Moving to Los Angeles

October 23, 2004 by dennisbaker 

Should You Come?

Here is a three part article taken from Janet Batchler’s blog in regards to followers of Christ coming to Hollywood. Long read, but well worth it…

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SO YOU WANNA COME TO HOLLYWOOD…

I don’t know if Spencer at the Act One offices reads my blog, but if he does, he’s heaving a sigh of relief right now. Because for months (maybe over a year’s worth of months? I’m in denial) he’s been bugging me: He’s in charge of the Act One book: Greetings from the Church in Hollywood. And he’s asked me for an article. And asked me. And asked me. And I’ve hemmed and hawed. And hemmed some more.

So here is a rough (ROUGH!) stream-of-consciousness pass at what I might want to say in my little chapter. Comment, please. Tell me what sucks. And because I’m just tossing this out there off the top of my head, I’m not putting in any of the Scripture I’ll need to add — if you have ideas, let me know.

I’m planning on addressing those folks who think they want to make the big move to Hollywood. I want to address their reasons for coming, then speak to what qualities they need if they’re going to survive.

First off, I’ll talk about the reasons for NOT coming to Hollywood. More in a future blog on the reasons FOR coming, and on what to bring with you if you come. Let me know if any of this even comes close to hitting the mark.

…And I do realize some of this may read a bit harsh. So I may start with the *good* reasons to come and flip these to the middle. Whatever. Anyway, here it is.

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So it’s come to this, has it? You wanna come to Hollywood.

Maybe all your life you felt deep down inside that the Oscars and the Emmys were really important, even though you could never justify why, even to yourself.

Maybe you had ideas — really good ideas — and no one in your small town high school understood what you were talking about and they all thought you were a tad weird.

Perhaps you watched something on TV and said, “I could do that.” Or “I wish I could do that.”

Maybe you watched something on TV or in the movies and got mad. Mad at the quality, mad at the message, mad at both.

Or maybe you thought God was calling you. The tap on the shoulder, the whisper in the ear. Or the burning bush, even, calling you to be a Moses, to go as a stranger into a strange land. But are you sure it’s the voice of God? How do you know if you’re supposed to go to Hollywood?

Well, I can’t speak to whether that was God on the phone. But I can tell you why you should come to Hollywood — or why you shouldn’t. And I can tell you some things you’d better pack if you’re going to make the trip.

Let’s start with:

Five Reasons NOT to Come to Hollywood

Don’t come to Hollywood because you want to be “Rich and Famous.”

Christians, sadly, seem to want fame and fortune as much as everyone else. We practice our Oscar speeches during the commercials. We make our lists of who we’ll thank. God of course, at the head of the list — we want to be a “witness,” after all. We envision our names in the credits, our faces on the screen. I know of a Christian who said he wanted to win an Oscar so he could “be humble before a billion people.”

But the Hollywood Dream is a lie. The chances of “making it big” are less than the chances of winning the lottery big-time. (Literally. We know someone who ran the statistics.) When I was a little girl and I desperately wanted to be an (Oscar-winning) actress, my mom made me listen to Dionne Warwick singing “Do You Know the Way to San Jose?”: In a week, maybe two / They’ll make you a star / Weeks turn into years / How quick they pass / And all the stars / That never were / Are parking cars / And pumping gas. …Change “pumping gas” for “waiting tables,” and it’s still true.

If you’re seeking fame and fortune, you’re seeking your own glory instead of God’s. It’s that simple. And you are bound for bitter disappointment.

Try this: Ask God not to give you “success” until you’re ready to handle it in a way that glorifies Him. It’s a scary prayer to pray. But until you’re ready to pray it (and mean it), don’t come to Hollywood.

Don’t come to Hollywood because you want to be loved.

“You like me! You really, really like me!” We’ve all laughed at Sally Field’s reaction to winning her second Oscar, but frankly, she showed a level of honesty and vulnerability that’s not often seen in Hollywood.

Many people come to Hollywood because they want to prove something to their parents, to their brothers or sisters, to themselves. One award-winning actress once told me, “Well, of course the only reason anyone becomes an actor is because their parents didn’t love them enough.”

You already are loved. You are loved by the King of the Universe, who gave up his throne for you. If we saw that storyline in a movie, we’d know we were seeing true love. But we don’t always accept it in our own lives.

No one will ever love you more than God Almighty already loves you. No audience, no fan club, no groupies will ever love you more. God will not love you more than He already does if you come to Hollywood and become a “success.” And neither will anyone back home.

Don’t come to Hollywood because you want to be a success for the Lord.

