The “Hollywood Dream” or what some refer to as “Making It” is, if I may be blunt, the biggest load of horse shit anyone has ever tried to feed me. I have known some seriously heavy hitting bullshit salesmen so believe me when I say they don’t make stables big enough to house the load of bullshit that is the Hollywood Dream.
Ever since I was young, ever since the internet, youtube, and reality television this country has been obsessed with youth and fame. Let me just say here and now that youth is a vile of snake oil and ladies, Cosmo has got you buying stock in the oldest scam ever. “The Fountain Of Youth” is a kids story and the idea the women can’t age gracefully is a myth perpetuated by old men who get rich off of middle aged and golden aged insecurities.
Why am I mixing metaphors? What does the Hollywood Dream have to do with the vanity of our country? Nothing, except for literally everything. If you ever hear an actor say to you “I’m following my Hollywood Dream” I want you to either punch them in the mouth and tell them to get a job or ask them what they really mean by that.
If when you ask them what they mean they tell you they want to be an actor punch them again and ask them what the hell does that mean? Because everyone knows its hard work to become a name in the entertainment industry but no one seems to realize that it is the equivalent to winning the lottery. Sure people do it all the time but consider how many people are pursuing this profession versus how many people meet the standards of “Making It”. Consider how much larger that number gets every year the more fame obsessed we become.
It’s not difficult simply because the margins are so wide but because the requirements are fairly abstract. If you don’t have talent you can say hello to a flurry of student films followed by a phone that never rings. But there are so many variables to why people pick who for what, that could happen to you even if you have talent.
If by “making it” someone doesn’t mean “doing what I love and getting paid enough to pay my bills” and they don’t care if they have to work a side job now and again to do it then you should do them a favor and tell them to go home.
Acting, performing in general, is traditionally the least respected profession in history. Seriously, prostitutes used to be called “fancy ladies” and got to stay in the town they worked in. Traveling minstrels traveled because they were viewed as vagrants. People enjoyed theatre but actors, writers, directors, they were all considered dregs of society. By the way, aspiring talent...they still are.
If you get your name in lights and gain a little recognition you still aren’t respected, you are just known and have money so considered successful and therefor worthy of not being treated like a scab. But Al Pacino lived in a box and pan handled the streets of Brooklyn before anyone knew his name. The difference between everyone else and Al Pacino? Talent, Drive, Passion, and probably most importantly, patience and luck. Without luck he would probably be selling clothes to men at casual male or something. Without patience he wouldn’t have kept playing his hand long enough to catch a run of great cards.
This is why people tell you if you can do anything else do it. Seriously, not a day goes by where I don’t sit in bed at night or just when I wake up and go through the list of other things I could be doing with my life. I still haven’t come up with anything. I am convinced that acting, writing, speaking, these are the only things I excel at, literally the only utility I have other then being strong but I’m not even that good at manual labor. This is not noble, this is not the battle cry of the misunderstood artist who is dedicated to his work. This.is.fucking.tragic.
If I thought I could do anything else at all I would and so should you. If you aren’t drawn to the art, if it doesn’t keep you up at night, if it isn’t your only option then go join community theater and get a real job...
Fame is not found here, riches are not found here, this is the place where people who play with the angels and demons of our nature live. This is where those who have no talent, aside from showing you the contents of a human soul, work. This isn’t a pretentious, self-victimizing, self-fulfilling prophecy here. I don’t find any of this loner, underdog, bullshit glamorous.
When you chase fame you are chasing the dragon. Even if you catch it, it wont last. Chasing your dream is an entirely separate matter though. If you decide to chase your dream you better decide. You better run those legs until they fall off because it simply isn’t worth it otherwise.
And if your dream is to be famous then good luck, but I think you may be the lost child of a nation that has failed you.
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