Cameron Washington
Contributor

Alright, alright. We’ve heard this story before. Some A-lister just purchased a luxurious Hollywood Hills home, and a penthouse in Tribeca. You quickly fill up with jealousy and rage, and want to murder George Clooney and the other jet-setting celebs. The worst part is, these are just back up residences for when they aren’t in London, Tuscany, Sydney, or
any other city the VIP’s can name drop.

Ah, but there is something important going on here. When a movie is released, or a TV show needs to be promoted, The A-listers are in multiple cities around the world in a matter of days. Presidential candidates fly from city to city to city? What is the connection? How many more cities do I need to name drop to realize how much you are missing out on?

So what’s the connection between the life of luxury and your boring life? Continually being in as many cities as possible. It’s good for business, good for making connections, and great if you love to travel. It is surprisingly easy to live the lifestyle of the A-listers, and you won’t need a Marquis jet, or a personalized diamond golf cart to get to and from different Polynesian villas.

It doesn’t matter what type of media you’re involved with. People do business with people they know, like, and are friends with. Spending time in multiple cities exponentially increases your chances of meeting great people, doing business, and enjoying yourself.

The bi-costal lifestyle is essentially the same premise. Some months here. Some weeks there. A few days at a film fest in a new city somewhere else. Just starting out? Ask friends if they know anyone in the city where you are trying to build a new network. Have them ask friends of friends, email cousins, and that weird drunk guy who spilled his Yeagermeister on you several years back. Shortly, you’ll know some people, who will be the start of a great network of acquaintances, friends, and colleagues in the new city.

This is especially important for people working in the indie film, TV and music industries. Go to SF, NYC and LA as soon as humanly possible. Set up film industry meetings before you go, and make sure to connect with your newly made friends. Do your research on each city. NYC, SF, and LA all have very distinct personalities, languages, quirks, and spirits that you need to tap into each time you visit.

Speaking of LA, SF and NYC, we’ve all heard the stereotypes about each city…LA is shallow…New Yorkers are all rude asses… And SF is basically for doing LSD and smoking pot. Well, that’s all B.S…LA has amazing people, and literally is the center of the film and TV universe, and will be for the foreseeable future. New York has a smaller, tight knit film, TV, theatre and media community, but once you’re in the loop, the scene is vibrant. San Francisco has an unbeatable indie film scene, mixed with some of the most cutting edge media technologies, and all three cities are complimentary to one another.

Logistics wise, travel is easy as hell. With Virgin, Jet Blue, and internet travel websites, you can fly coast to coast for a few bucks nowadays. Set up yourself up with email alerts for low plane flights and travel when you can get a good price. People love when you visit for a limited time. I cannot stress how important it is to offer your abode for friends to crash. It’s good karma, and since you don’t make 10 mil a picture, you’ll need friends’ places to crash at in the future. One downside to the bi-coastal lifestyle is that you will miss out on some things, whether they are good or bad. Your best friend gets drunkenly engaged one night, your mom gets a Pulitzer award, your uncle falls ill. You can’t be in two places at once, and will sometimes miss out, but this is a minor side effect.

The bottom line of this cross country rant is this. Go everywhere. Go to LA, go to SF, and go to NYC regularly. You’ll be surprised and delighted at what you’ll discover about the film scene when you’re actually there in the flesh. You might not be able to live the exact
Entourage lifestyle, but at least you can travel like they do.