“I want to sell this script so I can glorify the Lord.” “I want to be a big star because then I’d really have a public platform to praise the Lord.” It sounds so spiritual. But it’s only the Hollywood Dream wrapped up in the piety of religious platitudes.

Funny how we want to pick and choose how and where we’ll serve God. We want the first part of Hebrews 11 [quote goes here], but we don’t want to keep going down the chapter [quote goes here].

Maybe God will call you to Hollywood, call you to be a “success” according to the definition of the world. But that’s His call to make. It better not be your motivation for coming.

Take another look at those “I want to…” statements. Have you ever heard anyone say something like that? Was it coming out of your mouth at the time? If so, better reconsider just why you want to come to Hollywood.

Don’t come to Hollywood because you want power.

Hollywood is certainly a place that attracts people who are attracted to power. In his masterful book, In But Not Of: A Christian Guide to Ambition, Hugh Hewitt says there are only three cities that matter for someone with ambition: Washington, New York, and Los Angeles (i.e., Hollywood). And he’s right.

But power is a dangerous thing. Very people are equipped to handle the kind of power wielded by those at the top of the Hollywood food chain. Maybe you will be one of them. I can pretty much guarantee, however, that you won’t be ready to wield that kind of power the moment you set foot in town.

As Christians, we are to be servants, following our Lord, who came as a servant [quote]. Remember, God didn’t call Joseph to be Pharoah, He called him to serve Pharoah.

Are you ready to be a servant? Are you ready to pay your dues? You say you’d rather skip all that and move straight to a position of power and influence? Then how will anyone even know you’re a Christian?

Don’t come to Hollywood because you want to pursue a moral agenda.

Yes, many people in Hollywood pursue lifestyles that could hardly be considered godly according to anyone’s standards. Yes, the place is chock full of unrepentent, out-and-out sinners. But look around your home church. There’s a place that’s full of sinners, too.

If you want to come to Hollywood because you want to berate the people here about how wrong they are, take a quick stroll over to [verse] to see how Jesus felt about the Pharisees. [quote]

Sadly, this attitude of moral superiority is what many in Hollywood have come to expect from Christians. Let’s surprise them. Come with an attitude of love, come with an attitude of service — and let them try to figure that out!

“Wait a minute,” you say. “I’m no Pharisee! But I’m truly grieved by the sins emanating from Hollywood.” Here’s an attitude test for you: Are you praying for the people in Hollywood with an attitude of love, wanting what God wants for them, praying for good for them? If you are, thank you. We all need those prayers!

SO YOU WANNA COME TO HOLLYWOOD…. Part Two

Following up on my previous blog, here I continue the diatribe on good and not-so-good reasons to pick up and move to Hollywood…. Again, this is for the upcoming Act One book: Greetings from the Church in Hollywood. As I mentioned before, I will probably actually start the article with *this* section on the *good* reasons to come to Hollywood, rather than the screed I posted yesterday.

Again, please please — any and all comments!

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Do consider coming to Hollywood if that’s who God made you to be.

In the musical A Chorus Line, Cassie sings, “God, I’m a dancer. A dancer dances.”

If God truly put you on this earth to dance, it would be a sin if you didn’t do it. A dancer dances. An actor acts. A writer writes. A designer designs.

For some of us, Hollywood is simply where we belong. Our talents, our desires, everything about us screams that this is home.

What that often means, of course, is that where you came from doesn’t feel like “home.” You don’t fit in. People there don’t understand what makes you tick, what you think important. You long for kindred spirits, for a place to belong.

Now, the irony here is that coming to Hollywood will not answer that feeling of wanting to belong. You’ll come face to face with more rejection than you ever thought existed in the world — guaranteed. But somehow, if you’re meant to be here, none of that will matter. Just having the opportunity to be the person God meant you to be — even if no one ever sees it — can be enough.

Do consider coming to Hollywood because you love the end product.

I know a guy who grew up in love with sitcoms. He inhaled them. He memorized them. He can reel off cast lists, sing opening credit songs for virtually every sitcom created over a 15-year period — even those that got canceled within a few weeks.

I know another guy who loves being behind a film camera. Even if he didn’t get paid for it, he insists, even if he had to work as a waiter or an insurance agency to pay the bills, that’s how he would spend every spare minute of time: shooting film. He loves it that much.

Maybe you love your craft that much. You’d spend your weekends drawing cartoons just for the fun of it. You’d act in the dumbest church skit. You’d rather sit at your computer writing than anything else. Who cares if you get paid? Who cares if you get noticed? Just getting to do it is fulfilling.

