OK, so here's the disclaimer: Unlike, it seems, most of the residents I meet, I was actually born in Los Angeles county. As such, I'm less fazed than some by the nature of this place. You know how you can be almost immune to your family's dysfunction while horrified by the quirks of somebody else's? It's a lot like that.
All that said, don't move to this city if you hate actors or the ugly side of the entertainment business. Just like a city built around a steel production or gambling or computer chips, we have an industry that thrives and supports this town. Yes, it happens to be on the lookout for good-looking, moderately talented people with a willingness to conform to standards most people find unrealistic. And, yes, much of what decides a person's "Q" rating is genetically decided and not of their own choosing. But when you get down to it, if you're not smart enough to work in computers, you'll be an outsider in Silicon Valley. And if you can't speak French or stand Celine Dion, avoid moving to Quebec.
After all, it isn't like these situation just spring up overnight. Nobody moves to L.A. and then is shocked to find the city filled with wanna-be actors, actressess, screenwriters, and general low-level sychophants. And if they are, they didn't read the fine print or listen to countless late-night comics bash us from The Tonight Show stage. In any event, L.A. is what it is. For better or for worse. If you're going to be an actor, you've got three options: A) move to New York and toil the auditions, hoping to end up in the chorus of something that runs for more than three weeks, all the while trying to scrape together $1000 a month for your half of a shared one bedroom walk-through flat; B) move to Hollywood and live from pilot season to pilot season, all the while waiting tables at Jerry's Famous Deli, hoping to score that soap opera gig to jump start your inevitable movie career; or C) stay where you are, work at the local Dairy Queen, watching Masterpiece Theatre and doing the annual community theatre production of Our Town, all the while hoping that David Mamet or Steven Soderbergh will have coincidental car troubles on the night you really nail it.
Bottom line: this isn't the town for you if you have issues with superficiality. If actors are somewhere on your "To Kill" list, consider the City of Angels a nice place to visit, but no place to live for you. After all, whether you're ordering a deli sandwich, tipping for the extra foam on your non-fat, non-dairy, sugar free mocha latte, or blowing some guy in the bathroom at Rage, chances are good you're interacting with one of "them."
And, no - I am not speaking from personal experience on that last one.
-J.
This post was sponsored by the End Scene Committee.
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3 comments:
Sorry to be contrary here, but that group of cell-phone chatting, self-important, studio-exec-wannabe nobodies are very high on my "to-kill" list. Right under people who stop at yellow lights.
Well, you're a native. You're allowed to contrary.
"And, no - I am not speaking from personal experience on that last one."
Uh, huh, the one who denies first is always the guilty one. And cheers if you are blogging more.
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