Was it just to hype their new film?

Would you be surprised to see that headline? It seems lately that celebrities resort to the most ridiculous tactics to promote their new films and albums. With competition for news being what it is, the more sensational and outrageous a story hook, the more likely it will find its place on national news shows and in national magazines.

Whitney Houston goes on Oprah with an “exclusive interview” in which she talks about her drug addiction and leaving Bobby Brown. “Oh the horror of our marriage and what was going on behind the scenes,” she said crying, sobbing… “by the way, I have a new album born of my pain. May I sing you a few songs?” And to number one it goes. And since then? Gone—probably back to Bobby, and with her newly minted millions from her album sales… probably crack, too.

Phil Collins (talk about a blast from the past—has he even done anything since the Tarzan Soundtrack?) suddenly appears in Rolling Stone with a shotgun, pick axe, machete, hunting knife and various other antique farm implements laid out on the Persian rug beneath him, looking more like Courage the Cowardly Dog’s owner than a rock god.

From Rolling Stone

“I’ve had thoughts of su-su-suicide and I’m tired of all the people talking about me.” (What people? Didn’t Phil die years ago?) “By the way, I have a new album coming out. It may be my last. You never know. Better go get it.” Oh, that explains it.  Reminds me a lyric from Prince’s Pop Life:

What’s the matter with your life?
Is the poverty bringing you down?
Did the mailman jerk you around?
Did he put your million dollar check in someone else’s box? Tell me.

“No.  I just have an album to sell and talking about suicidal thoughts and paranormal activity seemed the most effective way to relate to this new generation.”

Tyler Perry was next. “I was abused, Oprah! Sexually so. When only a boy…” as the tears stream down his cheeks. “And that’s what gave me the sensitivity to do For Colored Girls… because…well, I was abused just like colored girls who considered suicide when the rainbow wasn’t enough.  I lived it myself. And, yes, it will be in theaters this week packed with all the emotion you see right here before you.”

Some have stories. Others truly live it out. Some seem such a mess that it’s hard to figure out how they even manage to complete any projects at all. I imagine that Lindsay Lohan’s next project is going to be huge.  Brittany Spears’ certainly was. It seemed she was such a wreck before her album came out—shaving her head allegedly over her breakup with Kevin Federline—in and out of various clinics. But that didn’t stop her from putting together one of the best albums of her life. It dropped and everything is great now. Wow. Grammy? VH1 Award? Sure. Thanks. I’m much better. See you next year.

What’s this tell you about Hollywood? Promotion is part of the game. Even Harrison Ford has to drag his dust-farting ass out to worship at the altar of Letterman, Leno, Stewart and Fallon. Harrison can’t even remember what film he was in or what it was about, but he’s there—looking like Han Solo’s grandpappy Dutch Blitz. “Hello everyone. Yes, I’m the guy who played that guy you liked in that movie 25-35 years ago. Hello! Please go see my next movie.” It’s all part of the sell.

Perhaps the one that actually made me laugh was Sting. I caught him on Jon Stewart looking rather annoyed at having to hustle his new CD on TV. But there he was. “I like doing new things,” he said. “I can’t stand playing the same songs year after year—I need to mix it up. That’s why I released this new album with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.”  (He even joked of it being reminiscent of the parody rock band movie This is Spinal Tap where one of the band members thinks his stuff is good enough to have the acoustic versions performed by the London Phil.) And what was the new thing he did with the Philharmonic that he wanted us to run out and buy? The Muzak version of “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic” and every other song he did 30 years ago and has been doing “year after year” since. I could have sworn I heard that version in an elevator 25 years ago. Nonetheless, sell that “original” album Sting.

Remember it’s called Show “Business” and no matter how big a star you are, you can never stop being a hustler in Hollywood.

One of the great places to learn lessons about Hollywood is the commentary section of DVDs.  It’s amazing the insights you can gain from filmmakers talking quite innocently about the process of getting the movie made. Sometimes the things they think they’re teaching you about the movie business aren’t what you walk away having learned. In fact, sometimes you can learn things they don’t really want you to know.

