HOLLYWOOD RULES

Ben Hecht once dictated a screenplay to two secretaries over two days. Ben Hecht was so well respected that the movie was then shot exactly as he wrote/dictated it. The movie turned out to be a huge flop. Is there a lesson here? Other than that in Hollywood there are no rules, not really.

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PLAYING THE OPPOSITE

Whenever we actors approach playing a love relationship our first concern is “why do I love this person”, or the more desperate “how can I feel love for this other actor”. Billy Wilder wisely pointed out that a good love story depends more than anything on “what keeps them apart.”

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THE RETURN

Whenever we escape our creative reality we label this evasion as a departure from self. It then makes perfect sense to describe our creative rebirth with humility and caution, as it is only a return to self.

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NOTES

When a director gives us a note we feel like our inner child has just been stabbed right in the core of her creative being. We are then expected to extract the knife, heal our wound, and continue playfully, and all this before the next take.

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THE OPTICS OF SHOW BUSINESS

Sometimes we actors feel like ants, nothing but ants looking for new representation. And if we can convince these agents and managers that we have the ability to transform into giants, if only they believe in us, then we will indeed become giants. But come to think of it, our plight is not unlike that of the movie reel waiting to go into the movie projector, which will then magnify the tiny celluloid images until they are larger than life.

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ADVICE

One day you will go to an audition and read for a small part in a small project. And you will meet a veteran actor who has been in show business all his life. He will tell you all kinds of stories about movie moguls and real movie stars, about a bygone era, about mistakes to avoid and things you can do that will guarantee you success. Ignore this man.

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HOLLYWOOD SPINNING

To work in Hollywood is to spin plates. And as they spin and eventually break, we throw up more plates and spin those as well. Eventually all of us run out of plates, and all we have are broken plates on the floor. It never occurs to anyone in this town that maybe plates weren’t meant to spin, and all we need is one plate at a time to hold our nourishment for the day.

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