Episode 15: Los Angeles

Rozhovor s Kaliforňanem Davidem o La La Landu neboli městě hvězd. O Hollywoodu a o tom, jak si v něm najít práci; o losangeleských zákoutích a tajných místech; nebo třeba o tom, co je to "valley girl" slang. 

Transcript

Entertainment Industry in Los Angeles

Speaker 1 0:02

Welcome to the English team at this hall . My name is Pavlina and every week I will talk to my parents from all over the English language world about different interesting topics , and that's all from me from the beginning . Thank you very much for watching this channel and we can start . And if you like the podcast and would like to support it , you can go to my Patreon page . Hi everybody and welcome to today's episode . I'm super thrilled to be welcoming my guest for today , david Bui .

Speaker 2 0:31

Hi , david , Hello , how you doing ? I'm doing just fine . How are you ? I'm doing well , pav , it's been a while . Yes , absolutely , so we have to say goodbye .

Speaker 3 0:44

I hope you enjoyed the video David is in LA right now and he's originally from Orange County , so today's topic is actually Los Angeles . Are you excited ?

Speaker 2 0:56

Very , I'm on the edge of my seat right now , perfect . So I have plenty of questions for you .

Speaker 3 1:04

So the first one is I'm wondering , because LA is obviously for us . You know film and music and everything that's connected to the entertainment industry .

Speaker 2 1:23

So I'm wondering for a young American , is it essential to be in LA if you want to work in this business , and do you now work in a video game publisher company and before you worked in advertising ?

Speaker 3 1:39

I would say it is essential . It is , you know , pretty much like the hub for everything . We may not film everything here , but like all the studios and offices are still based in Los Angeles , and also with networking , since everyone's still coming in droves like it's this important that you make your way to Los Angeles . You know , if you choose to move to like , let's say , atlanta , still I would say , move to LA first , get a feel for it , but this will work out for you . Then move to someplace else . You know You've got to keep it fluid , I guess , but LA is a must .

Speaker 2 2:15

And how does that happen ? For you know , a young American , because let's say that you're from I don't know the Midwest and like you want to work in film . So like do you just come to LA and then what ? What do you do Like , do you look for internships , or how do you start ?

Speaker 3 2:32

That's a very good question and I'm very fortunate that I live about an hour away from LA . So for me , like I've never had that experience of packing up and you know that's a big sacrifice , you know a big risk to like pack your stuff up if you're from the Midwest to LA . It's scary . You know Los Angeles is massive and if you're not careful you could , you know you have to keep up with the city , like any other giant town , you know . But it's highly competitive and so I think in most cases the best thing to do is most of the people that I've spoken to who are not from California , they would , you know , interview for a job and once they get it , then move .

Speaker 3 3:19

Okay , yes , there's a handful of people who just moved to LA on the whim and I think it's not the smartest move . You know it does , it does make you , it does put you into a survival mode , right , so you're gonna work harder to find a job . So people had to live in cars but , like you know , that's not for everyone , you know for sure .

Speaker 2 3:41

Well , I have to say that when I came to LA as a tourist , you know , it just seemed to me that every Starbucks Burista , every Uber driver , when , like , we started talking because you Americans like to talk a lot , Maybe , no , I'm like when I'm in an Uber and the guy is silent the whole time , I do five stars , no , anyways I wanted to ask you , like everyone , they'd be like yeah , I'm actually an actor or a producer or a screenwriter , and to me , you know , it just seemed quite confusing because in my head I was like okay , but why are you driving my Uber ? So is that what you say ? That you know it's so hard to get a job in the entertainment industry that , basically , people just need to have these kind of like side jobs ?

Speaker 3 4:27

Yes , it's highly competitive and you know , in my case this might mean living nearby . Like you know , I come from a middle class family . You know I don't come from wealth and I realize , you know , trying to find a job , you have to , you know , promote yourself . You are a brand and you have to not hustle , but you really have to almost develop those skills . And those skills you may not learn from from school right or from university , and I wish , I wish they were in work classes that could help you out with that , for that sort of training , because it's like a lot of tough love , a lot of like getting hurt , and then you start to realize , you know , yeah , Los Angeles is very expensive , so you're going to have to pay the bills .

Speaker 3 5:12

So in the meantime , if you're trying to find a job , you're going to have to take these side gigs that could , that are flexible , you know , like , for example , the Uber driver , right , yeah , yeah , and in between his him driving around town trying to find a job to full time in the industry . It's not easy .

Speaker 2 5:34

So do you think the city is very individualistic ?

Speaker 3 5:37

Yes , and then I mentioned that there is a lack of community . So often people are not helping each other out , you know , which is if you call that selfish , but like , because , like , the industry was built on that , you know it's hard to change it , right ? Because , like you know , I feel like if I ever found major success , I would try to help out as many people . But then then there's like thousands of people who need help , right , who are looking for jobs , so it's like , and people are so hungry for work , so it's sort of like you have to keep everything close to the best , right , you can't help out everyone , so it's very I'm making this sound very scary , by the way- Now it's .

