The Sasquatch Journal

I accidentally sat in on a "business meeting" yesterday. Of course, when I say business meeting, I mean that a sharp-looking pair – a twentysomething man and woman I work with were eating together at an outdoor table and talking in expressive and excited tones about their own screenplays and their plan to start working together – though they never quite specified what exactly that meant.

The man, a hip-looking black guy wearing Aviator shades and expensive sandals, noted that he had "a unique project in the works." He went on to describe it as a movie about a famous Hollywood actor who, despite projecting an All-Together Self Made Man image when a camera is on him, in his personal life he is…wait for it..wait for it…an insecure, neurotic mess!
"That sounds great, almost like that show "Extras" on HBO with that guy from The Office,” said the fast-talking perky blonde drinking some sort of $5 coffee drink. Nevermind that “Extras” is actually about a aging, mediocre actor unsuccessfully trying to make it into movies.

Blondie girl also described the way director Wes Anderson was able to release his first feature "Bottle Rocket" and implied that this was also the way that they could make it big.
"So, let's get together and brainstorm on Friday!"

In Los Angeles, these are the types of people who may scoff at the people, often lower on the socioeconomic scale that play Powerball, a game of chance that some call a “stupid tax.” But while it may not be completely random, countless actors, screenwriters and musicians and models wannabes move to L.A. every year to their success at the Giant Roulette Wheel of a Career in the Entertainment Industry.

What is it about the entertainment industry that attracts so many people, even when thousands quit or leave the city every year with broken dreams and unfulfilled promises?

Maybe because in a lot of ways, we've become a culture made up of performers and spectators, and we put such a high value on those performers - just look at the mythos behind American Idol, and the "talent" reality shows. It’s viewed as the ultimate in success if you can be a performer who has the largest amount of eyeballs looking at them.

The clichés are true that L.A. has the most talented waiters and baristas in the world. There are so many that work full time at real jobs to pay the rent and are either postponing their dreams or are working insane hours to slave away for almost nothing as an extra or a P.A. or script reader.

And probably because we are inundated with the images and the narratives of those that do actually achieve success and fame and money from Hollywood. In the movies we pay to see, the underlying message behind so many of them are: Be true to yourself. If you do, you can accomplish anything you want. Any many try to answer that call.

Here's a small sampling of people I've met since I've lived in L.A. for six months:

-Ryan, an actor/screenwriter (sort of like the two-in-one Shampoo/Conditioner) from St. Louis, whose biggest roles so far have been as Marine #2 in the upcoming "Transformers: The Live Action Movie" and as a punk rock high school student in an episode of "Monk" on USA. Ryan is barely scraping by money wise, but he is fully confidant he has the skills and attitude to make it in the industry.

-Jason, a guy I work with who spends his days testing Gameboy Advance games, but who just graduated from USC with a degree in screenwriting with dreams of one his action-filled screenplays looked at by Kevin Smith or Quentin Tarintino.

-Kelli, an actress from Ohio who as all of her head shots and keeps trying to break into films, but after three years, is still a hostess at the Olive Garden.

-Dave, a screenwriter/director, who once said he'd rather make films than date the hottest girl in the world. Dave has made two short indie films on a budget of less than $5,000 and has had little luck getting anyone to watch them.


"If they actually could see how good my work is, I'm sure I'd get picked up," one actor/screenwriter recently told me. But if Hollywood was looking for quality, why did they just release "Garfield 2: A Tale of Two Kitties" this summer and why are Hilary Duff and Paris Hilton in movies?

I admit that when some people tell me their lofty Hollywood ambitions, I'm tempted to be like David Brent in The Office (pictured earlier in this post)talking to Dawn about her goal to be an illustrator for children’s books. "Ok good, it's good to have pipedreams. Because after you fail, one day you can look back and say, yeah, I gave it a go."

Obviously though not everyone fails, and I'm not saying that no one should have ambitions in the entertainment industry, including the ones I just listed. My uncle for example, is a producer who just made a movie called "Art School Confidential." But he made it, in large part, because he happened to have worked at the Steppenwolf theatre in Chicago in the late 70's/early 80's, at the same time as guys like John Malcovich and Gary Sinise. Luck and being in the right place in the right time are often the biggest factors. There are so many tens of thousands of talented people in L.A., it seems a bit naïve to think that it’s purely a meritocracy where the best and brightest rise to the top in almost a deterministic fashion.

At any rate, in my mind I wished the pair of screenwriting "business partners" the best. Who knows, maybe someday they'll be writing the script for "Garfield IV: The Cat's Meow" starring Hilary Duff.

(Note: I actually wrote this about a month ago, but forgot to add it to my blog)