Tag Archives: Hollywood

How I Lost My Obsession Over Working in Hollywood

My obsession over working in Hollywood began when I was a kid. We were a family in love with the movies. My father, a film scholar and critic, wrote about them and taught them. As kids, we went to double features (that was still a thing in the 1960s) on Saturdays for as long as I could remember. Oscar Night was treated with the same reverence as any Catholic Holy Day of Obligation.

The impetus for my road trip chronicled in Wanderslut 1996 was a layoff from a Hollywood job. At the time, it seemed like the end of the world.

It was the reason I moved to Los Angeles. Officially it was for film school, but that was really just a ruse to find a job in the business. And find it I did.

The job I lost was as a Communications Manager (public relations function) at one of the Big Studios. About a year later I traded up and went to work for a well-known entertainment technology company as PR Director. I’d call this Hollywood-Adjacent, though the company had its influence everywhere in this small town.

I eventually left that company for personal reasons (cancer and its existential aftermath!). After that, I worked sporadically as a background actor (read “extra”).

But the obsession I’d had over working in Hollywood was gone. I think these are among the key reasons:

Hollywood Treats You Like Shit

No, really, they do. They can – or at least they can get away with it – because there’s a line of 500 young aspirants waiting around the corner for you. Just waiting for you to abandon your job so they can take it.

Just like me, other movie obsessed people from around the world who had the same dream and moved to LA.

Damaged Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. — Damaged. Likely toxic.

Even though I did end up working for a couple of “screamers,” as they’re affectionately known, I wasn’t ever abused physically or sexually, as so many were. It was more like the ghastly lack of support and training. And, at least at the yeoman levels, salaries were mediocre and there was not much chance of advancement anywhere unless you really sucked up or got lucky.

Other Industries Treat You Better

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Specifically, at least for me, the Tech Sector. I worked this job at the intersection of technology and entertainment, and they were heavily influenced (as well as located near) by Silicon Valley and its values.

Photo of Jim Arnold for his blog entry on Hollywood Obsession. — Top of the World! Or, at least, top of San Francisco when I worked in tech/entertainment.

Which, at least at the time (late 1990s-early 2000s) including loads of inservice training, yearly salary surveys (to make sure you were being paid in line with the location and sector), generous profit sharing and even, in my case and at this company, stock options.

Plus respect – and I’m not sure how to put a price tag on that.

I Aged Out of the Glamour

If you can even call it that – but that is a draw, an attraction, and it does have its day. I met and worked with many “stars.” I went to so many parties in the hills I started yawning at the invites. Somewhere there is a photo of me at a party on a yacht in Cannes harbor.

Jim Arnold (blogger) in front of the Casa de Liberace in Palm Springs, CA — Yes, glamour is a thing.

For me, these things were nice to experience, but ultimately shallow. I was never an extrovert, which really helps if you want to be successful in this milieu. At heart I’m a basically quiet person, and I value solitude and the wilderness much more than I do the glitz and noise (which you get a lot of in entertainment public relations).

One day I woke up and realized I didn’t care about any of it anymore. A chasm then opens up in front of you, demanding an answer to the question, “OK, what’s next?”

(more on that in future posts)

Jim Arnold in a nightshirt holding a cereal box, wondering what to do. — Where does one go when the thrill is done gone?

Need some fancy make-up at 4 a.m.? Me too. Here’s where.

new Walgreens in Hollywood

Loved to hear that L.A., specifically Hollywood (at the iconic corner of Sunset & Vine) has a new and apparently very fancy Walgreens. Not just any drugstore, they’ve got a juice bar, a coffee bar, fancy schmantzy liquor department (off-limits to some of us) and a frozen yogurt stop.

Best of all, though, is the Eyebrow Bar! I for one, could sure use some Walgreen’s-style help for those increasingly pesky caterpillars that hang out over my eyes. I wish the drugstore lots of luck, certainly better luck than Borders had in that location.
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It seems like the perfect spot that one of the characters in my new book The Forest Dark would frequent, as Louis Ronald Reagan White lives by night: This store is open 24 hours. Louie loves that and I love that. If everything goes according to plan, the novel should come out in the next couple of months.

Following the “3Fs” to Entertainment Industry Success – Seth Jaret

I had an opportunity last week to work for Sherwood Oaks College in timing story and script pitches writers were giving to agents, managers and producers.

Seth Jaret, of Content Engine and Jaret Entertainment, was one of the Hollywood insiders students pitched to. He also produces how-to “Drive and Talk” videos for his site as well as posts commentary about many aspects of the business.

What a great idea – how to use that drive time in the car – please don’t text, instead, talking and driving is safer as long as you don’t have to fiddle with the smartphone cam much! And productive, as you saw if you watched the video above.

