Early in the show this season, one young man, Andrew Garcia, performed a slow guitar rendition of Paula Abdul’s “Straight Up” that blew my mind, the judges’ minds and the rest of America’s minds.[HD] Andrew Garcia – Straight Up Acoustic Version American Idol Hollywood Round2 It was clear he was in a class all by himself. His performance was far beyond anything anyone sang to that point (and many believe since). It did not appear that any of the other contestants had even a glimmer of a hope of winning the contest. Other performers sang decent enough, but nothing of that caliber.

Then something happened… The next performance. Andrew did his style—the style everyone loved—but he did it with a more obscure and modern song that not everyone knew, Fall Out Boy’s “Sugar We’re Going Down.” Here’s the vid: Andrew Garcia Performance Sugar, We’re Going Down Fall Out Boy @ American Idol S09E142. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the performance itself. It was excellent. The audience loved it. The only problem was that Simon didn’t realize that Andrew did an original performance of the song (Here’s the original song video. So Simon, who commented first, canned it. He compared it to Straight Up and said this performance was so inferior. Kara realized it was an original arrangement, and gave Andrew credit for the risk, but she also agreed with Simon about wanting Andrew to do more songs like Straight Up. The rest of the judges followed suite.

What the judges all meant was that they wanted songs that were very popular, which would be understood by everyone to be rearranged and done in Andrew’s style. But Andrew didn’t get that. What he got was… confused.

The next week Andrew completely changed his style Where he had demonstrated so clearly that he knew exactly who he was as an artist in his previous performances he now seemed lost and confused about not only what to sing, but how. Gone was his guitar. Gone was his style. Gone was his melodic and powerful riffs. There he was singing Marvin Gaye’s “Heard It Through the Grapevine” and looking nothing like the powerhouse he was at the beginning. Check it out here. In fact, he looked like he had no idea what he was doing. How did he go from sure winner in to just another contestant?

How is an artist’s journey on American Idol a microcosm of life in Hollywood? First off, someone told them they had talent. Unless the contestant is just looking to be a clown on national television, he sincerely believes he has talent. One thing most contestants have in common is that someone somewhere encouraged them to pursue their gifts. It’s apparent in the early season try out shows that not everyone tells their friends the truth, but most of the singers who try out do have talent. So it is with any person who comes to Hollywood looking for a career in the entertainment industry. It is a rarity for someone to come here without a number of assurances that they have a special talent that should be in movies, or on records or that could make them rich.

In Andrew’s case, he had been singing and performing with friends, posting videos on You Tube and doing original arrangements and covers of popular songs for years. Check out some of his videos:
Sunday Morning beatbox cover (I’d like to see him and this girl do this exact version on the show.)
Michael Jackson Medley
Replay Cover.

During that time, he developed his style and he got used to performing. So when Andrew came to Hollywood, he had a sense of who he was. One of things that’s important for any artist looking for success here is that they have a real sense of who they are as an artist. As I’ve mentioned in previous blogs and articles, Hollywood is a marketing machine above all else. Hollywood markets human talent packaged in movies, music, television, books, and art.

The more clearly you know who you are, what your market is, and where you fit in, the more likely your chances of finding your place and finding representation (agent, producer, contract, label, manager) to help sell your talent.

Most of the comments contestants hear from the judges have to do with whether or not the judge “gets it” or knows how to market the artist. The artist who clearly performs a certain style with consistency is the artist that will most likely walk away with an album deal whether or not they win the contest. In fact, the highest compliment a judge can pay a singer on the show is to say, “I can see your album already.” That means they know which radio stations will play it. They know which producers to bring in to work with the singer. They have an idea of which established stars might want the singer on tour with them. They may even know how many records they can sell to the audience. Such an artist will also have a larger fan base as well because fans of a particular style will gravitate towards an artist that shows he belongs in that style.

But the artist who is inconsistent or lacking a unique style, or has a variety of styles will be viewed as “not ready,” “unprofessional,” “confusing,” “all over the place.” Even if a song is well sung, if their style is inconsistent, the judges will often complain of “not knowing what to do” with that singer.

Hollywood draws marketing lines very clearly. If you are a comedy writer, you must write comedy after comedy—not thrillers, comedies, actions, and dramas, which only confuses agents, producers, and show runners. As well, the stories you write must fit the genre and must have some uniqueness that is your signature as a writer. If you are an actor, you must know what type you fit and how people see you. You must present a consistent image to Hollywood in order for you to stay on the radar of casting agents. Your image must both fit in the genre you wish to work as well as be unique to yourself. The same holds true of directors—you must know which genre you do best and you must have a certain style that adds something to that genre.

Finally, Andrew discovered three truths that, despite his obvious and amazing talent, also affect nearly every artist in Hollywood: 1. Trying to please people can and will wreck your art. 2. What you have done in the past will not carry you forever in the future. 3. You will face rejection and criticism.

