From Superheroes to Super Broke with Allen Williams

Beyond Networking with Brian Miller

Allen Williams is an audio professional in the TV and film industry. He’s worked on projects like The Vampire Diaries, Spider-Man Homecoming, Creed, The Founder, Stranger Things, Cobra Kai, Avengers Infinity War… and some big name projects, too.

Like everyone else in the entertainment industry, when COVID hit Allen found himself suddenly without income, prospects, or even hope that work would come back. But that was only the beginning of his 2020 nightmare.

Two months before the pandemic, in January 2020, a contractor discovered an outdated part of their house that was no longer up to code. It was exorbitantly expensive to fix, but Allen and his wife decided to empty their savings rather than take out a loan, because he had plenty of work lined up.

Then the TV and film industry collapsed, leaving him without an income for what would become 9 months.

To make matters worse, his wife got COVID almost immediately, putting her on bedrest for nearly 2 months while fighting alternating fever and near-hypothermia episodes.

During which Allen had to spend even more money getting his older daughters set up for remote learning.

When his wife finally recovered, they discovered many friends and family had also been hit hard by the virus, some in critical condition.

In this conversation Allen walks us through everything.

For the nerds like me, he also teaches us exactly what a boom operator is, and how the TV and film industry economy works and why its shutdown was so destructive to local businesses across America, not just the actors and immediate crew, and how the industry changed in order to safely return to work.

Plus, we learn about Allen’s personal pivot, driven by generosity and charity, which is something we’ve hardly heard at all this season on the podcast.

Connect with Allen:

• Website: http://SoundSpeeds.us
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/SoundSpeeds
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/SoundSpeedsYT

Watch instead of listen: https://beyondnetworkingpodcast.com/allen-williams/

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