Or maybe you just love being part of a huge vision and helping it come to reality. You might never have the big vision yourself, you might not view yourself as particularly artistic. But you can type, you can organize, you can crunch numbers — and if you’re part of “putting on a show,” somehow those mundane activities seem more special, more important.

Now, you can be part of an artistic vision other places than in Hollywood. Maybe your contribution to culture will be to write or act in a good church skit (a rarity in itself!). But loving the end product of Hollywood is not a bad reason to think about making the move — and it may be a prerequisite!

Do consider coming to Hollywood because you love the people here.

I once met the receptionist for one of the nastiest, slimiest, most vulgar producers in Hollywood. A guy who treats everyone like trash. And this receptionist absolutely adored him. “I know what everyone says about him,” she told me, “but he’s really the sweetest guy.” The receptionist, who was indeed a Christian, had a vision of who her boss could be. A vision of who God made him to be.

It’s easy to see that this receptionist was right where God wanted her to be: Loving a guy whom everyone considers unlovable. But she’s in a dead-end job, working for a guy who’ll never give her a promotion (or even a raise, possibly)! How could that be what God wants? Could God actually want us to be in a position where others are more important than we are? Where our real job is to help the people around us be who God has called them to be?

Of course He could. And in Hollywood, we need Christians who feel called to love the people here.

Now, lots of Christians do find it hard to love some of the folks they’ll find in Hollywood. They find it hard to love those creative types — after all, they don’t follow the rules, they shake things up, they even (gasp!) make their own rules!

Or they find it hard to love people whose lifestyles they disapprove of. “Those sinners!” they think to themselves. “If we hang out with them, people will think we’re like them! And we can’t have that!”

Or they simply can’t love people who are, frankly, unloveable. People like the nasty, vulgar producer I mentioned above. Or people who only look out for themselves, who are manipulative, who are selfish, who are power-hungry.

But all of these folks need to be loved. And if Christians won’t do it, who will? We need Christians in Hollywood, in fact, simply to show the people here what love looks like. The non-believers in town don’t want to hear dogma, they don’t want to hear how rotten you think their lifestyles are — but they do want to be loved.

When non-believers looked at the very early church, they said, “Behold, how they love one another.” We sing, “They’ll know we are Christians by our love.”

If you can look at Hollywood types and love them whole-heartedly and unashamedly, then please do come to Hollywood!

SO YOU WANNA COME TO HOLLYWOOD…. Part Three and Last

Here comes the last part of my essay for the upcoming Act One book: Greetings from the Church in Hollywood. I’ve already talked about the wrong reasons and some possible right motivations for coming to Hollywood. Now I want to talk about what you should bring when you come.

Again, any and all comments are welcome — Help out Spencer our editor!

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So now you’ve throught and prayed deeply over your motivations for coming to Hollywood. You’ve tested your desires. And you think you’re ready to make the move, take the leap.

But what should you pack for the journey?

I’m not talking about sunscreen here — though you certainly will need some. I’m talking about attitudes and attributes that will make it possible for you to survive in Hollywood without crashing and burning. Take a look over the following list and see how many you can check off. If the answer is, “Not that many,” please think twice: Maybe you should save yourself a lot of grief and pain (I mean that quite seriously) and bloom where you’re already planted.

Talent. So you make videos for your church. You sang in the talent show in high school. You write a Christmas newsletter that’s the envy of your whole list. And everyone always says how talented you are.

But Hollywood is the big leagues. Lots of people are fine baseball players in Little League. Quite a few play with distinction in high school. Some keep playing in college. A few even make it to the minors. But only a very very VERY few get into the major leagues.

We all love to deceive ourselves. We think we’re way more talented than we are. Or, sadly, we think we’re far less talented than we are. Or we think that because we’re Christians and God is on our side, talent doesn’t matter.

Talent does matter. A lot. That’s why it’s at the head of the list. Are you talented enough at what you do for Hollywood? You may not really find out till you get here. But you will have to have a realistic assessment of your talents at every step of the way.

Someone once asked Steve Martin for his advice on how to make it in show biz, looking for the secret, the hidden password. Mr. Martin’s answer? “Be so good they can’t ignore you.”

A desire to serve other people. Unless you’re well-born into the business, you will have to pay your dues. And they may take a lot longer to pay than you expect. Are you ready for eight years of working at a job you don’t love? Ten years? It could take that long to get your break.

Are you willing to work in a subordinate position? To be an assistant? A gopher? To work hard, earn little, and let someone else get the glory?

We knew someone who, right out of film school, got a job in the mailroom at a major agency. Now, a mailroom job is pure hell. Cruel treatment, no pay, horrible hours, brainless work, constant blame. But at the end of it, if you survive, you know all about the business, you have comrades who will do anything for you, and you have begun a network of connections that will serve you well the rest of your career. No wonder mailroom jobs are hard to get.

