Steve Mosko Addresses 2016 Graduate Class
2016 Graduate Commencement Address
by Steve Mosko '16, Chairman of Sony Pictures Television
delivered on May, 8, 2016, at Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles
I really am honored and humbled and thrilled to be here today to address the Class of 2016. There's also one thing I understand, which is probably the most important thing I'm going to say right now, which is the only thing standing between me and you, and you getting that diploma and eating that food in your parents' trunk, is this speech. So, I'm going to make this very short. I'll get to the point.
See, I told you. Who wants to hear me talk very long? I am going to divert from my speech for one second because I was driving down Lincoln and I saw those posters. A couple weeks ago I was having breakfast with Jerry Seinfeld, and I said, “You're like the best entertainer in the world.” I said, “Can I have some tips for how to speak on this college commencement speech?” He said, “I have one question to ask you, and this single question will determine how successful your speech is.” I said, “OK. What's the question?” He said, “Who's the opening act?”
I said, “Jerry, it's a graduation. It's not like a stand-up bit, but, I don't know, Bill Clinton.” He said, “Are you crazy?!” He goes, “He's the greatest living president ever. His middle name is Jefferson. What are you thinking about?” He said, “Maybe Carter, but not Bill Clinton.” The older people got that joke. I just made that up to make a joke, but anyway, thank you all, and I'm just so proud of all of you, what you've accomplished.
We talked a little bit about today is your day, but there are some people in the back, which you all need to applaud and thank, and that's your dads, your moms, your grandparents, your brothers and sisters. They are your support. I don't claim to be a scholar, so you're not going to hear quotes from Truman or JFK, but you may hear a quote from “Breaking Bad” or “Seinfeld” along the way. I don't think you'll mind, would you?
No.
All right. On that note, I also want to say too, this may be the only commencement speech in America where you'll be inspired. You'll be moved, and then you'll be brought to tears with life lessons from a fictional crystal meth dealer. Is that OK, Tim? OK. Sorry.
I have three things I want to talk to you about today as you approach the next chapter of your life. What I thought I'd do is share a few stories that actually was my trip to get to this job as chairman of Sony Pictures Television. These are all true. I met somebody from my hometown, so if you need fact-checking, she'll be around later to talk about this.
Point 1: Be a dreamer and chase those dreams. I'm going to say that again: Be a dreamer and chase those dreams. I grew up in a small town in Maryland. We had seven kids. We didn't have a lot of money. I had a job my whole life. We all had jobs. It was always kind of known that we were going to pay our way through high school. We went to Catholic high school, went to University of Delaware, paid our way through college. Working was part of the deal, and I've worked every day since I was ... Well, not every day, but I've worked since I was 10 years old, and that was a big deal.
The great news about our family, and this is to the back of the room too, is I can honestly say up until my parents passed away seven years ago I had been loved by my parents and my family every day of my life. That was the greatest gift I ever got in my life, not money, not material goods, but that love has stuck with me for my whole life.
My dream in life was to work in television. I knew it early on, and I just, as a kid, like most kids I watched a lot of television, but I actually wanted to get into the business. I remember in high school going to see a taping of a show “It's Academic.” From the second I walked into that television station, the air that I breathed, the people that I saw, the energy that I felt, the entire experience made me believe that I wanted to spend the rest of my life in the television business.
My dad thought I was crazy, but I think he saw my passion for it. Luckily I chased that dream and succeeded, and I knew early on it wasn't going to be easy. That was the first thing. Second thing: Don't let anyone tell you what you can or can't do. I'll repeat it: Don't let anyone tell you what you can or cannot do. My life has been filled with people who tried to tell me what I couldn't do. If I had listened to them I wouldn't be here today speaking to you.
As I told you, I wanted to get into television, but there was this little thing called "college" I had to deal with first. My dad came from a family from Northeastern Pennsylvania. His dad was a coal miner in Scranton, Pennsylvania. My dad was from Scranton as well. Neither one of them went to college, and it was a big deal that every person in our family went to college.
I'll never forget my senior year in high school I went to talk to the guidance counselor who informed me pretty tersely that I was not college material. They said, “You are too dumb to go to college. You should consider a trade school.” As you can imagine, that didn't go over too well. I had two older sisters who were very smart, I mean very smart, and, like I said, knowing how my dad felt about college, I knew this wasn't going to go over very well. It was a huge wake-up call for me, and I knew I had to buckle down, which I did. I got my grades up in high school. I went to a junior college for a semester and then went to the University of Delaware.
I made it through college. I paid my way through school with year-round jobs. I had, as a lot of you do, student loans, which I didn't pay off until I was 30 years old. It was mentioned in the introduction from Kathy I was very fortunate to get the Presidential Citation for Excellence in the University of Delaware in the mid-90s. So, that was high school going to college.
