11. The Highs and Lows that Define Creative Careers – with Hywel Berry

Richard Taylor is back with a new thought-provoking episode of “Always an Expat.” Accompanied by Hywel Berry, the discussion segues into the intriguing dichotomy between British modesty and American tenacity concerning professional identities. The conversation teases apart the threads of this cultural quilt, assessing the influence of these contrasting tendencies on the ways individuals represent themselves professionally.

Venturing into specific industry experiences, this episode also underscores the challenges of professional screenwriting and explores the related narratives revealing the highs and lows that define creative careers. Finally, the episode rounds out with a focus on evolving from passion to practicality, illustrating how individuals repurpose their skills as they steer their careers in new directions. Join us as we delve into these compelling stories of resilience, imagination, and triumph.

Always an Expat is affiliated with Plan First Wealth LLC, an SEC registered investment advisor. The views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of Plan First Wealth.

Information presented is for educational purposes only and does not intend to make an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of any specific securities, investments, or investment strategies. Investments involve risk and unless otherwise stated, are not guaranteed. Be sure to first consult with a qualified financial adviser and/or tax professional before implementing any strategy discussed herein. Plan First Wealth does not provide any tax and/or legal advice and strongly recommends that listeners seek their own advice in these areas.

Transcript

Richard Taylor:
[00:00:05 - 00:00:21]
But the difference that everyone has spoken about is Americans are just better at number one, being told, no, Americans just go, no, I think I'm going to do it anyway. Whereas british people have a definite sort of like, oh, really? I'm not allowed to do that. Like, okay then, fair enough. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:00:26 - 00:01:00]
Hello, everyone, and welcome to another episode of Always an Expat, a podcast for british expats in America by british expats in America, dedicated to elevating expat stories whilst helping equip us to make the most of our opportunity. Brought to you by fellow british expat, yours truly, Richard Taylor. My guest today is Hal Berry. Hal is just down the road from me in Connecticut. He is a facilitator and keynote speaker to FTSE 250 and Fortune 500 companies, as well as the founder of Screenwritingjourney.com, which is a book and video training platform helping aspiring screenwriters to achieve success. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:01:00 - 00:01:32]
Now, Hal came to America in 2008 as the sales director for theft newspaper@ft.com then the world crashed, as I'm sure we all remember, and how was made redundant in 2009. This led to a new career as a facilitator and a public speaker and ultimately the launch of Screenwritingjourney.com. So, as I'm sure you can imagine by reading between the lines, this is truly a story of encountering challenges and rising to the occasion. This is classic expat stuff. And it's this kind of stuff that makes expat so compelling to me and hopefully to you. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:01:32 - 00:01:42]
Also. I'm really excited to get into this one, but before we get going, I've just got to get the boring stuff out of the way. Always. Next part is not a financial podcast. It's a podcast about the expat journey, specifically being a Brit in the US. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:01:42 - 00:02:13]
But it is brought to you by plan first wealth. Plan First wealth is a business I founded and run today and we work with successful british expatriates living across the US. People like the boys and girls who feature on this show, and we help them make the most opportunity, avoid the expat landmine and one day retire happier, which is surely what it's all about. Now, with that being said, whilst plan first wealth is an SEC registered investment advisor, the views and opinions expressed in this programme are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views and positions of plan first wealth. Information presented is for educational purposes only. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:02:14 - 00:02:21]
Right, I'm going to go and have a lie down after that. So without further ado, let's do this. Hi, Howell, welcome to always an expat. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:02:21 - 00:02:24]
Thank you very much. Lovely to be here. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:02:24 - 00:02:32]
Right, okay, so how you had quite the introduction there. There's a lot to unpack here. I'm really excited. You've been on a journey, right? This is what this podcast is all about and you've been on a journey? 

Richard Taylor:
[00:02:32 - 00:02:37]
Yeah. And a wonderful one. But yeah, absolute ups and downs. Definitely. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:02:37 - 00:02:49]
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. It sounds trite, saying it's our challenges, it's difficulties, the unforeseen things that make us. It's trite, it's true. But anyway, will you tell us in your own words, give us a breakdown of how we got here? 

Richard Taylor:
[00:02:49 - 00:03:04]
Interesting, because I do actually end up giving this story a lot, of course. So as a facilitator and public speaker, there's a lot of introducing to groups and who I am and what I do. So here is my honed 1 minute version of this. I was an actor when I was a kid. You can find me on IMDb. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:03:04 - 00:03:18]
I went to cheque myself up. I'm actually 843,000 on the star metre today. So clearly that was not the career going to make me my money, but loved that. Thought I was going to be an actor, then got into 20s, realised that was harder than I thought. In your 20s. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:03:18 - 00:03:28]
Different to teenage acting. So moved to writing. Produced a couple of plays that did pretty well. Decided I wanted to be a screenwriter. I say poured myself into that. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:03:28 - 00:03:52]
But one of the big problems was I never really worked hard enough at it. I thought it would just happen on its own if I wrote a couple of screenplays and sent them off. So eventually had to get real job jobs to pay bills. So I moved into sales, was at a rather crappy magazine for a couple of years, but then ended up at the Financial Times newspaper, which was just a wonderful place to work. They liked me, they kept promoting me, it paid know I lived a nice life in London. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:03:53 - 00:04:05]
It was great. But all the time I really was still trying to be a screenwriter. That was what my evenings were spent doing. That was what I was trying to kick start the career. But I kept getting more senior at the paper and that takes up more and more of your time. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:04:05 - 00:04:23]
And then in 2008, I actually had a couple of things going in the UK. I had a writing group and we had a script that kept being commissioned and BBC had just bought it. Looked like it was going to happen, then didn't. And then basically my job kind of became redundant through nobody's fault. They'd bought a website, they didn't need me anymore. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:04:23 - 00:04:47]
But everyone liked me a lot. And so rather than making me redundant, I basically said, why don't you just send me to America? So I'd been to New York when I was 14, I went back when I was 18 and I just adored it to bits and had this dream of living and working in Manhattan and what that would be like and all the movies that go with it and all the places I'd seen. And so it was very lovely of them. They said, yeah, okay, let's do that. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:04:47 - 00:04:59]
So they put me on a six month succumbent. So I came over in April 2008. They paid for my apartment while I was here. They did all the paperwork. Listening to your other episodes, how we got here, it was very easy, literally. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:04:59 - 00:05:13]
They just did all the big company paperwork to move somebody over. We were owned by Pearson at the time. Say we, as if I still work at the newspaper, but they were owned by Pearson. And so I came over and had that six months and then they took me on full time. And so that was it. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:05:13 - 00:05:31]
That wasn't going to be my life. So I sold everything I'd left in the UK to a friend of mine for 2000 pounds. That was my entire life up to that point. And he took everything and I moved here and I got an apartment for myself. And then, yeah, six months after that, as the world crashed around us, they basically said, we don't need you here anymore, Howell. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:05:31 - 00:05:43]
And they offered to send me back home. Not to the job. I was out of the job but they offered to pay for me to get back to the UK. And I didn't want to go, I wanted to stay. I loved it from the moment I got here. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:05:43 - 00:05:59]
I just fell completely in love with it. Living and working in New York was everything I thought it was going to be. And so I didn't want to go. And I'd been seeing a very lovely woman and it was a bit awkward because really I could only stay if we got married. But we'd only been seeing each other for three months. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:05:59 - 00:06:09]
So it was this very sort of, what do we do now? Let's just stay and see what happens. So I spent the summer there and then at the end of the summer we decided, let's do this thing. So that was what kept me. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:06:11 - 00:06:12]
Now. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:06:12 - 00:06:24]
And now are we still together? Yes. Don't worry. It really was like her friends and family were honestly saying to her, we don't trust this guy. Like he's after a green card. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:06:24 - 00:06:34]
And 15 years and two children later, they now trust me. That I'm. Yeah, it's either the longest con in the world or we do actually love each other completely. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:06:34 - 00:06:40]
That's a pretty cool story that, though. So three months, I imagine the conversation. What do you think we should do? 

