From time to time I just like to stop, and take a look at the State of the Industry. When I look around these days I see chaos, but it is a chaos I expected and talked about in 2000. We see it in this country, with our leaders, and we certainly see it with this industry. However, I encourage you to realize that with every decade, and every generation thinks…oh everything is “going to Hell in a hand basket” and in the end…it is just change.
It is imperative, be us actors or not, that we exercise common logic and a certain amount of humility…no matter how successful or confident we may be. At the end of the day, nothing that is going on now…is any different than what has come before…except that now we all have the Internet and cell phones. We live in a 24-hour news cycle, and we seem to take everything so tragically and in extremes…and then totally forget it happened…24-hours later. It is sort of sad.
In watching Bill Maher on HBO he made a great point, as he usually does, when he mildly blasted “us” (the American public) for constantly barking about how long this whole terrible Democratic process is taking between Obama and Clinton. (NO this is not a political email…trust me it is about being an actor.) He barked about how “we want it over” it’s so long and laborious. Excuse me? This is the process many in other countries would almost kill for…a democratic process. Americans like to fancy themselves as “tough, strong, blah blah” when really that is for those who have died standing or believing in something…and NOT “John Q citizen” for he/she I see these days barely has the stomach to get up and go do anything besides order on Netflix.
This point is…that Hollywood is in a HUGE state of change. It started in 2000, before many of you were even here, and it continues. It will likely continue for another 2 years or so before settling a bit. All of the barking and bitching about SAG versus AFTRA and “who sold who out” and the WGA strike and why…and maybe the SAG strike and why…and OMG there really wasn’t a pilot season this past year and what does that mean…OMG OMG OMG.
Folks, relax, it is just time…our time…to rearrange the sock drawer. SAG was founded on a principal, and the movies came into existence, NOT out of a necessity, for the desire to watch The Jester had LONG since existed. It was just that now, The Jester, could be seen in Silent Movies…and then the Talkie. That terrible change then, is now a multi-billion dollar industry and it ain’t going anywhere but up. Yes, there are growing pains, and new definitions for certain aspects of it. But just breath.
Who cares if there is no longer a pilot season? What difference does it make if instead of casting/shooting 120 pilots, in 90 days, is replaced by casting/shooting 10 per month throughout the year? SAME NUMBER. We get so emotional and caught up in “holy shit” what next Batman…that we MISS the value of change…that is right in front of us.
Remember this you guys. Now that technology has made “on demand” a way of life, and the varied delivery platforms more accessible to us all, we will have a lot more people…around the world who can pay…for our product. Many families cannot afford to take their family to the movies because it will cost $90 nowadays, and before they had to wait years or months to see it released in the video store, on VHS and now DVD.
The 24-hour news cycle mentality and the timeline content is now released beyond the movie theatre means what folks? They gotta MAKE MORE of it NOW. So if they spend 200 million making two movies or 200 million making 6 movies…who cares, it is 200 million, and in the end you now have four more chances to be cast in something. Additionally, back in the day, Pilot season was “make it or break it” and now were moving into a world and time when the word “Pilot” is simply more applicable…it is a “Test Balloon.” If the show flies…great, if it doesn’t, no biggie. We didn’t commit millions, and we’ll try something else.
Do know what this REALLY means to the unknown actor? It means that all of the Studio Execs and Network peeps are not COUNTING on YOU or that “name actor” to make sure that a few Pilots “make their year or break it.” And what does that mean you guys? It means that they will be MORE LIKELY…by my crafty sense of LOGIC…to be willing to cast lesser known actors in their Pilots because they have not “bet the house” on this one show or that one show…and if it doesn’t gain an audience in 3-6 episodes…they’ll move on. This is NOT a bad thing.
In the last 8 years the number of Host jobs quadrupled because of reality/magazine programming popularity. This is not a bad thing. Yes commercials have changed and will continue to do so, but everyday manufacturers still have to create “new and improved” products and every time they do they need a V/O spokesperson or an entertainment format to deliver the message. Folks, the second the Internet and TV become one in the same, is the second that MORE programming and more advertising will be needed. This is not a bad thing.
Stop worrying about how AFTRA and SAG will be without being inextricably tied to one another. I’ve been here 21 years and the talk of Merger had existed 15 years before I even became an actor. The marriage was NEVER going to happen, we just finally are in a place as an industry where the official divorce from a marriage that never existed, had to be made public. Big deal, move on. Trust me, this is not a bad thing, as what the two “unions” are about…can easily stand on their own.
Not only in our Democratic candidates, but also within the entertainment industry, you are currently in the middle of HISTORY. What is going on right now is historical, for all of the lousy shit happening around the world. The treatment of one-another, to me, is at an all-time low in my lifetime. I have never seen a 5-year stretch in which I’m almost ashamed sometimes to be here because so few people live their lives by “The Golden Rule.” Yet at the same time, we live in an era and age, where storytelling and entertainment can affect so many, so quickly for very little money. In the end, why do writers write, and why do we perform? Answer: to entertain, move and affect others via the escape route of their mind.
You couldn’t pick a more important time in our 5000+ years to pick up a pen, buy a camera, or stand on stage “at curtains rise” and share something with the rest of the world. Stop panicking about “what was” as it is gone. Look to what it can be, and what you can be …in it. As Bill Maher said, don’t be “upset” how about “growing a set.” You have never had a better time in the MOVING PICTURES era (no not an Album from Rush) to be in this profession. You have so much at your disposal.
We have just become a very lazy nation of babies who want everything now, and want to be considered good at everything, just because we’re breathing. The one thing that technology will never change is the omnipotent value of proficiency and talent that is borne from a long term dedication. You don’t get that by simply having a computer or buying a camera…but WOW…how easy it is these days to begin and how easy it is to “test” the Pilot of your dreams. And this…is not a bad thing.
Yes, I am a bit edgy at times (insert laughter from many who’ve know me for years), and yes, I am a bit cocky at times, and yes, I am a bit firm in my demeanor at times but it has always been from the perspective that this profession may be about artistry and performance…but that is us talking…when in truth it is about money, for those who risk thousands and millions on YOU…when they hire you. So have some reverence for what they risk, have some respect for those who have come before you, and although someone being “bad or good” is often in the eye of the beholder…but certain levels of proficiency can be seen by all. Remember that what will always win, in a subjective scenario, is the surrounding awareness that you care about “the quality of your time” on this plane…at least seriously enough…that we want to go WITH you…on the journey. Actors who treat this art/profession with indifference, very often will treat their life with indifference and that is not either attractive, nor interesting.
We are on the precipice of our 17 year Anniversary here at The Actors’ Network. I did not think nor know what I was starting when I started it, as there was no path, and there certainly weren’t any others to mirror or learn from when it came to what I wanted this place to be…to you. And with the passion of Paulo, and many of the members who have come, gone…and still remain, we therefore…remain.
We still stand, and function in a way, that most acting services do not, and for that I will never apologize, as what we stand for, is not…a bad thing…even if, sometimes, it ruffles your artistic feathers.
I stand, as always, on your side.
Kevin E. West – President/Founder
The Actors’ Network