Mark Rothman - CEO @ Magma Global Travel

[MUSIC] Hey, man, you got a job. >> My name is Mark Rothman, the CEO of Magma Global. We are a travel concierge. Corporate doing corporate and luxury travel based in new, with offices in New York and LA. I founded the company five years ago. >> And Mark, so before Magma Global travel, I know you had been at another similar company, 400. We had spent many fun years together working at a company called Platinum Ryan Entertainment. But what was your first job? Or what was your job before that? >> Well, my very first job is I started in the mailroom of a talent agency. >> What agency was that? >> Innovative artists. They're based in New York and LA. >> And how did you get the opportunity and innovative? >> So basically, a couple of things. One, I had done a bunch of entertainment internships when I was in college. >> Did you go to college? >> I went to Williams College. >> Williams College, which is in New York. >> Northwestern Massachusetts. >> And how did you get access to these internships? >> That about the internships. >> Most of them were through either. I was fortunate because I had a cousin who was in the business. But then also, they were internships that I applied to online and things like that. >> Where did you find the jobs online? >> There was a great site called entertainmentcareers.net. I think it might still exist. And basically, they had all these free listings. And that was actually how I got the job and innovative. >> What year do you think this was? >> I mean, the job and innovative was I graduated college in 2005. >> And so you found the job in your spring semester in school? >> I applied and I got the phone call pretty much the same day I applied. And I'm pretty sure we either just finished finals of senior year spring or we had just come back from senior week. I can't remember which one of the two it was now. >> So you graduated college with a job locked in Lotus? >> Yeah, basically what happened was they called me up. >> Where did they call you on your, did you have a cell phone? >> I had a cell phone. It was 2005, I had a cell phone. They called me up on my cell phone. They asked me if I could come in and interview. I went into New York just for the night and the day. >> So you're in school in northern Massachusetts. How far was the commute to New York City? >> About three hours. So what I did, I had a friend take me. I took the train in, went in, interviewed. They offered me the job on the spot. >> What was the job? >> Mailroom, $18,000 a year. >> $18,000 in a month. And just question, had you interned before that? >> Yeah, I had, I had internships in college. I had internships, as fortunate, I grew up in New York City. So I had internships in high school. One of the first internships I had was there's guy in my building. I forget, he's a lawyer, but I forget what he did. Something with the DEA's office and he told my dad that there was a internship program, the district attorney's office was doing and there was a $75 a week stipend. And I got the internship. >> So your first internship was at the DEA's office? >> Yeah, district attorney's office. >> I know you for almost 12 years and I don't think I ever knew that. >> Yeah, I was about 15 or 16 years old and they put me because I had the entertainment background and that's why I said I like to do so. They put me in the video unit where they would actually tape the confessions. >> How did you have an entertainment background in 15 years? >> Because I had spent the previous summer interning for my cousin and L.I. So that was technically my first time. >> And your cousin was working in L.A. at a talent agency? >> Yeah, his own literary agency. But they saw that I at least had that and that's why they put me in the video unit. >> So go back a little bit, you grew up in New York City. >> Yeah. >> You spent your whole life here? >> Yeah. >> How old were you when you went to go intern for your cousin in L.A.? >> It was after freshman year of high school. >> Your freshman year of high school? >> Yeah, I hated camp. >> You hated camp. You didn't love playing sports too much. Not in the Trevor day dungeon. >> No, yeah. >> And so you said mom, dad, I want to get out of here for the summer and they said go to work? >> Yeah, I said I wanted to intern, I wanted to learn about stuff. So I did it, I mean, you know. >> And how well did you know this cousin? >> I mean, it's basically like my uncle, he's 30 years older than me. >> So you spent all your hard days with him? >> Yeah, yeah. >> So you move out to L.A. at 14, 15 and where did you live with my cousin? So I did 30 days out in L.A. came back. >> Did they pay you? >> I think they gave me, again, maybe I made 2K that whole summer. >> Okay. >> I still have that 2K. >> What did your internship consist of? >> Making copies, answering phones. >> This was your first time in a real office? >> Yeah, it was my first time when I was about, so I was probably about 14 or 15, yeah. >> And how quickly did you pick some of these making copy, answering phone things up? >> I mean, that stuff was, that stuff I picked up pretty quickly. There was still stuff, you know, like obviously everyone was anywhere from eight to 20 years older than me. So I think some of the social interactions and stuff like that I probably wasn't ready for. But it wasn't anyone else your age in an office at that time, was it? >> No. >> And so, but then when I went into the D.A.'s office, like that was like a little bit of a different environment because it was mandatory. And that was, it was kids in high school, mostly. That was kids, but it was mostly kids who were going to their senior, probably their senior year. And I was going, I guess, into my junior year. >> Of high school? >> Yeah. So now you're in high school, you have an internship at a talent agency in Los Angeles. You come home, now you have another internship. >> This is the following summer. >> Next summer at the D.A.'s office. >> Yeah. >> And you're still in high school, two internships in. >> Yeah, and what do you think, just right there alone, you had learned in two summers of interning as a high school student who socially would have a hard time connecting with people 10 years older than them, just mentally, not even really understanding what the business you're doing and where it goes. What were some of the key takeaways from that? >> I think a few of the key takeaways for me at least were, you just kind of saw how people and offices and companies operated and obviously like working for the government and then working for a company that's 15 people and my uncle's agency to see a lot of different things. But what I was exposed to early on, especially being at the D.A.'s, obviously a lot of bureaucracy. And you also introduced a variety of people who care and don't care. For me, I think what also was good about the D.A.'s office, I worked in the video unit. So back then, courtrooms didn't have, if they needed to show video evidence, they didn't have TVs. So we would literally have huge, and this was well before flat screen. So we had the huge tube TVs, we would have on wheeling carts with VCRs that we'd have to take all around the court houses so