The Myth of “Steady and Stable”
How losing my job - and my sense of safety - became the best thing that ever happened to my career.
For eight years, I had what most people in film and media would call a dream gig.
I was part of the team at Larry King Now, working with an Emmy-winning crew, surrounded by legends of journalism and storytelling.
It was steady, and I got to work with great people, and make some great memories.
I look back on those days and still can’t believe some of the people I met and conversations I got to be a part of.
And yet -
Somewhere along the way… I realized I was sleepwalking.
🎬 The Slow Drift
Those years in Los Angeles were good. They were the most comfortable I had out there.
I wasn’t struggling, but I wasn’t growing either.
I was treading water.
The kind of professional limbo where every year, month, and day looks eerily similar to the last.
It was safe enough to stay, but not fulfilling enough to feel like what I was doing was really making a difference.
And the thing about comfort is, it’s sneaky.
It feels like stability, but it can actually be closer to stagnation.
💥 The Jolt
Then everything shifted.
My job ended - one month before the world was shut down for COVID.
At the same time, just a month earlier, my wife and I found out we were having our first child.
Like many aspiring creatives in LA, I had no savings and no real backup plan.
We were living in a two-bedroom back house ADU in Monrovia that I’d moved to so we could save a little money, and to be closer to Larry’s studio.
Suddenly, “steady and stable” didn’t exist.
🚀 The Pivot
That pressure - the fear, the stress of not having an income for over a year - became the fuel I didn’t know I needed.
I started looking outside the traditional Hollywood industry.
That’s when I discovered the world of branded content, commercials, and social campaigns - a space that rewarded creativity, speed, and problem-solving more than job titles.
It was scrappy and uncertain, but it gave me momentum.
I learned to build.
Not just videos - but relationships, systems, and a business.
And over the next four years, I went from “unemployed filmmaker”, to head of production of a creative agency, to running my own creative agency, working with brands I once thought were unreachable - LEGO, Hilton, Marriott Bonvoy, adidas, and more.
💡 The Takeaway
Looking back, I don’t regret a single day at Larry King Now.
It taught me discipline, storytelling, and how to operate at a professional level.
But the truth is - stability can feel safe while quietly holding you still.
The biggest leaps in my career didn’t come from security, they came from necessity.
Stress became the “inciting incident” in the story of my career.
And losing something I thought I needed, (this idea of working on films, creating narrative projects, and indie productions) gave me the space to build something that was mine.
So if you’re feeling “comfortable” but not “active” in your creative career - ask yourself:
“Am I actually growing, or just staying busy enough not to notice?”
Because sometimes, the most unstable thing you can do… is stay where you are.
Cheers,
Alex