So here I am about to approach three years in L.A. (June 10 to be exact) and I feel the need to share my journey once again despite completely falling off the radar for well over a year with this confronting piece of my Hollywood sojourn.

As I look back, it’s been an up and down rollercoaster ride full of trials, tribulations, emotion and adventure. But then what else was it ever going to be. While I have disappeared for months at a time (across social media, email and more), I am still alive, I’m still kicking, and I’m still flying the flag as best I can.

 To be honest, that’s not always been easy. In fact, it’s been bloody hard at times.

 There have been days where I have wanted to be anywhere else but this city. I’ve not left the country, let alone this state, in the three years I have been here, and if you know me you know how much I love travel. So it feels like I have been going stir crazy. 

 But I found some solace as I discovered but then subsequently lost a relationship – my first here in the U.S and my first in over three years. And while I look back on that year we had with mixed emotions, I can only smile and say thank you to one very special woman who took her own serious leap of faith, and embraced me and my journey and in the process turned me into an even greater version of myself than I could have ever imagined. I am forever changed as a result. 

 But she wasn’t the only woman I had to say goodbye to that year.

 I lost a grandmother and step sister all within six months of each other last year but I didn’t go back. I was super close to my gran and she used to take great delight in reading these articles. I miss her, and writing postcards from abroad just isn’t the same.

I left Australian shores knowing I may never ever see her alive again. But it was with her gentle words of encouragement that I was able to make peace with that cold, hard reality.

 When she died last Mother’s Day, not only did I cry as the news filtered through, but I also had a beautiful vision of her that morning. She appeared before me and whispered: “Keep writing.” It was a profoundly affecting vision.

While all this disquietude, chaos, and loss was going on around me, somehow the only thing keeping me sane was my writing. And thank fuck! Because I am not sure where I would have been without it.

 I found myself sinking into a slow depression-like state during July yet I kept writing. My relationship was breaking down all around me but still I wrote. My grandmother passed, I wrote. My step-sister slowly had her life taken away after battling a brain tumor for years, more writing.

In the space of that one year, while my entire world was collapsing around me (even now I can shed some tears if I allow myself to reflect), my writing was my saviour. I wrote more than I ever have, I became more professional than I’ve ever been, and I churned out four feature scripts over the course of that year. One of which I pitched and which subsequently beat out over 40 other submissions vying for the gig.

 After my relationship broke down I also found myself in the position of moving out of the only apartment I had ever known during my entire time here. I stepped up as a man and offered my ex-girlfriend the space. A space that no longer felt like home. A space that allowed her a better chance to survive in this town than me.

I then found myself in North Hollywood, and while that sounds glamourous, it really isn’t. There are two very distinct parts to North Hollywood. The cooler, funkier ‘Arts District’ and what is unaffectionately called, “the ghetto”. Somehow I went from the clean, green, central beauty of Studio City, to a dirty, dry backwater Mexican suburb (nothing against Mexico).

From a private, spacious, comfortable apartment for myself and my girlfriend, to a smaller, cramped two bedroom place with two other guys – one of which slept on a couch in the lounge room.

 At times I have felt embarrassed by my living situation but this town can be brutal and sometimes you are forced to go backwards to move forwards. But when you are freelance copywriter and the Australian dollar drops (and hard), you are forced to make some serious changes.

 I hated going to bed alone. I didn’t like where I now found myself. I was miserable.

While I never ever lived above my means, I had to go where I could afford. It made me withdraw even further and made me truly understand the definition of humble, but what was more important, to look myself in the mirror and ask some very genuine, honest questions of myself.

 But it has all served to only strengthen my resolve and succeed where many others would have failed, fled or simply given up.

 My year turned and I met and fell into the most amazing, supportive writing group I have found during my time here, after I was fortunate enough to be accepted into a new writing program I applied for.

 It was the first time I felt ‘home’ among like-minded people. A writing group that despite my repeated searches and hopes, I had never ever found in the two years prior.

 And now this group of people I can call friends. How I have craved that. As I retracted from the outside world, I found my friendship base here shrink. In part due to changing dynamics as others disappeared, while a couple of others put their head down to become more professional themselves but also because I was seeking something deeper from myself, my writing… my heart.

It’s a writing group that’s made up of some talented and successful people where I have seen their valuable input and feedback further enhance, improve and rocket my writing skyward. A group of only seven other people who I get enormous pleasure from in so many ways. I cannot thank them enough.

Somehow I overcame a very tough, emotional year and became not only a greater writer for it but a kinder, more sincere, more authentic and honest me.

It’ll be three years in June since I first made the leap, and it’ll be three years I will celebrate in my own quiet, genuine way as I look back. I’m thankful for how far I’ve come, for what I have achieved, for where I now find the level of my writing, but most important of all, where I now find myself as a man.

So raise a glass and cheer on a man who continues to stare down this town. A man who is not afraid of a single thing. A man who will not make up the numbers. A man who will succeed. Because I have faced hardship, loss, death and yet I continue to smile and write.

Here’s to an even greater year of writing, greater success, greater wealth, and so much more as I continue to pursue dreams, my passion, and love.

– Mark Rasmussen

Mark Rasmussen

Mark Rasmussen has been a professional writer for over 15 years. He has written and produced three short films (two of which have IMDb credits), as well completed four features. One of his films ranked inside the Top 10 for the World Wildlife Fund competition (WWF). He is currently working on three feature scripts, two book adaptations, a TV pilot, and a web-series, as he increases his thirst for great writing and storytelling.

by Mark Rasmussen

Looking back, it’s been six months since I last wrote. Wow, has it really been that long? So what has happened in that time, in the half a year I went missing. Well, lots and even more than that still.