I like how Seth edits the piece about secrets to entertainment industry success. I like the repetition of the three ideas and the joke about using the word “fucking” but bleeping it out. The way he presents the information is also classic: tell is what you’re going to tell us, tell us the info, then tell us what you just told us.

Even for people like me, with our challenged attention spans – and isn’t that everybody these days? – I really got what he said.

And, like he says, these three “Fs” are crucial. Probably not only in Hollywood, but certainly there. They are:

Follow through — if you promise somebody something, like sending off a treatment or script, do it. Don’t promise to do it if you can’t do it. It’s simple but people violate this all the time.

Follow Up — this one really struck a chord with me. Writers, well, most writers, I think, are introverted. They feel that if you’ve requested something they’ve written and then they’ve taken the time to actually send it off, that should be all that’s required. Continue reading →

The Guy Suing Fox Searchlight For A Crappy Internship . . .

The Guy Suing Fox Searchlight For A Crappy Internship Shares His Advice For Future Interns

UPDATE 6/12/13: Looks like Alex et. al. won! At least this round. Congrats – JJA

Well, Alex Footman, welcome to the real world! I’m not surprised by your treatment and am happy to see you’re doing something about it. Blacklist to come? Bet on it! But then, you sound to me like the kind of individual who will find a way to get things done regardless.

So I say go for it. Hollywood and the entertainment industry in general is not known for treating employees – paid or not – with any kind of kid gloves or other niceties. It is a shame though, when you are led into believing you’re going to be doing one thing, and make a contribution, then all you get are gofer tasks that don’t help you learn anything about the business you want to join. Except, perhaps, that it takes advantage of its celebrity allure, as if that in itself would be a giant perk, validating working for nothing.

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It was telling that Fox Searchlight immediately blamed the production company. “Not our fault – no never!” Somebody got to check off an item on their to-do list.

Now you probably know what Natalie Portman and Darren Aronofsky and others take in their coffee. Or maybe it’s chai. Whatever. Not exactly something you can pump up your resume with.

I hope your lawsuit and the publicity it gets convinces other abused interns, in any industry, to take the matter up.

Hollywood dreams: Nicholas McCarthy, coming true

Nicholas McCarthy, photo by Jay L. Clendenin

Hollywood dream of filmmaker Nicholas McCarthy is stop and go.

I loved this story of Nick McCarthy, as told by Kurt Streeter here in the Times. The same story of the “countless dreamers,” like so many of the people I know and interact with each day, like myself.

I’ve even been to this Atwater coffeehouse (Kaldi); a photographer friend had a showing there. I’ve also been there to write, though this particular space was too claustrophobic for me.

About an early film of Nick’s: “McCarthy’s film was a mystery about a group of friends dealing with death. When it was done, he rented a theater and invited a small group to view it. Yet as he watched, he realized he’d made a flop. He took the film home, tucked it inside a box, and never played it again.”

He took the film home, tucked it inside a box, and never played it again. Continue reading →

50 Reasons Los Angeles Is the Best Effing City in America

Griffith Park view of the Hollywood Sign

50 Reasons Los Angeles Is the Best Effing City in America

Today, a reprint of (LA Weekly’s) 50 true and sometimes humorous reasons why the city is just the best.

It doesn’t hurt that the high temperature forecast for today, January 1, is 82 degrees (not the norm, but hey…).

Enjoy the list! What would you add to the list if you could? And, Happy 2012 to everyone, Angeleno or not.

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Paramount Planning Upgrades to Lot

link to LA Times story: Paramount Pictures plans $700-million upgrade to Hollywood lot

Jim A. sitting in front of Paramount Gate, earlier in 2011

Great to see that the powers that be at Viacom find the opportunity to reinvest and upgrade the studio a good idea.

I worked there in the late 80s to mid-90s; still probably the most fun location to ever have a paying job, at least in my working life. And that was before the on-lot Coffee Bean, which in my way of thinking adds much currency to the entire idea.

When reading this piece, it was like a deja vu: Frank Mancuso’s name was mentioned not once, but twice, and in reverence both times. It was like my old boss there (Deborah Rosen) had a hand in the story (maybe she did, who knows) – as it was her job to get favorable corporate communications for the studio. Interesting certainly that the names Brandon Tartikoff, Stanley Jaffe and Sherry Lansing were not brought up at all, and Brad Grey only in passing.

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That’s another thing about Paramount: as much fun as it was being a nice place to go to work, what with all the flowers, fountains, movie stars and whatnot, I and just about everyone I knew there (well, almost everyone) eventually got fired (including the aforementioned boss) – kind of like that water tower which isn’t really a water tower at all, just the top of an enormous meat grinder.

There is no grudge, I know all too well that everything ends. So I’m glad they’re in the process of creating jobs for future Paramount ex-employees.

Entertainment spending fell in 2010 – is that a shocker?