I my senior year in college when I started considering what I was going to do for a living I desperately wanted an internship in a TV station in Philadelphia, so I made the calls. I made a call to one specific station, WPHL-TV in Philadelphia, and I was begging them for an internship, I mean begging. I said, “Look, I will empty trash cans. I will clean toilets. I will do whatever it takes. I just want to get my foot in the door to work at a television station so I can have some experience before I go look for a job.”
The woman said to me on the other side of the phone, “What is your grade point average?” I'll admit, I wasn't the greatest student in the word. I probably could have worked harder, but I played lacrosse and did some things, but I did OK. The “did some things,” is that why you're laughing? I loved the television part of my major, but when she asked for my grade point average I told her, and she said, “We only want smart people here,” and hung up the phone. That was that. Or maybe it wasn't “that was that.”
Fast-forward to 1987, nine years after being rejected as an intern, I walked in the front door of that station as both part owner and station manager at WPHL 17. What did I do? You know what I did. I found that lady who hung the phone up on me, and here's what I said. It's actually very funny. I said, “Do you remember a phone call you received in January of 1978?” She says, “I've had a lot of phone calls.” I said, “This one was from me, and here's the deal. We're changing the guidelines for the internship as of right now, because here's what we're missing. I certainly want the kids who are at the top of the class, but I also want the kids that were passionate about TV, that worked in McDonald's to pay their way through school, that worked as a janitor at night, that did all those things, construction, paid their tuition, or worked to pay the tuition or just to eat. That kid was me, by the way.”
Since there was a lot of hooting and hollering about this, I'll tell this story. In business I've also had people tell me a lot what I can't do, but there was this one time where people told me in no uncertain terms I was crazy. Again, this has already come up. You may have heard of the show “Breaking Bad.” A number of years ago a show creator, Vince Gilligan, came to our production team with an idea that we loved, but not everybody saw it the way we did.
Here's how our pitch went to go talk about the show. We go to networks and people say, “What's this show about?” “It's a show about a chemistry teacher who is diagnosed with terminal cancer and becomes a crystal meth dealer to support his family.” They went, “What?” They said, “Who's the star?” I said, “Bryan Cranston.” “Oh, you mean Bryan Cranston from ‘Malcolm in the Middle.’” That's the truth.
Most everyone told us it was horrible idea and it would never work. Thank God the AMC network thought it would work, and the rest is showbiz history, and it has gone down as one of the greatest shows in the history of television, with the P.S., thank you, DVDs on sale back here when we're done. PS: Vince Gilligan, the creator, is now considered one of the great geniuses of television. Bryan Cranston went on to win Emmy Awards and Tony Awards and Golden Globe Awards and Academy Award nomination, so I think we knew something there.
What's the connecting dot here? Here's the connecting dot.: If you believe in yourself, and are passionate about your beliefs, and are willing to work hard, no one can tell you what you can or cannot do. Again, believe in yourself and have no fear. Here comes a “Breaking Bad’ quote. In the words of Walter White, “You can spend your whole life scared, frightened of things that could happen, might happen. What I came to realize is that fear, that's the worst of it. That's the real enemy, so get up, get out in the real world, and kick that bastard as hard as you can right in the teeth.” Tim, is that considered a cuss word? Am I good? OK. Thumbs up.
Lastly, third point, we're done. You can be nice in this world and succeed. You can. In the words of George Costanza from “Seinfeld,” see, I told me it would be no Truman comment, “Why is nice bad? What kind of sick society do we live in where nice is bad?” You have one more homework assignment which I will give you, which is there's a phenomenal book written by my buddy Ron Shapiro, and it's called “The Power of Nice.” I beg all of you to read it because it's a nice thing to go do before you head out into the real world.
As my senior year in college wound down, I took a trip to my hometown of Baltimore to start looking for job. I was ready to take on the world. I didn't have what you needed to have job interviews though, when I was looking for a job. So, I literally had to borrow a suit from a friend of mine, borrowed shoes that didn't fit, borrowed an old car that had an oil stain in the front seat, so I had to lay a towel on the seat. And literally drove around the city of Baltimore shopping my resume to every radio, TV station, and advertising agency that would hear my pitch.
My pitch was simple. It's the same as it was with my internship: “I'll do anything and I mean anything to get my foot in the door.” Finally, after 20 rejections, the receptionist for WBFF-TV, which is a TV station in Baltimore, told me that they thought I would be good in sales. Not knowing what that meant, I said, “Fantastic. I'm in.” Long story short, that nice gesture led to my first job, first job in TV, and I'm really not sure if I'd be here today, again, if she wasn't so kind. PS to that story: it turned out she was only the temporary receptionist, and was only there for five minutes, and happened to be there when I walked in. It's funny how life works.
The other thing I'd say to you, there are a lot of nice people, and one word of advice I'd give you: if you can't find those nice people, be one of those nice people and you can change the world. In conclusion, we're done, use this amazing Jesuit education you've been given to not only change the world with your brain but change it with your heart and change it with your smile. Nice and tough can't co-exist. Trust me. Congratulations to all of you. Now get out there and chase your dreams, believe in yourself, and along the way be a decent person. It will all work out. Thank you.