This is a topic I find salty to write about. It makes me comprehend what a slug must feel like when we eliminate it. For some reason I always thought salting a slug was rather unnecessary and cruel. I mean here is this tiny creature and we suddenly throw salt on it. Well that is what I feel sometimes that politics in the industry does. It is not about winning an election or even about popularity to fans, but about just someone who can hurt someone else or preventing someone else from getting a job because well we all want to see friends we know make it or people we care about, or worse we want the person to make it who we know will help us make it too. But it is my strong opinion that if you hurt someone who does not deserve to be hurt, then you lose money and it is like a snowball that just grows with the more you role it.
If you want to make it in the industry you have to learn to play a game. Don’t buy that. What game? How about working hard? Training? Learning the craft. Volunteering for others and just plain being good. I have seen people get lines and parts for partying with the stars and knocking someone else down, but at the same time they don’t last. It is as though in the end all the game did was give a temporary fix and did nothing for the person because the person did not care enough about doing the work. I will hook up with this person and get my vouchers did not get the person a reacurring character part. I agree with Lucille Ball on this one. Anyone who thinks the director’s couch is the shoe in to stardom is looking at spending allot of time on their back and no time working on sets. I worked five years on sets by wanting to do a good job and wanting to give my best. I have discovered though that you do need to be careful who you step on. At the same time it is my firm belief that bad politics in Hollywood lead to more loss of talent and money than using energy to make good art.