REVIEW FOR PUBLICATION: To NAHB, Or Not To NAHB

I’m caught on the horns of a dilemma at the moment. I interviewed last week for a job as Producer of Dream Builders on HGTV. The employer is the National Assn. of Home Builders, the same people I’ve been freelancing for on Dream Builders and Old Homes Restored. If I’m offered the job, it would serve the goal of getting a staff job with benefits. But there are several problems with it. First, I would answer to the same (perfectly lovely) woman who beat me out for the job of Supervising Producer a couple of months ago. Second, it pays, like, $10,000 less a year than I made at my last staff job, so it might take a very long time before I’m making even what I was making a couple of years ago — and it might take me years to dig myself out of the sizable debt of accrued during my ongoing underemployment.

Of course, chances are I won’t be offered the job. They don’t know I’m specifically considering moving to L.A. at the end of the summer to work for Bunim-Murray, but Cary, the executive producer, is no fool, and I’m sure he can see that the circumstances will force me to continue looking for a better gig. On the other hand, Dan Everett has said he likes hiring over-qualified people (you get good work while they last), so maybe that’s Cary’s philosophy, too. Anyhow, a job’s a job — and it will mean steady checks while I wait for Bunim-Murray or whatever to materialize. So if they offer it, I’m almost certain to take it.