I would be crossing the street with them. And the best part is it was mandatory, you wore a shirt, tie, khakis and shoes every day. So here I am, I'm schlepping these things across the street and the guys who work there normally are wearing t-shirts and sweatpants and I would have to go deliver them to all these court rooms and one time I was crossing the street, the thing almost tipped. So this is that big TV, you used to have like in school and they'd bring them back. Yeah, this is like about, this is like about a 40-inch tube TV. I'm one of those black things, I was like a double-decker with the VCRs, let's just tell you how old it is. We didn't have DVDs. And so let's go back to why they gave you that role because you worked in entertainment. Yeah, so they thought I'd find it interesting. So you worked in entertainment and the D.A.'s office said great, you're going to be the guy that wheels the TV around and helps get the video played. And they paid $75 cash a week, I remember. So you go collect the money from some woman for 75 cash a week? So now you're still in high school but you've learned a little bit about how to work in an office and be professional. You've learned a little bit about bureaucracy and the fact that you're not going to be the president overnight and you've got to go through layers to speak to people. But what did you learn about when you said you see some people work hard and don't work hard? What did you learn from that? Well what I learned was if you worked hard you could go places and if you didn't work hard you're kind of it is what it is and you know like I think what you saw a lot and you know especially like in Hollywood it's like everyone's trying to be a mover and shaker and trying to move up. Nobody goes and works at a talent agency in the mail room or as a system because they want to be an assistant for life. It's because they may they might not want to be an agent but they may they want to be a producer or maybe they want to be a writer or maybe they want to be this or that but they're all trying to start and work their way up whereas you know working for a government agency their people are just like hey I'm happy to get my paycheck you know they'll call insect because hey they want to take the Friday off and look it's harder to get ahead of those companies as well but at the same point you know it's you see these different environments and kind of just how people interact in the different environments and the type of people they attract as well. So it sounds like for those people taking those Fridays off you weren't one of those guys. No unfortunately and I'm still not. And you look at those people when they take that Friday off as what the opportunity for you to advance when they're when they're not working? No I just think it probably goes notice because like it does go notice it's like hey they take off they're always sick on Friday like that used to be a joke it's like yeah they're always sick on Friday they're always sick on you know they're always sick after a holiday weekend or before hot like it's like. So now we enter into college you have a couple internships under your belt you know how to work you know how to hustle you understand your role in the bureaucracy of things. How many internships did you have that you intern every summer in college? I intern every summer I would say it then it became a little more frustrating because then you begin to you begin to get a little bit older and you see people not carrying their weight and you're like wait like I'm an intern and I'm doing more. So where did you intern in college? I interned at my first internship was at the late show David Letterman. How'd you get that? I knew they hired did internships so I asked my cousin I said hey like I know they do it and I actually knew they did internships because I had gone the previous summer and walked into the office and said you guys take interns and they told me yes how do you how do you mean you walked into their office you can't just walk into the letter to office they have so on the round corner of the studio is where the normal people take the elevator. When you say the round corner studio you're talking about in Times Square yeah okay so and so I basically found that address in the white pages back in the day I went there and I went to the guy who was standing in front of the elevator or whatever you know these are four elevator shafts and there's a guy and I said you guys take interns and he's like he's like we do please send your resume to this email or whatever I said okay so then I basically went with that to my cousin and I think I sent them an email I'm just been like hey I want to intern and then I said to my cousin I go look like they have internships is this something you can help me with and he helped me get an interview and I got an interview and they assigned me to I forget what they call it was like something in within production with like the director and stuff and I would have to run video tapes up and down the stairs like 400 times a day. These jobs are physical jobs. Oh yeah all of them everything. I have one internship where one woman would speak to me to change the water cooler. So you weren't behind a desk on the phone cutting deals. No yeah you were sitting in meetings telling Dave what the next guess to be. No but the one thing what they did which what I thought was smart is the interns I don't think they paid us but what they did that was smart was the interns had a role and the show can operate with the interns they would have had to hire people because there were just things they needed people to do and that was the stuff they so they've kind of built a company based on having these interns and then in turn the interns feel valuable and the interns want to be there and you get a lot out of it whereas I feel like there are a lot of internships where you walk into and they literally have nothing for you to do. So letterman how many more internships through college? And next summer was Nickelodeon and then the following year was at a talent agency. So Nickelodeon where was that in New York City as well? New York City everything was in New York. How'd you break into Nick? How Nickelodeon how did I apply for that? That one doesn't sound like you waited outside NASA cousin for favor. What was the talent agency you moved on to later? It was the GERSH agency and it was because I had the GERSH agency on my resume that innovative called me up and you know again it was from entertainment careers.net but I got the job at PlatinumRioff entertainment careers.net. So going back to your application into innovative this is your this is the first job to potentially get out of college. Yep. You went to Williams. Yep. Very good school much better than the education I probably got in my dual Hofstra Delphi time and ultimately you said I want to go work for $18,000 a year. Did you know that when they called you in? I knew I was going to pay was going to be below 20 and you didn't care. What were your friends making when they graduated for other business jobs? Oh between 40 and 70 probably back then. So 40 to $70,000 and you get a call to potentially make under 20,000 how quickly