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A short documentary film about our year long quest across America to find and work 50 hourly jobs during our first year of marriage.
Backstory:
A few years ago I was working a job in software sales and hated it. I didn’t like sitting inside all day behind a computer and constantly dreamed of traveling the country. With our wedding approaching, Alyssa and I decided to leave our jobs and go on an extended honeymoon across the country. Our original goal was to find a new place to settle down and live.
However, that plan changed when we decided that we were going to attempt to visit all 50 states.
In addition to exploring the country, we needed to make money & we also wanted to explore our work/passions as well. I decided the solution was to find and work a job in each state. This would be a brief trial run to explore how different people find meaning in what they do every day. Plus, it would be really fun to constantly update my LinkedIn and annoy people (kidding, although I totally did).
Before we hit the road, I sent a cold email to an online job board called Snagajob and they agreed us find jobs across the country and even pay our gas bill along the way. Side note: Snagajob ended up helping me find 25 jobs through their job board and I found the other 25 via cold calling/emailing in each city.
And with no prior film experience, they also sent us a couple of cameras to turn our year on the road into a documentary.
For each job I worked one day and didn’t get paid. The goal was to get to know my coworkers, apprentice them and document what a day in their work looks like. We paid the bills through freelance writing & video gigs, using a bit of savings and traveling as ridiculously cheap as possible.
Hourly America isn’t a documentary about the plight of the hourly worker. It’s practically the opposite. Our film is about what we learned from hourly workers across the country who find meaning in their work—regardless of what they are doing.
“This man is making the ULTIMATE EXPLORATION into part-time America.” – Business Insider
“This is SO cool!” – Fox & Friends Morning Show
“[Heath and Alyssa] have connected with millions of Americans.” – People Magazine
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