)
Fred Perrotta: Reverse Lent
Lent is silly and archaic. Although it’s a little late, I’ve come up with a vastly superior alternative.
Instead of giving up something you like for 40 days, spend that time learning a new skill. Don’t subtract, add. Do something constructive and better yourself.
REVERSE LENT.
For Reverse Lent…
“As long as you’ve made something that a few users are ecstatic about, you’re on the right track. It will be good for your morale to have even a handful of users who really love you, and startups run on morale. But also it will tell you what to focus on. What is it about you that they love? Can you do more of that? Where can you find more people who love that sort of thing? As long as you have some core of users who love you, all you have to do is expand it. It may take a while, but as long as you keep plugging away, you’ll win in the end.”
— How Not to Die (via fredperrotta)
(via fredperrotta)
Email Advice I Wrote to a Youngster Eager to Go to Film School
Hey XXXX,
First off, call me Jeremy. In Hollywood, everyone calls everyone by their first name. I’m not sure why, but it’s tradition. I like it that way. And, more importantly, I’m not that much older or different than you.
It’d be my pleasure to answer your questions and fill you in. A few people were nice enough to do the same for me before I moved to Los Angeles after college. I wish I had asked even more people for advice, though. Hollywood — by that I mean the entertainment industry in Los Angeles — is a weird and mysterious world with its own set of rules. I’ll see if I can fill you in a bit.
You say that love everything related to film. That’s great. You need that love and passion to sustain yourself out here. Without it, you won’t last too long. But don’t confuse that love with skill. Almost everyone makes that mistake. It’ll take years and years — probably more than 10 years — to turn that love and passion for film into high-level skill. I’m getting there, but am not quite there yet. And I’ve been working my ass off for five years already. I hope to still want to get better when I’m an old man.
I don’t think you should be in a rush to go to film school as an undergraduate. If you go as a graduate student, you’ll have more time to practice, and your curriculum will be more intensely film related. If you go as an undergraduate, you’ll also have to take classes in core subjects like science and English (however, that’s a good thing in the long-run because that broad education will make you a better filmmaker and person), and you won’t be able to devote as much time to practicing making films. You’ll also want to do fun college things like going to parties and making dumb mistakes, which are important in their own way, too.
So, go to the University of XXXX (or wherever else you’d really like to go and your family can help you out with) and study film and study other stuff, too. Maybe get a double major, because if it turns out you don’t like film as much as you thought, at least you can do something else. But if you find your love for film sustains you as an undergrad, keep making as much stuff as possible. Write short and feature scripts. Act in plays. Direct plays. Edit films for yourself and other people. Just keep practicing. And read any book you can related to writing scripts and directing actors. Watch tons of movies, and — you don’t hear this piece of advice often enough — read tons of movie scripts. Once you do go to film school, you want to be better than everyone else. (I was a relative beginner, like many of my classmates, when I got to graduate school).
While you’re an undergraduate, I’d intern as much as possible in the film industry, even outside of Los Angeles. Work as a PA (production assistant) for a local film company or news channel. Or perhaps work on a documentary someone is putting together. Someone will always let you volunteer to be an assistant editor, and you can become a genuine expert in how editing software works. There will be opportunities pretty much wherever you go so long as you seek them out. If you can afford it, I’d live in Los Angeles during the summer (it can be surprisingly cheap here) and intern anywhere you can. Maybe at an agency, maybe at a production company — whoever lets you work for them. I could help you find an internship in Los Angeles, but you could also find one pretty easily by calling these places. Interning sucks in many ways, but the benefit is that you get to PRACTICE and LEARN for free (unlike school where you pay) and you get to see how the real industry works (much less romantic than you’d hope). The even bigger benefit is that you get to MEET PEOPLE and FORM RELATIONSHIPS.
Which brings me to the number one piece of advice I wish I had really grasped before I moved to Los Angeles. Hollywood is all about relationships. It’s not about phony networking, and it’s not about who your rich uncle is. It’s about maintaining long-term relationships with people who you trust and that trust you. It’ll always be very hard to get hired in Hollywood simply because you’re special and talented. There are tons of special and talented people out here. If someone selects you for a job, and especially the crème de la crème job of director, they’re trusting you not only for you to do your job AMAZINGLY WELL, but also with their own job. That’s because if you fail, they’ll probably be fired. Even on a small scale, no one will recommend you to their own manager if they can’t trust you. And don’t try to scam people into thinking you’re friends when you’re not just so you can get a favor from them; everyone can smell that a mile away, and we see it way too often.
So work really hard for other people, do a good job whenever you can, and be a good person to people. That’s how you’ll make these relationships… Not much different from the rest of the world. Except here people are incredibly busy, so you’ll have to go out of your way to call and email these people. You’ll have to plan out lunch meetings months in advance. Maintain those relationships you’ve worked hard to create.
The other thing I’d really like to stress to you is that writing, directing, and acting are all skills. In some ways, they’re not that much different from laying bricks or dribbling a basketball. You’ve got to practice a WHOLE TON. You’ve got to keep going when no one wants to hire you. You have to somehow pay your rent while practicing your skills. There’s incredible competition for the jobs you want, and, ultimately, you have to be better than other people to get those jobs. It’ll probably take ten years before you’re good enough and have enough relationships built up to get any of those jobs. In Hollywood, rarely is anyone very successful before they’re forty. That’s older than you, and, frankly, even older than I can imagine. You might be toiling away for the next twenty years in jobs that you hate, while doing degrading work. You might not be able to afford to go on vacations or have a family. That’s the reality of it. There are many highs and lows: One day you’ll be convinced that you’re the next Orson Welles and will be a millionaire by Christmas; by the end of the week you’ll hardly be able to get out of bed in the morning. You’ll have to make a point of really cherishing the small victories along the way. But if your love and passion for film is strong enough, you’ll be able to get to the other side.
One last tip: Don’t be afraid to ask people for help along the way. Send people emails asking for advice. Call people and see if they’ll get coffee with you. Ask friends for introductions to co-workers. People in Hollywood are nice and generous if you’re genuine and say please and thank you. But no one’s going to help you if you don’t ask. So, you’re off to a good start.
Don’t hesitate to ask if you have more questions or need a favor along the way.
Sincerely,
Jeremy
A pack of stickers from a friend of Tortuga Backpacks in Spain. Thanks @REK607. (Taken with instagram)