did they want you to come in an interview when you got when they called me. They called me on a Friday they probably asked if I could come in on Monday I think I'd probably came in on that Monday or Tuesday. And you had a friend drive you in? A friend drove me to the you drove me to Amtrak. I took the Amtrak in. Who was that friend? His name is Tim Crawley. He lives in Oregon. I actually saw him a couple of weeks ago. You saw him go do you do you ever remind Tim that he gave you that ride to the train? No because you know what I think now that I remember I think he picked me up. I don't know if he gave me the ride. So we want to go out dinner but yeah. Alright so you dropped everything you got into New York City they offered you the job you said yes so with $18,000 you ain't gotten an apartment where? Oh I got a very good deal on an apartment in my parents' apartment. And your parents' apartment? Yeah the bed I grew up the bedroom I grew up and I got a very good deal on that. So you moved back home with your $18,000 grandma was in far away? No she had apartment in the same building. So I had a good deal. Amazing so you're back home you're at Innovative and you're now working for $18,000 a year you're delivering mail. So now you're delivering mail? Yeah. And how long did you stay at Innovative for? I started in June of '05 and I left in at the end of September of '06. Wow so good 15 plus months. Yeah and I was in the mail room for about two to three months and I became an assistant to two agents for like a year. And you're rolling the mail room I think we hear a lot of stories about the mail room in this fabled history you know can you share it without giving away too much secret sauce. What is what is a job in the mail room? It's just as sexy as it sounds. What time did you get in? I think we had to get in before everyone so I think we got in at like nine or nine thirty again by the way you had to be in the mail room but you had to wear a shirt every day, capys, shoes, you couldn't wear sneakers. I don't even think they were doing casual Friday at that point. But you didn't more than hand out mail. We would find scripts, photocopy, dub tapes, we would fill in for the receptionist. We would we would sub for assistance when they were out. We would send packages. We would print outsides for people who were going to auditions. And you know what you would do while you were there like the biggest thing is like during the downtime was really what you made of it. So you try to read scripts, you try to read the trades, you try to watch demo tapes, you try to familiar stuff. And the executive say hey here's a good script to read. Sometimes they were there were a few that were nice and I think they could also I think the problem is the mail room you see so many people come and go. They don't always invest in those types of people but I think they maybe they took a shining to me and they invest a little bit more time into me. Were there were there were their aspects of the mail room or elements like scripts or internal memos or things maybe that you shouldn't have read that you somehow got access to from time to time. We really didn't have to do that many memos because at that point there were email but you would get the company wide emails and stuff like that. What about at the printer? At the printer oh yeah go up through everything in the printer. All you try to do is like when you're in the mail room is like you just try to read everything like just so you could understand everything that's going on so if someone asks you a question you just you just know what's going on. But all these things weren't just given to you. No basically nothing's given to you when you're there. The only thing that's given to you is the mail cart and $18,000 and $18,000 really isn't given to you. It's twice every two weeks you're going to check for like 400 bucks. With your taxes taken. Yeah and it health insurance. No health insurance health insurance. And so how did you get access to that data? What all the information I tried every email that came in. I looked at stuff that was in the printer all the time and I would just see what's going on. I would see what agents are asking for because we'd see what projects were going on. Talk about the printer for a second. When you would go to the printer were you going to pick up your documents? Well there were two things. We had our own copy. It was called a docutac. I remember there was a guy who used to fix the docutac. He would break like every week. He was poor guy this was his whole job fixing docutax. And then there were two printers outside and you know like you go through and you see what's going on. But for the most part you know you were basically people just send you stuff to print. So you were seeing everything that was going on. But some of the stuff in the printer probably wasn't yours. Correct. But you read it anyway. It's in the printer. So it's in the printer. Yeah. If it mattered so much then they would pick it up right away. And when I had to go print out my resumes to apply to another job I ran over to the printer. Very good. You know what I mean? So you're two, three months in. What's the average lifespan that you do get promoted out of the mail room? It usually can be anywhere from two to six months and it just depends on what happens ahead of you. So it's either persistence leaving, new agents becoming new agents. And how many people are in the mail room with you? At the time it was just me and one other guy and there was a point where it was just me for a little bit too. And so what do you think got you promoted after those two, three months? Well two people became an agent and it was kind of they kind of had no choice. I was there. But I think they also they also thought that I had some potential hopefully. I think and they saw that I was doing a good job, I think. And was there a specific person there that you think saw that potential that you remember? I think there were a couple of people. Are they? One of them was one of the agents are working for Ken Lee who's always very supportive and he's someone who started in the mail room as well. Ken still an innovative thing? He's still an innovator. He's still an agent there. And what do you think Ken saw on you? I have no clue. I probably someone who's willing to hustle and do all the necessary work and probably someone who could read because I also think you know the type of people you attract when you're offering $18,000 it's you know you're going to get a lot of resumes from people who just don't give a damn. So that Williams education started to pay off? Yeah well I mean I had to diploma hanging in the mail room. So now you're now you're promoted to an assistant. Yeah assistant to two agents. Yes. Assistant to two agents and you're there for now another 12 months or so. Yep. Got a promotion to $22,000 or $23,000. 