One Less Bitter Actor's Blog

New Year's Advice: Don't Sell to Jerks

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I saw this and thought it related to working hard to get in the room with people you simply don't like. it seems like we have to, and that's just business. but here is a CEO telling his staff it's actually a detriment to the company...do you see any similarity to being an actor and deciding not to put yourself in the company of jerks where you have a choice?

AARRGG!! The stupidity within our union...

Years back our SAG president, Melissa Gilbert (who is a friend), tried unsuccessfully to merge SAG and AFTRA citing the need to build one strong union to combat the many foces that were going to come at actors in the near future. That vote was angrily and noisily opposed by Membership First, a group within our union that held firm and lobbied and saw the vote tip ever so slightly in their favor so no merger happened.

Now let's see what has happened since they were able to have their mandate met. They got Alan Rosenberg elected who oversaw our next contract negotiations. He spent his first day on the job firing the top civilian employee at SAG and paid him $2 million not come to work, so he could go hire someone he thought could really get the union going in the right direction.

SAG went into a defacto strike right after the WGA strike because Mr. Rosenberg alienated AFTRA during contract talks with the Producers Union. So, the Producers negotiated a contract with AFTRA and AFTRA suddenly had any TV show contract it wanted. Producers and AFTRA went back to work, SAG was left trying to pretend it still mattered in TV. Feel free to mark this as the point at which SAG lost most of it's strength and credibilty in Hollywood.

Actors now suffer from the keen insight of Membership First and Alan Rosenberg who held firm and kept the unions divided based on little else but silly pride. The ironic thing is... you members still believe that you have some credibilty in this current discussion. Clearly you are taking notes from our political leaders that never let the facts get in the way of an empty bluster.

To those of you in that group formerly called Membership First who hide behind "independant" monikers I beg of you this;  Please go away. Please stop helping the union. You are the billionaires seeking bigger tax breaks in a failing economy. You are the oil industry seeking less regulation after fouling generations of sealife. You are the financial titans asking to double down on the bet that propelled the planet into near depression.

If you read today's Backstage you saw this;

SAG pension and Heatlh minimums are being raised raised. The scarcity of employer contributions under the TV contract can be linked to SAG's diminishing representation in scripted network prime-time television. In the last three pilot seasons, the vast majority of new television programs have been covered by American Federation of Television and Radio Artists contracts. Competition between the unions for prime-time jurisdiction has been cited as one of the motivating factors for the current effort to merge SAG and AFTRA. A formal merger plan is expected to be presented to the unions' boards of directors early next year.

For those of you saying hindsight is always 20/20, you're wrong. The coming divide-and-conquer plan by producers was easy to see back when Melissa proposed and pushed for this merger because video tape filming of regular shows and feature films was exploding. It was silly to think that producers would work with SAG exclusively because they always had before.

You really have done enough damage Mem First alumni, please go away and let those folks who can see farther than their ego attempt to build something called a union. One, "can't go around us" union of actors that will have a hard enough time combatting internet delivery and the coming battle over residuals, to still be battling one another about whose union is better.

Great stuff!

Read this in the morning Back Stage and liked them. Ben Foster takes us on a ride for sure but I liked what Michael McKean says about auditioning....you already don't have the job!!

Have a look!

How do they know you?

When I teach, to introduce my theory of why artists have to strive for the truth, and why telling their truth is the only way they will have a shot not only at a career, but more importantly, at fulfilment,  I always ask the students a question; "Have you ever heard a song that made you feel like you just cried your eyes out ?" That question always gets a resounding yes. Every head nods, students immediately go to that sacred moment again. It's personal, and it's important. Then I ask, "How is that possible? How can a musician, possibly one who is long dead,  know you that well?"

It's my way of introducing the value of laying bare your humanity for all to share. It's that artists truth that we are connecting to. It's the thing that makes us want to act in the first place. Someone, in a theatre, or a movie house or on a TV screen did something that smacked us between the eyes and made us say "yeah...that's right! that's exactly how I feel!!" and the inspiration for the actor to get up there and share their humanity is born.

When we are our best, that's how it feels. We get to share our feelings about the world that this playwrite or screenwriter has given us. It connects us to everyone who ever felt that too, and we feel it. And, we as actors LOVE watching fellow actors who make us feel that connection. Yes there is that professional unity among us that loves to compliment a good performance, but there is always that want for the piercing of our souls via the art. It's the most fun we have when it's not our turn to be acting.

I don't know her, or the history of the song,  but I'd like to tell Natalie Merchant that King of May, might be the greatest homage/eulogy/tribute song for someone who has passed, ever. It's everything I'd do if I ever tried to write a great song for someone who was a king to me. It simply destroys me. I cannot hear the song without wondering how she knew exactly how I felt when my dad died 8 years ago. I can hear my sister's voice bouncing off the church walls as she belts that song out at his funeral, which didn't happen, but I can hear it. It makes my sit at my desk and cry about that day all over again. And it makes me wonder, how Natalie Merchant knows me that well?