If Andrew is able to get back to his original style, he will have a chance at winning this season. But what has happened to Andrew is simple—he lost sight of his own unique style because he was trying to fit in with what he thought the judges wanted. If an artist does not yet have a style, it might work to push one on him (or actually—help him find a style that suites him), but generally an artist attempting to conform to anyone’s ideal beside his own usually kills his art. A person’s art is a psychological part of their being—much like their personality. Altering one’s artistic style generally kills creativity. In the end, the artist won’t be happy and neither will the producers or executives. Each time Andrew performed a slightly different style than his own, he felt uncomfortable, the audience felt uncomfortable and the judges criticized him harshly.

It is a fact that people in Hollywood, in attempt to figure out how to market you, may try to change you—be it an agent, producer, casting director or executive. Often an artist has a portion of something Hollywood wants to market—such as a look or idea, but the artist doesn’t have the full package. Hollywood wants to make money, so forcing you into a niche that may have a pool of customers hungry for product isn’t outside their purview. But generally, even if you succeed at faking it, your audience will sense you are disingenuous and you won’t last. But usually, it simply fails out the gate. When it fails, you fail, but Hollywood just moves on to the next artist. Much like American Idol, even though they told you it would work, when you fail, it’s not their fault—it’s yours.

Initial success in Hollywood can be both a blessing and curse—just ask Gary Coleman. If studios have made a lot of money from your talent in the past, they will want you to continue to provide that talent. Generally it does mean stereotyping or limiting an artist’s output. But it can also make you a victim of trends. If you “go out of style” your career will be dead for a generation—until your style returns. Jason Bateman, M.C. Hammer, and Neil Patrick Harris all caught the second wave of their careers.

Lastly, what’s most unfair about rejection and criticism in Hollywood is just how vague or opaque it can be. In Andrew’s case, the judges weren’t really clear about the problem in his performance. All they really meant to say was that they wanted him redoing more successful hits. “Straight Up” was a number one hit for Abdul, known by nearly everyone—and it was old. Andrew made it modern and cool and did what Hip Hop artist have done for years—repackaged already popular songs into something new. “Sugar We’re Going Down” was not a huge hit. No one could tell what Andrew was doing with the song because it wasn’t popular enough. And, because it is a current radio song, it isn’t ripe for remaking anyway. A simple comment to Andrew to “Stick with remaking older hits into modern songs,” would have given him all he needed, but that might have also shown Simon’s hand a little too much.

Hollywood doesn’t like to admit how much they’d rather repackage something than create something completely new. But marketing dictates that old brands with loyal customers sell easier (and cheaper) than new ones.

Andrew did, however, get advice that was fairly close to the target. Usually advice from Hollywood is much more cryptic if it exists at all. Rejections are rarely followed by explanations. You may well have been a contender for the role up to the last minute, but you won’t always know it. Or you may have been very close to representation or a greenlight but the fax machine broke or a new President of Production was hired. The point is that you must understand rejection is part of the game and that it will come. The next company you submit to may love you. So keep submitting.

As you watch American Idol, notice how one week the judges are in love with a contestant and the next week they may well turn their noses. Stick around because who knows what will happen the week after that—in that show or in your career.

No we’re not going to the opening tonight, but she did insist I drive by the theater to see her comrades camped outside. They’ve been there all day (some probably all night). They must be the first in the seats to see it. She wanted to be with them—wearing her New Moon shirt, gushing over a guy who, only a few years ago, she didn’t even notice when he was in movies. Amazing to watch as new stars are born.

I want to write something that big so bad. I want to have teens and their parents and grown people who should know better camped outside the theater talking about which is their favorite character. As one now successful actor I interviewed in my book said, “I remember, years ago, I was in Gelson’s Market with only a couple bucks in my pocket when in walked this big movie star. I said to myself, ‘That’ll be me one day.’”

There’s something much deeper about this movie phenomenon we are experiencing.  Stephanie Meyer took the traditional characters of vampires and werewolves and turned them into the Capulets and the Montagues. She then took a pale, blood-sucking, night crawling, serial killer and turned him into a diamond-skinned, superhero with a powerful love Jones for the only girl in high school whose mind he can’t read.

High school? What’s Count Dracula doing in high school? Seriously, this guy is a couple hundred years old. So what if he’s young looking? What kind of perv is that? I mean, when I was 17 I thought I was too mature to date 16 year-olds. This is a guy whose obviously never heard the words to Steely Dan’s Hey Nineteen—“We got nothing in common. No we can’t talk at all.” And that guy was only 15 years older than the young girl he was considering.

But alas… love.

But since when do werewolves actually turn into giant Wolfwolves?  What is this? Do silver bullets even work anymore? Vampires have superhero powers? They can come out in the sun? They don’t drink human blood? They don’t turn into creepy bats? They can’t be killed with crosses, holy water and garlic? They don’t have fangs? What the hell? Are they trying to put Blade out of business?