Entertainment spending fell in 2010 – latimes.com.

artifact

Interesting piece in the Times on how tech is affecting Hollywood. Every time in the past – whether it was the invention of talkies, the threat of television, VHS, DVD, whatever – the studios have always figured out a way to surmount the obstacle and came out on top.

Who knows about this time. The recording industry is but a shadow of its former self, not being able to adapt to digital sharing. It’s pretty clear that folks are getting used to watching video content on computers and mobile phones – or on that interactive set in a more comfortable setting – the living room, the great room, the bedroom…
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I’m glad the situation with the economy was part of the story – I know first-hand, if you’re presently job-challenged, it’s a big stretch to pay that $105 Iphone bill as well as an $80 cable bill every month.

I finally pulled the plug myself on cable when I moved back out to the desert last April. I bought rabbit ears and a converter box and I get the local stations over the air (not that I ever watch… but I did see some of the Rose Parade…) Between Netflix online and Hulu.com, I could pretty much see whatever it was I wanted online at any time. Granted, I’m not a live sports fan and I get my news from reading – so clearly, that would not work for everyone.

Still, I think it’s a trend, and we’ll see more and more people disconnecting their cable and the cable companies reacting, by offering more and more deals. Have you cut back or cut it off? Would you consider life without cable television?

"Up in the Air", comments from a captive passenger on the runway

Once again I’m fairly shocked at the critics, who, at least in the poll I saw, gave this movie an average A- and I see it’s also won a slew of noms and awards, including Best Film by the National Board of Review. Maybe it’s because everybody loves George Clooney. Maybe it’s because it coincidentally addresses that great national meme, unemployment. Maybe it’s because 2009 was another really dreadful year for movies, and this is just one of them that isn’t that bad.

Ok, it’s not THAT bad.

In fact, I enjoyed a lot of it. But I wouldn’t be writing this if it were all sunshine and rainbows, now would I, so here comes the shit.

STOP READING NOW IF YOU DON’T WANT SPOILERS STOP READING NOW OK STOP IT!!! SPOILERS BELOW!

There are two things that bothered me about this movie. The first one is the opportunistic and condescending stance this material takes to those poor slobs in the flyover states (that’s where it largely takes place) who’ve been laid off/let go/downsized/what have you. In fact, the filmmakers go as far as to use “real people” who’ve lost their jobs as fill-in actors to play opposite Clooney & Co.’s fire-for-hire business (his character is a man who flies around the country firing people so that their own bosses can avoid this annoying task). I took this as Hollywood’s version of yes, we feel your pain! We really do, and in fact we are going to give you a SAG day rate and a shot at your 15 minutes by letting you be in this movie!

All well and good, and I hope it makes director Jason Reitman (member of a highly successful, employed and prominent Hollywood family) and George Clooney (member of a highly successful, employed and prominent entertainment family) feel better, though I doubt that either of them are going to have to try and figure out how to pay their COBRA premiums anytime soon. Or ever.
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The other thing that bothered me was dishonest and story-related. The George character (Ryan) has a girlfriend in the film, Alex (Vera Farmiga), who, like him, is some kind of business-class road warrior. OK, so they are getting along great, sharing hotel rooms and hotel bars, room service, plush robes and the like, when Ryan has the great idea to invite his sex buddy to a family wedding as his date. Well, she’s incredulous, and rightly so; still, she agrees to go for the WEEKEND to some small town in Wisconsin (some sign somewhere says Waupaca, though I grew up in Milwaukee I don’t remember where Waupaca is) and they both have a fun, helpful and very lovey-dovey time. In Wisconsin, at his sister’s wedding, for the damn weekend.

So. Ryan gets so inspired by all this to perhaps think that commitment is not such a bad thing after all, so he uses some of his coveted frequent flier miles to jet off to Chicago to find his lady and profess his love for her. Only thing is, when he shows up unannounced at her very chic brownstone – and she opens the door – it’s apparent she has a husband and at least two little kids (who are running around in the background). Of course, Vera chastises Ryan for showing up at her house (like, for sure, what was he THINKING??) and Ryan backs away, looking devastated.

But Ryan is not nearly as devastated as is the moviegoer who has endured this unbelievable scenario. Sorry, but I just don’t buy that a mother, no matter how much the vixen she is, would go away for the weekend (on a whim) with her fuckbuddy to a resort wedding a couple of hundred miles away from home where she has no idea if anyone she knows in the “real life” would be there or not – not to say married road-warrior women don’t have affairs, but I just think, it would be really hard to juggle the kids, hubby, the sex pals on the road, and go off unannounced to her boyfriend’s sisters nuptials, all on lies that must be sustained for hours, days on end. Come on.

Plus, you could see this coming a mile away, as the poor romantic sap is rushing up that snowy walk, we just know what’s behind that door is something he doesn’t want to see.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_m-Da8Tz4_E]