Want to move to LA next summer. How does this plan sound? (Pasadena: sublet, apartments)
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Want to move to LA next summer. How does this plan sound?
My long-term boyfriend and I are in our mid-20s and are looking for a major change. He's an actor in Boston who has a good list of credits/experience and has had some glowing theatre reviews and is ready to sink or swim out in LA. He's been thinking alot about it and we've read all the info on here/other websites and blogs and he's doing it anyway, so we don't need advice on that. I have Seasonal Affective Disorder which is getting worse every year and I'm ready to move someplace with less harsh winters. Now seems like the right time in both our lives for this move.
Anyway! Our plan is to visit in December or February (probably February at this point) and see if we can get a lay of the land since we've never been to LA before. If possible, I might also see if there are any districts or private schools interviewing for the 2011 school year (I know this is unlikely). I will be using a friend's local address on my resumes.
On July 1st after my current school closes for the summer, we're going to keep most of our stuff in storage at either of our parents' houses and drive cross-country with just the necessities to LA. Our goal is going to be to find a furnished sublet for July and August. If not we'll be bringing an air mattress.
At that point, we're going to give ourselves until August 20th to find some kind of stable work to pay the bills, realizing that we'll probably end up underemployed (we both have BAs). If either of us (or both of us) gets a job that can support the two of us cheaply, we will stay. If not, we'll move back to Boston and live with his parents until we can find a new apt. there for Sept. 1st and I'll go back to my teaching job which will be waiting for me until I quit.
My question is mainly about whether this plan sounds feasible? Is a little more than a month and a half long enough to find SOMETHING, even if it's minimum wage? We've shared a studio apt. before and could do it again and we know how to live cheaply (I used to be in Americorps). Is 8 months enough time to plan a move to LA? How much money will we need to have in the bank to do this? (I have money saved and I will continue getting paychecks until late September if I choose to quit).
If anyone has any advice aside from telling us we're crazy for our motivations (we know we are being a little bit dreamy) please feel free to give it. If we don't do this now, we never will so we'd rather try to go up against the obstacles than just give up.
My long-term boyfriend and I are in our mid-20s and are looking for a major change. He's an actor in Boston who has a good list of credits/experience and has had some glowing theatre reviews and is ready to sink or swim out in LA. He's been thinking alot about it and we've read all the info on here/other websites and blogs and he's doing it anyway, so we don't need advice on that. I have Seasonal Affective Disorder which is getting worse every year and I'm ready to move someplace with less harsh winters. Now seems like the right time in both our lives for this move.
Good for you. I know how cold Boston can get. I never want to go there again. And good for you not asking advice from ANYONE on this forum about your acting career. They will most likely put it and you down.
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Anyway! Our plan is to visit in December or February (probably February at this point) and see if we can get a lay of the land since we've never been to LA before. If possible, I might also see if there are any districts or private schools interviewing for the 2011 school year (I know this is unlikely). I will be using a friend's local address on my resumes.
Why unlikely? I think your just shooting too far. Private school? LA? I wouldn't even try. With all the bills you would have to pay for your apartment and other countless things, I would recommend not going to private school. Rather, why not community college? There are great ones in LA such as Santa Monica College and Pasadena Community College. Totally reputable colleges and affordable. They cost about the same as your home state average university tuition. As soon as your are done with CC, you can easily apply for the university and get accepted while being qualified for in-state.
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On July 1st after my current school closes for the summer, we're going to keep most of our stuff in storage at either of our parents' houses and drive cross-country with just the necessities to LA. Our goal is going to be to find a furnished sublet for July and August. If not we'll be bringing an air mattress.
Sounds doable but a furnished sublet? Good luck with affording that. I would recommend just starting from scratch like many couples moving to LA do. It cost way too much to have a "furnished" apartment in LA on top of an already expensive rent. If the rent is too expensive, you can always find a shared-apartment/house type of situation off of craiglist where you and your beau can rent out your own room in an shared house or apartment. Millions of young folk in LA are doing it. It's not strange there. It's the most affordable, low cost, and easy way of securing a roof over your head temporarily out in CA.
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At that point, we're going to give ourselves until August 20th to find some kind of stable work to pay the bills, realizing that we'll probably end up underemployed (we both have BAs). If either of us (or both of us) gets a job that can support the two of us cheaply, we will stay. If not, we'll move back to Boston and live with his parents until we can find a new apt. there for Sept. 1st and I'll go back to my teaching job which will be waiting for me until I quit.
