My New Motto

One of the hardest things about transplanting to a new market is that I gave up all my contacts -- the agents, the casting directors, the directors, the clients I'd worked with. That's all gone.

I try to keep in touch -- these are the people who helped nurture me when I was just some chump hoping to make $250 in a commercial. And there are some ongoing things that we can still work together on.

But for the most part, I am re-establishing myself. That's hard.

In Minneapolis, I had a whole network of relationships (personal and professional) I could rely on. Now I have to create a new support system, and the fact is: that takes time.

I've been here four months. My body of work in Minneapolis has helped prepare me in some very valuable ways and enabled me to accomplish things that would have never happened if Minnesota hadn't groomed me. (Signing to a major agency for commercial rep was a huge score.)

But Minnesota also spoiled me. I was part of the system. It's a smaller market: people are more understanding about scheduling an audition time that works with your day job, the casting people will cut you a little slack if you're five minutes late, you're not competing with celebrities for the work...

The fact is, in Minnesota it was easier and things moved faster -- or it felt that way because I was established.

I've realized that things here in L.A. will also move easier and faster -- once I am established. And that takes a dedication to the long haul. Success is measured in years, not months.

So my new motto is: be ambitious without being impatient.

Impatience is one step short of being desperate and desperate people don't get hired.

And cultivating a career here is a lot like cultivating a field - you don't plant in the spring and harvest four months later. But I am pleased to report the corn was knee-high by the Fourth of July.

There's still a lot of work to do, every day. But you have to wait until the field is ripe before you can harvest. In the meantime, it's just a matter of making sure everything is watered.

-Tom, who is never low on fertilizer.