Hold the Door: An Entertainment Career Advice & Networking Podcast · Camille Wilson | Underrepresented Artists Advocate

Leaving the Industry with Evan Kim

·1 hr 12 min·5 clips

Evan's professor warned him that most success is luck, making him rethink his academic career path.

This episode of Hold the Door features host Camille Wilson in conversation with guest Evan Kim, a former Netflix assistant who left the entertainment industry. Kim, a Los Angeles native, previously worked at the WME agency and Netflix's independent film department before transitioning to food and hospitality. Kim recounts his academic advisor's sobering statistic that only 50% of her Harvard literature PhD class secured academic jobs, which prompted him to consider career failure scenarios. He initially worked in fashion, managing operations for the Bape clothing store in West Hollywood, before entering entertainment through a WME mailroom program. Kim describes the mailroom experience as involving literal mail cart duties and a highly social environment where many peers lived and socialized together. He served as a long-term floater, covering assistants' desks, before becoming assistant to a hybrid motion picture literary and talent agent at WME. A memorable moment involved driving his agent to a car dealership, which felt strange as his first personal task outside the office. Kim notes the agency's intense culture included rules like buying coffee for the entire office corner if one forgot to send calls to voicemail. He later joined Netflix's Department Assistant program, aiming to become a creative executive under Lisa Nishimura, then head of original independent film. Kim's departure coincided with Nishimura's exit from Netflix and his own burnout, influenced by industry shifts and changed viewing habits post-COVID. He finds parallels between the creative drive in entertainment and the similar dedication in food and hospitality work. Kim admits he could have better integrated into the agency's social network, which often accelerated careers, but he preferred maintaining boundaries with his outside friends. He reflects that his LA upbringing and private school connections provided a privileged pathway into the industry, which he acknowledges openly. The episode closes with Kim currently working as a cook and remaining open to a potential return to entertainment if the right opportunity arises. The tone is reflective and conversational, with both host and guest sharing personal career anecdotes. The style is interview-based, focusing on one individual's nonlinear professional journey. This episode would appeal to entertainment industry assistants, career changers, or anyone contemplating a major professional pivot. Listeners seeking highly structured career advice or industry success stories might find it less relevant.

As heard by us

A candid pivot story about leaving entertainment while still chasing creative fulfillment.

Evan Kim's conversation with Camille Wilson frames leaving entertainment as a shift in outlook as much as a career move. His path from agency life and Netflix into food and hospitality is presented less as reinvention for its own sake than as a search for creative fulfillment,…

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Why you'd press play

For a calmer, concrete take on leaving entertainment without closing the door behind you.

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