Wow! It’s been one year since I landed in Las Vegas after teaching English in South Korea for 7 whole weeks. What was supposed to be a back-up plan to my filmmaking career ended up being just another experience. I left Los Angeles after 18 years. I have had a love-hate relationship with my filmmaking career. I’m still struggling to make any kind of steady income. The film business is so hard if you don’t have that full-time position. And I know people whom would love to break into freelance work, but are a bit afraid to leave their full-time job. It’s not easy to give up a steady paycheck. So, I don’t officially have a back-up plan.

My back-up plans need back-up plans.

It’s not all bad! Since I realized I may be in Las Vegas for a while, I decided to make the best of it. It hasn’t been easy making friends in this town, but I’ve manged to make a few. A friend told me I could be like a big fish in a small pond. There’s a little truth to that. I’ve had some great opportunities here in Vegas. I edited a short film, “Come Together” about social media. That’s starting to get out there. In April, I wrote an article about TribeFest, a gathering in Vegas of all the Northern American Jewish Federations that was published in David, a local Vegas magazine. That article lead to a 4-page story about myself and my film experiences; screenwriting, directing and editing in David Magazine. That story coincided with a screening I had in June for an old feature film I produced, co-wrote and co-directed. And on July 28th I’ll be screening my short film, “The Octo Circus” as a part of RAW Artists with all sorts of artists; Art, Music, Fashion, Photography and Models.

So, it hasn’t been a great year, but there’s been some good things that have come out of living in Vegas.

‘Always look on the bright side of life.’

If you’d like to attend the RAW Artist event in Las Vegas July 28th click the following link. Make sure you use the drop-down menu to show my name [Ross H. Martin] when buying tickets which are only $10. http://www.rawartists.org/lasvegas/illuminare