18 to 23. Yep. So that's a 20 to 25% raise. Yeah so I was able to spring for both bunk beds in the room in my parents' room. Nice. Nice. You kicked out the invisible roommate. Yeah. All right. Very cool. So and where was your office? Our office was on 19th and Park Avenue South. And you lived downtown so that was a pretty convenient walk. Yeah I walked every day. We got $10,000, $15,000. Did they pay for your lunch? It's not paid for my lunch. Okay. All right. And so now you're there for for almost a year and a half and what happens? I mean I just think I wanted more and I just felt like there wasn't a lot of movement and I wanted to place that where you can move up quickly and you know I just felt there was like a limited ceiling and you know the companies had quartered in New York as well even though we have about 50, 35, 50 people in New York. So so go back to that moment now. You're working there. The printer seems to be the best friend. Yeah. You as you said you started printing out your resumes and you're standing right by it. What were you doing with those resumes that you were printing? Well so basically the way I thought the best method to stay in New York and work in entertainment was to look at companies that were either forming here or starting here because they'd be you know basically a skeleton crew. And they would have the most room for upward and mobility and movement. So what I was doing is I was aggressively reading variety Hollywood reporter and a few other sites as well that I thought had entertainment leaning things about any type of company that was an entertainment whether it was you know production finance whatever it was and just seeing what it was and when I was reading variety one day at lunch I saw that Scott Rudin Productions had hired an agent at UTA his name is Jeff Morley to run their development out of New York and he was going to move to New York. So whatever I read this article and that trigger to me is I go well this guy's moving from LA to New York his assistant and UTA isn't following him so I called up there thinking Jeff Morley might need an assistant and when I called up they go well no Jeff doesn't need an assistant he's the development people don't get an assistant but Scott needs an assistant can you come in and interview. So let's let's let's just go over that for a second you knew you wanted to leave you could have went and applaud with that resume now you've worked at a handful of talent agencies you've worked at Dave Letterman there's William Morris there's CAA there's ICM these legendary talent agencies major production companies you have your power amounts your foxes of the world what made you think and what was what really was that moment that you said hey let's look for people moving your chisel need my help because that is almost you know as we talk about traits of finding a job and growing in a job you bring you when you went back on how you created value for the people around you what really sparked that thought around don't go for the guys already here go for the guys that are coming here well because I think what happened was I remember I interviewed at like a big PR company this hour was basically the same the hours were the same and I was like this that's just felt to me like a lateral move and I felt like at 23 years old I might as well take some chances and I felt that I want to move quickly and to go to a company that it's already like hey these are ten co-presidents and are like there wasn't going to be enough movement because basically what triggers movement and entertainment at least what I saw especially working at David Letterman David Letterman most of the people who had the top jobs 30 years with them they were interns with him when he was on NBC so so I mean the bottom line was just you needed to get where a company was starting and be kind of at you know ground zero you got to be at the bottom floor but isn't that a risk it's a risk that was worth that when you're making $23,000 a year you're willing to take a risk what you got to lose yeah and so the bottom line is I wasn't married I didn't have kids I didn't have a mortgage I didn't have rent to pay so it was worth taking a risk and I think the same thing when I took the job in the matter I go it's a risk but hopefully it'll lead to other things so you impress the Scott Root and Production folks by searching them out giving them a call they say hey this this this executive doesn't need a job but the legendary Scott Root and yeah need an assistant and now do you have you a known of Scott Root and at that moment I had known of him and then when you kind of walk in they tell you a little bit more and then I will say this no matter what they tell you it doesn't really prepare you for that I don't think I knew fully what I was getting into but I had some idea but it was probably the best decision I ever made. So Scott Root and the Big Producer social network the notebook I think maybe I'm not the notebook social network no country for old man there will be blood Truman show the firm Adams family Royal Tannenbaum Broadway too right Broadway book of Mormon wicked what fences you name it very little things very hello dolly that's currently playing very few things get made it sounds like without Scott's involvement someone asked me where the Tonys are this year I said wherever Scott Root and his standing so you have an interview at Scott's office and Scott's known for having a lot of assistance yeah five at every time I'm sorry five at a time we have five assistance at a time so when you went to interview for Scott what was appealing about that it was just something different and it was a small environment and he was there you know having worked at a place like innovative where really the heads of the company are based in LA like Scott's there and the way it was always pitched to me in position to me working at Scott Ruudens was hey if you could go and survive this the world is your oyster basically so it was kind of something where I felt it was more of a challenge you know like I don't think at the beginning I knew exactly what I was getting into but I think that's also a little bit of being 23 years old which is great because it's arguable to say maybe if you had read that New York or article that had come out years later you might have been a little bit more hesitant to go run through the door and just take a risk I think though because I ended up reading all the stuff before I started it was worth I mean at the end of the day I guess the point was if I'd only made it and a lot of people look when I was there I was there for about eight or nine months we went through 22 people hold on you were there for eight or nine months and there were 22 different assistants but five out of time yeah but we fired we ran through twenty somebody was probably getting fired every other week pretty much I mean sometimes we do two out of time especially during the holidays so you go you go to this interview for Scott Ruudens they already had what they have four assistants and they needed they needed a fifth to fill well they had one out in L.A. and they needed the documents assistant which was kind of the one who had to read all of his emails print out anything that was an attachment in all the emails that assistant needed to be filled because they already had a personal one they had one who handled the phones and they had his executive so there were four of us out in the bullpen so they hired me to do the document let's go back to before they