1 00:00:02,930 --> 00:00:02,977 analog internet, that world they build around the main character. 2 00:00:03,060 --> 00:00:05,660 - What advice would you give to a young person today 3 00:00:06,680 --> 00:00:10,517 about, let's say, a career? How to have a career they can 4 00:00:10,600 --> 00:00:14,126 be proud of? How they can have a life to be proud of? 5 00:00:14,209 --> 00:00:16,257 You've had a non-standard life. 6 00:00:16,340 --> 00:00:20,040 - I've had a lucky life in which I have 7 00:00:21,680 --> 00:00:25,077 fought to mess things up, and fate has always thrown me a bone. 8 00:00:25,160 --> 00:00:30,200 - You've traveled in South America and had hobos chase you with machetes. 9 00:00:30,840 --> 00:00:32,687 - Yeah. Once. - Yeah, yeah. So that happened. 10 00:00:32,770 --> 00:00:35,210 - That was a series of poor life decisions. 11 00:00:35,300 --> 00:00:39,057 And I ran, I ran away. You know, I ran away to South America. 12 00:00:39,140 --> 00:00:43,140 That was a poor decision. I ran away from the guy with a knife. 13 00:00:44,100 --> 00:00:48,580 That was a good decision. I came to America. That was a good decision. 14 00:00:50,020 --> 00:00:53,837 I came to LA, that's, I think, been a good decision. 15 00:00:53,920 --> 00:00:57,197 It's been fun to see a different side of America and be in a different 16 00:00:57,280 --> 00:01:00,977 creative environment. LA is still amazing for creativity 17 00:01:01,060 --> 00:01:04,657 and entertainment, the wider entertainment industry stuff. I think that's 18 00:01:04,740 --> 00:01:09,050 been fun. What would I say? I would say, 19 00:01:11,600 --> 00:01:16,537 when you get a chance, take it. That was one thing I did do well. 20 00:01:16,620 --> 00:01:20,190 When I got chances, I was good at taking them. 21 00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:24,880 I would say, do not worry too young about your career. 22 00:01:25,040 --> 00:01:28,840 I would say, worry about having a rounded intellectual inner life, 23 00:01:29,080 --> 00:01:32,657 'cause you're gonna spend your whole life in your own head. So the more 24 00:01:32,740 --> 00:01:36,660 interesting you find your own head, the more interesting you find the world, 25 00:01:36,920 --> 00:01:40,817 the less you're gonna annoy yourself. So I would say, I would, 26 00:01:40,900 --> 00:01:44,477 I would say, do not do a vocational degree as an undergraduate. 27 00:01:44,560 --> 00:01:48,457 That's been my... I would say, do something else. Do something, 28 00:01:48,540 --> 00:01:52,480 you know, random and then focus afterwards. That would be, I think I was 29 00:01:52,580 --> 00:01:56,357 advocating against the obsession that people had about four years ago with 30 00:01:56,440 --> 00:02:00,810 STEM subjects. And now AI is gonna make them all irrelevant anyway, perhaps. 31 00:02:01,280 --> 00:02:05,760 So, you know, it's interesting to see everything changes. 32 00:02:07,780 --> 00:02:10,697 Jobs are not that hard. You know, turn up, be enthusiastic. 33 00:02:10,780 --> 00:02:17,780 Be, but turn up in person, be enthusiastic. Help people. 34 00:02:18,140 --> 00:02:20,917 Say, "You'll be fine in any job." People is, you know. 35 00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:24,488 - Did you always know when the chance to take showed up? Like this is, okay, 36 00:02:24,571 --> 00:02:26,397 this is interesting, this is new, this is different? 37 00:02:26,480 --> 00:02:30,177 - Not always, no. But the big times were the chance to move to America. 38 00:02:30,260 --> 00:02:33,017 For me, that was a big moment. My life was a mess in... 39 00:02:33,100 --> 00:02:39,117 - That was weird timing. So I read that Sam wrote you an email. What, what... 40 00:02:39,200 --> 00:02:42,520 in South America? - I literally, I was in South America... 41 00:02:43,420 --> 00:02:46,220 ...in Colombia where there was a war raging there. 42 00:02:47,420 --> 00:02:54,180 I was making a series of very poor life choices and a lack of life skills, age 25. 