Matt Santiago, aka Matty Nice, had finished a long day at the studio when he sat down in his office. His Glendale apartment was cramped, but he preferred it to sharing a larger place with roommates. He needed the place to himself to devote to his second career: his life as Matty Nice.
Matt had enjoyed his work on numerous television and movie sets. He had moved out here nine years ago from Alexandria, Virginia. He wanted to be in the entertainment industry. During his nearly decade in Hollywood, he had served as a grip, done construction on film sets, helped out with special effects, and tried his hand at writing a few times. He had worked his way up the ladder with each job, but felt good about where he was. He had been involved in some big ticket productions, but he liked being behind the scenes, with his name not on anything.
Under the name Matty Nice, he started the blog "Talk Nerdy to Me," which had gained a bit of a following, subsequently followed by a Facebook Fan page of the same name. It hadn't exploded, but with 10,000-plus fans and growing, he had a decent fan base. On his blog, he often reviewed TV shows and movies, the ones he hadn't been involved with at least. This gained him cred amongst the critic community, so much so that he was asked to write periodically for the LA Times and TV Guide.
Above all, he wanted to keep his anonymity. He didn't want his followers to know his influence on certain projects, and he also wanted to be able to speak with fans candidly, without them thinking they needed to censor themselves. Thus, Matty Nice was born. He had a Facebook account set up under the Matty Nice name, separate from his personal account, as well as Twitter and other social media.
After a couple of years with a growing fan base, at the request of many of his fans, he started a podcast, lovingly titled, "The Journey." During each weekly podcast, he discussed, appropriately, his journey from the East Coast to the West Coast. He talked about previous and current projects of his, leaving out specific details of course. He wanted to give his listeners a real-life understanding of what it's like to work in Hollywood from the ground up. He also talked about current events, sports, and had his friends on occasionally as guests.
Tonight though, it would be just him and his bottle of Sam Adams.
He dug through a stack of papers to find the notes he had written for the podcast. He got his Macbook Pro ready to go, plugged in his headphones, and spoke.
"Hey guys, Matty Nice here, and welcome to The Journey."
Two hours later:
"...anyway, I really think you guys are going to be seeing some really great episodes of some of your favorite TV Shows. I'm definitely excited. Well, thanks for listening to me ramble on about my crazy week. To all my new listeners, thanks for joining. Remember, hit me up on Facebook, Twitter, over at the blog, on Youtube, like, subscribe, share. Let me know what you thought about my topics this week. Or, any other questions you have. Look forward to talking to ya."
2,000 miles away, well after midnight, a brunette girl smiled, closed her laptop and placed it on her nightstand, letting her head fall to the pillow below.
