Rob Weiss :
Success In Stability By Bec Doyle Photographs By James Van Alden Rob Weiss, the guy who brought you Ballers, Entourage and How To Make It In America, hasn’t let this hell of a year slow him down. Sitting on his deck that overlooks LA, panoramic views stretching from Griffith to Downtown, signature cigar in hand; Weiss explains how his career has in a word been “blessed”, but not without its challenges. His first film “Amongst Friends’’ landed him nominations at the prestigious Sundance festival AND garnered theatrical release. “That was just the beginning, it was great, then my career dipped, then my career came back. I’m just looking to stably work until I’m old and then die,” Weiss candidly exclaims. With numerous original projects in development, and a slew of award winning shows under his belt, stability is a modest quest for this accomplished writer and director. At the age of 24, the universe truly aligned for Weiss on his first project. “I wasn’t thinking oh I want to build a career, I was thinking I want to get out of Long Island,” Weiss recalls. Seeing friends go off to college and return to career jobs at Goldman Sachs and the like, Weiss says, “I was already like a washed up club promoter, I just didn’t want to do it anymore, and I was like fuck, what am i going to do with my life?” Attending The Parsons school of design, unsure of what he wanted to pursue, he found himself bouncing between different departments. His love of film and tv is what ultimately inspired him to take the leap of faith and undertake what would be his first foray into the entertainment industry with Amongst Friends. Starting out with between $40 - $60K Weiss explains, “I was just a kid trying to do this thing, surrounded by really talented young people.” Through good instincts and good fortune, Weiss enlisted two young college graduates he describes as “super young, hungry producers, who had never actually produced anything,” and one thing led to another. Weiss adds “The universe aligned - it was weird.” When money was running out it would almost miraculously appear and save the day, or the movie rather, Weiss explains it as a strength in numbers; “if enough people have this collective drive, whether its conscious or unconscious, and they really share a vision - shit happens - same thing happened with Entourage.” “I’ve done 3 shows with HBO, all very different experiences,” he says. With Entourage Weiss was predominantly in the writing room, “we were basically writing the final episode as we were prepping to film it,” so he didn’t log much time on set. Though he explains this focus on writing allowed him to really connect to the characters, their development and story arc. Weiss describes 10 M. CITIZEN MAGAZINE | ISSUE 02
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