Moving from Boston to Burbank

I moved to Boston two months ago to start a new job. The job is good but the location isn’t working out. Not only are there a limited amount of aspiring screenwriters and screenwriting opportunities in Boston, but the weather sucks.

Boston is beautiful but, I say again: the weather sucks. Every morning during my walk to work, the frozen air ices my face and my thoughts play a tune that goes like this: Fuck this weather, fuck this weather, fuck this weather. Take me back to LA.

I lived in North Hollywood from 2014 to 2016 and I miss it dearly. Some people hate Los Angeles for living. For me, it’s the only place to live. I can say this with confidence because I’ve lived in quite a few places doing quite a few things.

Where have I been? What have I done? This is best illustrated with a timeline of my adult life:

• 2011 —I graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a degree in creative writing and started writing as a freelancer: anything from erotic short stories to product descriptions for online stores.
• 2012 — I moved to Philadelphia with my friend and worked at a BMW performance shop while taking a self-paced copywriting course.
• 2013 — I started a job as a content writer at a digital marketing agency in Mt Laurel, New Jersey, while continuing to live in Philadelphia.
• 2014 — I left the agency and started freelancing again, writing ebooks and website copy for small companies. Later in the year, I moved back to my hometown, Pittsburgh, and started applying to jobs in Florida and California.
• 2015 — I moved to North Hollywood, California, and started working as a content marketer at a tech startup in Studio City. (I could see Universal Studios outside the window near my desk!)
• 2016 — I worked remotely for the same startup after it got acquired and traveled along the east coast for two months, living in places like Charleston and St. Augustine.
• 2017 — I traveled to 7 countries in 7 months while working remotely, living in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Morocco, Spain, Czech Republic, and Germany. I returned home to Pittsburgh to round out the year and figure out my next move.
• 2018 — I moved to Boston but it didn’t work out so I’m moving back to Los Angeles (the Burbank area, right next to Warner Brothers’ and Disney’s studio headquarters).

So that was a lot about me, but I want these posts to have takeaways for people other than myself. So here is the takeaway: If you love warm weather and want to be a screenwriter: Join me in Los Angeles. Or don’t. But whatever you do, don’t feel trapped and don’t hold back. Waiting leads to regret.

Logistically, it would be easier for me to stay here. But because I’m moving I have to sell the furniture and TV I just bought and convince the company I’m at to let me work remotely. Yes— I’ve decided to move without getting official approval to leave Boston and still keep my job.

But consider the consequences: Waiting. Waiting around. Waiting around in the cold. Waiting around for summer. Waiting around to become a screenwriter. Waiting around for life to happen.

That doesn’t sit well with me.