Richard Taylor:
[00:06:40 - 00:06:41]
No, you tell me. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:06:41 - 00:06:44]
What do you think we should do? I don't want to say it. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:06:44 - 00:06:54]
We sort of obviously laugh about it now. We actually met on our first day. She started at the paper the first day that I started in New York. I'd been there for nine years. Obviously she doesn't remember this at all. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:06:54 - 00:07:11]
Apparently I remember it, but we met at the Christmas party that year, 2008. We went on our first date and she told me months later, but she texted her sister and said, that's it. I've just met the man I'm going to marry. Like, she was into it straight away. It is a bit of a joke that I wasn't quite that definite that early, but yeah, we did that six months. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:07:11 - 00:07:19]
We did a trip to LA and drove up to San Francisco. We did the proper, like, let's go on a big vacation and see if we still like each other. Yeah. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:07:19 - 00:07:22]
Wait, were you in a convertible mustang? 

Richard Taylor:
[00:07:22 - 00:07:33]
That would be cool, wouldn't it? No, it was not that exciting. It was a pretty standard rental car. I think it was slightly sporty. I seem to remember that we got something that would be fun driving up the 101. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:07:33 - 00:07:49]
But I ask because I did that trip. I was in my late twenty s and my wife and I did that in a convertible Mustang. And it faced about three years. About ten other couples did it. And then everyone had kids and we thought we were really cool doing something really unique. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:07:50 - 00:07:59]
And no, everyone was doing it around the same time. You know, when he said I wanted to live and work in New York, do you know the one thing that popped into my brain immediately? Vodka martini. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:07:59 - 00:07:59]
Oh, interesting. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:07:59 - 00:08:08]
I didn't think about it. That popped into my head. I was introduced to and partook in a lot of vodka martinis while I lived in Manhattan. It felt like the appropriate thing to do. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:08:08 - 00:08:23]
It was living here that introduced me to. I guess I drunk champagne a bit, but it was living in New York that we really got into it. And that was our first date was at a champagne bar in New York. And since then, that is our drink of choice all the time. So New York definitely changed that. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:08:23 - 00:08:31]
Wow. Okay, so here. Ever since married, two kids. Let's go back to then. We've got to mind that because that must have been, frankly, terrifying. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:08:31 - 00:08:33]
The move itself, you mean? 

Hywel Berry :
[00:08:33 - 00:08:37]
No getting here and then kind of, like, everything falling down around you. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:08:37 - 00:08:52]
Yeah, well, it's weird, isn't it? So I teach change curves now. So since I'd lost that career, I had to find a new one. So, as you mentioned, I've been facilitating and teaching. And so it's a lot of leadership developments, a lot of personal development, sales training, more recently, a lot of diversity and inclusion. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:08:52 - 00:09:06]
And one of the big things is going through change. And so the standard change curve, even if it's a good thing, you get a burst of energy and fun, and then you will have a crash. Something bad will happen. But for that first year, nothing bad happened. I just had an amazing time. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:09:06 - 00:09:14]
Everything was everything you could want it to be. The city was amazing. I started dating this wonderful woman. It was brilliant. So it took a year for that crash. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:09:14 - 00:09:27]
But when it came, yeah, it was huge. I had just upped and left. I was 32 when I got here, but I was single. I thought of myself as very sort of carefree. I had my two suitcases of stuff, and that was it. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:09:27 - 00:09:44]
But when I walked into work that day, there wasn't an iota of me that thought I was about to lose my job at. You know, they said, can you go and speak to the boss? And up I went and like, yeah, we don't want you anymore, Howell. And I walked out and I sat in Central park, just staring at pigeons, thinking, what do I do? Know? 

Richard Taylor:
[00:09:45 - 00:09:51]
All the worst things. You think when you get let go. Like, I thought I was needed. I thought I was good at this. I thought they liked me. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:09:51 - 00:09:59]
I thought I'd added to the company. And turns out, no, none of that was true. Like, you just didn't want me anymore. That's it. I'm gone. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:09:59 - 00:10:13]
And so I think I did two more days in the office. I can't remember exactly what day it was, but let's say it was a Monday. By Wednesday, everything I'd spent ten years, my basic 20s, had been at theft. That was what I did and knew. And so, yeah, I was really befuddled. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:10:13 - 00:10:22]
And the worst bit is, of course, I couldn't work. My visa was job. It was an l one visa. Like, I couldn't just go off and get another job. So that was why we spent that six months. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:10:22 - 00:10:33]
And I burned through the cash. They were very generous with a redundancy. It was a good british company. They paid me a month, a year in redundancy money. But you live in Manhattan with no other money coming in. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:10:33 - 00:10:41]
That goes fast. And so it was barely the end of the summer. There was April. I got let go. It was barely like October when we went on this vacation. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:10:42 - 00:10:48]
But as I say, the vacation really was, let's see if we're going to get married, because if we're not, I got to go. There's no other way I can stay. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:10:48 - 00:10:53]
How come you haven't had to leave or ready? Had you gone out and come back in on Esther or something? 