hired you so you go on the interview why do you think they hired you this has got to be a pretty I think they needed a human I think they needed a physical body and I think you can read right spell and we're willing I think what they later told me was they thought that I had the mind for it because basically you have to be able to handle a lot that's going on and be able to process it all and kind of put the pieces of the puzzle together and then also be a little forward thinking and be proactive and realize where something's going and those were skills they told me I had but I don't necessarily knew I don't think I knew I had and when someone sent a list of skills I wouldn't have said that so going back on that those key traits were important to them they recognized that to you they actually helped you recognize it yourself when you look back at your work history where do you think those skills came from I think it's a combination of all my internships I think some of it's a combination of school too I think I always had a little bit of this it wasn't this hustlers mentality so much is just I kind of look for cracks and infrastructure and take the path at least resistance crack cracks like people not showing up on Fridays not showing up or just you know I remember when I was in college because at the college I went to was basically a bunch of dorks and they used to the college used to a pay to throw parties basically with beer and they would pay for the beer and as I started learning more about the system they had in place it turns out they would pay you to host the party and serve the beer and they needed like three people per party and what they were paying people was pretty good money because it was like twenty to thirty dollars an hour and they would so basically I realized they could pay you to drink and all you do is like a four hour course so I said to all my friends they go this is incredible I go they will put a keg of beer of our choosing in our dorm and pay me twenty to thirty dollars an hour to have that beer here and so I said I'm going to take this course and all my friends took the course and all of a sudden we were getting paid to drink so instead of we used to go to these parties and it probably wouldn't cost us anything or we'd go and buy beer and it was costing us money but all the sudden on a Saturday night I was going out and getting drunk and I was kind of just waking up with 120 dollars in my pocket so you figured out a way and the college was paying me by deal I was in a margin the college was paying me you figured out a way to leverage your college education to become essentially an employee of your school to get paid to drink yeah yeah since then they've cut out the program for the last couple of years I've heard when you look back at that you look back at college or career even the DA sounds like a lot of those traits combined made you very valuable to get this this somewhat prestigious and difficult achieving job at Scott Root and Productions to be one of his five assistants yep I think you mentioned that you were reading and printing his emails when we go back to the printer yeah important that was you're now being given access to probably some very sensitive and how you saw every all of his emails and he's emailing with we don't need names of names but you're talking about your most powerful people in Hollywood and entertainment yeah he's emailing with most powerful people personal relationships and you see it all and it's just kind of one of those things where it's you need to process it all and how did your mind react to that right I mean let's let's go back and do the math you wanted to work in entertainment you worked really hard hustling to put yourself in a position where you can always add value and get yourself access and now you're kind of been given this this role which in essence was the springboard to to the rest of your your career in some aspect what was going through your mind when this when this when this person hey here's the email and you're probably seeing heads of studios agents that you can never even speak to and you're and you're learning that what what did that do to you just from an energy standpoint um I think it was exciting granted the hours were 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. hold on hold on what the hours were six you'd come to the office at 6 a.m. and you leave at 10 p.m. so you you got in the office at 6 a.m. what time did Scott arrive anytime between probably 605 and nine depending on the day and and what happened at 605 a.m. how did the days start oh it usually started with him calling us up giving us a million things to do or screaming at us or something like that you know and I think you had to be on and ready to go at 6 in the morning and I I'm on a drink coffee so it was like a very weird thing so when you say about getting emails and access to these people and stuff I think it didn't really set in at the time I think now looking back on it I'm like wow and I think there are certain things as times moved on where I look back on like I remember I mean like I vividly remember that I set a meeting with Scott and Harold Raymus who has since passed away who was you know direct to Ghostbusters and all that stuff and you know like at the time I was like oh I thought that was cool and you know I had to have a conversation with him because he he was coming from Chicago and he didn't set his clock back and so he showed up at the breakfast at the wrong time and he goes where Scott and I go he's coming at breakfast at a clock and he's like but it's eight and and he goes oh crap and I remember like thinking that and I was just like this is like a cool thing and this is something you know like so this is Harold Raymus director of Ghostbusters and other movies that we all grew up on yeah like I mean this was ego-spangler so you go from Mr. Melra pushing the TV across the board and now you're assisting one of the most powerful men in all of all of entertainment but not all the business but the thing is at the end of the assistant it's not like after that I maintained a relationship with Harold Raymus it's not like and now are you picking up some of these some of these traits some of these tricks some of these tips that Scott asked to remain in power and build himself yeah I mean I saw what made him successful you see it just because of how hard he's working because you know I'm in a 6 a.m. he's up at five in the morning I'm going you know I'm leaving the office at 10 he's leaving at nine and he's probably going to bed at 11 or something he's going to the theater every night to see his plays and stuff and you just saw someone who you know Scott I think famously if you look him up I think he got his first job at 14 or 15 working for casting director and then he's running Fox by 26 so I remember you telling me a story when we first met about the way Scott would roll his calls early in the morning to the west coast yeah he told me a little bit tell us a little bit about that oh we would call everyone before they would open it leave messages it's called leaving word so so so start over you'd call up people at what time I think like at CA like I believe