Speaker 2 6:20

It's interesting because I feel like the entertainment industry is just so attractive to so many people .

Speaker 3 6:26

Yes , it is . You know , okay , here's a good example , like I . There's another podcast that the host is an actor from a small town and he , in growing up people will tell him oh , you're so talented , you're so charismatic , you know you're going to be a become a big star or whatever right , you're going to find success , no matter what and what she did eventually . So he moved to LA . Then he realized , oh my god , there's like I'm just a small fish in a big pond because everyone else is just like me . Like you know , he knows how to play the guitar , but then then someone else knows how to play the guitar and piano , the violin , you know , and he felt really lost . And if everyone has that same goal , it's just like , oh my god , like you start to reflect a little bit .

Speaker 3 7:12

I think you know , at least he did , he . I think in his case he realizes maybe I shouldn't follow the trend and just maybe I should just be myself .

Discovering Los Angeles

Speaker 3 7:22

By becoming yourself , you find more success . Yeah , very smart , yeah , but that that takes a lot of time and energy to really you feel like not unprotective , but , like you know , to think about stuff like that when you have a goal of I want to be famous . I want to be like this person or that person . They don't really focus on their own positive skill .

Speaker 3 7:44

Sets you know they just end up being generic . I think it's . You know , everyone has a unique trait and if you can harness that , it makes you stand out even further and you can find more success .

Speaker 2 7:56

Yeah , absolutely . And now that we talked about celebrities and stars , so have you ever randomly bumped into a celebrity in the city , or is that just something that happens every day in LA ?

Speaker 3 8:09

Yeah , I just hung out with George Clooney . You wish ? Yes , I did . No , I joined at Hill a few years ago . I was at the Comic Con , which is you know . I don't need to explain what Comic Con is . It's pretty big right . So we're now on . But , like I remember , I saw a joint at a bar in downtown San Diego and he was staring at me . Did you talk to him ? No , he just kept on staring at me and I stared back and I just walked away and that was it . Oh wow , I met during like a commercial shoot . I met Bella Thorne .

Speaker 2 8:49

Who's that ? I don't know her .

Speaker 3 8:52

She's a younger actress . She was like late for her costume test by two , like a good two hours . Oh , she does this Hollywood thing . It's like the moment she comes into the studio she is so nonchalant about everything . So people should be mad at her for being late and being not . She was nonresponsive , but then she's so charismatic and charming that you're like you know what . It's . Okay , I forgive you . You're Bella Thorne . I have to look her up now .

Speaker 2 9:26

I feel bad , and so what was the most bizarre thing that has ever happened to you in the city ?

Speaker 3 9:32

Well , I'm going to scare your audience . So when and not to get too political , and this is not a political thing when Trump was elected as our leader , you know , I went to the bank and just wanted to get some money so I could pay for because I was hungry . I wanted to go to my favorite restaurant that only accepts cash and I almost got mugged . There was a man with a weapon on him and he was yelling at me . He wasn't , he was slurring his speech , he was . I think he was very high . So you got this man on drugs with a weapon , with a crowbar , yelling at me as I'm like , running back to my car .

Speaker 2 10:14

So that was the connection with Trump .

Speaker 3 10:18

It all happened on election night , so that was one of the worst nights I've ever experienced , so yes , that's very scary , very , very scary .

Speaker 2 10:27

And so what are the things that you love and hate most about the city ?

Speaker 3 10:31

I love that Los Angeles is . It's not just one big city , it's like imagine 30 different cities in the clutter right , so you will find hidden beauty within that urban landscape . So like there's a lot of like hidden monuments , venues that I may not get a lot of attention . That is like unique to Los Angeles . For example , like , I think , the hotel in which they filmed a Blade Runner in the Bradbury building . I think the way the building is laid out is like there's a giant open space and it looks really beautiful , very art deco , and this hotel was just iconic . It's in this random neighborhood . You would never . It's very unassuming , so it's stuff like that that's very magical . You're like , oh my god , this really cool looking building , this is in this industrial part of downtown LA I easily miss .

Speaker 3 11:24

You know that happens a lot . You know , in Los Angeles . It's not an obviously beautiful city like New York , chicago or where it's just like instantly . You know , okay , this is like there's a lot of history , like Los Angeles tends to tear apart its history , which is the negative part of LA , but yeah , there was a lot of like history . That gets lost in LA as well , because we keep on tearing down everything and rebuilding it , and I think that creates a disconnect as well too , because we drive cars and there's heavy traffic . I guess that's to our advantage now during the pandemic , not to make a joke about it , but like you know , like in New York when you had to take the subway system you sure you're connected to people , but then now you are at disadvantage .

Speaker 2 12:07

Yeah , so , and now that you spoke about cars , like I read that there are more cars than people in LA actually , so there's no public transport at all .