Ah...these are the reminders and the artistic cleansers we need to avoid that "center on the universe" syndrom that will invade our ego when the pursuit of a career takes it toll.

Dear god we have a lot to share. Be brave enough to really share it. The monsters of this world have no problem sharing their anger, politicians their ambition, and celebrities their insecurity. Share the good stuff. Please. There is a fellow artist somewhere sitting in his office sobbing and having a moment with his dad because you did.

Ms. Merchant, wherever you are, I can't tell you how much I appreciate you braving the elements and singing for us.

 

 

The terror of art...

In reading my Sunday LA times I read two articles that had me more scared for the future of the country than normal. I know we cycle through things, and old ideas, especially in fashion, become new again. It's the idea that everyone is under suspicion in this time of terror activity that is cycling back into our society. Not as blatantly as it did in 2002 but it's still here perculating and it's troubling. It's the concept that as artists with our free speech needs, we can express freely,  as long as those ideas are not seen as terrorists ideas by the folks in charge. Remember the vigor McCarthy had in going after writers in Hollywood? Aren't we allowed to be Communists in America? Aren't we, infact, guaranteed that right?

There is an artist named Alex Schaefer who was painting on a street in Van Nuys and received a vist from two local police that wanted to ask him about his painting. Someone "had called in saying they were threatened by his painting" and the police had to investigate. His subject? A Chase bank branch in flames. He was asked about his intentions and if he was a terrorist and if he was going to follow through on the vision in his painting. I'm sure a lot of folks would see this as a good precautionary measure, but here is my issue...

On page A16 there is an article about how the NRA seeks to take another  clarifying argument concerning the 2nd Amendment back to the Supreme court to get a ruling that states in plain english that every person in America has the right to carry a concealed weapon. This massive lobby group that is dedicating it's time and considerable money to the principle that we have the right to carry weapons at all times is seen as just defending our rights, but this painter who is expressing himself as an artist, is questioned twice by police about whether his hours spent painting something is really a gateway exercise to the plan to burn down the bank,  which is, somehow, a terroist action. Gosh, I wonder if the manager of the bank (who was quoted in the article) called the police saying he was threatened by a man who was painting his branch in flames?

Don't start with the old; "you can't be too careful these days " dialog with me either. That's how McCarthy and Hitler started their reigns of fear, "Everyone is after you! Look! A guy with a paintbrush!!" In the big picture the NRA is doing is what they've always done; fighting to make your world "safer" by defending everyone's right to carry a gun. Ask Gabby Giffords how much safer she feels knowing that all the people of Arizona might soon be allowed to carry guns under their jackets.

So, to summarize... if you express your 1st Amendment right in a safe way, that contains a violent overtone (which is also your right) you are a suspected terrorist and need to clear your intentions with the police. If you lobby the Supreme Court for clairification of the 2nd Amendment that will win the right for all Americans to carry violence in their pockets, you're a patriot fighting for your rights.

Not everyone looks forward to expressing like we do. Artists, you must keep speaking up and making your thoughts known. Because, I ask you; If this man was painting a bakey in flames, do you think he would have been questioned about it? There is a system in America that says "Whoever has the most money is right." We hear it everyday and we learn it with every piece of lousy legislation we are forced to live with.

Paint every feeling you have about the system, write songs, create operas and musicals, write plays, keep expressing as purely as you can. Our connection to the human spirit is the world's only antidote to the corporate message of fear and control that makes my Sunday reading upsetting not just a couple stories about a guy who was rounded up because his painting expressed a vision that was a threat to society,  and a huge lobby group that holds the vision that every person you pass should possess a threat to society and is getting ready argue for that vision with the highest court in the land.

The Top 10 Acting Myths

The Working ActorThe Top 10 Acting MythsBy Jackie ApodacaAugust 15, 2011

via www.backstage.com

Saw this and thought it was good food for thought. I don't know Jackie but I think she makes a good list.

Ricky Gervais nails it.

I used to be the laziest, least ambitious person I knew.

via www.huffingtonpost.com

Funeral for a stranger

Last week I went to the funeral for the father of a classmate of my daughter. My daughter wasn't able to go so I went. It made me feel like a grown up because even though I didn't go to "say goodbye", it was the right thing to do as a member of this community.

I do know his older daughter, I coached her in softball. She is a lovely girl who I tried to counsel during a crying fit at our last game. She dropped a ball that she thought cost us the win. It didn't, but her heart was broken just the same. I never met her dad, the man who died suddenly from a car crash last Monday, during any of the games.

The large church filled slowly, I only knew a few people in the crowd and I didn't speak to any of them, I just sat alone just observing the room and watching the slide show that played clips of his life.  Then I read the funeral card they gave me when I signed in, and I saw his birthdate, and I saw a note from his girls, and suddenly I could not stop sobbing.  Everything just hurt. I cried like I had lost a vital part of my world. With no explanation, I just kept getting pounded by waves of ache and cried.

