{"id":710,"date":"2023-08-29T09:34:03","date_gmt":"2023-08-29T13:34:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transy.edu\/third-and-broadway\/?p=710"},"modified":"2023-12-14T13:45:00","modified_gmt":"2023-12-14T18:45:00","slug":"spinning-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transy.edu\/third-and-broadway\/summer-2023\/spinning-off\/","title":{"rendered":"Spinning Off"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
<\/span>\"Hayden
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Spinning Off<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

by Alexandria Lopez<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Transferable skills lead to television career for alumnus<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Hayden Mauk \u201998 knows the power of the pivot. From the biology lab to the director\u2019s chair, Mauk has leveraged his liberal arts education and the skills he developed as an undergraduate at Transylvania to establish a successful and rewarding Hollywood career as an Emmy Award-winning producer and director.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Transferable skills and the power of \u2018yes\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A Lexington native, Mauk earned his biology degree from Transylvania while working full time at the Marriott Griffin Gate and playing hockey for the University of Kentucky club team. In his limited spare time, he was involved in Phi Kappa Tau fraternity, serving as the social chair, which helped him hone the people skills he uses daily in his work in the unscripted television industry. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mauk\u2019s grandparents farmed beef cattle and his father worked in the horse industry, so Mauk initially assumed he would work with animals as well, pursuing an interest in veterinary medicine before discovering halfway through his junior year of college that he was allergic to cats. Unsure of his next steps, he moved to Nashville after graduation to help his family while considering his next professional move.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The trajectory of my career has all been based on saying \u2018yes\u2019. I just said \u2018yes\u2019 to things and figured it out.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn 1998, I was looking at pharmaceutical sales, but the big companies had a hiring freeze,\u201d Mauk remembered. \u201cMy grandparents asked me to help on the farm, so I did that during the day and took acting classes at night to be a better public speaker,\u201d assuming that the skills he developed in his classes would be transferable to a sales role. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those acting classes eventually spurred Mauk\u2019s next steps, although he narrowly avoided missing out on a career in the entertainment industry when he was offered a pharmaceutical sales job in 2000 that would have brought him back to Lexington \u2014 and kept him perpetually on the road, with a multistate territory and travel every two weeks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI took the job, but didn\u2019t show up the first day of work,\u201d Mauk said. \u201cI knew I didn\u2019t want to do this, so I called and thanked them for the opportunity. They called me back and yelled at me, which just confirmed my decision to not take the job.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Around the same time, one of Mauk\u2019s fraternity brothers, Chad Smedley \u201998, was relocated to Newport Beach by his employer. Looking for a new adventure, Mauk accepted the offer to move to California with Smedley and another friend from Transy, Shawn Wheatley \u201998.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe trajectory of my career has all been based on saying \u2018yes\u2019,\u201d Mauk reflected. \u201cI just said \u2018yes\u2019 to things and figured it out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Hayden<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Stepping into the industry <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When he landed in California, Mauk only had one connection in the entertainment industry \u2014 a friend of his father\u2019s who worked as Dwight Yoakam\u2019s farm manager. Mauk arrived on Friday and called his contact; by Sunday, he had backstage passes to Yoakam\u2019s concert at the Universal Amphitheatre. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through a contact he met at the concert, Mauk landed what should have been a very brief job as a production assistant \u2014 two days on an IMAX film. He said yes, and \u201cin two days, I had done more than the PA they had had for two months,\u201d he laughed. \u201cTwo days became two weeks became four months.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With his foot in the door, Mauk began building his professional network and working his way up the ladder, serving as a stand-in on sitcoms like \u201cInside Schwartz\u201d and \u201cThe O\u2019Keefes\u201d while continuing to work as a PA. Eventually, on the advice of a fellow extra in the movie \u201cPhone Booth,\u201d Mauk began working four days a week at the Los Angeles Zoo in education, writing curriculum and doing stage performances of a children\u2019s educational animal book, all while still working as an extra on his three days off. He credits his time at Transy and on his grandparents\u2019 farm with the strong work ethic that has underpinned his success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEveryone starts at the bottom \u2014 everybody,\u201d Mauk emphasized. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter your talent; you\u2019ll start at the bottom regardless. But I don\u2019t know anyone in Hollywood who\u2019s not successful who sticks in and starts at the bottom. As long as you\u2019re a hard worker and fun to be around, there\u2019s plenty of jobs in Hollywood.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The gift of storytelling<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In 2003, with budget cuts looming over the zoo, Mauk was offered a role as a production assistant on a then-brand-new ABC late-night talk show \u2014 \u201cJimmy Kimmel Live.\u201d He accepted and eventually landed a full-time job on the show, where he stayed for two years. In addition to his PA responsibilities, Mauk was featured in several bits on the show, including announcing for one episode and acting alongside Don King \u2014 in a particularly memorable episode, Kimmel even aired a clip of Mauk portraying a villain in the soap opera \u201cGeneral Hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His work on late-night television prepared Mauk for his immersion into the unscripted television genre \u2014 a broad term that encompasses follow docs, docuseries, documentaries and live competitions \u2014 where he continues to work today. Eventually, he was hired as a casting manager for FOX\u2019s cooking-competition show \u201cHell\u2019s Kitchen,\u201d starring celebrity chef Gordon Ramsey. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was able to reach out and find ways to get people to come and dine who didn\u2019t know the shows,\u201d he explained. \u201cI would go talk to anyone and get them to help us. It didn\u2019t occur to me that some of what I was doing was a huge thing to do in Hollywood.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mauk transitioned from \u201cHell\u2019s Kitchen\u201d to another Gordon Ramsey show, \u201cKitchen Nightmares,\u201d and continued to work on Ramsey\u2019s shows for the next 10 years while also working on other productions, including NBC\u2019s \u201cAmerican Ninja Warrior\u201d and CBS\u2019s \u201cUndercover Boss.\u201d Each new position added additional skill sets to his diverse professional toolbox, preparing him for new opportunities and challenges.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mauk credits unscripted television for breaking down the barriers to entry that might have stymied previous generations of potential industry employees. With the quality of images available from easily accessed technology, like 4K phones, \u201cyou don\u2019t have to be a professional or have professional-grade equipment to start telling a story. If you\u2019re a good storyteller, you\u2019ll find success.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a showrunner today, Mauk describes the productions he currently works on \u2014 including the Outdoor Channel series \u201cFeral\u201d with chef Yia Vang \u2014 as \u201ccultural anthropology through the lens of food.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every single Day on set, nothing goes according to plan. So you pivot<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI get to know people, figure out what their story is, and help them tell it,\u201d he explained, noting that he\u2019s proud of the diversity of jobs he\u2019s been able to hold and the ability these positions have given him to interact with people outside of his typical social circles. \u201cI\u2019m able to navigate those interactions due to my experiences at Transy. I can draw on them when something goes wrong and navigate the waters to help someone feel comfortable enough on camera to tell their story.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Hayden<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Mauk also credits his time at Transy for giving him the ability to be flexible, a skill that\u2019s essential in his business. \u201cEvery single day on set, nothing goes according to plan,\u201d he laughed. \u201cSo you pivot.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The challenges that he faced in his undergraduate classes prepared him to think outside the box. \u201cMy professors let me take chances,\u201d he said, adding that his biology professors were some of the first people to acknowledge and encourage his nonlinear thinking process. \u201cTransy does a really good job of preparing you for critical thinking in the real world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next chapter<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Mauk is currently developing several new projects, including a scripted series about the mid-century and long-forgotten late-night \u201cFaye Emerson Show,\u201d which he is working on with his wife, Maureen, as well as a show on high-end design that he is developing with a former grade-school classmate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also has advice for anyone who wants to live the Hollywood dream: \u201cStart at the bottom.\u201d Mauk recommends jobs in local news and at marketing agencies to learn quick and effective storytelling. For those who want to work in the television and movie industry, opportunities abound in Hollywood and New York City, but also in less-expected markets, including Atlanta, Nashville, Chicago and Miami. Most importantly, remember that persistence pays off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you want to get into this industry, take a job, say \u2018yes,\u2019 learn from the ground up, and stick with it,\u201d he summarized. \u201cI don\u2019t know anyone who has stuck with it who is not successful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Hayden<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As Seen on TV<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

From food competitions to late-night comedy, here\u2019s a sampling of the programs Mauk has worked on: <\/p>\n\n\n\n