Richard Taylor:
[00:10:53 - 00:11:17]
I don't want to get anyone into trouble, so I won't specify specifically, but I will say that what then happened was we got back from San Francisco, went to see a lawyer, and basically said, we want to get married. What do we do? And the answer was, just get married now and deal with it after the fact. But we'd actually had a trip booked to the UK. I was going to take her back for Christmas, I think, that year, as I remember. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:11:17 - 00:11:33]
And they basically said, like, don't leave. If you leave and come back in and lie about why you're coming back, that's real trouble. But if you get married now and then deal with that after fact. And so we went through the whole proper, we got married. We had to document our life together. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:11:33 - 00:11:54]
We went for our are you a real couple? Interview. I got really nervous on the day. I was fine leading up to it, but, yeah, when we got there and they were asking these questions, like, two funny ones were Howell, what's Annette's phone number? Well, of course, by 2009, we didn't know anyone's phone numbers anymore, and we weren't allowed to bring our phones. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:11:54 - 00:12:13]
So I went six, four, six, and then just started saying numbers. And Annette, like, my wife, giggled, and turns out I hadn't got, like, barely half of it right at all. But she kept saying to me, does Annette have any brothers or sisters? And I said, yeah, yeah, she's got an older brother and a younger sister. And then, like, five minutes later, does Annette have any siblings? 

Richard Taylor:
[00:12:13 - 00:12:27]
And I was like, yeah, an older brother and a younger sister. And she asked this, like, five times. And then later on, she said to my wife, do you have any siblings? And Annette went, yeah, an older brother and a younger sister. So we finished and we said to our lawyer, like, that was weird. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:12:27 - 00:12:40]
And that they kept asking the same thing. Is that a trick to try and catch you out? And he's like, nah, I think she just forgot that she was asking you. And I think it was more of a, you seem legitimate. Let's go through this process. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:12:40 - 00:12:49]
Given people who are in the room there. I think there were some more suspicious couples there than we were. And so they accepted our photos and our life. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:12:49 - 00:13:02]
Those meetings are incredibly daunting for us. But then I think you forget. I mean, I think my last interview with the USCIS, I was in there maybe 20 minutes. So what was he doing? He's doing 15 of those a day. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:13:03 - 00:13:12]
You're just another number. But the amount of power they wield, it's intimidating. And then you're not thinking of it. Like, I'm just one of 15. And there are some questionable circumstances in this waiting room. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:13:12 - 00:13:18]
I'm sure it's a very daunting process that people who have never had to go through anything like that can't really comprehend, I don't think. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:13:18 - 00:13:27]
And to the point of, we don't believe you, we're sending you away. Like, that's the ultimate thing. And so in the room, I started, like, shaking. Genuinely. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:13:28 - 00:13:36]
Yeah, it's even worse than that. I think it's like, oh, we don't believe you, so we're sending you away. Oh, and by the way, because we think you've lied to us, you're not coming back to us ever. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:13:36 - 00:13:37]
Like, wait, what? 

Hywel Berry :
[00:13:38 - 00:13:48]
I just came to get let in forever and you're just kicking me out for good? Like, wait, what just happened here? I'm spinning. Tell me. You're going through this, change management, but you plod along and then there's this huge crash. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:13:48 - 00:13:50]
What happens next? What's the resurrection? 

Richard Taylor:
[00:13:50 - 00:14:05]
Well, so to your intro. And obviously, the other part of my life was this racing part. And so, of course, in ideal world, what I thought was like, okay, that'll be the kick up the ass. I need to go and do this properly. So I was with my wife and then girlfriend, and we were having a wonderful time. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:14:06 - 00:14:24]
But actually, look, I had a bit of money and I had this lovely apartment in New York, so I actually looked into house swapping with somebody in LA, and the idea would be I would go out, give myself six months, and see if I could really make this work. And Annette was going to come with me. Like, this wasn't. Instead of this was Annette going again. Her friends were saying, are you nuts? 

Richard Taylor:
[00:14:24 - 00:14:31]
You're moving across the country with this guy you just started seeing. But. So we tried to do it, and it just didn't. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:14:31 - 00:14:32]
Did they give her a safe word? 

Richard Taylor:
[00:14:32 - 00:14:51]
Like, if you call up badger, then, look, they didn't even deal with safe words. Her parents literally sat down and said, we think you're a bad idea. And the funny thing was, I've never been. The bad problem guy was the one that everyone's parents wanted their daughters to date. I was so safe and boring and suddenly I was this, like, he's tried to trick you. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:14:51 - 00:15:13]
So that was the plan, potentially, and it didn't happen for various reasons. And then the money had sort of gone and so it was like, well, we can't really do that. But I was writing in those six months. I thought, like, let's really try this properly. And I did much better, but I still fell into my traps, which are too much procrastination, too much dealing with rejection badly. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:15:14 - 00:15:49]
So when I would send work out, if they didn't write back and say, that's the greatest thing I've ever read, howell, we want to offer you a job immediately. I would go, what's wrong with know, why did I bother spending months on this? And I would say, honestly, richard, this is a definite british american difference. So I grew up in worlds of actors and writers and directors and stuff, and many of them have come across to America in various forms, either when they were successful or when they were trying to be successful. But the difference that everyone has spoken about is Americans are just better at number one, being told, no, Americans just go, no, I think I'm going to do it anyway. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:15:49 - 00:16:04]
Whereas british people have a definite sort of like, oh, really? I'm not allowed to do that. Like, okay then, fair enough. But the other big one is, I was a working actor as a teenager, but I still didn't make a huge point of it because the stuff I'd in, I wasn't like a big star. I'd been in a big role. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:16:04 - 00:16:31]
I was just in lots of small things in spend of the television show, if you remember Richard, and like Catherine Cookson movies. So it's not like I ran around telling people, whereas of course, in New York and LA, when people are serving you food, they will just say bluntly, I'm an know, I just do this on the side. Like, their job is an actress. And as I had friends who went over for, like pilot season where they would meet people parking cars and say, I'm really a film director. Do you want me to park your car for you? 