I think I understand why my daughter is on Team Jacob. I think Jacob represents, for girls, the best of both worlds. On one hand, you’ve got this cute boyfriend with a great body that everyone thinks is hot. On the other, you’ve got this big shaggy dog to protect you. Girls and their fantasies.

The point of this blog is for writers and film makers. The Twilight Saga represents the best of all worlds for the Hollywood movie machine and at the same time manages to be fresh, new and young.  Vampires are among the most produced characters in Hollywood. From the dawn of moving pictures, vampires have creeped across the walls of theaters. From Nosferatu to Dracula to Blade, the basic makeup and character of vampires has remained unchanged.

What Meyer’s did so brilliantly—and if she is to be believed from her interview on Oprah, so accidentally and luckily—is figure out how to combine genres in a commercially viable way. Romance/Horror/Fantasy/Adventure.

BUT…  Good thing she wrote it as a book. If she’d pitched it as a movie or screenplay before it was a successful book, no one in Hollywood would have touched it. How do I know? Because Nosferatu came out in 1921 and no one touched it since—not successfully anyway. I should say not seriously. There may have been comedic takes on vampires or werewolves that did pretty good, but they didn’t change the nature of those archetypes.  This is a prime example of a movie that only got made because of the book.

Hollywood will happily film a successful book, video game, TV show, stage play, fairy tale or an endless number of sequels, prequels and remakes; but when it comes to putting millions of dollars into original stories movie studios, more often than not, pass.

What’s that say to you about your new, original story that no one’s ever seen before? If no one’s ever seen it before, don’t expect Hollywood to make it.

But sell it as a book first or turn it into a successful stage play, and if you’re sales figures back it up, Hollywood will come to you.

Please tell me what you think. Do you agree? Disagree? Did I miss something? I’d love to hear from you in the comments below. Thanks for reading.

Good Luck,

T.R. Locke

Mr. Locke,

I just had a quick WIK question and I would be grateful if you could take a sec to answer it.  The political climate of Hollywood is far-left to left.  When I move there, will I be blacklisted or in any way discriminated against if I have a believe [sic] in or espouse in a different political ideology than from what currently dominates?

Thanks,
Charles

Excellent question, Charles. My answer is no. Here’s my thinking and belief. This business is really all about the dollars. If your idea has an audience and can make money, it really doesn’t matter what you believe.

Consider this for a minute: Hollywood can be understood to be anything that concerns the media. When you talk about celebrities of any ilk, they are represented by agents here in Hollywood. That means Glen Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Bill Oreilly–they all have Hollywood agents. They are all TV/Radio celebrities and you can’t get much more right wing than they. But not just them, nearly everyone you see anywhere representing any view (including many politicians) have agents in Hollywood. It’s how they get their shows negotiated and their book deals, etc. If money is coming, Hollywood doesn’t care what side of the fence it comes from.

Second, consider this: Hollywood tends to make far more conservative movies than liberal ones. That might sound a bit crazy to you, but think about it. Do you see more movies about war, fighting, and getting rich or about saving the forest, everyone getting along and sharing? Liberal stuff is simply not as dramatic. That’s just a fact. Far more movies are about national pride and willingness to die or kill for country, family, or honor. You could probably pitch an idea called, “Sarah Palin Saves the World” where you have the former Alaska governor flying around in a Huey sniping terrorist and clubbing baby seals. If you can show there’s a big enough audience to make a profit doing so, someone in Hollywood would be willing to make it. Okay, maybe not with clubbing baby seals, but clubbing terrorist, sure–especially if the female lead shows a little skin. For the right price you might even get the genuine article herself—check with her agent.  Remember Hollywood was torturing terror suspects long before Gitmo.

I just saw a report on TV that talked about how militarism is still so much alive in Hollywood. It’s very true. Militarism sells tickets.

Finally, I don’t think Hollywood is really, down inside, as liberal as it’s made out to be. As I said, it’s all about the dollars. Hollywood is notorious for typecasting, stereotyping and pigeonholing anything they can’t immediately see a big market for. They make vampire and sex films, not because they believe in vampires and sex, but because there’s a huge market for it right now. If the market disappears, Hollywood will dump vampire production faster than you can vote down universal healthcare.  Tyler Perry has proven there is a market for African-American films, but judging from production, Hollywood still seems to be hesitant to trust anyone to make one except him.

So to answer your question, no I don’t think you’ll be discriminated against for espousing a different political view—namely because I’m not sure your view is different.  Remember the current governor of California is an actor—and a republican. So was Regan before him.

I will say this though; you will have trouble getting any actual political movie made. Political movies don’t do well in general unless they are a few generations removed. But Hollywood might be happy to put your ideas on radio, TV and books, because in those media, politics sell like hotcakes.

Hope that helps.

TRL

This is the third in a series of articles about relocating to Hollywood or New York to follow dreams in the entertainment industry.

