The festival life
Junior Diem Dang gains a professional opportunity be attending the Beyond Wonderland music festival.
I idolize the movie industry, and I have always had a passion for telling stories.
Because the movie industry is based in Los Angeles, it’s always been my dream to go to California. Now that I am here, it’s beyond surreal. I am living every single day in the same place where so many of my favorite movies were produced, and I am seeing recognizable landmarks every day that made appearances in these exact movies. It’s something I never thought would happen.
By far the most surreal part about being in Los Angeles is being around so many events and activities that you will never see in Indianapolis. Music artists frequently skip over Indiana. But nobody skips over Los Angeles. There are huge-name artists playing concerts in the area every weekend. There are so many activities you simply cannot do them all.
My favorite experience was attending a taping of the “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” It was my first-ever TV appearance. During the episode, Kimmel had a surprise guest appearance by actor Tom Holland, who disguised himself as an audience member and jumped out right next to me. I was on-screen for about five seconds. It might not seem like a lot, but it’s all I need.
While in L.A., I also attended a taping of “Ridiculousness,” a professional Call of Duty esports match and a Bernie Sanders political rally. I even ended up seeing a few big celebrities around the area, including Harrison Ford from afar at a movie premiere, Steve Harvey at my internship office, Nick Young driving his Mercedes G-Class, Buddy walking at the Sunset Strip and John C. Reilley making an accidental stop in one of our classes.