Firstly, I realised a valuable lesson. While my approach was one full of enthusiasm it should have been more about professionalism. So lesson learned after my first submitted script to the companies that showed interest way back in July became silent.

Mark Rasmussen

Mark Rasmussen has been a professional writer for over 15 years. He has written and produced three short films (two of which have IMDb credits), as well completed four features. One of his films ranked inside the Top 10 for the World Wildlife Fund competition (WWF). He is currently working on three feature scripts, two book adaptations, a TV pilot, and a web-series, as he increases his thirst for great writing and storytelling.

Always seemed like too much work away from the real writing of the writing I wanted to write.

by Mark Rasmussen

Sure, I’ve seen plenty of blogs (even read a few) but I’ve never ever be interested in writing one myself but now as I find myself on the verge of entering the screenwriting capital of the world – Hollywood – now feels like as good a moment as ever to dive on in and sink or write. I choose to write!

So what’s a local boy who’s never really amounted to much doing dragging his white, scrawny arse half way across the world into a cauldron of established writers? A world that eats people alive and spits them out like unrequited love. I ask myself that question every day leading into what can only really be described as a life-changing event.

And it is. I am giving up a life I know for a life I don’t. I am giving up friends and family and job security for none of the above. But what I am doing is giving my dreams a chance to come alive.

It’s not often in life you get the chance to ever really do that. But you know what? It’s both liberating and fucking scary. For someone like myself who is normally so fearless and approaches life head on, who lives in the moment and simply loves life, I have to admit to being scared, concerned, nervous, a little worried.

I go with no work or job lined up or even any money coming in whatsoever. I have a finite amount of savings that may see me through six months if I spend it wisely. But what I do go with is faith, self belief and a real sense of adventure.

You see I’m an explorer. An adventurer. I face fear, doubt and worry head on. I may not always like what I see or have to confront at the time but that’s life. It can’t all be Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate fantasies. How I wish it was. Mmmm… chocolate.

But as the time nears where I walk through Sydney airport and leave Australia for possibly the last time, I am taking the time to reflect on my life, the friends I’ve made in Sydney in the two and a half years I’ve been here. My little achievements, my writing, my short films, my huge personal growth, especially these last six months. Of family in Melbourne and of the unknown.

It’s a huge leap of faith.

With every leap comes the moment of doubt before you leap. All the thoughts which tell you why you can’t do it. The ones that tell you why you shouldn’t. All the risks, all the what ifs – all of it. Everything you’ve never worried about before all come to the fore all at once and forces you to think, reflect and doubt it all. Even doubt yourself.

You know what, though? That’s the kind of stuff that thrills me, excites me. Makes me feel alive. Absolutely. We cannot grow, move forward, embrace a new life or ever be truly happy without the past, the fears all tormenting us before we make that jump.

I have made sure to keep a checklist of everything I need to do before I go – one, to make sure I finalise everything I need to do but two, to keep me sane. From selling all my furniture, my car, my beloved bike, to breaking my lease, finding another tenant, cancelling bills, boxing my stuff up, packing, saying goodbye to friends, flying to Melbourne, saying goodbye to my grandmother who I may never ever see alive again. It’s daunting, frightening and frankly, it’s also fun.

It’s hard. Sure people are excited for me and congratulate me where they can and wish me good luck. And I feel the energy and positive vibes. I feed off it. I need it. I’m excited too. A new adventure awaits and for this traveller, the wanderer that I am and I love it. But I also feel scared, afraid and even worse. I feel alone.

What if I am unable to make it work, make new friends, sell my writing, make a career. What if I fail? What then? Do I just jump back on a plane and say, “Well, at least I gave it a shot.” And then where does that leave me?

But you know what. I don’t let those thoughts enter my mind. Because what if I do? What if my leap of faith comes off? What if it really all works out? That’s what keeps me going, energizes me, excites me, thrills me and makes me feel truly alive and happy. Nothing like getting out of your comfort zone to know what we can truly do and achieve.

Besides, I felt I was getting too comfortable in Sydney. Somewhat stale. Nothing wrong with wanting to feel challenged, pushed and embrace the unknown. It’s what separates the believers from the dreamers.

So as this wide-eyed dreamer moves closer to becoming a believer, and as all the fears and doubts begin to recede, replaced instead with hope, faith and belief in me and everything I stand for, let me leave you with this:

I’ve learned that sometimes all you have to is say ‘Fuck it’, and just live.

But if that’s too simple then know this, “Have courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become.” I want to be a successful screenwriter. Sure, I want a lot of other things: love, happiness, health, wealth, success and more but for now, I chase down this dream.

So as I fly out into the great unknown, to a place known as LaLa land, one day I want to honestly say, I made it. And you know what, I believe I will!

Mark Rasmussen has been a professional writer for over 15 years covering music, sport, travel, plays, web and more. 


In 2011 Mark was involved in six film projects, three of which he wrote, produced or co-produced. One of his films ranked inside the Top 10 of a public vote.


Mark’s currently working on six feature scripts and two shorts and is now based in LA to chase down dreams.

Mark Rasmussen

Mark Rasmussen has been a professional writer for over 15 years. He has written and produced three short films (two of which have IMDb credits), as well completed four features. One of his films ranked inside the Top 10 for the World Wildlife Fund competition (WWF). He is currently working on three feature scripts, two book adaptations, a TV pilot, and a web-series, as he increases his thirst for great writing and storytelling.