I got up to find a tissue and spotted a friend who hugged me and we sat together and that helped, but the feeling stayed at throat level for the rest of the ceremony. I wept and listened to eulogies and learned, in teary snippets, about this man. In this environment, we have the grace of feeling great about someone, and feeling lousy we didn't spend more time getting to know him, even when we didn't know them at all.

And that was my take away.

How do we spend our time? I know this is an old theme and one that gets used in everything from greeting cards to business management courses, but I had a clear view of this from my seat in the church. Time. How do we spend our time?

I don't mean; Do you spend it "effficiently"? I mean; In what frame of mind?  How do you use that space in your head?  "Use your time wisely!"  We hear that a lot, but it's difficult to know what wisely is, isn't it? I got a fresh view of it and I'm happy for that. That a man nearly my age with two (not three) daughters, who was a wild man of adventure and loved his music, loved his kids and made a room full of people (even strangers) cry madly, made me consider what I am doing with my time...and it did my heart good.

I went to my car and called my wife and cried all over again telling her how damn sad the whole situation was. A wife lost the love of her life, two girls lost their hero, and a family lost a beacon of light. Telling them that they should feel lucky for the time they did have with him is trivial.  Time with him is what they want.

To the Mann family; I am so sorry for your loss.

The Goddaughter-Meagan

A couple weeks ago I took my Goddaughter to college because college was on this coast and she had only the bus to get her from Sacramento to Chico. I have not seen this girl in 15 years, we keep up on the phone and email but we haven't had time together since our tea party at her house when she was 4.

I interrogated her about her college life and career trajectory and such. She is an RA, which, as she describes it, sounds like the last thing a college person would want to do in college. She is the den mother for a floor of girls in her dorm and she flat out loves it. And not the kind of; "I love it, but..." love. Nothing like that ever came out of her mouth as we walked the various big box stores getting her the necessary dorm room accessories. Not once. It was all positive. As an RA they pay you, and feed you and you have to be the answer person, the comforting ear, the decorator of 6 bulletin boards and the constant cruise director arranging things for your floor to do as a group. That sounded like a lot to do while you are also trying to get a degree. It was a new experience for me to see someone so young and so competent be so darn at ease with her life. She had no anxiety of this new school, new state, new floor of girls, new group of fellow RA's, and mostly; the expectations of all those girls on her new floor.

I kept offering to write her introduction speech for her with all sorts of clever braggert lines,  she would chuckle and say, " I think I have a handle on my speech but thanks." You see, I've grown used to hearing people complain about being too priviledged in America. "Yeah I've been on a hit TV show for 10 years but my movie work isn't respected...", that sort of thing. Students never have enough time to enjoy their student life, actors without agents moan about getting one, actors with only a few auditions complain about getting rid of their agent so they can get more auditions, working actors complain about getting a better acting job than the one they are on...I'm used to it. I expect to hear it. I wrote my book to try to combat some of it. This time with her had me feeling like something was missing from her character. She had to be more uptight didn't she? "She just covers her anxiety well" I told myself because I wasn't easy with how easy she was through all this.

I hung my last sweater (imagine, she brought sweaters to California) getting her settled in and I left her and her mom in her dorm room and drove back to where I was staying. I used the drive to think back on the day and figure out how darn calm and confident that girl could be at 21. What came to me was a single word...

Grateful.

She was grateful for this school and this life and my time with her, and the RA job, all of it. It was so off-putting to be with someone who was so honestly grateful. It made me think hard on how I got here.

Why is she grateful? Now, doesn't your mind go right to; "Well give me some background, and we can figure out how she'd get that way..." And that's the point. We all give ourselves reasons why we live the way we do, especially the chosen folks who work in the biz.  Aren't we the example of how good things can get in life? Don't we all strive for that exclusivity that comes with being famous? We are different because we entertain, right? It's a big responsibility.  But how many of the actors that you know are really grateful to be actors? How much time do we waste complaining about what should be?

I'm so glad I had the time with my Goddaughter. She has no idea how far ahead on the fulfilment curve she is, but I do, and I'm jealous.

 

The street minstrel returns!

Neon lights, mile-wide billboards, and monster screens are not the only things that make Times Square a wonderland. On the ground – far below the hi-tech spectacles, and scattered throughout the hoards who visit the theater district each day – are live actors performing for the crowds.

via blogstage.backstage.com

 

Yes another clipping from Backstage...

I just loved this idea of actors taking to the streets to promote other actors and their shows in NYC. They hand out discount vouchers for shows. This might be the difference between people seeing the show and not, due to finances. I believe that art should be affordable for all if a society is to remain civilized. This isn't quite that but it's win-win in that actors take to the streets and...act for the sake of getting folks into theatres cheaper. It's a slice of genius. I also love the comment by one of them that now that he now loves toursist and the chaos of Times Square.

This looks really fun and as far as marketing goes, it's nice to think someone in the theatre world thought to use live actors to promote live theatre. What took so long?