Part III—Singers/Musicians

When should a singer or musician move to Hollywood or N.Y? It’s a good question. And what’s interesting about this one is we’ve finally gotten to a category of entertainment that has a nationwide televised contest that actually tries to answer that very question.

American Idol has come a long way towards helping us understand what the music industry is looking for when they look for singers to turn into stars. Of course talent is necessary, but it’s not the only thing. The vast majority of singers who progress to the final rounds are those who have already had success on the local level. They’ve learned how to perform before an audience, they know who they are—their style, their range, their genre—and by the time they are on the show, they look as comfortable as any star performing on the Grammys.

Musicians and singers have more outlets for their talent than other performance artists. A band or a singer can set up in a bar, a coffee house, a church or even all three any night of the week. And if they’re good, they’ll get paid, too. They can rent a hall and throw a concert any time they like. They can also pull a “Hustle and Flow” and set up a studio in any room lined with egg crates, pillows and blankets to record the next number one hit to sweep the nation. That’s because music has the simplest and cheapest distribution system available today. Any artist anywhere can easily record and fully produce a song on his computer using software that’s either free or cheap and get audibly the same quality many studios turn out. In fact, here’s one such software from one of my sponsors that turns your computer into a studio for only $29:

After musicians create a song, they can then post the file on MySpace, Amazon or any of a dozen or more other sites and watch it sell around the world. They can even film their own viral music video and release the song through YouTube.

So when should a musician or singer move to Hollywood or New York? This one is simplest of all to answer. They shouldn’t. Stay where you are. Do your thing locally and put your stuff out online and independently. Hollywood will notice you when you’re ready and they will come to you.

Why? Well, the fact of the matter is that you have much better chance of being able to get on a stage in your hometown than you do in Los Angeles or New York. Besides that, in your hometown you already have fans. And it’s those fans who will be your most loyal customers even after you become a nationwide sensation. It’s those people you will need to help boost your popularity worldwide—to run your fansites, to brag about you on social networking sites. Hometown fans are so strong because they not only are supporting you, but they are supporting where you come from. They are representing your town to the world. You help put each other on the map.

And that’s another reason you don’t want to move to N.Y. or Hollywood. You aren’t from there. Music tends to have this local loyalty that’s much stronger than other art forms. I mean, there are New York writers, but nothing compares with the kind of slavish loyalties that music fans have.

Consider this: Jay-Z is from New York. He’s loved around the world, but he is worshiped in Brooklyn. He didn’t move to New York, he grew up there. His music is as culturally and lyrically linked to New York as Snoop’s is to L.A., and as T.I’s is to Atlanta.   Similarly Dave Matthews Band blew up in Virgina and released their album independently before sweeping the world. The same story is repeated for country, rock, and rap stars all across America. Blooming where you were planted is the rule in the music industry, not the exception. If you bloom big enough, Hollywood and N.Y. will take notice. At that time, they may call you to move. That’s when you may want to consider it.

One of the artists I interviewed in my book is a multi-platinum hip hop producer that I’ve known for years. His story is that he moved to Hollywood only because one of his friends got a contract with Death Row Records back in the 90s. Death Row found his friend in Atlanta and brought him to L.A. This artist went along. And because he was always hanging out at Death Row helping produce beats for free, he too eventually got offered jobs. So I concede there is one other time when you might want to move to N.Y. or L.A.—when you have a friend who gets a contract with a major label and wants you to come along.

But even when Hollywood takes notice, it doesn’t mean you need to move. Many producers and musicians, like writers, find their hometowns to be greater sources of inspiration for their art. Flying out to meet with other artists or agents in the industry centers will usually suffice. Keeping connected to your roots helps you stay authentic. There is nothing worse for an artist than to lose his authentic self-expression. An artist who does so risks losing the very thing Hollywood seeks to exploit to make him a star.

With all the options for performing, recording and releasing music that exists today, there is no sensible reason for any musician to move to Hollywood unless invited.

Please tell me what you think. Do you agree? Disagree? Have questions? Please share from your experience in the comments below and share this article with others. Also look for my next article on Directors and Producers in the next few days. And please check out my book for all the advice from my producer friend as well as great insights from gold-selling and Grammy nominated singers and songwriters and many other successful celebrities.

Good Luck,

TRL

This is the second in a series of articles about relocating to Hollywood or New York to follow dreams in the entertainment business.

Part II–Actors

If you’re an actor and you’re wondering whether it’s time to move to New York (the home of live theater and a decent amount of film production) or Hollywood (the home of most film and television production), you might want to consider a few things.