the receptionist gets it at eight so we call it 7.55 before the receptionist shows up yeah so we can leave a message for him on a on a voicemail correct there just be leaving word for people and did you have actually something specific to talk to those people about I have no idea he would just say that we had to call we would have a call sheet probably about 30 pages deep and you start your morning Scott Scott goes how's you leave message for what half a Hollywood at this point yeah and we do it again on lunch and we do sometimes again at nine and what would happen when those people would call back I'd say take one out of 30 calls but it was always to let those people know he's thinking of them it was kind of so we didn't have a agenda of something specific to talk them he wanted to keep himself top of mind and let them know that they're important to him correct and I think sometimes eventually I think sometimes you'd play the game for five or six days and then actually get on a call with a person to discuss what he needed to discuss but he kind of wanted to have kind of the build up in the momentum to it but it also you know it taught I think me less than two and everyone else that like the same thing about sales it's like you got to keep in touch it with people and keep up you know but there's got to be a touch point it's like we do a newsletter I think our newsletter is absolutely worthless except once a month they just see our company's name there and their inbox even if they delete it it's just a reminder what you exist is that something you think you learned from Scott a little bit and I think what I also learned from him is you know like I personally think one of the he was a very generous guy I think one of the bigger mistakes people make is you know sending out a generic holiday email blast like what I you know for Thanksgiving what I do is there are a few people who either I haven't heard from or whatever I send them emails being like hey hope you're welcome to wish you and your family great Thanksgiving you know it actually helped re-engage me with a great client for us now at magma but that's just something where I think you do and I know you have it's a personal touch I know you have your famous holiday cards as well yeah and I sent out a joke holiday card and that actually I think that originated based on when I left my job at innovative I gave them all I gave all the agents and the people who are really good to me they're mugs with a picture of me on it and thank god this is a audio podcast not a video podcast because you know they always say mark at it mark as well as this mark has a face for radio yeah exactly we probably got a voice for silent film yeah exactly and so basically you know like I think there are things you can do to be funny in top of mind and you still do that today yeah there's so stuff I do today and you can write those holiday cards yeah and for us now our company probably sends out our company sends out holiday gifts and I think last we did it like 100 ton 125 gifts maybe a little more and I was like every no cards can be handled so I was like I don't want to print I want every no card hand right at it sucks but we do it so let's let's talk about some of that stuff that you learned from Scott because with five assistance there I got to imagine especially coming you're the low man on the total pool and you were only there for about eight to nine months I know they they they have a lot of turnover but how did you get access to Scott when you were one of five uh what are the bottom of five well basically everyone kind of has it because there aren't that many people and then you know for whatever reason I got promoted to become as executive as just an after a little bit of time but I think he also can see it too he recognizes when someone's keeping up with the emails and knows what's going on and what I think the things that he looked for and the things that I still look for in people is real is kind of not taking no for an answer and thinking outside the box so when you're working with him you're competing with probably four or five other amazing people that had a work pretty hard to get this job but the kid next to me went to yell this is that next to me went to yell and you had to figure out a way to stand out to become that lead executive assistant I remember you told a great story I think you kind of worked really hard to get there but something kind of happened by accident oh well oh you're talking about the time where he fired everyone so you would fire us all the time and so one time he fired us and he goes all everyone leave the office and well what what do you mean he fired you all the time you get hold on you get fired and you're gone well he would fire you and you were kind of like not really fired you were just like kind of like on time out or whatever where where where was time out we would go to I don't know if it's still there it was called cranberries it was a bodega that had like one of those bodegas had like sushi and had pizza and had two floors it was duplex so we'd go up to the second floor and we'd sit there waiting for him to call us back or whatever or for someone to kind of smooth things over so he fires he fires all the assistants yes all the assistants walk downstairs to cranberries yeah so the four or five of us are there so let's just talk about this so you go to cranberries and was there like a thing like if you didn't hear from him by the end of the day you were really fired or what how did that process eventually play out for you usually someone would call you up and say hey you're not coming back but did people always get that or they were just fired it depended on the situation that situation like obviously he wasn't going to start from scratch with no one because you need people to train up the other people so we knew it was just a thing and you know and I'm watching the emails coming and we're watching them and he forwards me an email he goes can you print and bring this to me so I look at it and so hold on so you're sitting at cranberries yeah now you're you're in the office he fires everyone you all walk downstairs to cranberries you're sitting cranberries hoping somebody's going to come and say hey come back up or hey Scott's over at downstairs and you get an email yes Scott for just could print and bring this to me and so what we did was is because when he would fire us he had an assistant in LA and the assistant in LA would roll the calls for him and get him whatever he needs to call the assistant in LA and his name is Louis and then we go Louis we go you just email Mark to print him a script does he think Mark is the heir and he's like he's like it's like it doesn't matter Mark needs to get there and print the script he wants the script so how many people are sitting in cranberries with you at this time three other people and only you got the email yeah so I he forwarded me the email we all got all of his emails but he forwarded me the email goes print this so I print it so you get an email that's his print you call the assistant in LA with the other three so all four of you call the assistant say he told Mark to print something and the assistant