Richard Taylor:
[00:16:31 - 00:16:36]
And we just don't do that in Britain. We would never dare say, I'm a film director. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:16:36 - 00:16:37]
You get laughed out of the pub. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:16:37 - 00:16:48]
Yeah, like, well, what have you directed? Well, nothing. Well, then you're not a film director, are you? Whereas the american mentality is, I'm a film director, I just haven't made anything yet. Like, that's what I'm doing. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:16:48 - 00:16:57]
Well, the mirror image of that is the amount of irish people who have family haven't been in Ireland under 400 years. And I find the same rules of Italians here as well. You're not italian. No, you're just not. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:16:57 - 00:17:18]
But happy to just be what I honestly believe I am, and I will get there at some point. And I totally admit that wasn't my mindset. I was never good enough at just being able to say, pick myself up and go. And the problem was, at most times I had a good corporate career running the same time, bringing in money. But at least at this period, I had nothing else. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:17:18 - 00:17:35]
So there was this real drive of make this work, make this work. And I got much further. I did start having conversations with real producers, I was discussing with agents and being signed. I did get actual writing work that paid. So it was money, but it was far from a living. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:17:35 - 00:18:03]
And as the writer strike has just told us again, there's Emmy award winning writers who are finding it hard to make an actual living as writers in Hollywood. So I got my green card in like late 2009, I guess it must have been, or early 2010, and I was definitely getting work by that point. But if I don't start making money soon, we can't stay in New York. We can't do this. So that was when I went looking for a career that would take me on at that moment, because now I'd been out of work for a year. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:18:03 - 00:18:20]
You've brought up this writer's strike and what's going on with AI and the mean. I'm looking forward to get into what you are doing now and where this path has taken you. But when we get there, I'm interested to know whether you look back and you're know it happened for a reason. If I'd made it as a screenwriter, I'd be struggling now. It sounds pretty brutal out there. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:18:20 - 00:18:30]
And look, it's one of those terrible things for anybody listening to this that wants to get into that world. What even is making it as a screenwriter? What does that even mean, getting a film made? That's amazing. What an amazing feeling. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:18:30 - 00:18:45]
But that doesn't guarantee you another job. Being a writer on a show in the room. That doesn't mean there's work next year. It's a really hard career. And that was one of the reasons I didn't end up going into acting was I didn't want that kind of unknown quantity of where the next job was. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:18:45 - 00:19:01]
And some of my best friends who did went through all the highs and lows had a best friend who ended up on a soap opera in the UK and was thus famous and rich for five years. And after that he was just that guy on a soap opera who couldn't really get work because of it. Like all the worst things you think can happen to you as an actor. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:19:01 - 00:19:12]
I imagine that's particularly hard. I mean, when grassroots. But Hollyoaks was big. And then there was all these young kids who were in Hollyoaks and to us 1617 year olds who were famous. And then most friends are on to do nothing and they're never going to. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:19:12 - 00:19:20]
And they must have had, like, a brief moment of fame, a load of money in the pocket, and then lost all that cachet and money. And that's got to be hard, really hard. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:19:20 - 00:19:37]
At least as a writer, you're secretly not famous anymore. Most people don't see you in the street and go, you're that guy who used to write that tv show. But it's still just as hard. So to your point, like, what would have happened? I can say this now wholeheartedly, even though I try my hardest to help new writers. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:19:37 - 00:19:58]
So through the book that I wrote and through the course that I offer, I am now happy to admit that if you actually said to me now at 47, you can have a career as a movie writer, I don't think I would take it anymore. I don't think it's a life I want to lead. Even if you could promise me that I made similar money. I enjoy the life I have too much. I love living in Connecticut. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:19:58 - 00:20:28]
I love, honestly, the job that I do that turns out is probably the job I should have been doing all those years because it combines all the pieces of who I am. It's performance, it's acting, it's getting a room full of people clapping you, which it turns out I needed more than I had forgotten over the years. It's a bit of improv, it's a bit of stand up, it's a bit of writing. Like, it's all of these things. And actually now just sitting in a room writing and having producers tell me what's wrong with my script, I don't think I'd enjoy that now. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:20:28 - 00:20:48]
I really want to dive into what you're doing currently, but just before we do writing. Right. It surprises me how competitive and how oversubscribed writing gigs are. Because acting looks easy. I don't think it is to be a good actor, I think is when you think of some of the acting performances, I think it's an incredibly skilled and difficult job. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:20:48 - 00:21:01]
And I guess making it look easy is a skill in its own right. But I think people gravitate to it because I think anyone thinks they can do that right. But writing is hard. Good writing is very hard. So it surprises me how many writers there are. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:21:01 - 00:21:21]
Well, again, it depends what you call writers. It also depends what you call actors. Again, people with an equity card in the UK or even a SAG member over here, or people who actually making a full living doing it. But writing, look, anybody can put pen to paper and write a screenplay, and I'm going to suggest you do, because you don't know how good you are until you've done it. And also, you're not going to be amazing the first time. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:21:21 - 00:21:38]
Nobody is. Strangely, it is one of those worlds where people do think if I just write a screenplay and send it off to a bunch of producers, I'll probably be able to sell it. Well, that's like saying if I just paint a picture, it'll probably go up in the Louvre. Like, no, it won't. It'll take you years to get that good. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:21:38 - 00:22:04]
And the people who get there faced years of being told, give this up, this is stupid, and who knows who breaks through? But look, you're never going to paint a picture good enough to get into Louvre unless you start painting pictures. You're also never going to be a good writer or star writer until you start putting pen to paper and writing scripts. And the ten to 20th, you'll go, I'm getting really good at this, so I would never tell anybody not to do it and try it. You want to try it, try it. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:22:04 - 00:22:23]
But also don't go in with this idea that your first script is going to be Tarantino like it isn't. He didn't just knock those scripts out of nowhere. He'd spent years to get that good, as did Aaron Sorkin, as did any writer you know about. So try it. But there are 50,000 scripts registered each year for movies with the writers Guild. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:22:23 - 00:22:46]
Essentially, like to register it as, like a piece of copyright proof. Of those 50,000, you're talking a couple of hundred that are of the quality to actually get bought by a major studio. And if you're lucky, ten of those will get made by each studio. So what readers have to do is wade through just acres and acres of nonsense. But again, the system is set up for that. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:22:46 - 00:23:04]
So it's not don't do it. It's just understand you are in a staggeringly huge pool of people, of which a very small number are going to actually make real money each year. But again, you're never going to get there unless you put yourself in that pool and start fighting hard. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:23:04 - 00:23:15]
I can't remember what the book is called. You probably know where they advocate. You get up and you write every day. You do ten lines or one page, whatever it is, rain or shine, no matter how you feel, you just write. And that's how you just build that muscle up. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:23:15 - 00:23:29]
Our rule is not that much different. Mine, I sell to people is. Whatever your free time is, 50% of that should be spent writing. Because, again, it's like saying, I'm going to be a world class chef, but I'll do that by cooking one meal a day for me and my family. That's not going to happen. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:23:29 - 00:23:33]
Like, it's got to now be a major part of your life, if that's what you want to do. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:23:33 - 00:23:48]
Think about all the unpaid man hours in those 50,000 scripts. Because I imagine as well, writing a screenplay for a movie, that's a project that takes months or years, right? Not like an acting job. Say you do get an acting job, you turn up. Even these major movies take, like, three months to shoot, right? 

Hywel Berry :
[00:23:48 - 00:23:54]
Whereas writing a screenplay for a movie, that could take months, years. It's a big endeavour. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:23:54 - 00:24:09]
It is a big endeavour. And to the difference between acting. Look, I can spend years auditioning and it's horrible being told no all the time, but yes, when I get a job, that's amazing. But you're right. I've literally poured three months to six months of my heart and soul and life into a screenplay. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:24:09 - 00:24:23]
When I then get told it's terrible, there is nothing more crushing in the entire world. Yeah, it's really heartbreaking. And, of course, the worst feeling is to get better. I've got to do that again. Can I really do that? 

