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Our series of interviews with 20 cool Angelenos under 30 is winding down. But we were lucky to snag an interview with the busy Ben Goldhirsh, founder of Reason Pictures and GOOD Magazine (Ben is the fellow in the middle, posing with two friends in the above photo).
Ben moved to Los Angeles when he was 25 in order to attend the Peter Stark producer program at USC Film School but dropped out to launch his own media enterprises. He's started a film company focused on financing and producing issue-oriented narrative pictures. The company is currently developing a slate of approximately seven movies right now.
Hoping to reach an even broader audience, Ben founded GOOD Magazine, a publication dedicated to exploring altruism in society; Check out their blog. Ben envisions the magazine as a vehicle for injecting idealism and a "sensibility of good" back into the mainstream of American culture in the same way that Wired gave technology more cachet in pop culture.
Can Ben make the common good cool again? We can only watch and wait and hope.
Where do you live in L.A.?
Benedict Canyon
Why did you move here?
Originally for graduate school/film business
What's your day job?
I own/run Reason Pictures and GOOD Magazine
What are your non-day job passions?
Hanging out with my friends, surfing, wrestling my dog.
When did you decide to start Reason Pictures & Good Magazine?
Reason started in August of '04 and we began developing GOOD in the Spring of '05
How do you run an independent film company and a magazine at the same time?
Hire people I trust and give them the resources to pursue their passion and the potential of the concepts.
Where did the funding come from to launch the projects?
My father started Inc. Magazine and was pretty successful. Both him and my mother passed away from cancer and I inherited some money. I'm basically hustling after the potential given by these resources.
Where'd you go to grad school?
USC Peter Stark Program for a semester before dropping out.
What's your favorite surfing spot in So Cal?
Surfrider
What is/are your favorite music from LA?
Music: Pharcyde
Describe your best LA dining experience.
Getting drunk with my friends at Giu Kaku.
What is the "center" of LA to you?
Fairfax and Melrose.
It's 9:30pm on a Thursday. Where are you, and where are you going?
At work, sending out emails and calling people's offices when I know they won't pick up.
If you could make one thing be different in LA for your 30th birthday, what would you change?
I'd have a girlfriend.
Where do you want to be when the Big One hits?
In the ocean or a pool.