43 00:02:55,980 --> 00:02:59,910 My latest poor choice was to get up too early, because the police didn't start 44 00:03:00,180 --> 00:03:04,097 work till 9:00, but the muggers started at 8:00. And so I was out walking along 45 00:03:04,180 --> 00:03:06,940 the beach at 8:00 and these... 46 00:03:07,100 --> 00:03:10,977 guys, this Rasta who turned up, who I'd been talking to the day before, 47 00:03:11,060 --> 00:03:14,797 started trying to talk to me. And then two guys came up to talk to him, 48 00:03:14,880 --> 00:03:16,550 and I couldn't tell... 49 00:03:17,540 --> 00:03:21,397 if they were trying to mug him 'cause he owed them money or he brought me to them. 50 00:03:21,480 --> 00:03:25,377 But I did notice one of them had a machete and the other had a kind of broken gun. 51 00:03:25,460 --> 00:03:27,478 So I thought, "This is not good." And I ran off, 52 00:03:27,561 --> 00:03:29,377 sprinted down the beach in my silly shoes. 53 00:03:29,460 --> 00:03:33,377 And got the chance, for 54 00:03:33,460 --> 00:03:36,790 once in my life, to run over to a road, jump into a taxi and 55 00:03:37,020 --> 00:03:40,720 scream, "Take me anywhere!" I felt like I'm in an action movie, and a 56 00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:43,591 guy's chasing after with a machete. The taxi driver looks back, 57 00:03:43,674 --> 00:03:45,117 sees the dude with the machete, 58 00:03:45,200 --> 00:03:48,497 and goes, "?" And I'm, "No, no, no, they're not my friends." 59 00:03:48,580 --> 00:03:52,517 "Get me out of here." He drove me up the street into a bit where 60 00:03:52,600 --> 00:03:58,320 the town was. It's kind of between the old town and the new town in Cartagena. And 61 00:03:59,180 --> 00:04:03,097 I got out of the car and then cut my foot on a rock. That was the sum total 62 00:04:03,180 --> 00:04:07,100 of my injuries. Then I went to an internet café, cause this was probably 63 00:04:07,220 --> 00:04:10,620 late '98, and got the chance to come and work 64 00:04:10,740 --> 00:04:14,537 on a game for six weeks in New York. And I was like, "Well, if I stay in South 65 00:04:14,620 --> 00:04:16,772 America much longer, I'm going to get myself killed," 66 00:04:16,855 --> 00:04:19,540 'cause this was when I was getting into silly stuff. 67 00:04:21,420 --> 00:04:25,320 And so I went to New York, and they were just starting Rockstar. I got to sort 68 00:04:25,440 --> 00:04:29,237 of write the mission statements and whatnot there, and help set the tone for 69 00:04:29,320 --> 00:04:33,217 that and just ended up staying. I had to come and go 70 00:04:33,300 --> 00:04:36,957 a bit while all visas got sorted out. And then I just ended up 71 00:04:37,040 --> 00:04:40,797 staying, "I'll stay for a year 'cause New York's pretty fun." It actually was 72 00:04:40,880 --> 00:04:47,880 not that-- this was the height of Giuliani before he was a maniac. So 73 00:04:48,460 --> 00:04:50,897 you couldn't-- when you went to bars, you were told you couldn't dance. 74 00:04:50,980 --> 00:04:53,197 'Cause they were trying to clamp down on New York being fun. 75 00:04:53,280 --> 00:04:56,641 So it was actually less fun than London, but there's still a great energy in New 76 00:04:56,725 --> 00:05:01,657 York. And I got exposed to the kind of madness of New York capitalism. 77 00:05:01,740 --> 00:05:03,735 - By the way, as we hear sirens in the background, 78 00:05:03,819 --> 00:05:05,377 that always makes me think of New York. 79 00:05:05,460 --> 00:05:06,197 - Yeah, of course. - Whenever I'm in New York... 80 00:05:06,280 --> 00:05:06,997 - Yeah -...there's always sirens. 81 00:05:07,080 --> 00:05:09,679 - Steam coming out the floor, people screaming at you. I mean, 82 00:05:09,762 --> 00:05:12,417 you get people screaming at you in LA, at least. 83 00:05:12,500 --> 00:05:14,187 - Yeah, but it's more distributed, it's more, uh... 84 00:05:14,270 --> 00:05:14,947 - Yeah, it's more spread out. -...spread out, yeah. 85 00:05:15,030 --> 00:05:16,860 - You can get a bit more quiet here. 86 00:05:16,960 --> 00:05:20,817 I love the energy. It was great to work hard and then be able to 87 00:05:20,900 --> 00:05:25,970 go out for dinner late. And New York was really, really a fun experience for me.