OTHER TECH

Dear Theo: I've been following your work for years, and it really speaks to me. I remember even as a kid spending as much time looking at the theater itself as I did watching the play or the movie. And I now spend hours looking at all the details displayed in your designs.

I used to own a car wash with a few locations, but after my son was born 18 months ago, I decided to follow my dreams. I've since sold the business and now work at the big custom home theater company here in Toronto. (I begged the owner to hire me with no professional experience.) My ultimate goal is to own my own home theater design firm.

What steps should I take to get closer to design? Should I spend more time at this job or should I get a job at a design firm? What should I study? Any help would mean the world to me. I know it might be a bit bold to ask the best person in the industry, but that's how much I admire your work and how bad I want this. If I didn't take a chance, I would never know. KIRK PURDON / Toronto, Canada

Kirk,

In these hard times, there's nothing more uplifting than seeing someone turn his back to a job that pays the rent so he can pursue his dreams. But to be frank, your dream is a little crazy. Here are 10 reasons why you should think twice before launching your new career designing theaters:

1) Being a theater designer isn't a real job; it's a hobby.

2) There's no school that teaches how to design a theater.

3) You'll be up against a legion of designers who think they can design a theater better than you.

4) A designer is a rich client's glorified servant.

5) Our economy is in the Dumpster, and people don't spend money for luxuries any more.

6) Even the super-rich seem to have taken "conspicuous consumption" off their list.

7) Are you ready to deal with a spoiled client with a misplaced sense of entitlement?

8) Can you look at all the mistakes you'll make without freaking out and wanting to bolt toward the exit door?

9) It's okay to look at old theaters for inspiration - as long as you can tell the good ones from the just plain tacky ones. not to mention construction expertise - but not you and your husband!

10) There's got to be an easier way to make a living.

But don't let anyone rain on your parade; it's not all doom and gloom, really. You're 100% right when you say that if you don't take a chance, you'll never know. So here are 10 reasons why you should try:

1) Nobody - including me - can tell you what a "real" job is. Only you know best.

2) If there was a school for theater design and you studied there, you might be less inclined to take chances with design.

3) When you have confidence in yourself, you don't give a damn if the rest of the world is in competition with you.

4) You'll have opportunities to meet and work for some of the most exciting people in the world.

5) If you make your start in a bad economy, the only place you can go is up.

6) For every person who cuts down on luxuries, there's always someone else with more money than God!

7) There's nothing like the feeling of making a hard-to-please client happy.

8) You never learn unless you make your own mistakes.

9) If you can look critically at the theaters that have inspired you, you're ready for prime time.

10) Washing cars for a living seems a hell of a lot easier, but you've already tried that . . .

Here's what I think you should do: Stay with your current job for now. At least it gives you an opportunity to practice, and it pays the bills. Keep looking at the published work of others and "steal" - oops, I mean "be inspired" - from it! Look for opportunities to show what you can do, even if it means you won't make a penny. Make mistakes, plenty of them. And above all, never be happy with your work; the minute you start patting yourself on the back thinking you're the best, you're done. A better designer is always waiting in the wings to steal your show.

Here's what I think you should do: Stay with your current job for now. At least it gives you an opportunity to practice, and it pays the bills. Keep looking at the published work of others and "steal" - oops, I mean "be inspired" - from it! Look for opportunities to show what you can do, even if it means you won't make a penny. Make mistakes, plenty of them. And above all, never be happy with your work; the minute you start patting yourself on the back thinking you're the best, you're done. A better designer is always waiting in the wings to steal your show.