Richard Taylor:
[00:24:23 - 00:24:32]
And so the number of people who write one and never write anything else is very, very high indeed, because that rejection and heartbreak after that first one is so hard. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:24:32 - 00:24:38]
How? Listen, I get it. For two decades in career in persuasion and essentially sales, I've got incredibly thin skin. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:24:39 - 00:24:39]
I put a lot of stuff out. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:24:39 - 00:25:03]
There into the world. And really, the other day, a woman who doesn't know me responded to one of my emails that she didn't believe I was british because I sounded too much like a second hand american car salesman. And I just responded like, ouch, it really hurts. And then she asked me where I was from in the Lake district, and I realised not only did she think I sounded like a second hand american car salesman, she hadn't been reading anything I'd been saying, because I do not live in the Lake district and I never have. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:25:03 - 00:25:13]
Where did she get Lake District from? Because the general assumption is when you say you're british, they go, where are you from in London? And you go like, no, there's more than that in the UK. I promise you, it's not that big, but it is bigger than London. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:25:13 - 00:25:27]
One of my emails had referenced learning to sail in the Lake District and somehow she ended up in. I lived there, so it was very confusing experience. But I tell you what, it hurt and it lingered and I remembered and I'm talking about it now, two weeks later. That's how thin my skin. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:25:27 - 00:25:47]
Yeah, yeah. I mean, look, I used to get crushed when people didn't want to buy ad space with theft newspaper, and it's like, what do you know? It's a huge newspaper, but still I was selling it to you and you saying no means that I feel I failed somehow, or I've let the paper down. So, yeah, even in that, I have it. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:25:47 - 00:25:59]
And having your own business, where you've designed the proposition, you've crafted what you believe to be this world beating, unique offering, and then people that aren't banging your door down, you're like, wait, do you not realise? Where are you? It hurts. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:25:59 - 00:25:59]
Yeah. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:25:59 - 00:26:02]
How do you become a facilitator? How does that happen? 

Richard Taylor:
[00:26:02 - 00:26:22]
It's a very interesting world in that. I worked for many years for a british company called Mind Gym. They were just launching in the US at the time, in 2010, as I got my green card. And so my brother had actually worked for them in the UK and he had always said I would enjoy it. So I reached out to them and what's wonderful about it is there is no real required background. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:26:22 - 00:26:36]
Like, looking at somebody's resume is a kind of waste. The only thing you need to know is that they've done some interesting stuff that they can share. Now, I was an interesting mix of things. So who makes a good facilitator? People who are good at performance. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:26:36 - 00:26:55]
So I had that. People who have corporate experience. So I was just coming out of nine years as a, I say, sales director, and I was, but it's an easier term for describing what I was. But a middle manager of a team of kind of 15 by the end of it. So I understood how companies work and what's most facilitating is speaking to corporate people. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:26:55 - 00:27:02]
Usually at quite big companies, can be small companies, but quite big companies. So knowing their real world is very powerful. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:27:02 - 00:27:03]
Not. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:27:03 - 00:27:19]
I've always just taught the idea, but I have been in your shoes. I know what it's like to try and get stuff done in a big corporate entity, but beyond that, honestly, what makes you great is just an exciting, interesting, engaging person. And a resume. Can't tell you that at all. So I got the job. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:27:20 - 00:27:40]
I went through this week certification, where they taught me how to be a facilitator. So I felt very comfortable presenting, of course, as a salesperson. That's what I'd done for years. What I realised was I'd been presenting at people and actually what facilitation is. But really now, how I teach sales and anything like it is, converse with, don't present at. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:27:40 - 00:28:04]
You're there to lead the conversation, but the more you get people talking and doing stuff, the much more engaged they are. I'm sure you've been to corporate events, Richard, where there's an entertaining person on stage and, great, I'll listen, but if I'm just sitting here, you've got maybe 20 minutes, and after that, my mind will start wandering pretty soon. So I joined them freelancing. I did have my green card by this point. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:28:04 - 00:28:11]
Wait, so mind gym, you're not facilitating for them, they've put you through a course to facilitate and then loaning you out? 

Richard Taylor:
[00:28:12 - 00:28:23]
No, I am then facilitating for them. So I took their facilitation course, but as in to certify to become one of their trainers. They called them coaches, but kind of in room trainers. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:28:23 - 00:28:33]
Hal, quick question. So I'm a big corporate. How does the conversation between me and my fellow big shots in the boardroom end up going, do you know what we need to hire a facilitator for this? 

Richard Taylor:
[00:28:33 - 00:29:04]
Well, it definitely goes, we need to do some training. So every big corporate entity has an L D department, learning and development department, and look, a huge amount of budget is set aside for we need to be investing in our people. Now, sometimes we honestly need to invest in them because we care about them and sometimes we need to look like we're investing and do the courses we need to do. But most of the time, I absolutely believe that they care about their employees and they want them to be as successful as possible. So whether it's general leadership training, we want our managers to be as good as possible. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:29:04 - 00:29:31]
As I say, more recently, Dei training obviously has become much more prominent in the last eight years. One of the stories I tell is I was 25 when I became a manager at theft for the first time. I had never heard the words diversity and inclusion at all. I just got set off to hire people with no real idea what I was doing and fell into all the traps you would fall into of hiring people who seem like you. I genuinely used to ask, what's your favourite movie? 

Richard Taylor:
[00:29:31 - 00:29:39]
And if they didn't have one, I would think, well, then I'll have nothing to talk to them about. So they're not a good fit. Was a perfectly good reason to not give somebody a job. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:29:39 - 00:29:55]
Got to just jump in here and ask you. Then obviously, this Dei thing, huge. In the last few years, after George Floyd, a lot of the criticisms out there are that a lot of companies are just paying lip service to it. So as someone who's seeing this across different companies is your opinion, it's lip service or there is a real sea. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:29:55 - 00:30:31]
Change going about, I honestly don't care if you're doing some training on it, people will walk out getting something from it. Most of us have never been engaged in this world at all. We've never once been asked to question how we speak to people or why we say certain things or why I tut when one person talks and engage with eye contact with another person. So I don't care if it's lip service, but if everybody gets exposed to the idea that whether you like it or not, you are just bias, you're not a bad human, you're just a human. But if you look at it and go, why do I treat these two people so differently? 