said get upstairs and print it yeah and was that all four of you going upstairs so you go back upstairs what happens to those other three people at cranberries they're still sitting at cranberries and what happened was we usually would forward to the phone shall I so I unfolded the phones and so basically I'm printing I'm doing all this stuff and it's just me so now you're in the office you're one assistant in New York one assistant in LA three people at cranberries did they ever get the call to come back up well so what happened was he called me and after one point we're doing this for about an hour for an hour we're going back and forth on this I'm rolling calls with him I'm printing scripts and is this four people's job at this time yeah I mean we had four people employed to do this and so I'm doing all of this and I you know he starts and he goes he goes what's the deal and I go I don't know like we're just adjusting these we what happened was we had switched people some few people switched roles and so I tried to say it was we got to get better at this or whatever he said have them come back up or whatever so I had them come back up and then actually how I got promoted was the kid who was be is the executive assistant used to do phones and he basically had enough one day because he got upset at everyone and he literally he fired the kid who was doing phones he goes you leave he points to the kid who was the executive assistant who used to do phones he goes you sit there and then he pointed to me and he goes you sit there and that was it and then that's how he became the executive assistant now you're assistant number one yeah how many months in was this it's probably five or six weeks five or six weeks yeah and then you last it another six seven months yeah and so basically what happened was after that then like five hours later the HR woman comes to me and goes hey this is what we're gonna do and she offered me at that point much more than I was making in the mail room how much did you get to go work it's got I think I went from 23 to like 45 50 because they paid you like hourly over times on top of it too and then once I became an executive assistant I started making some real nice money and and I think they gave you a stipend for dinner yeah the every time you were in the office past seven or eight o'clock you got 15 dollars towards dinner and to me that and you by the way I'm living for the calves and how much did you spend on dinner I was as close to the 15 as I could I would basically go into Silver Spursers which is right across from my parents and I'd be like how can we get up to 15 guys what can we do can I get a cookie can I get another soup so these like that burger okay guys so now these six seven months that you stated Scott he you had a lot of assistance come and go but he get you yeah we had a lot of people come and go and life span of Scott's office is what three to six months I mean if you're an assistant at best yeah like if you make it six months you're really good my goal so when when I went in there I went in there with the mentality of let me get it through two weeks and then after two weeks I was like let me make a month and then what happened was because I started in the fall I was like let me get to Thanksgiving but by the time I got to Thanksgiving it was already as executive assistant and so I was like let me get to Christmas and then after that it was just like let me just keep on going and doing my job so I think at that point you know your goal is just to come in there every day and do your job and get through it you're not really you don't have the brain power to start thinking future steps ahead or even being like wow I just spoke to Arya manual or I'm emailing with this director or this actor or this producers in our lobby or you just don't you you kind of recognize it but in the moment you're just like so focused on what's the next task at hand because there was just always something more and so when we put that job at Platinum Riot on entertainment careers.net we got your resume in it was to be the assistant of our our executive Ryan Schindman yeah the CEO yeah the CEO and we looked at it and we saw your name next to Scott Rudin and the consensus in the office was if you worked for Scott Rudin for six weeks he can run laps around this building he worked there for almost nine months let's not hesitate yeah and from there you've been able to springboard that into you know a very compelling career to now where you are your own CEO you are managing people you are doing a lot of what you learn from Scott you've actually helped a lot of other people's business in careers by doing that is there is there anything you would have done differently and when you look back at those internships when you look back at how hard you work to get to Scott's office which really was the catapult for you or is there any or is there a specific key takeaway from the process there that you think is stuck with you I would say it's a numbers game because like you know we've focused a lot on the jobs I've got in we could probably do another 10 to 20 hours on the jobs I didn't get on the places I interviewed and I never heard back from the people who I emailed and I never heard back from you know and I'm the type of person and I just I was doing an informational interview with someone recently and you know she kicked she went to Michigan and so she has a really good alumni network and stuff and I said to her look I said you need to go to that alumni network and email if there are a hundred people's emails listed with their companies in New York that are something that's interested you need to email a hundred and she was like well and I said to her I said look I said I did that in college and I said I probably emailed 50 to 60 people I was in college I was emailing probably I had a goal of 10 to 15 people a day and I had some cold emails being like hey I'm graduating I had the email basically so I could cut and paste it and I spent all day trying to find people's emails which back then it was like you'd have to call a receptionist like you wouldn't always have it and just knowing that maybe one in 15 hits and they respond and then out of that response maybe one in 10 degrees to get on the phone with your agrees to meet with you and to me it's a numbers game and it's the same thing it's like I think internet and technology have changed like dating and the job hunt because like same thing it used to be like I just say if you go to bars if you got to talk to 50 girls if you think it's and then a few of them maybe they'll let you buy them a drink and you have a conversation with and maybe one of them becomes your girlfriend and same thing with jobs you have to apply to a hundred to get one or two because it's never look some people are really fortunate and maybe they get the first job they apply to out of college and they're there forever but or if you're peachy if you get the first girl you talk to in the bar because you're that beautiful well correct that's what I'm saying like you need to have something but at the end of the day it's the amount of jobs I apply for the amount of times I probably sent out my resume to