So this guy we knew got one of these prized, horrid jobs. And after a couple of months — He quit. He was too good, too smart, too talented, he explained to us, to pick up other people’s dry cleaning.

You know what? It wasn’t that he was too good. It was that he was too proud. And his career (not surprisingly, with that attitude) went absolutely nowhere.

We, as Christians, know that we are always servants. So we should have the best attitudes around. Sure, it’s a challenge. But if anyone can meet that challenge, it should be us. Shouldn’t it?

Faith. Do you know what you believe? Do you know why you believe it?

You’d better, because your faith will be tested in Hollywood in every way possible — from the temptation to just sort of not mention that you’re a Christian, to outright attacks and mockery of what you believe.

People will ask you to compromise. People will lie to you. People will insult your God. Is your faith strong enough for you to handle these situations?

You will also go through times when it seems as if God has abandoned you. It’s so easy to believe that God loves you when you have a steady paycheck, a pretty home, people who love and support you all around. But take those away — and see if your faith stands strong. Will your faith stretch to meet these situations?

Fortitude. It will take you years to break in, and more years to reach the level of career you’re now dreaming of. If you ever reach it, that is.

Can you persevere for all those years? Do you have the patience to wait?

And do you have the courage to face up to all the disappointments? All the rejections? The sheer bravery to get back up after being slapped to the ground again and again, and to say, “Okay, I’ll try again. Better this time.”

A good learning curve. To quote Peter Guber, “This is a business with no rules — but you break them at your peril.” No matter where you’re coming from, you’ll have a whole new set of rules to learn.

Sure, you’ll make mistakes. And you’ll get second chances. But you better not keep making the same mistakes. If you can’t learn from your mistakes — and learn quickly! — you won’t survive.

Love for people in the biz. Especially if you grew up on a warm, sheltering Christian environment, you will probably meet people in Hollywood unlike those you are used to.

Can you get along with people who feng shui their offices, seek advice from psychics, and take the astrology column seriously? How about with militant gays who think you’re the enemy? Or people who lead a life of sexual recklessness and substance abuse? Or people who’ve never set foot in a Wal-Mart and think nothing of spending $800 on a pair of shoes (and look down on anyone who doesn’t spend that kind of money)?

If people don’t like you, you won’t work. If you send out a vibe that says you don’t like them,well, chances are they won’t like you.

Of course, loving these people is way better than merely liking them. And as Christians, we should have a head start on that. Shouldn’t we?

Wisdom. So many Christians come to Hollywood with “kick me” on their backs. They’re well-meaning, sweet, kind… and flat out naive. [Add appropriate quote from Proverbs.]

When God offered Solomon anything he wanted, Solomon had his chance to be rich and famous. But he chose wisdom instead. We need to make the same choice if we’re to survive.

You need God’s wisdom to understand the various agendas at work around you. To understand who’s your friend, who’s your ally, who’s your enemy. To know what projects to pursue. What projects to quit. “You got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em…”

Seek wisdom if you want to come to Hollywood.

A hunger to improve. So many Christians come to town with a good level of talent — and never get any better. Don’t let that be you.

You must be willing — hungry! — to get better. You will never fully master your craft. You may have to learn radically new technology, jumping from linear editing to non-linear, from film to video, from digital video to high definition. The better you get at your craft, the more you’ll discover how much there still is to learn and master. Which is great, because it means you’ll never get bored!

Hollywood is not a place for the lazy.

Hope.

Life in Hollywood is a life of disappointment. There are hundreds of qualified people out after every job. I can’t imagine anything more discouraging than showing up at an audition, and looking aorund to see 50 other people who look like you, sound like you, are dressed better than you, and probably went to school with the casting director.

Can you walk into that situation and hang on to your hope? Can you take the inevitable rejections and simply say, “Okay. Move on” without feeling personally devastated? (Okay, I admit, it takes some practice. But you’ll have plenty of chances.)

“Our hope is built on nothing less / Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness…” Most of the folks in Hollywood build their hope on far less than that!

Energy.

It takes a lot of work to break in to the industry. It takes a single-minded focus. That’s one of the reasons younger people have an easier time: They’ve got the energy, they’ve got the lack of commitments elsewhere that allow them to commit fully to the task ahead of them.

“Make the most of every opportunity,” Paul tells us, “because the days are evil.” The days are evil if only because they keep on passing, and suddenly you wake up and realize you’ve been here 12 years and you’re no further along than when you started. Make the most of your energy while you have it.

