Meet Anna and Adam from Merseyside and Hampshire who moved to LA to further their acting careers and have an adventure!
Was there a particular reason you chose LA?
Adam: To be the best, you need to work amongst the best. The pool of talent in LA is immense and it is a genuine source of excitement to be a part of such a hugely talented city. The talent we were able to pull together at very short notice for our short Blast From The Past, which we created for the BAFTA LA Newcomers showcase, was amazing and a real testament as to what is possible in this city! The weather also was a massive draw!
Anna: I’d dreamed of moving here since I was young and seeing it on screen so many times and after seeing other industry friends make the move I realized it was something that I could make happen. There’s so much amazing work happening in the TV and film industry here that it just made sense as the next step. We’d been over a few times before we moved and gotten a great reception from the industry people that we’d met with so it just felt like the right thing to do. Also the constant sunshine might have played a little part too!
What do you miss most from home?
Anna: My family and friends are the things I miss most without a doubt. My parents send over amazing care packages with teabags and British food so I don’t miss out on any of that except I sometimes crave proper chip shop chips!
Adam: My friends and family, though Skype has been a huge blessing! My mum’s partner Chris makes amazing Indian food, I miss that too.
What was your first impression of LA and has it changed since? If so why?
Adam: It felt immense and very disjointed when we first came here, but as time has gone on it has begun to feel much smaller and much more homely and connected. As work has taken us all over the city you begun to realise just how it all fits together, I love how random LA is, how you can literally cross a street and the feel of the neighbourhood is totally different. It’s very cool.
Anna: I’ve always loved LA! Adam proposed to me here. He took me up in a helicopter the night that he asked me and I saw how vast the city really is. It didn’t seem to have any centre to it. The more time I’m here the smaller it seems to get and I’ve realized you create that centre through your own networks and communities. Now that enormity just seems like endless opportunities of awesome people to work with!
What do you find the biggest difference is living here versus back home?
Anna: I love the positive attitude and the absolute confidence. People aren’t afraid to go after what they want here and make things happen. I also find that there’s never a shortage of people making amazing projects that want to collaborate and that’s led to some great opportunities. Like appearing in my first LA based feature WTF!, which I’m very much looking forward to coming out in 2016. It had such an amazing team on it that I loved working with including an amazing producer and director team in Kyle Zingler and Peter Herro. Adam’s also in it although our characters don’t meet. We tend to get cast together a lot! Aside from work the weather creates such an outdoor lifestyle and being able to be at the beach within minutes is also very cool.
Adam: I love the positivity and the can do attitude of the city. If you are not doing something to further your career, why not? It’s so easy to get some friends together and create content, now more so than ever. I also love that it is an industry town and setup in such a way to support actors.
Do you have any hidden gems in LA that you want to share with us?
Adam: Not so much a hidden gem, as it is a little macabre but it is a fabulous piece of Hollywood history and that’s Westwood Cemetery, which is the final resting place of Marilyn Monroe, amongst many others. Outlaw Burger on Van Nuys Blvd in The Valley, is probably one of the biggest and best burgers I have eaten.
Anna: I love The Last Bookstore in downtown LA. We stumbled on it during the edit for a short film we produced recently called ‘Blast From The Past’ and it’s a gem if you like old bookstores. It also has some beautiful art installations upstairs.
A lot of people have misconceptions about LA – did you?
Anna: I was warned that it would be very cutthroat and competitive. It’s been the absolute opposite. People have been so helpful and opened countless doors and welcomed us into their lives. I’ve had nothing but good industry experiences so far. Being plugged into great communities of like minded people like the BAFTA Newcomers, headed by the wonderful and dedicated Sandro Monetti, makes a big difference to that sense of family too.
Adam: That it is really fake and flakey. You don’t put out as much high quality product without A LOT of really talented highly committed people. LA is positively brimming with them. As part of the BAFTA LA Newcomers scheme my mentor Mary Anne McGarry has been an invaluable source of information and support, for which I am extremely grateful.
What would you suggest to others who are thinking about making the move here?
Adam: Do your research, moving countries is hard, so knowing the lay of the land is invaluable. Visiting helps, but living here is very different to visiting. Plug in to as many communities as possible and experience as much of life here as possible, it is such an amazing place with so much to offer, also the support you will get from these communities as you transition will be of incredible help.
Anna: Save lots of money before you move! It’s easy to underestimate how much it costs to start over in a different country. Make sure you have at least one person to call for a coffee as soon as you get here as LA can be overwhelming at first and a friendly face can really help with that. Then dive in and go for it but don’t forget to enjoy the ride!
Lastly , how can we find out more about you?
Twitter: @AnnaSambrooks
Twitter: @AdamJohnBlake
facebook.com/annasambrooksofficial
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