A Brush with Fame

Avery Thompson is a funny, heartfelt and eccentric filmmaker and radio producer who has done almost every job under the sun. Like many 20 year-olds, he had big plans of what he was going to do with his life – he was determined to be the next Orson Welles. Unable to find someone to fund his creative endeavors and a portfolio of nothing more than a few zany student films, Avery took a summer job with a landscaping company in the Hamptons, determined he would meet the right people to eventually help him land his dream job in film. Surely Jerry Seinfeld would need a new walkway! Or Robert Deniro would need his roses cut! As the weeks went on, toiling away under the hot sun, Avery received the worst project he could think of – paint a fence in between overgrown holly bushes. But then a hilarious and chance run-in with Steven Spielberg helped set Avery on the path to what he was destined to do.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
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Go to Express pros dot com. Welcome to on the Job.

(01:05):
This season, we're bringing you stories about people finding their
professional stride by virtue of who they know, whether it's
breathing new life into an age old profession, taking the
reins in a family business, forging your own path with
a new idea, or landing the perfect job doing something
you'd never before even considered. Avery Thompson grew up in

(01:27):
Long Island. Today he's a writer and radio producer, but
his past is fraught with jobs that spanned the globe
and made him into the person he is today. He
was a ski lift operator in Colorado, a line cook
in Zurich. He's bailed Hey in New Hampshire Today. A
story from his early life as he pursued his dream
of being a filmmaker. Like most twenty year olds, I

(01:59):
had delusions grandeur. My particular delusion was that I was
going to be a film director, and not just any
film director. I wanted to be the next Orson Welles,
but with a little the show. Besides some zany no
budget student films. Believe it or not, no studio had

(02:23):
yet handed me a blank check. So if I intended
to direct my next film, I would need to fund
it with my own money. In other words, I needed
a summer job. I quit golf caddying after two days.

(02:47):
FedEx didn't think I was overnight box order material to
work at the local movie theater would have been too
large a slice of humble pie, and so I called
my friend Matt, another film buff, and complained about how
the world didn't recognize my genius, how my talents were
being squandered looking for a job. Then Matt said, well,

(03:13):
we can work for my brother. He owns a landscape
and company in the Hamptons. The Hamptons, I repeated. The
following Monday, Matt and I talked about movies for the
whole two hour drive out to the Hamptons, and as
the roads gave way to leafy lanes and mansions rose

(03:36):
above tall hedges, I knew we were exactly where I
needed to be. Here were the people that would change
my life. These people had taste, they had class connections,
but most importantly, they had the money I needed to
direct my masterpiece. I could already see myself smoking a

(03:57):
cigar and yelling action. So you can imagine my shock
when we pulled up to a barn and we're told
by Matt's brother to get in the back of a
pickup truck with a bunch of weather worn Latino men.

(04:17):
For the first few weeks, Matt and I met no celebrities,
We attended no parties. We worked like dogs as rich
old ladies eyed us suspiciously from curtained windows. We dug trenches,
we built fences. We were told to work faster and
talk about Fellini less, and all the while no one

(04:43):
recognized the geniuses toiling in their backyard. No one even
brought us lemonade. Despite being the future of filmmaking, Matt
and I were being treated like a bunch of day labors,
except by our coworkers, day labors who didn't appreciate these
two pale giants who talked about wide angle lenses and

(05:05):
stopped every now and then to drink water. And worst
of all, these co workers wouldn't take us to lunch
with them. Instead, every day, on their way to some
secret Latin food layer, Matt and I would get dropped
off in the village of East Hampton, quite possibly the
richest postious town in America. We're the only thing we

(05:28):
could afford was pizza, and not even good pizza, because,
let's face it wasps don't know how to make pizza,
so every day we ate crappy pizza. And let me
tell you, for a New Yorker, few things are worse.

(05:49):
But one thing sustained me that summer. For all the
blisters and back aches, I held that hope that it
was only a matter of time before I met the
right people. One day Jerry Seinfeld would need a new walkway,
or Robert de Niro would need his roses cut back,
and somehow I figured that would be all it took.

(06:20):
But that didn't happen. As the weeks wore on, Matt
and I talked of films less and less. We started
crying more and more, and just when we thought it
couldn't get any worse, we got the job from hell.

