We recently connected with Tucker Hampson and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Tucker , thank you so much for agreeing to open up about a sensitive and personal topic like being fired or laid-off. Unfortunately, there has been a rise in layoffs recently and so your insight and experience with overcoming being let go is relevant to so many in the community.
Although my actual layoff didn’t occur until just a month ago, blood was in the water for nearly a year. It became more and more clear as work dried up and others around me starting leaving, my company and the film industry was in bad shape, and things were not looking good. I quickly started to get worried, fatigued, and disinterested in what little work we had, fearing that I was headed for an inevitable termination. This became especially apparent when the AMPTP Writer’s and SAG-AFTRA Actor’s strikes took shape – the industry was about to come to a complete halt. Sure enough, myself and about 100 others were laid off in June, and from a quick look around the job sites, it was clear we were not the only ones unloading employees. So what do you do when you are suddenly faced with an abrupt end to projects you have been working on for years? How do you quiet the voices of doubt in the back of your head and keep yourself from going crazy while you look for new work, when your entire industry is on hiatus? For me, it was keeping my passion, work ethic, and creativity alive outside my profession of film and television, in the form of Sky Running.
Myself and three friends had signed up for one of the most grueling mountain races in the country, The Rut 28k in Big Sky, Montana, earlier in the year. This had already been a desire of mine to complete, but it took on new meaning and purpose in light of my recent unemployment. For a flatlander from LA, this race was no joke. I’ve always been a big runner, in college I tackled cross country and track all four years, and since then I’ve been able to handle a half marathon and the Broken Arrow Sky Race in Tahoe, California. However, these are pitifully small potatoes in comparrison. The Rut 28k course covers an exposed, rocky, brutally steep 17 miles, with 3 major climbs totaling nearly 8,000 feet of elevation gain. All of this occurs above tree line, at a base elevation of 7600 feet. I’m facing nearly 6 hours of pushing myself to the breaking point. This was going to be HARD. Suddenly, not having a job became a good thing for a moment – more time to train.
Without skipping a beat, The Rut became my new job, and I really committed. In order to be mentally, physically, and emotionally prepared for the race in one months time, I took all my pent up energy, frustration, and anxiety around my suddenly stalled career and threw it all into my training. Every day I was able, I was driving up to the Sierra Madre mountains, loading up a pack with gels and water, and striking out for one, two, three hours at a time up the slopes. When I couldn’t, I was running the neighborhoods, including during LA’s first Tropical Storm and a seriously brutal heat wave. I became diligent about my nutrition, hydration, and routine, filling the void of work with stretching, lifting, cross training, and mental preparation. While I still experienced what every unemployed person feels, including imposter syndrome, disinterest, and feeling useless, I was able to combat this with training. Submit a job application, run a mountain. Reach out to a colleague, run a mountain. Certify for unemployment, run a mountain. It kept me even, interested, and hungry. Instead of spinning my wheels, I was working them.
A month later, here we are. The race is right around the corner. I’ve run ~200 or so miles in the last month, and right on cue, the job offers are starting to pop up. I could have sat around for the last month, watching savings dwindle and worrying about whether the industry will recover, but as a result of continuing to keep a schedule, a purpose, and work towards a goal, I feel mentally fresh and ready to jump right into a new position. To anyone who has unexpectedly lost work, while I wouldn’t necessarily recommend jumping right into one of the hardest physical challenges you can find like I did, the sentiment of keeping your passion alive is the one I’m getting at. Find something that motivates you, that sustains you, that gives you self worth outside of your job. I cannot describe the effect that this has on your emotional and mental well being, and how it keeps you from sinking into depression and retreating from life. This could be anything from art, music, cooking, or whatever makes you feel engaged, but if you can harness it, you can get through. Keep pushing, and eventually the doors to opportunities will open for you again.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I’m a professional film and television Editor and Assistant Editor in Los Angeles, CA. During the last 10 years of my career, I’ve dabbled in a ton of different kinds of projects, from large scale animation, advertising, feature documentary, and television. I have a particular talent and interest in science fiction, fantasy, and action oriented projects, but I love it all. My job involves a ton of problem solving, whether that’s as an editor or assistant editor, to figure out how to make things work. While this is challenging, it is also incredibly rewarding to put the puzzle pieces together and make something different and unique with your own mind, often different from even what the directors and producers were expecting. I also really enjoy the aspects of music and sound editing, which I think don’t get their due – they are incredibly important and impactful for the storytelling of the edit. While the remote work from Covid and the strikes of 2023 have sometimes made working consistently difficult, I enjoy the ride and exploring new ways to tell stories every day.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
1. Work Ethic. And I don’t just mean out working the competition, or working flat out all the time. This encompasses working smarter, not harder. Being very economical with your time. I pride myself on being very efficient, laser focused, and quick at what I do when the chips are down, and it’s not because I’m working 18 hour days, it’s because I don’t waste any time and when I’m working, it’s 100% commitment. I just attack the problem until I find a solution, from all angles. A big part of this is also knowing what works for you – I try to carve out the time and space I need so that when I sit down to edit, I can fully engage and be in the zone. The best analogy I can give is to treat yourself like a professional athlete – you need to be fed, hydrated, rested, and ready to go hard when you sit down to work. One hour of really solid creative work is better than 10 hours of mental block.
2. Self Confidence. I can’t overstate how important this is. In an industry where there are constantly people who want you to work long hours for low pay and get the best deal possible, knowing what you are worth, what you will tolerate, that you are a hot commodity and deserving of good conditions, is vital in surfing this career. Not only that, but if you show you aren’t going to get pushed around, that gives you a certain level of respect. There will always be those people who will move on to work with someone who can be used rather than collaborated with, but if you continue to hold yourself to high standards and walk the walk, people respond to that confidence in a really good way.
3. Empathy. This is the big one. The most important one. Film is a collaboration and no one can do any of this alone. That starts with being a kind, courteous, and compassionate collaborator, figuring out how to work with other people’s strengths and weaknesses in a non-combative way, balancing not just what you see if best but their opinions too. In a lot of ways being an editor is elevating things beyond the original vision, while still remaining true to the intentions of the director. That takes a lot of trust, and you can’t create anything great without establishing those real, important relationships with your partners.
Before we go, any advice you can share with people who are feeling overwhelmed?
My biggest defense is to fully disconnect, usually in exercise or nature. Get rid of your inbox and just spend an hour thinking about anything other than work. I always find, especially if I go for a run, my subconscious mind will continue to work the problems I’m having, and when I re-check in to work, I’ll have a fresh new perspective that allows me to take a new angle. More often than not, I find the best problem solving I do is when I’m not even thinking about the problem.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.tuckerjhampson.com
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tucker-hampson-1502298a/
