thirtysomething

One of the questions that people always ask is "why do you do what you do?" I have been asked this question several times. My little story is kind of interesting so I figured I would share.

First of all, I work in advertising. Second, no I do not direct commercials. Third, no it does not make you rich.

I have known what I wanted to do "when I grow up" since I was around 5 years old. And strangely enough it came from television.

There was a show that came out in 1987 called thirtysomething. It was a pretty revolutionary show for its time. It stretched the limits on acceptable subject matter for network television and brought some very interesting scenario's to light. It was also about working in advertising. Two of the main characters run their own shop in Philadelphia.

My parents, mostly mom, were obsessed with the show. And when you are five years old you don't get much say over what you watch, so I was in front of the TV watching thirtysomething.

So what caught a five year olds attention to determine their future career path? One of the main characters had a small basketball goal in his office. He and his partner would sit around brainstorming ideas. When they determined one was no good they would crumple it up and throw it through the basketball goal. Awesome! You can play basketball at work. See at the time, I had the identical goal in my room so an instant connection to advertising was made.

Over the years, as I explored the industry more and matched it up with my talents I realized I would not be the creative director coming up with the big ideas but I did realize there was a place for me in advertising.

Funny how things work out. Plus, thirtysomething was a damn good show. Check out the first season on DVD.