Young and Hungry
Hard work—and a little luck—got me in the door.

By Joseph Alvarez

“Wanted: Enthusiastic person for an assistant editor intern position at HBO Studio Production. All inquires please contact Kremer Hoke.”

“Man, this sounds like a sweet gig,” I thought. I was three years into college, studying video editing. This job fit me like a glove. I stuck the ad in my pocket. I didn’t want anybody else to see that!

I headed straight back to my dorm to call Kremer. I was a little nervous but finally worked up my courage to call him.

Ring! Ring!

“HBO Studio Production, how may I help you?”

“Yes, can I speak to Mr. Hoke, please?”

“Speaking.”

“Hi, my name is Joseph Alvarez and I’m calling about the assistant editor intern position.”

He asked me a few questions and then set me up for an interview. Man, I was happy. I hung up my phone and starting singing and dancing around my dorm. I remember thinking, “This job search stuff is easy!”

Riding the Clouds

The next day I went to HBO. I had my best gear on. Walking into the building I felt big time. In the waiting area I was thinking, “Damn, everything here looks so clean and expensive.” Then I heard a strong voice say, “Hello, Mr. Alvarez, step into my office.”

Kremer interviewed me for about 15 minutes or so and I think I knocked his socks off, because he called his boss into the office and said a bunch of nice things about me, like, “You’re looking at the future of HBO.”

He took me on as the new intern. Boy was I happy. It felt like I flew home. I was riding the clouds! I was the new HBO Studio Production Assistant Editor Intern Extraordinaire!

I Was Rich!

When I started the internship, everything was new and a little bit scary, but I was sure I could learn the way things operated. I was young, hungry and willing to work my ass off. I think they knew that, because they did work my ass off.

As the months went by, I became known around the place as “hard working Joe.” I stayed after hours practicing editing until 4 a.m. Some nights I’d venture off and explore HBO’s other floors.

The fanciest room was the music studio. I used to creep in there and touch the cool looking buttons. I never could figure out how to play even a CD in that room, but man, I just liked being around all that expensive equipment. I was a high tech wanna be geek!

My internship lasted six months. As it came to an end, I thought, “I can’t let this slip away.” Luckily, they wanted to hire me, at a whopping 15 bucks an hour. I was rich! Hollywood, here I come!

Even after I got the job, I never let up. I took on every day as if it were my last day there. I wanted to prove myself to the world and show everybody who doubted that an orphan from the system could make it in the real world.

‘We Have to Let You Go’

But just as I started getting comfortable at HBO, September 11th happened. After that, a lot of companies—especially media and film companies—began making cutbacks, and HBO was no exception. One afternoon the big boss came into the room.

“Joe, can I speak to you?” he said.

“Sure, what’s up?”

“Well, Joe, you know this whole September 11th thing is really setting a lot of companies back and we’re going to make cutbacks.”

“What do you mean?” I said

“Well, we’re going to have to let you go and only use you on a call-to-call basis.”

Man, was I crushed. I was in my last year in college. I had my thesis to complete. I had to find a place to live. And now I had to find a new job. What was I going to do?

I thought to myself, “Hey, I can get a new job, no problem. I have HBO under my belt. I’m big time now.” But like HBO, other media companies were not hiring for a long time after September 11. I spent hours every day faxing and emailing out resumes and heard nothing back.

I Lost Hope

A year went by. I must have sent more than 1,000 resumes out. Finally I started thinking, “Maybe this is not the right thing for me.” But what was I going to do? Film editing was the only thing I had some sort of skill in.

To pay bills, I took miscellaneous jobs, but man did I feel low. I thought, “How can I have a college degree and only be making 7 bucks an hour?” I felt cheated, like everything high school teachers and group home staff had been telling me about the value of a degree was a lie.

After two years of working odd jobs, the girl I was with left me because I wasn’t getting the big money fast enough for her liking. By then, I was not even looking for editing jobs anymore. I had lost my drive. The only thing I was thinking about was surviving. I was rundown-looking, couch surfing at my sister’s and friends, barely making it. I was riding a wave of screwed up luck. I had lost hope.

So many times I’d think, “How could I have gone from college graduate with all the hope in the world, to asking people to stay on their couch?” Man, was I confused. Then I finally got a stroke of good luck.

A Big Letdown?

One day I went to a youth organization to get help with my resume. The guy handed me a copy of Represent. When I read the magazine, I saw an ad saying that writers could sign up. Even though I had no real writing experience, I called Represent the next day. The editor said, “Sure, come on in.” I thought to myself, “It’s that easy?” After years of rejections, I couldn’t believe it.

When I met the editor, I told her I was a film editor. I don’t even think I believed it when I said it, but hey, I needed to say something. What I really was, was a broke down beat up 25-year-old foster kid trying to make it. She said, “Oh, my husband is a producer. Maybe he can help you out.”

“She has to be kidding me,” I thought. But her husband met with me the next week. He worked for a TV channel for kids and teens called Noggin, and he introduced me to the person in charge of human resources there, who set me up with an interview. I couldn’t believe it! The interview went well, but after a few weeks I heard nothing from them.

My Big Break

After that, I met with a friend of his at MTV, but that also seemed to lead to nothing. A few months went by and still nothing. At this point, I think I hit rock bottom—or worse. I had gotten my hopes up so high that when nothing came through, I hit the rock and crashed through it. Man, I was under the rock!

I knew I should keep calling Noggin, but by then I had really given up on myself. I wanted nothing to do with false hope.

Then out of the blue the lady I had interviewed with at Noggin called me. She asked, “Are you still interested in the position?” I felt like saying, “Hell yeah I’m still interested!” But I played it cool and politely said, “Sure, I’m still interested.”

She explained to me that it was a freelance job, which basically means they call you when they need you. For the summer they needed me to work on a project that might take seven days a week. I was willing to work all day every day. This was what I had been waiting for.

Re-learning the Job

The first week was hard. It had been a lonnnnnng time since I worked as an editor, and the computer programs are not simple. I was expected to know what I was doing, and I didn’t. That first week, everyone was pretty doubtful. I was messing up a lot of basic stuff.

Privately, I was a mess, but I told myself, “You just have to get aggressive.” I started staying later to re-learn the programs. I practiced and practiced, because I did not want to lose this job. By week two all the skills I’d learned years before came back to me in a hurry.

The rest of the summer I was working 10 hour days, five days week, making $30 an hour. Still, I knew the project would come to an end. I was so worried that I’d be out of a job again, so I did everything I could to present myself as eager and positive. I hoped someone would recognize my hunger and want to keep me around.

When the project was done, they decided to keep me for about 10 days out of the month. Even though the pay is good (almost five times what I was making at odd jobs) I know I need to find some more freelance work. So, as usual, I try to show my bosses how serious and committed I am.

Luck and Determination

Right now, I feel I’m pretty much out of the rut, but some days I wonder if my luck could change at any moment and I will find myself almost homeless again. It was only about six months ago that I was begging for work. Who’s to say I will have a job a month from now?

But I know that even though it took a lucky break for me to find Noggin, what’s really gotten me where I am is my determination and hard work. If I hadn’t been working constantly on my computer skills and art skills, I would not have been ready for the job when the luck hit. As they say, when preparation and opportunity meet, you get lucky!

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