Your job may also be physically demanding in ways you don’t expect. Many directors start strenuous workout schedules as part of their prep before a movie starts, because they know how physically tough it’s going to be. Women directors warn each other, “Wear comfortable shoes,” because they know the day will come when they’ll be so tired they can’t put one foot in front of the other. Billy Crystal once said in an interview that he was skipping hosting the Oscars that particular year because he needs five months to get physically and mentally in shape — for one night’s work!

Commitment to a church. There are lots of great churches in Los Angeles. And there are lots of great reasons to skip church — the beach, the mountains, brunch, the Sunday paper, sleeping in, work…

But if you don’t make a commitment to a particular body of believers, then honor that commitment at every opportunity, your faith will falter. Guaranteed.

And we’re talking a real commitment here. Not church-hopping from one place to another, even if you aren’t happy with the selection of members of the opposite sex at your given church. Make a commitment. Join a church. Get plugged in to the Christian community in Hollywood. And show up.

A way to earn money. L.A. is not the cheapest place in America to live. (Though it’s not the most expensive, either. People from back East often marvel at how cheap our heating bills are, for instance!)

Can you make enough money to pay rent? For how long? Do you have a “day job”? Skills that you can use to get one?

Lots of people come out with enough money saved up to last, say, six months, assuming they’ll get their big break, get cast on a sitcom, sell a script by then. But it’s simply not going to happen. You can’t count on money coming in for a script you haven’t sold (or finished!), or from a job you’ve interviewed for but haven’t been hired for. And yet Christians do this all the time, assuming that they’re really showing profound faith.

Assume you’ll have to pay your way for six years instead of six months. Get the skills you need.

Joy in living in Los Angeles. I love L.A. (Me and Randy Newman.) Granted, it took a while. And it may take you a while. But if you never learn to like living in a place so spread out that people speak of their commutes in terms of minutes instead of miles… well, why would you spend your life being homesick?

I have an old college friend from England who likes to say, “L.A. is a great place to live, but I wouldn’t want to visit there.” And I think he’s right. It’s a tough place to get used to for many, but one day you find yourself defending it, and you realize, “I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.”

I can hear you thinking now: “But I’m a writer. A writer can write from anywhere! I don’t have to live in L.A.!” Um, sorry, but yes, you do. Our agent likes to say, “You can have a screenwriting career outside of L.A., but you can’t start a screenwriting career outside of L.A.” You’re going to have to make the move. And hopefully you’ll love it.

A life outside the industry. Your life must be more than your career. Sure, you need technical knowledge of your craft and a working understanding of how the biz works. But you need so much more!

You need balance. You need church, friends, exercise, relaxation, inspirational input. You need a life! Make sure you keep what you’ve got, and don’t let it be sucked up by the all-demanding industry.

….Hollywood, says iconoclast Hunter S. Thompson, “is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There is also a negative side.”

Have I scared you off yet? If I have, maybe I’ve done you the greatest favor of your life. But if you’ve read this far, if you’ve weighed your motives and found them healthy, if you’re talented, if you’re ambitious, if you’re dedicated and persevering, if you’re wise, if you want to learn and grow and contribute and serve…

Then — please — come to Hollywood. And welcome!

Filed under: Acting, Auditioning, Film, Los Angeles, Theater/Theatre, Travel
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Teshuvah Rehearsal

October 15, 2004 by dennisbaker 

We are winding down our second week of rehearsal, and I am having a great time! Teshuvah (pronounced Chu-vah) is a play that takes place in Poland during the Nazi invasion. A German captain, Erich, holds captive the Polish Countess, Klara. He begins to fall in love with her and Klara must choose between hinding her Jewish friend, Shlomo, or save herself by leaving to Germany with Erich.

While blocking is never the fun part of rehearsal, it has been a great time to get to know my fellow cast members and director. The way this play is written all of my scenes are mainly with Klara, played by Elizabeth A. Hillman. She has been great to work with as she is a very giving actor. The Director, Wendy Gough, and Stage Manager, Suzanne M. Campagna have been great behind the scenes.

This being my first show with the Write Act Repetory and only a member for about a month, it has been a blessing to jump into a cast and crew that is highly professional and talented. The rest of the cast is Ralph Lister as Shlomo, Dana Lyn Baron as Sholmo’s wife Pearl, and Graham Barnard as Klara’s husband Krystian.

Mark your calendars and come see the show. Write Act Repertory, St. Stephen’s Church, 6128 Yucca Street, Hollywood. Opens Nov. 22nd-Dec. 14th & Jan. 10th-25th. Monday and Tuesday nights at 8pm.

Filed under: Acting, Los Angeles, Theater/Theatre
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