I first met Noah Baron a year ago at the Anthony Gilardi Acting Studio. I wasn’t there for acting lessons, but to talent spot. I was working as a freelance journalist, writing about up-and-coming talent in Hollywood for the Huffington Post (who were not paying me). Noah stood out to me as a potential interviewee. He made YouTube videos with his best friend, made no money doing it, and dedicated a hell of a lot of his time to it. Back then, I had no idea why he would do this.
After a short meet and greet, Noah introduced me to his partner in crime, Ross Willett. Together, these two funny men run the Just Another Production Productions YouTube channel. With over 20,000 subscribers, I thought these guys had it made. That was a year ago, when the realities of working in one’s dream job seemed so much easier. Since then, I’ve moved from the United Kingdom to Los Angeles, and found myself drowning in adulthood. I chose a career in writing, and that leads to underemployment for most of us who do it.
“The balance of working in a shitty waiter job, and working on achieving your dreams should always favor your dreams.”
Fortunately, other than being incredibly funny, quick witted, and intelligent, Noah and Ross also have a story that will inspire any creative to keep going. This is the story of how two men found their passion, pushed money to one side, and worked their arses off to get to where they are today. Herein lies exactly why Ross and Noah are so successful at what they do, and precisely why I decided to interview them today. As a double-act, they saw a problem: spending money to not get seen. Therefore, they created their own solution: work really hard, spend time learning how to do things they never thought they would possibly be able to do, and make their dreams come true.
This is such an alien concept to so many young people in the western world. Sure, people go out and work hard to achieve their goals, but not many are willing to take a loss in order to succeed. Unless your mummy or daddy is successful in your desired industry, instant gratification in one’s career is very rare. It takes years of work, fine-tuning your abilities, and learning new skills in order to prove your worth. The following interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
Kay Smythe: When did you guys first start making videos, and what prompted you to move into this type of media?
Noah: We decided to start making videos because we were sick of spending money on casting director workshops, and other types of workshops in order to be seen. Instead of paying other people to be seen, we decided to spend our own money to make videos that could work for our reels, and show that we know how to do more than just act. Our first video came out on February 4th 2011. That was Cuddle Club.
Cuddle Club went viral. It’s a unique take on a classic, and shows that these two know how to get people’s attention with their content. See for yourself.
How much money did you have to spend on your first videos?
N: The first one, Cuddle Club, that was $220. Our second video was Facebook Stalking…
Ross: That cost about $1000, but now it costs nothing, because we have all of our own equipment, have various spaces to use, and we both do everything involved in what it takes to write, produce, edit, and promote the videos. Of course, we had to learn all of that from scratch.
N: We’re also lucky enough to have a lot of very talented people wanting to work with us. Our shoot times have gone from days and months, to a few hours, without losing quality. We don’t take a great deal of people’s time, but have created exposure for all involved.
K.S. How were you guys making money when you first started out?
R: We were both waiters in Los Angeles until about three years ago, which is when this stuff really started paying the bills. I actually got Noah a job in the same restaurant with me in West Hollywood.
N: I did a bit of everything. I worked as a valet in Santa Monica, Banana Republic in The Grove, as Office Admin at the Anthony Gilardi Acting Studio.
K.S. What made working for free/unpaid worth it in the end?
N: It’s worth it both directly and indirectly.
R: Indirectly, it gives you a work ethic. It also gives you skills that we never would have had available to us had we stuck at our day jobs for most of our time in Los Angeles.
N: When you move out to LA, you come here to achieve your dreams. The balance of working in a shitty waiter job, and working on achieving your dreams should always favor your dreams. We’ve been here for nearly a decade, and it’s taken until now for things to finally start paying off.
R: We never imagined we’d be able to do the things we are now doing. I didn’t send an email until I graduated from college, and now I’m a working editor! We learned all of this stuff from being poor and having to do it ourselves.
K.S. When did you realize that being underemployed, but creating your own work was actually helping your careers?
N: Last week… just kidding!
R: For me it was when I could finally quit working tables.
N: It was probably when I booked Hail Caesar. I was working with the Coen Brothers, and had my first line in a major production. Just being cast was incredible.
R: It shows that really hard work, and taking a loss at first, can really pay off in the end if you’re a strong and dedicated individual.
So there you have it! This is your one-step to success, it’s just a pretty bloody long step. Here are two men who started out with nothing, and they now have greater abilities than those graduating from film school. This mentality is not just limited to us egomaniacs of Los Angeles, but to every industry.
Work hard. Prove your worth. Get the job.
To check out Just Another Production Productions YouTube page click here.
Kay Smythe, The British Bitch in America.
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