We recently connected with Harold Blake Hoss and have shared our conversation below.

Harold Blake, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start with inspirations and heroes. Are there any historical figures you look up to?

When working in entertainment (a term which, in itself, always strikes me as overly broad) there’s an emphasis on sudden success. We see it in the way we talk about celebrities. We describe actors as being discovered (as if we’re talking about gold or oil) or becoming overnight celebrities. For some reason, we like to think of successful artists as bursting onto the scene fully formed. It’s this sense that fame and fortune could strike, like a lottery, that drives so many people to move out to Los Angeles without a plan every year.

Which is why the historical figure I’m choosing is George V. Higgins. You’ve probably never heard of George V. Higgins, the (at least in one article) Balzac of Boston. He’s most famous for being a crime writer, but he was also an attorney and a professor. Why am I picking him as a historical figure I look up to? I’m picking him because he was also a realist. He wasn’t given his success. He had to fight for it. And he never let anyone forget it.

Higgins once wrote: “The success of The Friends of Eddie Coyle was termed ‘overnight’ in some quarters; that was one hell of a damned long night, lasting seventeen years…” Becuase during that “damned long night” he had written 14 previous novels; he eventually destroyed them.

When asked what it meant to be a writer, George replied: “If you do not seek to publish what you have written, then you are not a writer and you never will be.”

I think these are hard words to hear. It’s very, very hard to be a writer. It’s hard to make movies. It’s hard to do anything. But that doesn’t mean we should water down the terms. To paraphrase one of George’s characters, “Life is hard – but it’s harder if you’re stupid.” George saw the world the way it was. And I think we can learn a lot by acknowledging that, while our dreams can come true, we have to work really hard to make them a reality.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

This is a tough question.

I guess, technically, I could call myself a multi-hyphenate. I hate that term, but it’s one I could use. For those who don’t know I a producer, writer, and a business affairs executive.

From a very young age, I always loved to read. I devoured books. I also come from a family of readers. My mom was always reading or listening to an audiobook (on tape! for those who remember them) and some of my earliest memories are reading The Hobbit with my dad (taking turns page by page). I also have a very clear memory of sneaking into my dad’s home office and taking a Stephen King book off the shelf (like I was stealing cigarettes) and then hiding behind the desk to read the short story “Here There Be Tygers” which, needless to say, scared the heck out of me.

I think my love of writing came quite naturally out of this love of reading. I never thought there was anything weird about the fact that in second grade, I would rewrite popular movies and stories, but replace all the characters with anthropomorphic eggs (look, I was young, I can’t explain this) or in third grade, forgoing recess to polish up my short novel “Frogzilla.” When my parents got a computer, these stories moved from pen and paper to longer typed out stories. Usually serialized stories that took on the tone of whatever books, movies, or TV shows I happened to be consuming at the time.

I know that people like to try and separate movies and books into completely distinct categories, but for me it’s always been about stories. People always think it’s weird when I tell them that I like to rewatch movies and re read books (I especially love reading a book then listening to the audible version a few months later. And when it’s a classic? A la Jake Gyllenhaal’s reading of The Great Gatsby? Chef’s kiss. But I digress) but I don’t know how anyone expects to get everything out of a story the first time.

I’m losing my train of thought, but it was this love of books and movies that pushed me to apply to law school at USC. I knew I wanted to be involved in the entertainment business but, after growing up in Oklahoma, i wasn’t really sure how to go about it. When I got into USC I prioritized networking over academics (I’m not recommending this approach) and managed to talk my way into jobs at Sony, NBCuniversal, and Paramount. I loved working at Paramount. Walking onto the lot every day – the Paramount lot! – was a dream come true. After that, I worked at CAA which truly felt like I was working at the center of the entertainment world. It was awesome. From there I spent some time at smaller studios before moving back to NBCUniversal. I learned so much at these jobs and had so much fun – but there was something missing in my life.

However, I didn’t know what was missing until the pandemic. It was during the pandemic that I realized I wasn’t really writing anymore. I had a few novels in a drawer, but after my fifth novel drew only a few nibbles from agents, I had lost the enthusiasm for going back to the blank page. It was easier to just tell people I was an aspiring writer than to actually write in my (increasingly limited) free time.

But I missed it. So during the pandemic, I decided to enroll in a writing class with Ben Loory at UCLA and I don’t think it’s an exagerration to say it changed my life. I got back in touch with my roots and started writing again. As of now, I have one six contests and sold around 40 short stories online, in print, and to various podcasts. Outside of short story writing I have won a dozen screenplay writing contests.

Then, when the pandemic came to a close, I made the difficult decision to go freelance. People have told me this sounds crazy (there was a pandemic going on at the time) but i actually think the pandemic made the decision much easier. The world felt like it was ending. Why not try something new?

Since then I’ve produced four films and one short film, while working in production on two others. My movies have played everywhere from Tribeca to Trieste, with many, many festival stops in between.

I don’t know what will happen next. I just know that I love writing and I love working with other creatives. I hope that I can continue to sell short stories (maybe something longer) and that people will keep reading them.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

One of the hardest periods in my life came right after I graduated from law school. I was at rock bottom. I won’t go into details, but things in my personal life were rough.

And the only place things were worse than my personal life was in my professional life. I graduated during a time of fluxuation. Not only were there no jobs available, but what jobs were available kept getting yanked from various prospects. Half the jobs I was applying to wanted years of experience (that I didn’t have) coupled with the fact that I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do.

There’s a Demetri Martin bit where he talks about the sudden shift in peoples perspective towards him once he dropped out of law school. I’m paraphrasing but basically he went from being a “quirky guy in law school” to just being a “quirky guy.” Demetri, if you ever read this, I feel you. People who were very tolerant of my interest in reading, writing, and watching obscure movies when I was a law student were far less tolerant when I graduated without a job lined up.

And while I know this question is asking about my resilience, I also have to give credit to my family who never stopped believing in me and a few close friends. A friend helped me get a job at the guardianship clinic to tide me over while I looked for something more permanent, while another friend helped me get a temporary job doing doc review.

There have been many highs and many lows in my journey. It may look like mostly highs – I only share the high points on Instagram – but there have been a lot of rough patches. A lot of scary patches. And these days, I get a lot of support from my partner. She’s my rock and I couldn’t do this without her.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

The biggest pivot in my life came when I went freelance. Suddenly I went from the (relative) safety of a studio to basically being on my own.

I felt like I was staring off a cliff. It was terrifying – and not just because I’m afraid of heights.

But this is where I have also been really fortunate to meet some really great people along the way. Andrew Corkin, who gave me a shot working on The Unheard (currently streaming on Shudder and definitely worth your time) or Noah Lang, who I connected with on the set of Creep Box and quickly became a writing partner and friend.

These guys came into my life when I thought things were at their worst, but in hindsight, these were some of the best things to ever happen to me. I really am blessed.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://haroldhosshorror.wordpress.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hblakehoss/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/haroldblakehoss/
• Other: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm13211353/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_3_nm_5_in_0_q_blake%2520hossCreep Box Short Film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKM18J29_4I

  Creep Box Feature Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BKBgj55hNg

  The Unheard Feature Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EkDhn694Zk

  Shark Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/dk/podcast/shark-by-harold-hoss/id1581361592?i=1000630186743

Image Credits

Harold Blake Hoss and Emily Minsun Park