ABSOLUTELY NOT. Secure a job BEFORE going out to California! California is already bankrupt and broke!! 11% unemployment! Apply online or take a 2 week trip to LA the weeks before you move to secure a job position. Or else you will have hell to pay! Your boyfriend will not immediately jump into acting roles and get paid! It's going to be awhile before he does. Once those bills start piling up, LA Reality 101 is gonna come and bite you in the back. If your going to do it anyway, one thing you could do, is save up at least $5-6,000 dollars that will pay the rent for at least 3 months. That way, your boyfriend has time to get headshots, audition for films/tv shows, and look for an agent.
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My question is mainly about whether this plan sounds feasible? Is a little more than a month and a half long enough to find SOMETHING, even if it's minimum wage? We've shared a studio apt. before and could do it again and we know how to live cheaply (I used to be in Americorps). Is 8 months enough time to plan a move to LA? How much money will we need to have in the bank to do this? (I have money saved and I will continue getting paychecks until late September if I choose to quit).
8 months is more than enough time to plan for your move. But you must plan down to the itty bitty last details. If one thing goes wrong, you need an emergency plan B. Like I said plan to save up at least $5,000 or $6,000 before you come out here. That money gets spent QUICK in LA. Especially between a couple. It would be better for both of you if you separately raised it. That way you have at least $10,000 to $12,000 in total which will last you for almost 6 months depending on what your rent is.
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If anyone has any advice aside from telling us we're crazy for our motivations (we know we are being a little bit dreamy) please feel free to give it. If we don't do this now, we never will so we'd rather try to go up against the obstacles than just give up.
Your not crazy. Don't listen to LA City-Data people on acting advice. They don't believe any actor will make it. Well I am telling you that there is always new talent and new faces the industry is looking for. It's going to be a hard road of rejection but someone will make it eventually. You just have to ask yourself will you be that person? Or will you let the other hundreds of 20-somethings take your dream and roles away? I think not.
Besides, it's once in a lifetime. If you don't do it now, you will regret never having tried. So I totally support actors/actresses who aspire to begin their careers in LA. But I don't support the ones who aren't serious and dream about a rich and famous glamorous career in Hollywood and come to LA to strive for that life. They are the ones who do not go anywhere. You must be the one to be serious and take acting classes, and go to auditions, and continuously market yourself to find roles. Regardless of what some want to say, that is what separates you from the reality-tv wannabe. You will go somewhere. And I say good luck to your Boyfriend and I wish him the best. And also good luck to you for supporting him. Because being the boyfriend/girlfriend of an actor is no joke! There are alot of couples who split because of it. You will have to support and remain with him through kissing other females, touching, stimulating sex scenes, and other erotic cohesiveness. It's the job of being an actor. I hope you and your boyfriend have thoroughly discussed these things before you decide to move to LA. Well anyhow, I hope I have helped and good luck on your journey!
Here are the list of several apartment/roomate websites where you can find really good deals in LA.
Rooms & Shares LA Craiglist - This is the website I was talking about. It's perfect for a single person or couple looking to move to LA as easy and affordable as they can. Rent in LA for a studio or one bedroom is typically $1000-1300. Rent for one of these shared apartments of housing is $500-800 depending on the location and space. Very reasonble deals.They cover everywhere in LA. Research on the neighborhoods is up to you to do. They also have normal single apartmentsandsublet/temporaryhousing as well.
Apartment Guide - A very good apartment website. Very professional. It's one of the best. On occasion I have caught them having outdated prices for their apartments. So I would double check and either email the apartment company or call them for real-time prices.
Forrent - Another good apartment website. It is more accurate detailed about specific locations in LA rather than Apartment Guide that list apartments in generally the same area.
Google Maps - ALWAYS google map and street view your apartment address. You never know if the area is surrounded by a hood.
Apartment Ratings - and always check your apartment rating!! Never know if your getting a beautiful apartment that is secretly a hellhole.
I would lose that boston accent if I were you guys. If there's one thing that New York and LA both hate, it's people from Boston. Repeat after me, "GARRRRRR-den" "CARRRRR"
My long-term boyfriend and I are ... ... bringing an air mattress. ... My question is mainly about whether this plan sounds feasible? Is a little more than a month and a half long enough to find SOMETHING[?] ... If anyone has any advice aside from telling us we're crazy for our motivations (we know we are being a little bit dreamy) please feel free to give it. If we don't do this now, we never will so we'd rather try to go up against the obstacles than just give up.
My advice is, go for it! Yeah, 6 weeks is limited, but what the cost of a dream? If nothing else it should be a pretty memorable 6 weeks!
