"You're interviewing for a job everyday you're working," says execu-
tive producer Duncan Henderson. "What you really want to do is make
sure that whoever you're working for feels that they would hire you
again or would recommend you."
Professional Profile: Alan C. Blomquist, Executive Producer
Growing up in Boston, the son of a fire chief father and a nurse
mother, Alan Blomquist knew nothing about the movie business. His
only early view of the industry came when he was 15 and worked as a
caddy on the golf course where Norman Jewison was directing Steve
McQueen in a scene from The Thomas Crown Affair.
He attended the University of Michigan, with plans to become a chem-
ical engineer, but discovered he hated engineering school and dropped
out. He then enrolled in pre-med for a semester, then dropped out again
to spend time figuring out what career he really wanted to pursue. "I
always liked going to movies, but I didn't know anything about making
them." For laughs, he enrolled in an 8mm film class at night, while
working days as a carpenter, building and remodeling houses, and dis-
covered he loved making movies.
He returned to school and earned a bachelor's degree in general
studies with an emphasis in film. He continued to work as a carpenter in
the Ann Arbor area until his partner decided to return to school, forcing
Blomquist to make a decision about his future. "I decided it was time to
either get serious about the building business or, if I was going to go to
Hollywood, I should go." In 1977, he sold the business, packed up his
belongings, and moved to Los Angeles, not knowing a soul.
His first job was selling tickets at a revival movie theater, where he
could see movies for free. He was able to get work as a carpenter on
movie sets, but realized very quickly that the job was far removed from
the action. "They never see the actors or the director or the camera. They
build the sets, and then the actors, director, and camera come in and film
while they're gone; then they come back and take the set down."
To get on set, Blomquist worked as a grip on nonunion and low
budget productions. "If you had any ambition and smarts, it was easy to
move up, because there were a lot of people that just sort of showed up.
So very quickly I became the key grip."
The job afforded Blomquist the opportunity to survey the business.
Initially, he determined that he wanted to be an assistant director,
"because they were the one that ran the set. That seemed like a really fun
place to be, in the center of a hurricane." Ultimately, he realized that he
wanted to produce.
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