(06:40):
Our task was the paint a quarter mile fence wedged
between two strands of overgrown holly bushes. Now, for those
of you that don't know, holly bushes have little prickly thorns,
and as a grown man, I don't have a problem
saying that thorns really hurt. So the only way that

(07:00):
Matt and I were able to paint this fence without
blooding our backs was the jam a piece of plywood
in there, lean against it, and brush just in front
of us, which worked some of the time. When it didn't.
If we tripped or got a little tired, then the

(07:22):
holly bush would shove us against the fence that we
had just painted, and that happened a lot. By lunchtime,
Matt and I were covered in green paint. I mean
covered head to toe, and when the truck arrived to
pick us up for lunch, the Latino guys can't help themselves.

(07:42):
They slapped their knees and laughed big gold tooth laughs
right in our face. And then they drop us off
in the center of East Hampton. We'll get back to
the story in a second. First, a word from Express

(08:02):
Employment Professionals. A strong work ethic takes pride in a
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a fee to find you a job. Express Nose Jobs
get to No Express find your location at express pros
dot com or on the Express Jobs app. And now
back to our story. Before we can even climb out
of the truck, people were staring. Not that I blame them.

(08:46):
We were two life sized g I. Joe figures, and
as such, our mission was to reach the public restroom
to wash this paint off. Except when we get there,
the paint doesn't come off. And I want to reiterate,
we're covered. Matt, who is six four bor an uncanny

(09:10):
resemblance to the Jolly Green Giant. I looked more like Gumby.
So Matt called his brother, who informed us the paint
thinner would take it right off. But we were on
Main Street in East Hampton, whose shops weren't exactly stocked
with paint thinner. So then Matt's brother says, the gasoline

(09:32):
would do the trick. Yeah, gasoline. So Gumby and the
Jolly Green Giant go walking through a living Jay Crewe
catalog in search of a gas station. Let me tell you,
being laughed at by a bunch of our day labor
co workers was one thing, But to be laughed at

(09:53):
by people wearing boat shoes and pastel pants, that's a
pain that sticks with you. After a few blocks, Matt
and I find a gas station and then we start
rummaging through the garbage because obviously we need something to
put the gasoline in. We find an empty gatorade bottle

(10:16):
beneath a rotten sandwich and then pumped thirty cents of
gas into it, and then we pour the gas all
over us. And I know what you're thinking, that's not
a good idea. But this story doesn't end with self immolation.
Well not literally, because as Matt and I stand in

(10:43):
this parking lot, our bodies covered in a toxic smere
of gasoline and paint, one of the most beautiful cars
I have ever seen pulls up beside us, and we
look up to see a familiar face, gray beard, round glasses.
I'd know that face anywhere. That's that's Stephen Stephen. Matt

(11:09):
yells at Steven Spielberg, and Matt, who now resembles the
creature from the Black Lagoon, starts running towards the car
and screaming at him. Stephen. Now, I don't know if

(11:31):
Steven Spielberg saw us or not, but I do know
that he didn't stop. He kept right on going. But
Stephen didn't go far because down the street we see
his break lights. Come on, Come on, Matt shouts, running
back to the pump for more gas. Pump, more gas.
Steven's getting pizza. We can catch him, but I don't.

(12:01):
I may have been only twenty, but that summer I
learned that no amount of gasoline would help Steven Spielberg
or anyone else see through to the genius underneath. Instead,
I walked over to the little convenience store attached to
the gas station. I bought a Snickers bar from my
lunch and I decided screw movies. I'm going to be

(12:26):
a writer instead. This piece was written by Avery Thompson
and produced by me Otis Gray. You can find more
of Avery's work at Avery H. Thompson dot com. We'll
have a link over on our website, Express Pros dot

(12:48):
com slash podcast. Thanks for listening to On the Job,

(13:14):
brought to you by Express Employment Professionals. Find out more
at Express pros dot com. This season of On the
Job is produced by Audiation and Red Seat Ventures. Our
executive producer is Sandy Smallens. Our producer is Otis Gray.
The show is mixed by Matt Noble at The Loft
in Bronxville, New York. Find us on I Heart Radio

(13:35):
and Apple Podcasts. If you liked what you heard, please
consider rating or reviewing the show on Apple Podcasts or
wherever you listen. We'll see you next time. For more
inspiring stories about discovering your life's work, Ariation