In a blog I wrote last week, I detailed information I learned from one of Hollywood’s top stars whom I have the honor of knowing and thus interviewing for my book. Consider these business facts:

• There are 120,000 SAG (Screen Actor’s Guild) actors in Hollywood.
• At any given time 85% of them are out of work.
• The average salary of a SAG actor is less than $10,000 a year.
• Most of them are just trying to earn the required $7,500 a year to keep their health benefits.
• 18-20% of them fall into star roles and make serious money.
• Less than 1% are the ones you read about and know, the real stars, the actors who make million dollar and double digit million dollar salaries.

The actor I interviewed falls into that last group—earning $250,000 an episode for his role in a hugely successful show. He’s one of the lucky ones. But it took many years for him to get to that point.

The question that is perhaps most important in making this decision is whether the move will afford you greater opportunities than it will cost you to do it.  Here’s what I mean:  It is obvious that there are many more auditions being held in Los Angeles and New York than in Baltimore, Cleveland, Tampa, Salt Lake City and perhaps the rest of the country combined. But what might not be so obvious is whether that translates into a better shot at becoming the actor you want to be. It would seem it should. But consider this:

• There are many more actors competing against you for that very reason.
• Because there are so many actors, there are gatekeepers set up in L.A. and N.Y. to block many newbies.
• Many of the actors competing against you have far more experience than you may have.
• If you don’t have an agent (most new actors in Hollywood/N.Y.  don’t), you may not even hear about the auditions for your type.
• It will cost you far more money to wait for your chance in N.Y. and L.A. than any other place in the country.

Again, I’m not writing this to pour water on your fire. I’m writing this because I believe, as one quote says, “The best way to achieve your dreams is to wake up.” By wake up, I mean recognize the realities of the world you are looking to enter. Too often young actors are lured to Hollywood with dreams of becoming the next Will Smith or Jennifer Aniston. They are lured by the glamour of the less than 1% of actors who enjoy such glamour. Not many have their hearts set on even being one of the 18-20% group—those actors whose faces you may recognize, but whose names you don’t know.

It’s much easier to be a big fish in a small pond. One thing for sure about Hollywood, here you are swimming in the Ocean. Before you move here, make sure you’re ready for the salt water and sharks.

How do you do that? You get big in your town first. You find the theater groups that are active where you live and get involved. If you live in a very small town, you might want to move to a city near you to expose yourself to more opportunities.

Most actors considering a move to New York or Hollywood should have already done these things. If you have succeeded in those smaller ponds, move up to a lake. There are many acting opportunities in larger cities like Las Vegas, Orlando and Chicago. You may want to cut your chops in those large cities first. Doing so will get you used to the process so that, when you do get your shot in L.A. or N.Y., you’ll know better what to do to win the role.

But say you’ve done that as well. Let’s say you’re going to get a roommate (or two) and make the costs of living in one of these cities as cheap as possible. What’s the benefit of moving to N.Y. or L.A? Mmm…?  Maybe sharing my story would illustrate it best.

Here’s the set up: I moved to L.A. with my family after placing as a semifinalist the Chesterfield screenwriting contest, getting an offer to purchase my screenplay, and attaining representation as a screenwriter. At our new apartment in Burbank another couple had moved here in support of their son’s acting career. He’d won a major talent contest in New Mexico, had gotten an agent and booked a few TV shows and movies. The mother had just taken a job as an agent with her son’s talent agency.

Within two months of being here, while chilling in the hot tub by the pool, the mother asked me if I’d ever done any acting. As it so happened, I’d been the star of nearly every high school play we’d done from my sophomore year forward. She said she’d like to rep me, my wife and daughter as actors because she believed we’d book a lot of roles. I thanked her, but said “no.” I was focused on writing.

My wife and daughter, however, said, “Sure! That sounds cool.” Soon they were in movies—The Italian Job, The Hulk, Legally Blonde;  commercials for Time/Life, Rent-a-Center and others, and making decent money while hanging out with the likes of Mark Walhberg, F. Gary Gray and Mekhi Phifer—all without having taken a single acting class or having any experience at all. Once my wife took a few classes, she booked more work. After two years of being asked, I finally said, yes. Before long, I too was booking commercials for Time/Life, Papa Johns and others and going on auditions for movies and TV shows including Stargate Atlantis, CSI,  and ER.

My point is that none of us had any intention of being actors, yet we fell into it in Hollywood. However, none of us are famous, nor have we made a career of acting as the less-than-1-percent actor I mentioned above. He too fell into acting—in college—in a small town. He moved to medium city—got big there in the local theater groups, then moved to N.Y. where he did Broadway and off-Broadway shows. Finally, he moved to L.A. where he struggled for nearly 20 years before he became a less-than-1-percenter. But he succeeded at making a career of it because when he got to L.A., he knew the game thoroughly. He pursued his dreams wide awake and understood it might take many years. He was ready to swim in the ocean.  The question is, are you?

Now tell me what you think. Do you agree? Disagree? Please share from your experience in the comments below and share this article with others. Also look for my next article on Singers and Musicians in the next few days and please check out my book for the complete stories and all the other advice from this actor and many other successful celebrities.

