Today we’d like to introduce you to Alex Blumberg.
Hi Alex, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
After film school, I started my career in media and entertainment at Billboard in New York as a director and editor for their video team, working with artists like Bruno Mars, Regina Spektor, Ellie Goulding, Ludacris, and Sara Bareilles. I spent my next chapter in Europe, working as a Prague-based video journalist and documentary filmmaker with a focus on eastern-bloc nations like Ukraine, Latvia, Romania, Moldova, and Hungary. That period of my life reconnected me to my Eastern European roots: my father was born in Latvia at the tail end of World War II when that country was caught in the crossfire between Hitler’s Germany and Stalin’s USSR. My eastern-bloc expat chapter fed a fascination with societies in transition and with individual lives caught in the cross-currents of historical forces – both recurrent themes in my writing.
And now I’m here in Los Angeles! I’ve written four screenplays and one documentary feature. My second documentary feature as a writer is currently in post-production. Other projects in the pipeline include a fiction podcast adaptation of my period firefighter drama Back Fires and a historical fantasy novel exploring the pagan folklore and Christian conquest of medieval Latvia.
It’s been a winding road that’s led me to Los Angeles, and I look back fondly on my time in New York and Prague. I carry little pieces of those cities in my heart. But LA does truly feels like home. It’s where I met my wife Emily – a brilliant UX Designer currently working for YouTube Music and the strongest-hearted human I have ever met. And LA is where our first child will be born – our baby girl is due in September!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Moving to Los Angeles was humbling – I’d just directed an award-winning documentary short in Europe (‘Generation Emigration,’ 2016) for the Prague-based American media outlet Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. But I wanted to be closer to the entertainment industry for the next phase of my filmmaking career – so I saved up a few thousand bucks and made the move. It was a complete fresh start, which was exhilarating but also daunting. I’d have to start over from the basics: find a place to live, steady employment, a car, friends, a sense of community and purpose…and I to learn the geography of the most sprawling city in the country, a place I’d visited exactly once before I decided to relocate. Geographies are mental as well as physical, and it can be intimidating to leave behind an accumulated set of knowledge somewhere you’ve grown comfortable, in exchange for a completely blank map.
But comfort isn’t always great for creativity. I am a strong believer in a radical change of scenery as an antidote to feeling lost or aimless. It’s easy to get accustomed to certain habits or lifestyles – stripping that away and starting fresh shows you who you really are and what you really care about.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I’m a documentary filmmaker and screenwriter – those two disciplines work hand in hand. I’ve written narration for Helen Mirren (for the documentary feature ‘Escape From Extinction,’ 2020), optioned one original TV script (my Soviet-era sci-fi thriller ‘Kosmos’), and won screenwriting awards from the Sedona International Film Festival and Creative Screenwriting Magazine for my prison firefighter drama ‘Back Fires,’ which I am now adapting into as scripted narrative podcast.
I like to write about characters and historical periods defined by contradictions and moral uncertainty – from the techno-utopianism and nuclear paranoia of the space-age USSR (‘Kosmos’), to the birth of American religious broadcasting during the mass-media boom of 1920s Hollywood (‘Sister’) to a World War II-era prison camp where convict firefighters participate in a real-time social experiment by fighting wildfires in exchange for their freedom (‘Back Fires’).
I like using the past as a lens to explore the present and as a cloaking device for my own personal point of view on real-world issues I explore through fictional circumstances. I respect and defend the prerogative of artists whose openly advocate for certain social or political points of view; I just prefer not to approach my own work that way. I try to cultivate ambiguity and leave it up to the reader or viewer to grapple with the contradictions I present and to make up their own minds about where they stand. One of the most thrilling reactions I can get as a writer is when someone reads my work and draws a conclusion or interpretation that I’d never even considered.
My approach to fiction writing is very much informed by my background in nonfiction filmmaking. Old-school methodologies like libraries and newspaper archives and primary source interviews are key to building realistic, detailed, immersive story worlds with the power to transport the reader to a specific time and place while still connecting them to a universal experience.
We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
Don’t wait for ‘the right time’ to jump into your dream project or goal. Don’t make excuses for yourself. And I think most importantly, don’t let the fear of failure or imperfection be a roadblock.
Sometimes I think we as a society are so obsessed with optimization and productivity and return on investment that we’re afraid to try new pursuits for the joy of it. It’s a very capitalistic way of thinking about leisure time and hobbies – we have convinced ourselves that if we are ‘investing’ time into an activity, it needs to ‘pay off’ with subject mastery confirmed by some sort of external validation. I strongly disagree with that mindset. You don’t have to write with the goal of being a published novelist or a working screenwriter to find pleasure in the act of expressing yourself and expanding your imagination. You don’t have to learn to surf with the goal of making the Olympics in order to feel exhilarated by the power of the ocean and inspired by the rhythms of nature. You don’t have to cook with the goal of opening your own restaurant or food blog to find pleasure in creating a dish that delights you and your family.
It should be enough to fall in love with an activity for no other reason than the pursuit of adventure and curiosity, to add a bit of joy and texture and color to our brief time on earth.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.alexblumberg.com/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-blumberg/
Image Credits
Mark Lee, Emily Smith, Bryan Smith
