Mindless Jobs before Grad School

[Mighty]

Assuming I'm accepted to a Screenwriting program, in 2013, I still have to work at a job I can't stand until then. I hate work, no, really I do. The only thing I want to do is create stories.

Is anyone else in the same position? It really is psychologically draining.

I hope this bitter makes the sweet much sweeter come fall of 2013.

sigh

-Mighty

 

[weezinsuffy]

Reply

"Mindless jobs" are a great way to learn about life, the world you inhabit, and especially the people who are a part of that world.

If anything, they should provide you time to daydream while you're working - thinking about your stories, their plot arcs, and character development.

Maybe you'll be able to borrow from an experience gained while on the job.

I would be nervous if you truly "hate work." Making something of yourself in this industry involves a lot of it.

 

[Mighty]

Yeah, I get what you're saying, I do, but, its not laziness to which you allude, it's dealing with the endless tedium of vapid nonsense.

It's a meaninglessness, where I feel semi-robotic performing repetitive tasks, in a framed environment, where I'm being timed and watched, all the time.

In other words: It is everything that graduate school isn't.

I just want to be surrounded by other creatives, like minded people with similar interests and goals.

-Mighty

 

[Mike_V]

Honestly,
it's one thing to be unhappy in the environment you're in. It's another to completely trash them as beneath your feet.

Don't forget, you may think you are intelligent to a certain level, but there is always someone else who is better than you and sometimes they will treat you like how you talk about other "individuals" that you loathe so much.

Apart from all that, at the point and time in which you have nothing to do, your goal is probably to make money for a living. You probably wont be finding jobs doing script coverages (they're mostly internships that require credit and they're mostly unpaid).
You might have to end up working a job that is tedious and boring but in the end, it is what pays your bills. When you get to gradschool, you can probably quit the job and work towards internships that are suited to your pursuit and if you're lucky, find a paid internship.

Goodluck.

 

[Mighty]

I do not think I'm "above" anyone, though, reading my response, the tone does smack of pretentious arrogance. I surely do not loathe anyone. I just want to be surrounded by intellectual peers, and to my great frustration, I am not.

 

[brittanyr]

Try to find something interesting where you can have fun or inspire. Or maybe related to your goals. My work study in undergrad was literacy tutoring in bps and the kids loved having a college student. I'm in the same boat, about to leave my summer job at a summer camp/daycare and find a "boring" job until grad 2013. But you will always find someone interesting at any job if you take the time! People can surprise you

 

[thehamm99]

I feel your pain.

 

[Voluptoraptor]

I'm right there with you. I've been working in as an admin in a law firm for the past 2 years. If nothing else, I'm surely going to appreciate any other job I have, ever.

 

[wolfmanjack]

Um, most film school grads go on to do admin work for a long time. It's not the minority who didn't try hard, it seems to be the majority. A friend sent me this article the other day:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07...at-usc-nyu-ucla.html

Posted this in "the cost" thread, but it applies here too.