Good Luck

TRL

This is the first in a series of articles about relocating to Hollywood or New York to follow dreams in the entertainment business.

Part I—Writers.

If it’s not obvious to you, let me just state this clearly up front—this is not a question a beginning writer should be asking. In my opinion, the only people who should really be asking themselves this question are writers who’ve had some success with their craft. By “success” I mean that you’ve won awards for your screenplays or teleplays, you’ve gotten some type of representation, you’ve been optioned, you’ve produced your own plays or movies and have built an audience or you’ve placed in a film festival or writing competition. At the very least you’ve finished some writing program somewhere, have gotten feedback indicating you’ve got great talent and have written, edited and rewritten multiple screenplays. If none of these have happened, you may want to consider a move to either Hollywood or New York a bit premature—unless you’re moving here to go to school.

This section should be called Screenwriters. I called it Writers because the mass of the publishing business is based in New York. There are book writers who dream of moving to New York in the same way that Screenwriters dream of moving to Hollywood.  But unless your goal is to write for TV News or to be an editor at a publishing house, there isn’t much need for you to relocate to New York. Book writing and journalism isn’t really considered part of the entertainment world even though it most definitely is—evidenced by the lines blurring more and more every day. Nonetheless, book writing can be done from anywhere and emailed to editors and publishers around the world. If you need to take a meeting as a book writer, a teleconference or a day trip will usually suffice.

Screenwriting is a bit different.

Screenwriters’ options for if and when to move depend on whether they want to write for film or TV.

TV writers pretty much need to be local to where they work. TV writing is a collaborative effort. TV is run by writers (producers in TV are also the senior writers). The rigorous schedule of putting out weekly or daily shows requires teamwork. Teamwork requires the team be together. Different teams work different ways. Usually the writing staff meets and brainstorms the direction of the show. If the show has a strict bible (show plan or series arc) then the teams determines how far the show will move this season and may assign individual writers to write specific episodes based on the input/pitches from the whole staff. Writers may then get to work on their show for the most part, but still must participate in the rest of the show writing and development as necessary.

Most TV shows don’t have that strict a bible or are episodic. Shooting schedules demand quick writing and more minds equals more ideas faster. TV writers are salaried employees that generally work 60 hour weeks and more. On top of that, they must be there even after the scripts are written to make changes even during filming.

If a show is episodic, individual ideas for shows can be pitched and planned by the show runner. In the case of episodic shows, there is more of a chance the writer will not have to be in the room every week. The main writing staff must be present, but it is possible for episodic shows to produce a screenplay by a writer who does not live in the city. It is, however, unusual and unlikely.

Finally, if you’re writing a daily show—such as a news show or Tonight Show, etc. It would be impossible to be a regular writer without being in the room. In that case, you could live elsewhere only if you serve as a writer of a special segment.

Film writers have more options. If you chose to be a spec writer (one who writes original screenplays, then offers them for sale to production companies), you can do that much the same way as novel writers. You are free to live anywhere you like and send your screenplays in to agents, managers, producers or whatever contacts you might have in the industry. No one cares if you send your script from a cabin in Vermont or from Sunset and Vine.

If, however, you desire to be hired as a screenwriter—the predominate form of film screenwriting employment—you benefit from being in Hollywood because you have to take meetings to get those jobs.  Still, before Hollywood will consider you for employment as a screenwriter on a film, you will need to have an agent. To get an agent you need a spec screenplay. And spec screenplays, as I mentioned above, can be written anywhere. So unless you’ve garnered an agent from the quality of your screenplay, and your agent is ready to get you working in TV, you do not yet need to move to Hollywood. And if you have gotten an agent and he has meetings set up for you at Warner Bros tomorrow, you might still want to fly in for a week, take a bunch of meetings and see how they go before you take the plunge. It is actually easier, in many cases, to schedule meetings if you are known to only be available for a period of time.

Here’s a final thought on this. One thing I Wish I Knew (or WIK, as I call these ideas in the book) is this: WIK #20: It may well be that what inspires you to write is native to your hometown and not to Hollywood. Do you get that?

I moved to Hollywood from Chicago. In Chicago, the change of season, the rain, the snow, the oppressive heat, the big urban jungle, the roar of the El Train—the essence of Chicago—inspired and informed the writing that landed me an agent in Hollywood. All those inspirations disappeared when I moved to L.A. The perpetual sunshine, beautiful weather, palm trees and flowers did nothing to help me conjure up the harsh images I’d penned before. That’s another thing to keep in mind before you move. If your family gatherings or your crazy neighbor helped your pen those great stories, what happens when you’re not there anymore?

On the other hand, L.A. or New York can spawn new inspiration—at least that’s what the title of my book suggests. And as the photo at the top of this article confirms, there aren’t too many other places where you can watch Inglorious Basterds with Quentin Tarantino.

