EXCLUSIVE: The near future for 2020 college graduates is very much akin to a horror movie filled with an immense amount of uncertainty, as they leave the great halls of knowledge into the biggest p…
Blum’s third lesson, “Sometimes Jump Scares Are Just Jump Scares” recounted the anxiety he faced at various points of his career, i.e. getting out of school, asking his parents for money, and finally getting a job in the movie business and being fearful about making movies that matter, only to see some of them.
Blum finally achieved his dream, and became a producer on the 20th Century Fox moviewith Dwayne Johnson, but it was a “nightmare” with “40 meetings literally about The Rock’s tooth fairy costume” and the studio boss at the time nixing the get-up after everyone signed off on it — including Johnson. “The movie was a success. But the process of making it was soul-crushing and I considered quitting the movie business altogether,” said Blum. This led him to discover the $15K made movieParanormal Activitydidn’t happen because I had a bunch of prior successes that built toward that big success. It happened because I had a bunch of prior failures. My whole company grew out of those failures. And because of those failures I was able to recognize when a process and a product was actually successful. I combined my missteps in independent and studio production into a new way of making films. This was an idea that I built our company on: by lowering the budgets, we give filmmakers total creative freedom and have studios release our films. That idea, which sprung from failure, led to movies likeIn his fourth pointer “Don’t Celebrate Too Early” Blum detailed how he was fired from Paramount eight months after the success ofbut rather than be distressed about it, the door closing gave him the get-up-and-go to launch his own studio Blumhouse. In Blum’s fifth lesson “Speak Your Mind,” he shared the night he was kicked off stage while accepting an honor at the 2018 Israeli Film Festival for his remarks against Trump. To this day, Blum has no regrets about what went down. “If you think you know who the bad guy is, say it! You just may be right and it may save your life!” beamed Blum.Recalling that night, Blum said “the audience began to boo and hiss at me” and “as the volume rose, a voice deep inside me, informed by my education at Vassar as well as by the fortitude instilled in me by my mom and dad, told me to stand my ground, even as I was physically removed from the stage. With well over half the audience applauding the use of force to get me off that stage, it wasn’t easy to stay calm, but I finished my speech with dignity and conviction…That night, notes of congratulation and support poured in. I actually printed out all the emails I received and you can find them on a coffee table in our reception area at Blumhouse. Those emails were actually way better than any of the Oscars or Emmys that Hollywood gives out.” In Blum’s final note “Capitalize on Luck”, he told Vassar grads that “You can’t get lucky without trying again and again. The more chances you take, the more times luck has to work its magic.” Despite any intimidation that lies ahead in the great expanse which college graduates are facing, Blum said “Opportunities will be there for you, I promise but they will not always be appealing. For others, you may also have to chase them down. Some will be off the beaten track, out-of-the-box, off-the-rails, but don’t judge. People passed judgement on me and they still do, for producing horror movies. If I had been threatened by that judgement, I wouldn’t be where I am today.”The graduates today were represented by Senior Class President Heather Nguyen. She and her classmates were welcomed into the Vassar community of graduates by Steve Hankins ’85, president of the Alumnae/i Association of Vassar College. Vassar President Elizabeth Bradley thanked the graduates for what they had taught her over the years. “I learned that students are fearlessly consequential here,” she said. “They care and are deeply engaged in the life of the school, its culture, and its community.”and keep your inbox happy.
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