I think you should go for it. Your boyfriend can get work as a background actor if he can handle the instability and long/weird hours (and really low pay), although summer is a slower period for that. I have a friend who works just for fun as a background actor, and he got work really quickly, it's there but it's all short-notice and you have to hustle a bit to get it, but if you're a responsible and reliable person it's there.
I think your plan is fine, except that the time-frame is too short. I think if you both go home after 6 weeks if it hasn't worked out yet, that you haven't given it a fair chance, although I can see your rationale. How about, if it hasn't yet come together in 6 weeks, that you go home and work a few months at your old job while he gets things a little more stable in his work life, and then you come back out?
Why unlikely? I think your just shooting too far. Private school? LA? I wouldn't even try. With all the bills you would have to pay for your apartment and other countless things, I would recommend not going to private school. Rather, why not community college? There are great ones in LA such as Santa Monica College and Pasadena Community College. Totally reputable colleges and affordable. They cost about the same as your home state average university tuition. As soon as your are done with CC, you can easily apply for the university and get accepted while being qualified for in-state.
I am a teacher, so when I said it was unlikely that I would be able to get a job for the 2011 school year, I meant that I understood what the climate is like for teachers in CA right now. I would not have an issue working with high risk/severly underprivileged students since that has always been the demographic I've worked with, but I'm aware of the realities of finding jobs even in tough schools right now.
Also, we were hoping to find furnished mainly so we could move back home more easily if it turned out we couldn't find jobs by late August. The thing about my job is that if we try until October and things don't work out, I'm moving back to Boston without a teaching job and, honestly, if I have to stay in Boston I'd rather stay here with my secure job/relatively well paying job rather than be underemployed (which is a huge problem in Boston and around the country for college grads). We would be willing to be underemployed in LA to start while we search for better jobs - is it also very difficult to find food service and retail positiions currently?
How about, if it hasn't yet come together in 6 weeks, that you go home and work a few months at your old job while he gets things a little more stable in his work life, and then you come back out?
The problem with teaching jobs is that you either commit to 10 months of work or risk being black-balled. We've also discussed doing the long-distance thing but we've agreed that while other couples do it, and we get that, it's not really for us. We are not going to be separated for 10 months.
I would lose that boston accent if I were you guys. If there's one thing that New York and LA both hate, it's people from Boston. Repeat after me, "GARRRRRR-den" "CARRRRR"
Neither of us have a Boston accent. Boston accents are getting to be more and more rare. My parents have a slight one and I never developed one.
I am a teacher, so when I said it was unlikely that I would be able to get a job for the 2011 school year, I meant that I understood what the climate is like for teachers in CA right now. I would not have an issue working with high risk/severly underprivileged students since that has always been the demographic I've worked with, but I'm aware of the realities of finding jobs even in tough schools right now.
Also, we were hoping to find furnished mainly so we could move back home more easily if it turned out we couldn't find jobs by late August. The thing about my job is that if we try until October and things don't work out, I'm moving back to Boston without a teaching job and, honestly, if I have to stay in Boston I'd rather stay here with my secure job/relatively well paying job rather than be underemployed (which is a huge problem in Boston and around the country for college grads). We would be willing to be underemployed in LA to start while we search for better jobs - is it also very difficult to find food service and retail positiions currently?
Oh I see. I understand alot better now. Okay well good news for you, food service and retail is one of the most common and easy jobs a person can get in LA. Especially if you have a BA. Most actors/actresses are working food service or restaurants so you and your husband definitely stand a good chance at finding something. But like I said, apply BEFORE you move. Call or email the company about your move and tell them the situation so they can schedule an interview with you that coincides with the date that your visiting or moving. Because you want to have a job ready so that you can start getting income as soon as you get there. Because you'll soon realize that the $5,000 you brought will go quick by spending money on refrigerator rent (because most apartments in LA don't come with one), beds, drawers, food, water, fans, clothing, going out to restaurants, going to movies, shopping, etc. So that's why I recommended for you to either separately raise $5,000 or rent out a room in an apt or house.
One problem might be housing. Try to find your place before driving out because motels will eat up your money faster than you can imagine. But you will have to commit to whatever time there is on your lease whether you have money and a job or not, unless it's truly month to month. My daughter and her bf did what you are trying to do, but from instate, with a grand total of $8k and were both able to find work within a couple of weeks. It's not impossible but they signed a 1 year lease on day one so housing and moving wasn't an ongoing issue....only finding the income.
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