either never hear back or whatever you have to keep kind of pushing it and you know the one thing when I do meet with people on some informational basis I said always feel free to email me and be like hey I'm applying to this job and maybe I know someone there so that you know now that you're in this seat of that you're the hire you're the CEO you're this you're in Scott Rudin's chair someone looking to come work for you someone that wants to work for your company what's the best advice you can give to somebody before they walk through your door I would say come prepared ask questions I'll explain why you want to do this because my biggest turn off is when someone's like I need a job because I want someone who wants to be there and then the biggest thing for me the differentiation where people have I've interviewed candidates I thought they were great and I give everyone my card I go take 24 hours to think about this talk to your parents whatever talk to whoever you would take career advice from and then email me and let me know if you're interested or whatever people don't send thank yous they don't follow up after that like and so I'm saying like follow up follow up follow up because the amount of time it takes you to send an email is so minuscule and the rewards you can get from it are amazing and like I just see it in business the types of clients we get just because sometimes I just send them a text or I email them it ends up playing a great role and and for me I think you should come and prepare come and professionally dressed and be ready to follow up and I think it does help look I think when people ask me questions I like that that being said I don't like people ask me do I interview people I almost don't interview people I spend the first 20 minutes of the interview trying to scare the shit out of people and being like hey this is what it is at its worst this is what it is at its worst there are some sexy parts of our business there's some great aspects of our business we get to do a lot of wonderful things you get to travel you get to do xy and z you get to spend every day with me you get to have access to a CEO but at the end of the day it's like the resumes at this point a lot of them believe in blend together in my opinion these people come in I don't even remember where it happened I went to school I don't look at the resume that much anymore and I do everything through referral and word of mouth because I think right now the problem is at least what I see like I have a relative who works at discoveries and he said they don't have trouble finding people and I go I go you're discovery communications I said you guys have you're publicly traded huge corporate offices in New York Los Angeles Virginia big territories how do you guys have trouble and they go well we post on our job website and I was like that job website must get 10,000 applications and the problem with finding the good people from the bad people is impossible and so what I found was if you do referrals and word of mouth someone is at least saying please take a look at this human being this human being is worth you meeting with and at least I found in the last two years which I never thought I would find is I have more than enough candidates who could be good like I am meeting enough candidates now where I'm like wow if someone were to leave or I need to staff up I can find someone and that's and so but I think a lot of that's come from referrals and word of mouth and I think that's probably where the internet lets you down so the internet great way great way to tie this together the internet's not a referral correct just because you have an email address so just because the job's on LinkedIn doesn't mean it's doesn't mean you're going to get it so use your network even if that's mom dad and cousin even that that's a job at the FBI or the DA's office when you want to be an entertainment and make yourself valuable be tenacious hustle yeah and ultimately it sounds like that little extra bit of effort of following up and showing people you really care has been the difference maker yeah one final thing that I guess I could say is when you talk about like the touch points and doing something that's personalized I worked out for Scott during Christmas and I should have wrote up the story earlier he's just good about the touch points and things and it's like with the mugs or whatever the assistants would always get him a gift and he'd like like classic books and things like that but for some reason like we were doing this play in Angela landsbury was it and he loved Angela landsbury like you knew he loved Angela landsbury like he thought she was the greatest so bobble heads were a really big thing in about two thousand six or whatever so I went on ebay because there was really Amazon was only a bookseller at that point I went on ebay and I looked up for an Angela landsbury bobble head I wanted to see if I get an angel at land at Angela landsbury bobble head and I couldn't find it but what I did find was there was a murder she wrote board game and honestly if you're listening to this on a device and you could go look it up it was this murder she wrote board game and it had this cartoon picture of her that looked like you know like that she was like on Scooby-Doo just on the front of it it was the murder she wrote board game and it was you know it was you could tell someone had this sitting in their attic since 1983 or whatever and I said why don't we get this for Scott and everyone sent to me this and are you out of your mind I said let's get this for him and so we got that form for Christmas he got a chance for Christmas I mean he's getting so much crap from people you know hundreds of thousands of dollars of gifts and all this canon says and so we bring it all to his house and we just dump it there with cards or whatever and so during Christmas we obviously had to come to work during the holidays or whatnot and I remember he called me in his office and it was a little more casual between like I would say the 26th of the first and he and I was in his office and he goes he was by the way he goes who gave me that angel at land's very board game and I go oh that was from us he goes oh he goes that was great he goes that was really good you know it's one of those things where you know it's one of those things where you know whether or not to always remember I don't know but then about it was later that year because I left in man I came work at Platinum Ryan May he won one of the movies I'd worked on was no country for old man and he accepted the Oscar for it that February and so I just I sent him an email note I said hey like congratulations hopefully the Oscar does not displace the angel landsbury board game in your house and he goes net and he won't be back never so you know like I said it's one of those things that you know it's same thing with the mug it's like something just kind of remember you by and that's a little bit different so it's fair to say if he saw you today he may not remember you but you remember your angel landsbury board he's got that it is apartment that I know for sure so awesome awesome mark thank you for doing this all right no problem