We had the good fortune of connecting with Sebastian Twardosz and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sebastian, how do you think about risk?

Ever since I was a kid I always tried to map out my life whether it was picking all my college classes when I was still in high school or charting my career before I even graduated college. Because I’ve always known what I want to do. But of course that’s not how life works.

I’ve always had a finish line (for which I am still striving). What I want out of life isn’t something you can earn or buy and I certainly couldn’t afford it having grown up in a working class family. It actually has required my taking huge risks ever since leaving my home state of Michigan. In hindsight, I think I got my outlook on life from my parents who risked it all and left Poland so that my sister and I could have a better life here in America. I was born in Poland, but my parents took that HUGE leap of faith and I am so happy they did.

It was a risk for me to abandon home and move to LA to pursue film at USC. It was a huge risk for me to leave my job at ICM where I was doing so well to go work as an assistant for Paula Wagner and Tom Cruise. It was a risk for me to leave that job after almost four years and pursue writing. It was all going great until I left CW and my writing career stalled lol. So I went back into development at Disney’s Touchstone Television and then I jumped again and became an executive for a production company at Paramount. These were all risks because I didn’t stay in any one job where you could steadily advance. It sounds like job-hopping but I was actually in each of these jobs from 2-4 years so it was risky for me to leave (and it was always my decision). It was just that I wanted to do something new. I couldn’t see myself being an agent or an executive and working for someone else. I probably would have stayed if I had felt fulfilled or if a saw a future but the truth was that each of these jobs became a dead end. I also didn’t feel like I was making anything.

I remember getting offered to host a web series called The Insiders about movies. We shot over 40 episodes. I’d never been in front of the camera before, but I was a professor at USC and UCLA so I took that opportunity. Why not? I was able to grow, try something new and, most importantly, I could do a show where I could give back because the whole purpose of that series was to open up the world of Hollywood and show our subscribers how they could make it too. You can still find all the episodes on YouTube. What I loved about teaching at USC and UCLA was that I was doing the class I wish I had when I went to USC and it was the same with my web series. I wanted very much to show everyone how you can do it and, at the same time, I gained confidence and resolve to do it myself. That’s when I decided to start my own company, Savant Artists, where I advise filmmakers who are trying to make their dreams come true.

The biggest risk of all is what I am doing now–raising my sons as a single dad. We are out here all alone. I’m pouring everything I have into their schools. I send them to private schools and I can barely afford it. But I believe these schools, staying in the same school K-8 with all your friends and the teachers who know and love you since you were little, I believe these schools have really helped me to raise them. I have no idea what my future holds, considering the sacrifice I am making but that’s the way it’s always been–uncharted.

Over the years, I’ve had a lot of success and I also got stuck in the mud. But I’ve worked at some amazing places and with great people. It was worth the risks I took. For the past ten years, I’ve been advising filmmakers in a producing capacity and I love it. But I haven’t crossed the finish line yet. I’m still in that race and I plan to finish.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.

I am in love with movies. I love everything about making them. I love going on sets. I love reading books about films and television. I can listen to filmmakers talk endlessly about what they do and how they do it. I walk onto a studio lot and I literally like to touch the earth there. I am a true believer. So when I work as a producer or an advisor to other filmmakers I hope that comes across. I have absolutely been driven to make movies ever since I was a kid. It’s just that simple. I have made tremendous sacrifices along the way and I would not recommend it to anyone lol. I do it because I have to do it. I live and breathe it.

What lessons have I learned? You know, I’m going to quote Rocky Balboa. “Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place and I don’t care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard ya hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done!” Let me tell you, I have been hit hard–really hard. and I am still standing. or to go with my previous metaphor, I am still running towards the finish line.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
A morning hike on Runyon Canyon

A morning and afternoon hike on the Mt. Hollywood Trail (including the back overlooking Warner Brothers)

An afternoon and sunset @ El Matador State Beach
Lunch on the beach @ Paradise Cove

An evening @ The Magic Castle

Breakfast @ The Pantry

Riding the Subway
Driving down Sunset Boulevard

Walking Beverly Hills
Walking UCLA and Westwood
Walking Hollywood
Walking USC, Exposition Park and all the Museums there

A movie @ The Cinerama Dome
A concert @ The Hollywood Bowl
A silent movie anywhere but especially @ Old Town Music Hall in El Segundo and lunch around the corner.

Lunch @ Pink’s
Lunch @ Tommy’s

Studio tours at Universal, Warners, Paramount, and Sony
An afternoon at the new Academy Museum

Dinner @ Casa Vega
Dinner @ The Smoke House
Dinner @ Miceli’s in Hollywood
Relaxing @ Aroma Cafe in Studio City

Sunday Morning @ Emmanuel Lutheran Church in North Hollywood to give thanks and make a small contribution. This church has done so much for others and it’s important to me to support it.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I owe it all to my mom and a little movie called E.T.

USC also gave me a free ride as an undergraduate with enough scholarships and grants to pay for everything and with no debt. For an immigrant kid from a working class family and English as a second language, USC absolutely changed my life. I worked hard and earned the grades but without the money I would have been spinning my wheels. So I tell everyone, don’t worry about whether you can afford your dream school–just apply.

I also owe a lot to the faculty and staff at Laurel Hall School and Notre Dame High School for everything they’ve done for my sons.

Website: https://savantartists.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/savantartists/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sebastian-twardosz-b89a104/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=savant%20artists

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrp0rWL7-0hhY-pcyw5S0dQ

Other: SavantArtists@gmail.com

Image Credits
1) Savant Artists Logo 2) Minions @ Universal Studios 3) Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences 4) Planet of the Apes Retrospective @ USC 5) One of my students drew this for me. 6) Trevor Groth & Charlie Sextro (Sundance) visit with my class @ USC 7) Franklin Leonard (The Black List) visits with my class @ USC 8) Teaching @ USC 9) Nick Nesbitt (NetFlix) visits with my class @ USC 10) Rian Johnson with my sons @ USC 11) The greatest fan film and one of the greatest films of all time! 12) Hiking with Harrison (our dog) atop Runyon Canyon 13) The back side of Mt. Hollywood. So to the left is the backlot for Universal Studios. All those buildings to the left of the golf course (and all the way past the left side of the screen including the green space which is actually a sloped hillside) are Universal. To the right is Warner Brothers. I have been on these backlots so many times I can’t even count anymore. Best days were when I actually watched Steven Spielberg directing the T-Rex attacking the upside down Ford Explorer at Warner Brothers–yes that was shot on the gigantic stage at Warners. I was also in the Jurassic Park control room and lobby (basically the interior of the main park building) which were at Universal. In addition, I was inside the huge set for the Penguin’s Lair which was actually in a Universal soundstage too. I also walked through the entire ER set at Warners. The studios shoot on each other’s stages all the time. 14) Old Town Music Hall after watching Douglas Fairbanks in The Black Pirate. 15) My Mom

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