To The Newbs

If you been here, in Hollywood long enough, you will start to see new faces. These are hopeful people hoping to grab the brass ring. A lot of determined people. And many with a TON of talent. More prettier, smarter and wealthier than you to begin with. A lot of the ol' timers will laugh because...well, they know the odds. Most will fizzle out before the 5 year break.
Most like seeing these faces to exploit them. Though I didn't see it THAT much, there are producers who have raked in these fresh off the boat kids to work on their production with false hopes of...whatever. I tend to constantly repeat that they are on a shit cruise so they better have brought Dramamine. This is to make sure they know what they did to themselves. Fuck your positivity that serves no one.

If they still decide to come aboard, I am eternally grateful. Trust me, though I pay them little or not at all, I make sure they don't suffer the same bullshit I had. Because being on set sucks. Wait, backtrack, being on set sucked for me.

I'm not sure how this was a thing, but there are people who thrive being around so much hurry up and wait. Guess what? There's the military. In my efficiency mind, there is SO much waste. But it all makes sense when you go to dailies. I dunno, there's something to be said about blind luck.

I think what most people enjoy is organized chaos. A film set is a buzz of energy (at least when they're shooting). The rest of the time, it's sitting around waiting for something. Every production I've ever been on, it's a lot of waiting for something. Sometimes you know what it is, most of the times you don't. And if you're a newbie, that makes you a production assistant that has to lock down a set. Glamorous? Not really, it means you stand at one of end of the sidewalk with a walkie talkie holding the public away from walking in a public space. Grateful I've never had to do that. I know some who tell me about holding off traffic until a shot is done. You want to know what makes Angelenos more irate than anything is traffic. And it's getting worse with newbies coming into town every day.
That's the worst of it. Population. No other city has this many people coming in daily. Possibly New York. But, here, skyrises are being built to accommodate the flood of people.

And it made me wonder why people even want to come to L.A. to do movies. They can do them anywhere, get great locations and so forth.

A friend explained that it was because the talent pool in his small town was non-existent. L.A. obviously have people who are out here strictly to act. So the congregation of talent pools here and the competitive nature amplifies their skill. The other idea is that, this is still the town that has a history of excellence. Regardless of the shit they put out now, Hollywood is still seen as the Mecca of movies. This is where it was born (not movies per se but movies the way they are seen now). And for a lot of people to conquer it between the best of the best is a badge of honor. That they were able to stand toe-to-toe in the shadow of Griffith, Ford, Victor Fleming, and so forth is the ultimate goal. This is a boxer's mentality. No point in doing it, if you aren't fighting with the best.

And, to be completely honest, I see more K.O.'s than wins.
But that doesn't mean you don't dust yourself off and try again. It's a grueling pit and if I were to be asked how I survived in Hollywood. I'd give them the same look someone gave me when I asked him that years ago. I was given a thousand yard stare and a half smirk and a simple phrase "everyone is different, and everyone does it differently." Chilling.