Just recently I watched 8 Mile—the Eminem bio film. The film is about rapper Eminem struggling to become a successful recording artist in Detroit by winning rap battles. It follows the exact same format that most “outsider young person struggles to find himself in a strange world” films (Step Up, Stomp the Yard, Drumline, Bring It) follow.

In the DVD extras, there is a section about filming the rap battles themselves.  Particularly, there is a story about how the film’s director and producers decided they wanted to have local rappers actually battle Eminem in order to get a more gritty realism.

The call goes out among the hundred or so extras who made up the crowd during the club and rap battle scenes. Three rappers, the ones who possessed the skills to top a real rap battle in the room, would then be put in the film as star actors featured battling Eminem. This was a chance of a lifetime for these actors who’d only been booked in very low paying extra jobs where their faces would likely never even be seen (see article on being an extra here). Here was a chance to be credited in a major motion picture, to have the camera right in your face and to be able to launch a career in acting.

Dozens of the extras tried out for the roles. Most were rejected out of hand, but quite a few showed promise. Eventually the contestants were whittled down and three lucky and talented ones were chosen. They were very talented too.

One by one, the rapper/actors/contest winners took their positions before Eminem to battle him. Although initially told to save his voice for the dialogue scenes and only to lip sync his comebacks against these rappers, Eminem couldn’t let the taunts in front of the packed room go unanswered. Impressively, true to his character in the film, he improvised clever responses to each rapper—clearly putting them in their place.

So what did we learn from this DVD extra? That Eminem is actually a very good rap battler? Yes. That’s what the film director wanted us to learn. But here’s what we learned that he didn’t want us to learn: After all of the contest—all of the hopes and dreams of each rapper in that room being placed before them—the promise of a starring role in a major motion picture. After winning the contest and being chosen as one of the three actors to battle the star; after filming the battle against Eminem and rejoicing, celebrating and telling all their friends and family about it; after the movie comes out six to nine months later, after all of the anticipation, after buying the popcorn and taking your seat in the theater….

Not a single one of those actors’ battles appeared in the film.  Every single one was cut. Every one. Those actors are not featured anywhere except in the DVD rap battle extras section. But at least they were featured there. Many actors find their roles, in fact, whole characters cut from movies. Where they expected a reel to show agents, managers, casting directors, or at least a credit for their resume, they may get nothing.

Some executive didn’t think the scene was necessary—one battle too many. Or it didn’t work—the lighting was bad, etc. For whatever reason, the film you starred in you no longer star in. The film goes on to be number one at the box-office—oh well, at least it got released. Hundreds of movies get filmed that never even get released.

Welcome to Hollywood. Such things happen here. They don’t always happen, but they do happen. The point is not to discourage you. The point is to make you aware so that, if it does happen, you don’t give up.

Good luck.

TRL

Well, the first show is at Midnight here in L.A. I imagine it’s opening around the country at midnight as well. That would mean that, for anyone on east coast time, it will likely open just as I’m finishing this post. Twilight has become a phenomenon.  My daughter is on “Team Jacob”—the werewolf.

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 What I Wish I Knew Before I Moved to Hollywood 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

“Here are some statistics you may not know—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.  But 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.” –From I Followed My Bliss to Bankruptcy–What I Wish I Knew Before I Moved to Hollywood pg. 208

The star I interviewed for my book, which gave me the facts above, earns a reported $250,000 per week for his considerable skills learned through his years of experience. Most of those years passed with barely a livable wage from his craft.

“For one period of time, about three years, our family survived on my wife’s income. She was out working while I cared for our child. You can start to question what you’re doing wrong and what’s going on. I would do well on an audition, but couldn’t get to the next level.” –page 209

Three years. Things have only recently changed.