Speaker 3 12:18

You are absolutely correct . It's drives me crazy . But you know , like , if you know LA history , have you seen who Framed Roger Rabbit ? Nope , no , you never seen who Framed Roger Rabbit to your audience out there . Yeah , I should watch who Framed Roger Rabbit . It's on Disney Plus . There's a point in the movie in which they made a joke about it because it takes place in mid century Los Angeles , right around the 40s , and it made villain . This is a spoiler for a 30 year old movie . He was in charge of creating the freeway system because he struck a deal with the car industry . So I thought that was funny . But you haven't seen the movie , so you're not laughing right now . As a child I didn't get it , but as an adult I was on the floor laughing . That's so funny , I think . Public transportation system they're trying to improve it . When you were in LA , were you able to take advantage of our lovely system ?

Speaker 2 13:16

I did take the bus quite a few times because I didn't have a car , but then I was mostly using Uber .

Speaker 3 13:24

Oh , I see .

Speaker 2 13:25

Yeah .

Speaker 3 13:26

Okay , I'm sure you didn't see any train stations , right ?

Speaker 2 13:31

No , not that I recall .

Speaker 3 13:33

But give it time . Give it another 50 years and then you'll see at least three more train stations . Okay , I mean like metro stations . Correct , a metro station , yes .

Speaker 2 13:47

Yeah , and so I wanted to ask is there ever bad weather in LA ? Because when I went , actually , like you know , maybe like five drops of rain fell from the sky and people were like , oh no , it's raining today .

Speaker 3 14:03

So three drops of rain is considered a storm in Los Angeles . The weather right now there's an overcast , but you know it's . I can go out wearing a pair of shorts and a t-shirt . Normally our weather is fairly toasty , but there's a drawback , you know uh yes , and then like , even with um , with uh , let's say the autumn , like the very idea of , like that leaves on the streets , you know that's beautiful , you know the orange and yellow , we don't get that .

Speaker 3 14:37

So we're stuck in summer mode all year long and I kind of look long for some change . It's nice to have some variety .

Speaker 2 14:47

Hi Anders , yeah , I love you know , I have to say I do love spring , I do love summer , I do love autumn , I do love winter . So next question I wanted to ask about is if there's any like special LA slang that we wouldn't really hear anywhere else in the US .

Speaker 3 15:04

Because LA has a lot of transplants , it's kind of hard to decipher what is , you know , organically grown in the Southern California , in terms of slang , I would say . At least LA is famous for surfer talk in Valley Girl lingo , if you're familiar with that , like saying like a lot , like oh , yeah or um . What we do is that with the highway system we usually add an article in front of the number , so like the one on one , the four or five , whereas other parts of the country they would just say four or five , one on one . So yeah , I would say like the Valley Girl , like you know , which has expanded throughout the country , so it's no longer unique to Los Angeles . But think clueless in how they talk . Not everyone talks like that .

Speaker 2 15:53

So no , that's interesting . And which part of the city is your favorite ?

Speaker 3 15:58

That's a tough one . I would say hmm , that's a very okay Seal Beach . So there's um in between Los Angeles and Orange County there's a sleepy beach town , right that . I always tell myself I should go more often , but I don't , it's out of the way . But it's like this hidden beach community where it's very sleepy . You know everyone's just eating , drinking , having a good time . It almost feels . You know , you're so away from the bustling city that , like it's very welcoming to to embrace this . Like you know , the stakes aren't high , people aren't running around , they have nowhere to go , but just to have a good time . And I think that's my favorite part of the town , like maybe not just Seal Beach but , like you know , manhattan Beach , redondo Beach there's a different quality .

Speaker 2 16:48

And is that an official name , sleepy beach , or is it just how you call it ?

Speaker 3 16:53

I think it's a term that I probably am misusing sleepy beach town . Back in Orange County they were . When the TV show Orange OC was becoming big like Laguna Beach , newport Beach , huntington Beach . They were trying to market themselves as oh , you know , come to our community , you know it's really cool . And that changed the landscape of those towns . So now it's heavily populated , right , and it's no longer , you know , sleepy and having a good time . You know it's about being now , it's about being cool . But the Seal Beach hasn't gone through that change Now until now , since I brought it up on your show . Now everyone's going to go .

Speaker 2 17:34

Yeah , for sure . Well , David , it's been a great pleasure and fun . Thank you so much for sitting down with me and telling us everything about your city .

Speaker 3 17:46

Thank you for inviting me and I apologize if I was just a chatterbox . I was so excited to be on your show . Yeah , this one , this episode , would get one star . Good night , guys , shut up . But no , it was a pleasure and it was nice to really talk about . A lot of people don't talk about Los Angeles in this way , you know , and I think your show provides a nice platform for that .

Speaker 2 18:09

Oh , thank you , and thank you to everyone who's listened to this episode as well , and I hope to see you next week . Bye .