Richard Taylor:
[00:30:31 - 00:30:51]
Why do I make judgments so fast? And yes, why do I say certain things to certain people and not others? Why do I give this person more time than that person? So my whole style in mind, Jim's style for many years, was, we're certainly not here to tell you you've made mistakes. We're certainly not here to tell you you're a bad person, but we are here to make you think. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:30:51 - 00:31:14]
I wonder why I make certain choices in a room with different people and for, let's face it, hundreds if not thousands of years, we've never really been asked to think about that. So this is a massive change in a very short space of time, how we deal with different colleagues and why. So I don't care. The reason. What I do want is everybody leaving the room going, I will think about this differently now. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:31:14 - 00:31:31]
I will challenge myself on, should I say this thing? And I don't agree with these people who, oh, you have to worry about every single thing you say now. No, you don't. You just have to think about it for a split second and think, if that's desperately rude, then, no, I shouldn't say it. It's not. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:31:31 - 00:31:48]
We're taking away the fun. We are just asking you, the world, not me, Howell. The world is just asking us to be a little thoughtful about how we treat people and how we speak to them. And especially in a work context, where now, what's the reality? Yeah, you can easily end up in court over it. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:31:48 - 00:31:51]
So why don't you just stop and think? Why would you say this? 

Hywel Berry :
[00:31:51 - 00:32:05]
I've got to ask you though, as you were saying that, by the way, you are preaching to the choir here, I agree with you entirely. Even if companies or attendees aren't engaged, I'm glad they're having to sit through it, because you can't help but learn something. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:32:05 - 00:32:05]
Right? 

Hywel Berry :
[00:32:05 - 00:32:19]
But you said something then that I could just imagine getting the backs up of so many people. Still, unfortunately, you said, we're human, we're just biassed. We have biases. Some people react really badly to that. There's no getting through to them, seemingly. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:32:19 - 00:32:30]
They just will not accept. They don't see colour or whatever it is they refuse to accept. So how have you dealt with that? You must have come up against that repeatedly over the last few years. People say, no, I don't. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:32:30 - 00:32:33]
I don't see colour, I don't see sex. I treat everyone as I want to be treated. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:32:33 - 00:32:55]
My whole job is to see everybody coming from the best place. Anyone who's willing to say that to me wants to feel of themselves as a good person. And nothing I'm saying is about you're not at all actually to that statement, we are all biassed. Honestly, in eight years of doing that and 14 years of general facilitation. Now, I've never had one person stand up and say, I'm not biassed, Howell. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:32:55 - 00:33:14]
So here's a very easy game that I play with, and I'll play it with you. Now, Richard, it's called trigger differences. What are the things that other people do that are strangely small, but have an outsized emotional reaction in you because of who you are, because of the life you've led? These things just drive you nuts. I will give you mine. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:33:14 - 00:33:33]
I've got slow talkers. I think we can all tell howl thinks and talks quickly. So when somebody's a slow talker, I just want to talk over them and finish their sentences. The other one is people who listen to their phones without headphones, playing music through the phone. I don't know where that came from, but they're all the most evil people in the world. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:33:33 - 00:33:46]
Now, I know that's petty and stupid and wrong. They're no better or worse than me. It doesn't matter. That's my view on the world and I will always consider it wrong. So come on, Richard, what are your trigger differences? 

Hywel Berry :
[00:33:46 - 00:33:55]
One that springs to mind here is people who use the lane for coming onto a motorway or an interstate or a dual carriageway to undertake you in a traffic jam. I want to throttle them. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:33:55 - 00:34:23]
Well, hey, look, if we want to talk differences between America, and know, I'm not saying people in Britain are good at lane management at all, but it is substantially worse here. And yes, the misunderstanding of when you're merging and that, that's an exit lane, I completely agree. But here's the thing. Look, there are other people who are not bothered by that, but your bias, this just sets you off completely. And so once we've got people thinking about stuff like this, it's very hard for anyone to sit in a room and go, I'm not biassed. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:34:23 - 00:34:46]
What they mean is I'm not evil. What they mean is I'm not cruel to people, I don't try and hurt them. And I absolutely agree. But micro messaging and specifically microaggressions are those tiny little things you do that you don't realise but have, again, an outsized reaction in others. So, as I say, talking over one person and listening with rapt attention to the other, why? 

Richard Taylor:
[00:34:46 - 00:35:05]
What's the difference here? Why do you treat them differently? So a story I tell, I used to work with somebody, I won't say his name here, but he used to go off topic in meetings all the time. And apparently, I honestly didn't know this, but I would make this noise. And eventually my boss said to me, you've got to stop making that noise when this person is talking. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:35:05 - 00:35:14]
And I'm like, what noise? What are you talking about? And he said, everybody knows it, and you always do it when he's Channing. And it wasn't even. I will take that out of microaggression. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:35:14 - 00:35:25]
That was just an aggression, but honestly, it was subconscious. He just used to drive me nuts in meetings. And so stopping and questioning all these little moments is all we're asking people to do. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:35:25 - 00:35:45]
Tangentially related. I actually was thinking this morning about some slight I'd received so long ago, right, something someone had said to me. I can't even think what it was now, but there's a few things that I can just remember vividly that are so innocuous but obviously upset me at the time. And this is from 510, 1520 years ago. Even really? 