“I got a stint doing recurring roles here and there. I have friends who became huge stars very shortly after arriving here. We worked together in New York doing Broadway. We came out here together and acting success happened for them much quicker. It just took longer for me. Other very talented friends still have not broken through.”

And that’s how it is. Some make it right away and others labor on for years.

In my book, I chose to interview celebrities and successful Hollywood artists to see what they knew that others who hadn’t succeeded did not.  They knew what it was like to succeed and they understood the demands on the life of a successful actor, writer, singer, producer, director, etc. I chose to interview them anonymously because I wanted them to feel free to be completely honest–neither afraid of hurting someone nor being retaliated against by someone later.  (In hindsight, I could sell a lot more books if I hadn’t promised that anonymity, but I believe the honesty gained improves the quality of the information.)

One thing they all agreed it took to succeed was a tenacious unwillingness to quit.  The realities can be pretty grim for artists in Hollywood. Here one is surrounded by the successful, the wealthy; the ones with the power to make movies, music, or headlines everywhere they go. It might sound glamorous to tell your friends you were on set today with Megan Fox or Will Farrell, but when the difference between what they are paid to be there and what you are paid to be there is millions of dollars, and your not sure if you will be able to pay your rent tomorrow, it can be hard to bite the bullet and keep pushing forward towards your acting success. Hope, in Hollywood, is a skill set you must possess.

Acting success also doesn’t come to those who can’t take rejection. Rejection for an actor can feel very personal. After all, it is the actor who stands before the casting director speaking her lines. It is this same actor who then hears “Thank you!” in the middle of her sentence and is escorted out past the next young thespian who looks enough like her to be her sister. According to this TV star, acting success is about business and rejection is part of the business.

And contrary to oft taught belief that success in Hollywood is all about who you know, according to this star,

“It’s not really about who you know, but being in the right place at the right time. It’s about being steadfast. You come in, do the job. Most people who make it are just lucky. They have the look the casting director is looking for—so the casting director takes whatever talent the actor has. Most times what the actor has lends itself more to celebrity than to talent.” –page 207

That explains a lot. When he first arrived in Hollywood, this actor counted among his fans the hugely successful TV producer Steven Bochco (Hill Street Blues, NYPD Blue, LA Law). Although that relationship led to occasional roles on Bochco’s shows, it didn’t lead to constant employment or stardom.  This actor’s journey in Hollywood went from bit part to small recurring role for nearly 20 years before he finally had “the look.”

That quote might even explain why many get into the business of acting—seeing some actor in a movie and thinking, “I can act better than that.” That may be true, but will you be at the right place at the right time? One thing is clear, the more auditions an actor goes on, the more chances she has for making it eventually.

Here’s another great nugget of truth he shared,

“L.A. is not really about acting. TV is a producer’s medium. Film is a director’s medium. Actors have no real control. Sometimes you do a take and you think you did it well and the director wants you to do again in a different way. So you do. They may use the take that isn’t how you wanted to do it. But it’s their decision. Once you understand and know your place, you’re cool.”

Who would have thought that? A director, no doubt. Of course film is the director’s medium. That why director’s get to call it “a film by” and get their names above even star’s names. Yet it’s unlikely an actor would expect to have his best work discarded because the director or producer preferred the take where the actor looked less than his best.

The interview with this great and wise talent went on for much more in the book, but the last piece of advice I’ll share from him here now is this:

“Young actors don’t realize this, but acting is one of the most unglamorous jobs there is. It’s one of the most fickle. There are some great rewards, but this is a business. The things you think they look at, they don’t. It’s really a war of attrition. You stick around long enough, you’ll work. If you come here looking for all the perks and accouterments, then you’re in it for the wrong reasons because you really have no control over those things.”

Great truth to keep in mind as you look for your acting success in Hollywood.  For more from this and other interviews with successful writers, directors, actors, singers, film and record producers, to help save you years of frustration and to encourage you on your Hollywood journey , please check out my book. I guarantee you’ll be glad you did.

Good Luck.

T.R. Locke