Take #21 | Life’s a Hike: How Dave Silver Built REC Philly, Failed Fast, and Rewrote His Life

Dave Silver didn’t grow up with a roadmap for building a creative empire. He was a goofy kid from Warminster, Bucks County, who loved sports, found his first real sense of leadership in his Jewish youth community, and discovered his creative side almost by accident through high school media classes. He met his future co‑founder Will Toms because their last names — Silver and Toms — sat them next to each other in class. Before long, they were “the video guys” at school, taking over afternoon announcements, with Dave as the weatherman, and quietly laying the foundation for what would become REC Philly.In this episode of Call Sheet Confessions, Dave and I dive into how a kid who picked advertising at Temple University mostly because he liked Mad Men and wanted an “easy major” ended up co‑founding one of Philly’s most important creative hubs. We walk through his journey from frat basement concerts and the Broad Street Music Group, to launching and losing a record label, to building a 10,000 sq. ft. state‑of‑the‑art creative facility… and then making the agonizing decision to close it. Dave opens up about what it really looks like to build something from scratch, scale too fast, survive a pandemic, confront burnout, and then completely redesign your life on your own terms.We get into:• Growing up outside Philly as a goofy, sports‑loving kid who only really found direction in high school through leadership in his Jewish youth organization• Meeting his future business partner Will Toms in high school, becoming “the video guys,” and taking over their school’s afternoon announcements• Choosing advertising at Temple almost at random, not loving school, and pouring his energy into extracurriculars: a Jewish fraternity, media and advertising clubs, and student leadership• The capstone project at Temple (Diamond Edge Communication) that became his first real event — booking a band, raising sponsorships, creating graphics — and realizing how much he loved event planning• Treating frat parties like a business: staffing, logistics, booking DJs, and turning his basement into a full‑on venue called the Broad Street Music Lounge• Getting kicked out of that basement over a “$2M insurance policy,” and how that forced him to level up from house shows to real venues across Philadelphia• Building Broad Street Music Group into an event production company, throwing concerts Monday–Thursday at multiple venues while still in college• Acting as a de facto manager/opportunity‑maker for a close friend and using every show to put local artists on stage and in front of media• Trying to evolve into a community record label, running a Kickstarter that ultimately failed, and how that “failure” became the catalyst for the birth of REC Philly• Turning a rough North Philly warehouse into a scrappy creative hub with DIY studios and stages, and then evolving that into a 10,000 sq. ft. Center City facility with 12 production studios, concert spaces, and a full membership model• The explosive growth from 100 to 900 members almost overnight, and what it felt like to see their long‑imagined space finally become real• The brutal timing of opening in December 2019, then immediately getting hit by the COVID‑19 pandemic — shutting down, laying off team members, and scrambling to reinvent the business• Pivoting REC Philly into a virtual production hub, working with corporate partners, and distributing relief funds to local creators during the pandemic• Why REC never fully regained its original momentum post‑lockdown, how investor pressure and impatience led to expanding too quickly, and the hard lessons that came with that• Making the decision to close REC Philly (final closure in December 2025), what it meant emotionally to walk away after a decade, and why that choice was ultimately about protecting his well‑being• Going from 30 employees, big leases, and constant debt to “just Dave” — and what his life and “call sheet” look like now: slow mornings, long walks in the park, cooking for himself, and hand‑selecting a small roster of partner clients• How a solo journey on the Camino de Santiago in Spain — hiking 70 miles mostly alone — helped him process 15 years of entrepreneurship and sparked the idea for his book “Life’s a Hike”• Talking to a handheld camera on the trail, pouring out stories and lessons, then writing at night without editing or overthinking — and why he refused to let perfectionism stop him from publishing• Why he believes you don’t need to “identify” as an author to write a book, or as any one thing to create something meaningful and share it• Busting big myths: that creative careers aren’t sustainable, that you “need” outside funding, that bigger always means more successful, and that closing a business equals failure• What he’s learned about entitlement in creative communities, companies that undervalue creativity, and the complicated truth about celebrity investors• His “heart rate monitor” approach to entrepreneurship — not letting the highs get too high or the lows too low — and how that mindset is helping him build a healthier, more joyful life nowDave also opens up about the inner work behind closing a dream he spent 10+ years building: learning when to stop brute‑forcing his way through problems, how to recognize when you’re solving the same survival problems over and over instead of growing, and what it means to design a life around curiosity, freedom, and joy instead of just scale and optics.This episode is for anyone who’s ever tried to build something in their city instead of moving to LA or New York, anyone wrestling with the fear that closing a chapter means they’ve failed, or any creative/entrepreneur who wants to turn community, resource‑sharing, and real impact into a career — and then figure out who they are once that chapter ends.Follow the podcast on Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/callsheetconfesspod?igsh=MXM4ZGtlOHhyYXljaw==🔔 Subscribe for more honest conversations about creative careers, entrepreneurship, film & TV, LA and Philly life, and what really happens behind the scenes when you’re building something from the ground up.