Hywel Berry :
[00:35:45 - 00:36:11]
And today, for the first time, I flipped on its head and I thought, because I can be quite brusque and impatient, I can be really impatient, the slow talking thing would trigger me. I thought, what have I said to people that someone else, somewhere in the UK, when they think of me, they think, what a dick. That guy said that thing to me 15 years ago. And I wasn't very thoughtful or self aware in my younger days. And I often think about that, like, the damage that we've wrought as we've moved through the world. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:36:11 - 00:36:22]
And I do think the pendulum is swinging as a society, as people. Me too. Time's up. This dei movement, it's all moving in the right direction. Generation X get a lot of stick. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:36:22 - 00:36:27]
I've got high hopes for them. If they indoctrinated is the wrong word, but you know what I mean, they're brought up on this. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:36:27 - 00:36:36]
I know what you mean, how we're raising children. Well, yes, of course. I do think our generation, mine are two children are ten and nine. And, yeah, I think they live in a very different world. A big one is. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:36:36 - 00:36:57]
I really think bullying is treated very, very differently in schools now. And chatting to my english friends, british friends, it seems to be different there as well, but just how it's expected. Or of our age group. As I say, I'm 47. But bullying wasn't something that you wondered whether it would happen, like, you were just going to get bullied or you were going to be the bully. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:36:57 - 00:37:21]
And if I'm being really honest, Richard, I'm a little ginger guy with a stupid name. And I moved house when I was seven to a new town where I sounded idiotic to people in Newcastle. As you can tell, I got a very flat english accent. I now say Newcastle because of 14 years of living there. But I said Newcastle when I got there, and people would keep getting me to say the word Newcastle and I would say Newcastle and they would laugh at me. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:37:21 - 00:37:47]
And I didn't know why, but I turned to bullying people. If I was going to be the target, let me get there first. And so it taught me to be funny and it taught me to win over a room so that I wouldn't be the target. And so I feel absolutely dreadful about some of the things I did to kids through those years. And I do honestly believe that schools, teachers and the way parents just speak about it to their kids, it's different. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:37:47 - 00:38:00]
I'm not saying bullying doesn't exist. Their kids, it's just going to. But it's definitely treated differently and not expected as just part of childhood in the same way that it was for us, I don't think. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:38:00 - 00:38:20]
Good. I didn't know that. I've got a four year old and one year old, and the four year old just started at school or pre k, but he's at the school through to he's 18. And it's one of the things you think about, one of the things you worry about. And I kind of hope that, because I feel that we're moving into a different society, but you just think kids are kids, bullies are going to bully, but if it's to hear it's treated differently, it's not just like, accept it. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:38:20 - 00:38:24]
Like, it's just part and parcel of growing up, which is wild to us now, I guess. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:38:24 - 00:39:01]
And I think kids are taught acceptance in a different way now and again. Just to put it on topic of this, I think that's cross country, I think, in Britain, and know kids are taught, and not just formally taught, but I think everything they see, everything they, you know, Mr. Beast's transsexual friend, like all of these things are just teaching them these ideas in a very different way than we were exposed to them or taught them, or we just had to figure this out on our own. And most of us were nice people who didn't want to hurt anybody. So no problem, we'll understand this. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:39:01 - 00:39:02]
But I think they feel different. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:39:02 - 00:39:24]
But also, we were under pressure to conform and anything that wasn't quote unquote, normal, you just wanted to fit in. But we're not saying there's no homophobia, not saying there's no racism. But I will tell you one thing that I truly appreciate now. Representation matters. Having a black president mattered, having gay people, trans people, coloured people, everywhere in positions of authority, women. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:39:24 - 00:39:27]
Sorry, it matters. That's why the makeup of the boardroom matters. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:39:27 - 00:39:47]
Well, so if you're interested, in 2001, when I started at theft, Marjorie Scardino was CEO of Pearson that owned the paper. She was, in 2001, the only female head of a Fortune 500 company. Today, at my last count, I think there are 44. And whenever I say that number, people go, oh, that's good. Well, it's a lot better. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:39:47 - 00:40:05]
That hasn't fixed the problem of 51% of the country only being less than 10% of ceos. But, okay, then, yes, we're definitely moving in the right direction. So, yes, there's lots of very, very positive things. It's in no way fixed. And there's many, many more years to go. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:40:05 - 00:40:20]
Yes. Okay, so you are very british, very english. But you've been in America for quite a long time now, and you've got an american wife and american kids, dual citizen kids. But, yeah, maybe you have dual citizenship, but they're Americans. So are you american? 

Hywel Berry :
[00:40:20 - 00:40:22]
Are you british? How do you see yourself? 

Richard Taylor:
[00:40:22 - 00:40:34]
Honestly? I still do actually see myself as british. So somebody once said a lovely phrase and I've stolen it from them, which is, I think I was american. I was just born in Britain. So the moment I got here, I just felt instantly comfortable. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:40:34 - 00:40:49]
I suited the people more, I suited the atmosphere more. I felt comfortable and happy in a way that I never felt at home. And I couldn't really explain why. But no, I still think of myself as very british indeed. I still love having my british passport. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:40:49 - 00:40:59]
So I'm not a citizen. I haven't gone for it. I've just renewed my green card after ten years. So I've got another ten years on it. We've had discussions, my wife and I, about whether I go for citizenship. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:40:59 - 00:41:22]
And the thing that stopped me, because I'd really like to vote, obviously, is the tax implications of then going home and having to potentially pay tax here as well. But let's be honest, I think I'm using that as a perfectly easy financial crutch to not do it. And part of it is because I still do think of myself as british. I just love it here, Hal, that's. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:41:22 - 00:41:54]
A very real concern, even if you're using it as a crutch or a reason to procrastinate. Today on LinkedIn, I'm connected to an American in Switzerland. She's a financial advisor there, and she's posted, there's an article in a german newspaper today about how couples are splitting up because one of them is american and it's so complicated and it's causing so many difficulties and challenges that the couples are splitting up over it. And I commented, like, I've not read the article, but I believe the premise. I've heard an american tax lawyer refer to being an american abroad, an expat abroad, as akin to having a disability. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:41:54 - 00:42:15]
It's that bad. Now, I have taken citizenship because my two kids are american and we're committed to raising them here. So we were looking down the thick end of 20 years, got business here, and I was like, even if it's irrational going through customs on a green card, I know it's permanent, I know it's legally expanding all that. But I just wanted extra security. My kids are here and I made that decision. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:42:15 - 00:42:26]
But I would tell people, unless you are absolutely committed. Just go into it with your eyes open. I think a lot of people will take it and then find out. It's not easy just to walk away from a green card. There's challenges with that as well you should be aware of. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:42:26 - 00:42:27]
But I don't think it's legitimate. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:42:27 - 00:42:42]
Oh, interesting. I mean, I know I haven't really researched it that much, and I'm very comfortable with the situation as it stands. So. My wife is polish heritage, her parents, but we're both polish, so she's actually got a polish passport as well. So getting around the world is not a hassle for us. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:42:42 - 00:42:54]
So there's no reason to immediately change my situation other than I feel bad not being part of the political process here. That definitely feels like a big miss in that sense. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:42:54 - 00:43:09]
We just voted last week and it means something. And we're classic british. Took all this for granted, took democracy and everything for granted. And then when you can't vote and things like Brexit happen, I really felt it. So we've been in our little vote in the last couple of cycles. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:43:09 - 00:43:22]
Well, last year and then this year, and it felt really good, even though what does my vote do? But there is just something about participating. It matters. And the older I get, the more it matters because I'm getting older and more boring. So do you think there's a chance you'll go back? 

Richard Taylor:
[00:43:22 - 00:43:39]
I'd be very surprised. Other than obviously, and this is not just true of America, this is true of home as well. But were political situations to go more bonkers than I feel comfortable with? We have discussed it, but my wife's parents are here. We have an amazing life here. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:43:39 - 00:43:48]
I have no desire to leave whatsoever. I guess I'll say, let's never say no to anything. But no, there is no plan at all in my mind for it. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:43:48 - 00:44:02]
Whichever side of the aisle you're on, they're pretty bonkers right now. Not just here in the UK as well. The UK is pretty bonkers. It just feels like the majority of us are just kind of hoping and waiting for it to pass. This too shall pass, and it will or it won't, and then that's really bad. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:44:02 - 00:44:13]
But the chances of know history suggests that's not the way it's going to go. But I think we're all just hoping this. The madness, the divisiveness, the shouting and the hollering and the ugliness is ugly right now, isn't it? 

