We were lucky to catch up with Paul J. Salamoff recently and have shared our conversation below.

Paul J., thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

When I was 5 years old, my parents took me and my older brother to a drive-in theater in Cape Cop, MA for a double-feature of STAR WARS and LOGAN’S RUN and that’s when I became fascinated by film and especially genre movies. As I grew, my passion only increased, and my love of horror was sparked as well.

My father took me to a horror convention in Boston when I was 13 years old and one of the guests was Special Make-Up FX master Tom Savini. He brought with him props from FRIDAY THE 13th, CREEPSHOW and DAY OF THE DEAD and I remember turning to my father and saying, “This guy makes monsters for a living! This is what I want to do!”

My father (and his father!) were both dentists and at this point, I knew absolutely no one in the film industry… AND I was on the other side of the country from Hollywood! But I was so inspired by what Savini did and obsessed with film that I put my heart and soul into teaching myself so when I was ready to go to college, I could find a film school in Southern California and hopefully begin my career.

SPOILER ALERT: I got into USC and started working my first summer out in Los Angeles for Tony Gardner’s Alterian Studios on films like THE ADDAMS FAMILY, MOM & DAD SAVE THE WORLD and The SWAMP THING TV series. That lead to 14 years as a Make-Up FX artist & Puppeteer on over 40 films and 10 TV series. Which then lead me to expanding out to become a Writer, Producer, Director and even a Film Production company Executive for a period of time (V.P. of Production for BOLD Films).

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I was fortunate enough to get accepted to USC and moved to LA to pursue my career while at school. I worked on a number of student films and then through those contacts was introduced to Taylor White (of CREATURE FEATURES) who at the time worked as the coordinator for Tony Gardner’s Alterian Studios.

He got me an interview and I was soon hired as a runner, but when I was not doing runs, He got me an interview and I was soon hired as a runner, but when I was not doing runs, I was able to work on the movie and TV projects at the shop.

I went back to school for one more semester then I jumped in headfirst into the business and worked in FX for almost 14 years straight.

I didn’t expect to start working in the industry so quickly, so a few years in, after working on already a great many movies, I started to adjust my long-term goals. Mind you, I wasn’t jaded with FX at all, I just realized that I had a long journey ahead and may want to spread my wings in other directions to keep life interesting.

Also Make-Up FX was on a bit of a down swing since it’s heydays in the 80’s.

I really loved to write, so whenever I got downtime between jobs I would write and hone my craft. I got some great advice early on working as a freelancer that “when you have $5,000 in the bank, live like you only have $1,000”. This mentality helped me save money and be financially stable, so when I wasn’t working I could focus on writing instead of worrying constantly where my next paycheck was coming from.

It wasn’t easy, but it worked and once I had a few scripts under my belt, people started taking me seriously and paid writing gigs started to present themselves.

This eventually led me to getting a Manager and then an Agent.

I soon began also working in DVD’s and video games and then comic books and novels while still writing screenplays.

It was a long-term strategy that I put to work early on and now it’s certainly paying off in spades and it’s what keeps life interesting. One week I could be working on a screenplay or comic and then the next week I could be producing video game marketing assets or developing projects with a production company. It’s never boring.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

It’s incredibly rewarding to create things whether it being something I build with my hands, a story I write or as simple as making a nice meal for dinner. I feel very lucky in that respect that there are so many things that I find rewarding and creatively fulfilling.

I think too many people equate being “creatively rewarded” only with financial success and that’s a shame. I like money as much as the next guy and certainly feel I should be paid properly for my skills, but it’s not the major driving force. For me, money has always been the means to the end, not the end. More money allows me to be more creative and thus more fulfilled.

I’ve been very fortunate that most of my film and published work has garnered great reviews and that is extremely satisfying. I don’t need to be a household name, but I’d like people to know who I am and know that there is a mark of quality with my projects.

I feel like I’ve had a certain level of success as a writer as my non-fiction book ON THE SET: THE HIDDEN RULES OF MOVIE MAKING ETIQUETTE (now in its 4th edition) is well respected and used in film schools around the world. Also, my short stories and essays have been published in critically acclaimed and award-winning anthologies.

As a filmmaker, I have been hired to write a number of films and have developed projects with several major studios and production companies. Which ultimately led me to writing and directing my first feature film ENCOUNTER which not only made back its money but won a number of awards including the SATURN Award for “Best Independent Film.”

Success is subjective. My idea of success is that my work has had the chance to reach a broad audience and that audience likes and respects the effort. That’s my reward.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

I think the most difficult thing for “non-creatives” to grasp about me is that I sincerely am driven by my creative impulses and passion rather than by money or ego.

To clarify, I 100% want to be paid properly and recognized for my work, but those are not the main concern. I also want to work on things that I find creatively interesting, and I like to feel I have a point of view to offer and worth sharing.

I have been so lucky to have pretty much worked in creative or “creative-adjacent” jobs my entire adult life other than my first job as a bagger at a grocery store when I was 13 years old. (But I even found a way to make that creative!)

Decisions I make (or made) over the course of my journey have been calculated and considered to have the maximum impact on advancing my career. I completely understand that perception is everything in this town and knowing that, I am able to carve out paths that can give me certain advantages.

If every job I took was “for the money” then I feel I’d be far behind right now. Time will tell how well this theory of mine has paid off, but I can tell you I wouldn’t have had it any other way. At least this way, I feel I’m in control of my destiny to the best I can be knowing that there are roadblocks I have zero control over. It’s a game of three-dimensional chess and the more aware of that I am the better off I am.

Sometimes this is difficult to explain to non-creatives as most “normal” jobs have a straight through line from starting as an intern to being the boss. In the film industry it’s conceivable to propel to the highest heights in a nano-second if you play your cards right. That’s great to hope for, but many of those are one hit wonders and can easily flame out just as quickly.

I’ve found that I enjoy the long-distant run as opposed to the quick sprint and as I’m now in my 3rd decade in the industry, I can assume that at least some of my personal strategy has been warranted and paid off in ways even I couldn’t imagine.

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Contact Info:

• Website: www.pauljsalamoff.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pauljsalamoff/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PaulJSalamoff
• Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/paul-j-salamoff-73145b2
• Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/pauljsalamoff

Image Credits
SATURN Award photo was taken by Al Ortega