Good Luck

Next article will take a look at when an actor should move to Hollywood.

TRL

“Yeah.”

“Oh, it’s in 3D… They already did Toy Story 2, but they’re just putting it back in theaters in 3D?”

“Yeah, that’s how they do it here.” I responded. “They resell the same movie over and over to new audiences as soon as they figure there’s a new market.”

I can’t say that I blame studios. If we’re stupid enough to go to theaters to re-view the same movie we could view at home, then they should keep releasing the same movies. Milk us for all they can get from us. Why not?

As I mention in my book, a few years ago I was in negotiations with Fox to write the sequel to the Omen. Fox wanted my take on how to keep the franchise moving along. They suggested that they wanted to begin to remarket movies they already had in their vault along the lines of what Universal had been doing with the Beethoven series. “You don’t have to buy ads for those movies. You just put it out on the shelf and it rents because everyone already knows the series. The series is the star.”

That is the highest goal of any studio—to own a series that never fails to draw an audience. Fox wanted to do that with The Omen. At the time, I hadn’t realized they’d already done four Omen movies. I was only familiar with three. At the end of the third, Damien, the Antichrist, was killed.

Apparently, Fox tried to resurrect this franchise once before. They decided a little girl would be born this time and would have the same evil in her. You didn’t see The Omen 4 because it sucked. It took me more than a week to find a video store that even carried it. By the rules in play at the time, I told the executives at Fox that the franchise was dead. That, even though Omen 4 left a definite opening for a sequel, no one would ever want to see it because the series now officially sucked. It had “jumped the Shark” as they say. The original Omen had birthed the soundtrack of operatic Latin that would go on to haunt nearly every film concerned with the devil or demons since. Omen 4 turned the greatest evil on earth into a hop-scotching joke.

So how did Fox solve this dilemma? The same way so many other studios have been quietly resolving it. They simply released the same movie they released in the seventies. Really? Yeah. Why not? The 18-34 demographic Hollywood aims at never saw the original, so all it takes is a little updating and a small budget and voila! What used to be reserved for Miracle on 34^th Street every 30 years or so gets applied to everything. But now it’s no longer called “an updated classic,” it’s simply released as if it’s never been released before.

Halloween gets redone and re-released, then Halloween 2. I believe they took that franchise to seven films—ending with “Halloween H20—Twenty Years Later.” Next? Halloween 3D. It’s in the works—just like The Final Destination—the latest incarnation of that series that sits atop the weekend box-office. Toy Story 2 comes out in 3D too. I’m waiting on Jaws 3D… Oh, wait… they did that one. I guess we see where this is going. Or maybe we don’t.

How many times will people pay money to see the same film over and over again? That’s the question studios want to answer. So far it seems the answer is endless numbers of times for the right film franchise. What’s great for studios now is that it longer takes the passage of years to re-release films. It seems they can re-release them within a year or two and still draw a crowd. It is, after all, what Hollywood does—sell us what we want—or at least what we’re willing to pay for.

T.R. Locke

It was reported last night on NBC news that a source close to Michael Jackson said the superstar was so distraught about being forced to do fifty concert dates in London, instead of the ten he wanted to do, that he may have accidentally killed himself through an overdose while trying to make himself too sick to carry out the contract.

The mere accusation of such a disturbing possibility shines a light on the reality of the dark side of Hollywood. When people talk about Hollywood, they are generally talking about the entire world of entertainment. Entertainment to the average person is fun-movies, music, dancing, television, sports, live theater, magic. It’s all the great stuff we pay to see or do because our participation takes us away from our day-to-day.

But for those who are the creators and producers of entertainment, a better term might be “Show Business.” There is the show. And there is also the business.

Michael Jackson loved the show. The same source on NBC reported he could talk about old movies, dance moves and music for hours, but when it came to negotiating contracts and the legal technicalities, MJ took a much dimmer view. Most artists do likewise.

That’s why Hollywood is full of people who make the business side of show business happen-agents, lawyers, producers, promoters, marketers, advertisers, accountants, banks, corporations, distributors, publicists, secretaries, assistants, drivers, construction workers, electricians…

For an artist, Michael Jackson was a very shrewd and intelligent negotiator. He was one of the first artists to maintain ownership of his own masters and publishing rights to his music (something Paul McCartney actually advised him to do). MJ took the advice so seriously that he also purchased the rights to half of the Sony music catalog that controls the Beatles music as well.  No doubt this shrewdness grew out of the massive experience of Michael Jackson’s 45-year career and having been on the short end of negotiations early on.

But just because Michael was good at negotiating doesn’t mean he enjoyed it. Most artists don’t. The vision artists have of coming to Hollywood might include getting rich, but it rarely includes the minutiae and details required to actually make getting rich happen. Artists usually just want to be discovered-to have the chance to make their living doing something they love. They’ve seen the money come for others and they hope it will come for them, too, but someone else usually handles that. And that someone else gets rich too. Very rich. And usually that someone else is much more powerful than the artist-no matter who that artist is.