Richard Taylor:
[00:44:13 - 00:44:22]
Yeah. I don't know where it goes, but as I say, it's not like I'd go home and I'd be happy with the political situation and feel comfortable. So it's not like there's a reason to do it for that at all. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:44:22 - 00:44:39]
Yeah, I have my eye in Europe one day. I don't know, it's just. I think the expat thing is you're always just itching to move where I am now, as long as I've been since before college, actually. I'm just always itching to move. And I never know what is a genuine wish to be somewhere else versus what is just an itch that I want to scratch. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:44:39 - 00:44:41]
And I don't know the answer to that. I don't know if there is an answer. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:44:41 - 00:44:50]
Eight years is the longest I've been anywhere. And so once I've done nine years, as in in a house, so nine years here. But we think this is our forever home, so that's our plan. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:44:50 - 00:44:59]
Nice, right? Well, let me ask you a question. So this is a podcast about an expat in America. I've also asked about what the american dream means to you. Do you even believe in it? 

Hywel Berry :
[00:44:59 - 00:45:03]
Is it a thing? So if I just put that question to you, what does the american dream mean to you? 

Richard Taylor:
[00:45:04 - 00:45:42]
So I heard this in your other podcasts, and I think this does go back to what I was talking about earlier, which is, I think there is an underlying idea in America of if you want it and if you try, you can achieve it. And I think that to the idea we were talking about, writers, directors, actors, all just saying, I am a director, I am an actor. I'm going to do that. I think that's the pervasive feeling of the american dream, that, if we are honest, doesn't feel that way in Britain. There is more of a feeling, know that could be possible, but you understand all the pitfalls, and you'd have to think really, really hard about that. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:45:42 - 00:46:06]
And that's what leads to us being much more hedging about, will I achieve this? Or let me just put it in the back burner, but not tell anybody about. I think, you know, that's a positivity that I love about America. I do think, of course, that idea of the american dream has caused as many problems as it's caused wonderful things. The famous one being that everybody thinks they're going to be super rich at some point. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:46:07 - 00:46:22]
So everybody honestly believes they're going to be one of that top, .1% and they don't want it being taxed accordingly. It's a bizarre thought we all have. And so it has its challenges. But I do like that optimism. I do like that feeling of, it's open to you. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:46:23 - 00:46:38]
It's not always about money, but it's about anything. You just want to be something that is possible in this country, and if you walk into any bar and start talking about it, the room will go, we're on your side. You can achieve that. Let's go and do that together. And I didn't feel that at home in the same way. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:46:38 - 00:46:41]
And it's one of the big loves I have of this place. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:46:41 - 00:47:00]
There's a study where they put fleas into a bucket or some sort of container, and then the fleas can easily jump out. And then what they do is they put some cling film over the top of this bucket and the fleas jump up and they hit the cling film and they fall back down. Right. Then after a while, they take the cling film off. But the fleas only jump up to the previous height of the cling film. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:47:00 - 00:47:27]
They can't jump out because they've been conditioned to only jump that high. When you're saying that about the UK, I kind of feel that. That if you say you're an actor, when you're washing cars, your mates are going to rip the hell out of you for it. I love that. But there is absolutely this sense of keeping you in your place and not going for stuff because you fear being ridiculed, whether it's your mates in the pub ridicule you, or whether it's like the much more permanent institutional strictures that are in place that stop us going places. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:47:27 - 00:47:47]
It's a real thing that's born over centuries, and I love it, but there's a reason I'm here as well. I don't want to be constrained by it. I don't just be this boy from Bolton who's doing a certain thing and will reach a certain level, and that's it. I want to reinvent myself and grow and learn and feel I'm in an environment where that's supported and it can happen. So you've kind of answered this question, but it is subtly different. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:47:47 - 00:47:50]
But what's your american dream? 

Richard Taylor:
[00:47:50 - 00:48:21]
Yeah, listen, this is going to sound horribly smug, but I honestly feel I'm living it in many ways. Like, what did I think I was coming here for? I hoped that I would meet somebody wonderful that I adored to bits. I hoped that I would find a wonderful life that I couldn't have at home, which, in terms of the property we live in and the space we have and the things I do. None of that would be possible at home without making substantially more money that I hoped I would do a job I love. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:48:21 - 00:48:48]
And I've honestly found it. And back to the other piece of my life that I felt I could help people. And through the book I wrote and the screenwriting course I offer people, I honestly feel like I help people to grow and be what they want to be. And so I don't want to sound so smug, but honestly, I'm not saying my life is perfect. I get frustrated and annoyed and muddies worries and all the normal stuff. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:48:48 - 00:49:05]
But there's very little that I can point out and say, what did I come here for? Oh my God. This wasn't what I thought it was going to be. This is what I thought it was going to be. And I'm living it and it's fantastic and it will continue to adapt and change, but that's the reason I see no reason to go home. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:49:05 - 00:49:08]
I came here and I achieved what I wanted to. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:49:08 - 00:49:13]
Awesome. Well, look, I think that's a perfect place to end it. So where can people find you? Home. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:49:13 - 00:49:24]
So I think they've got my name in your podcast. And so I'm literally the only howlberry in the world, folks. So if you just type it into Google, I will pop up in every place but LinkedIn. I'm the only one. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:49:24 - 00:49:25]
Start with IMDb. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:49:25 - 00:49:35]
Yeah, exactly. Go and visit my page. It'll bump me up from 800,000 on the star metre. But also for the screenwriting course, it's screenwritingjourney.com. And pop in there. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:49:35 - 00:49:48]
And if you sign up, it's a lifelong subscription. And I'll be here to help you on your journey and basically avoid all the pitfalls that I fell into. That's what the course is about. It's getting them on the right path that I missed. So come and find me. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:49:48 - 00:49:54]
Fantastic. Right? Well, you heard it, folks. Go and find him. Thank you so much for being a wonderful guest on always. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:49:54 - 00:49:56]
Next. Pat, I really appreciate it. It's been a great chat. Thank you. 

Richard Taylor:
[00:49:56 - 00:49:57]
Thank you very much. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:49:59 - 00:50:24]
All right, folks, that's another episode of always an expat under our belt. Thank you for listening. I appreciate it and I appreciate you. If you're enjoying the show and would like to support the mission, which is to enhance expat stories with a special emphasis on the lessons learned along the way. I'd ask you to subscribe to the podcast wherever you listen, and also consider leaving a rating or maybe even a review or a comment on YouTube if you watch them there. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:50:24 - 00:50:47]
That would be enormously appreciated. Just a quick reminder that this show is brought to you by plan. First, wealth, which is my company. We are a financial planner and investment manager, and we help successful british expatriates living across the US to make the most of their opportunity. It's doing this work that caused me to see the gold that exists in all of these stories and resolve to bring them to a wider audience. 

Hywel Berry :
[00:50:47 - 00:51:00]
So if you're a british expatriate living in America, you'd like to know more about what we do for people like you. You can find us at our website, planfirstworld.com. You can find me on LinkedIn or Facebook or YouTube. Please do get in touch. We'd love to hear from.