When the artist (the show) and the people running the business of that artist are in sync, Hollywood is at its best. Great art can be produced and the world can get to enjoy it. The artist grows wealthy and famous and the money flows. But when the artist and the people running the business of that artist get out of sync, lawsuits, threats, drug addiction, depression, sickness, exhaustion, confusion, disappearances, bad artistic products and even death occur.

This is the dark side of Hollywood. It’s what awaits every artist who comes here. Whether the artist falls victim to this dark side or not, he will certainly face it. Eventually, the artist, whose art most freely flows from his own willing creativity, will find himself being forced to do something he doesn’t want to do because it interferes with the business side of his show.

Business people don’t really understand what it takes to create art. They’ve studied a system of rules, formulas, legalities, educated guesses and leveraged hunches to determine what they believe (or sometimes know) will create money. So as an artist, if your lyrics, your story, your jokes, your self-expression, your movie ending, your energy level, your friends, your family, your desire to try something new, your vision, your look, your new wardrobe, etc. doesn’t jib with their scheduling, market testing, product lineup, distribution policy, Asian market strategy, image consultation or calendar, etc., you’ll find yourself confronted with the dark side. And in the worst cases, that dark side cannot only kill your art, but it can kill you.

The dark side of Hollywood reminds me a bit of that that old fable of the goose that laid the golden eggs. The man takes and kills the goose in order to more quickly get at all the golden eggs inside. In the fable, there are no eggs inside the dead goose. The man learns his lesson about greed and patience and caring for precious possessions. The goose must keep living, be healthy, and take his good time to produce golden eggs one at a time. But in Hollywood they can kill the goose that lays the golden eggs and no longer get the new eggs, but instead sell Golden Goose t-shirts, make Golden Goose movies, sell GG collectibles, copies of other eggs, commemorative special edition DVDs of the Goose’s Best Golden Egg Lays, televise gala events of famous people talking about their Golden Goose experiences and sell advertising spots, play old Golden Goose movies and, of course, dress up a duck in goose feathers, paint some eggs gold and shove them up the duck’s ass-the people won’t know the difference when they pop out.  Now, instead of one Golden Goose, there are twenty-all aimed at different markets, all saying and doing exactly what the surveys and market research says they should.

The dark side of Hollywood is that any artist, any art is first and foremost a product to sell. It’s one thing when the product being sold is a machine, a coffee cup, a wallet or a car. Such things can be marketed at will or disposed of without much consideration if it doesn’t sell well. It might seem another thing altogether when what’s being sold is a human being-his thoughts, ideas, dreams, visions…his music. But in Hollywood there is no difference.

Hey!

Thanks for dropping by. Whether or not you’ve read my new book,  I Followed my Bliss to Bankruptcy–What I Wish I Knew Before I Moved to Hollywood, I invite you to make comments or ask questions about Hollywood or the book here.

Your questions aren’t limited to the book. If there’s anything you want to know about the business of Hollywood, I’ll do my best to answer it–and if I can’t, I’ll find an expert who can. I also hope to begin posting blogs, vlogs and interviews in the other section called, “Making it in Hollywood.” Check back often or even join, to get more information and advice from successful guest contributors.

Thanks,

T. R. Locke

Develop a very thick skin.

I just happened to see the job listings from UTA (United Talent Agency). The job listings are supposed to be internal openings that agents and their assistants browse to learn what production companies, or their own clients, are looking for in terms of support staff. Most of the listings are for agent assistants, celebrity assistants, interns/trainees and other lower-level studio executives. They are the kind of jobs many people who come to Hollywood hope to land in order to get a foot in the door.

These lists get swiped and passed around through email. Join almost any creative support group and you’re likely to come across one or more from a major agency. They all have them. And some of the jobs pay decent wages, too. You can be a celebrity assistant for instance and earn “$48K/year–no benefits.” However the reply link was via a country music company, so it might not be enough money.

What traits do many of the jobs look for? Well, along with, “must be willing to work flexible hours and be utterly committed to the job,” one very telling request was as follows: “Must have thick skin.”

What makes someone put that in a job posting? Not sure, but I would guess they lost their prior assistant because they cussed them out one too many times.

Thick skin. It’s not only good for assistants working for agents and celebrities, but it’s a must for any creative person who puts their talent up for judgment.

In fact, thick skin might be too soft a term–try armor plating. “Must have armor plating.” Armor is better than skin for repelling the knives that often fly at you. “Must be bulletproof.”

Whatever dreams you might have in Hollywood, unless you’re extremely lucky, you’ll encounter lots of rejection before you find it.  Not letting that rejection penetrate,  not taking the harsh comments to heart–letting them bounce off your thick skin will definitely help you stay on track and give you a better shot at reaching your goals.

Keep at it,

T. R. Locke

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