Hollywood Dreams of the Blockbuster
By Mary Beth Gentle
Did you ever have a dream that you wanted so bad you could taste it? Feel it in your soul? Make your head ache just thinking of it? For me that dream was and in many ways still is, Hollywood. It started as something far away and intangible, something that other people went on to do, certainly not something a quiet, shy kid from No-where’s-ville, USA would ever be a part of.
Sometimes I wonder where my dream of a life in Hollywood all began, where and at what moment I was hooked. Maybe it was the Saturday Matinees at the little theatre on our small town’s Main Street, where they would play old Disney movies while we ate our popcorn and slurped our sodas. Maybe it was the Sunday afternoons spent watching old black and white Cary Grant movies with my Grandmother. Or maybe it was the seventh grade field trip to the local TV station where I got to see the cameras and lights close up.
I think all those things helped nurture the dream, but the more I think about it the dream for me was created by the Hollywood Summer Blockbuster. These are the big budget movies that every Studio spends all year prepping, shooting and posting to get on screen for Memorial Weekend through Labor Day Weekend. For me, that was my summer vacation, I had it planned from the moment school let out to the moment it started back up in September. I knew which ones I had to see and which ones I would see over and over again.
And I am still the same way. My summer is not planned out by elaborate vacation plans to some great escape or a tropical get away. It’s planned out by what movie opens on what weekend, how early I am going to buy my tickets and where I am going to see it. And for me this summer is a true flashback to the days of my youth. This is the summer of one of the ultimate blockbusters, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
Raiders of the Lost Ark was the movie that really cemented the dream in place for me. The movie opened on June 12, 1981 and I think I saw it five times that summer, if not more. It was the wildest movie ride I had ever been on. It was a movie that had it all; it had non-stop action like we had never seen before, a classic American Hero to root for and truly bad guys to fear. It was and still is everything a blockbuster should be; it is why we go to the movies, buy our popcorn and smile as the rare hush falls over the audience the moment the first frame of action lights up the screen.
I have already watched the trailer for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull countless times. I get a little giddy just thinking about it. And I am supposed to be a cool, jaded Hollywood Hipster. Well, I hate to break it to everyone, but when it comes to Indiana Jones, I am simply a movie geek who works in a Hollywood cubicle. And trust me, I am proud of it.
There are other movies out this summer; Wall-E, Prince Caspian, Iron Man, The Dark Knight, The Incredible Hulk to name a few. And I will see them all, but I can already tell you that none of them will compare to Indiana Jones. Because none of them hold the same sense of nostalgia, none of them come close to the level of pop culture status that Indiana Jones has and none of them can be counted as having sparked a far off dream in the mind of a young girl from No-where’s-ville, USA.
So, even when I have weeks like this past one, where I have worked a seventy-hour week and I’m not sure if any of the powers that be care or recognize my efforts, I still smile a little at the thought that I’m actually here, living my dream. And at least for one moment, during one movie this summer, I will be that kid again, standing on a long line waiting to be one of the first to see the ultimate Summer blockbuster, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Saturday, May 3, 2008
The Valley Wire - 4/18/2008 Column
Hollywood on Location
By Mary Beth Gentle
It used to be that kids dreamed of running away to join the Circus; the big tent, the lights and the lure of a life filled with excitement. Well, I think in our day and age, the Circus has been replaced by ‘Hollywood on Location’. There is nothing more exciting then when the ‘circus’ that is Hollywood comes to town. It’s good for revenue, it’s good for morale and it’s guaranteed to capture the hearts and imagination of anyone harboring a secret dream of working in the movie business.
Hollywood goes on location for one big reason, there is no sound stage or studio back-lot that can create the look and feel of the real thing. If their story takes place in Chicago, then they need to shoot in Chicago. They need the audience watching their movie to feel like they are actually there. The town in the script is not only a backdrop for the story being told, it helps set the scene and define the characters. John Hughes’ movies and characters would not have been the same if they had been shot anywhere else.
When the camera and equipment trucks roll into town they bring with them the allure and excitement that is Hollywood, but they also bring entire crews of people that put their day to day lives on hold to do a job. They say goodbye to their families for weeks or months at a time. They hire pet and house sitters, they find friends who are willing to collect their mail and overnight it to them once a week and they pack as much of their lives in to bags and boxes to set up ‘home’ wherever they end up.
Production crews dream of being on the movie that shoots on some tropical, sun-splashed beach, but more often than not, they end up in small towns like Vernal, Utah. These crews curse their luck and quickly go on the internet to see exactly what they are facing. What they read frightens them to their core, a city of maybe eight thousand people that is famous for a large pink dinosaur welcoming them to town. This is enough to frighten these crew members into contemplating another career, but they quickly remind themselves that they have bills and a mortgage to pay and it is only six weeks or so of their lives.
Of course, what they discover when they arrive, is a town filled with genuine, nice people in a city that is surrounded by the beauty of the Flaming Gorge National Park. For one such crew member, assistant editor, Christopher Marino, working on the movie Chill Factor in Vernal, Utah, that was exactly the experience he had. Of all the locations he has worked in, that one holds some of the fondest memories for him. Not because of the time spent seeing the sights, but for the people.
To this day, he speaks of their kindness and generosity. “I still haven’t gotten over how, at Halloween, when my wife came for a visit, we couldn’t find a pumpkin anywhere. (Vernal loves it’s holidays!) When I asked a local waitress where we could find a pumpkin, she told me that she had an extra and would have her sister bring it to the restaurant. My wife and I were just happy to have even the smallest reject-pumpkin at this point. At the end of the meal, in comes a woman carrying a twenty-pound pumpkin! My wife and I reminisce about that Halloween every year.”
Most of the people on a movie crew come to town with the Production. But, they always wait and hire the most essential crew member when they arrive on location, the Production Assistant (“PA”). This is usually someone young, eager and happy to race around town running errands and getting lunch. What the crews gets, is a person who knows the ‘ins’ and ‘outs’ of the area. What the entertainment industry gets, is another convert. The cubicles and production offices in Hollywood are filled with people who started their careers working as a PA on the movie that shot in their hometown.
By Mary Beth Gentle
It used to be that kids dreamed of running away to join the Circus; the big tent, the lights and the lure of a life filled with excitement. Well, I think in our day and age, the Circus has been replaced by ‘Hollywood on Location’. There is nothing more exciting then when the ‘circus’ that is Hollywood comes to town. It’s good for revenue, it’s good for morale and it’s guaranteed to capture the hearts and imagination of anyone harboring a secret dream of working in the movie business.
Hollywood goes on location for one big reason, there is no sound stage or studio back-lot that can create the look and feel of the real thing. If their story takes place in Chicago, then they need to shoot in Chicago. They need the audience watching their movie to feel like they are actually there. The town in the script is not only a backdrop for the story being told, it helps set the scene and define the characters. John Hughes’ movies and characters would not have been the same if they had been shot anywhere else.
When the camera and equipment trucks roll into town they bring with them the allure and excitement that is Hollywood, but they also bring entire crews of people that put their day to day lives on hold to do a job. They say goodbye to their families for weeks or months at a time. They hire pet and house sitters, they find friends who are willing to collect their mail and overnight it to them once a week and they pack as much of their lives in to bags and boxes to set up ‘home’ wherever they end up.
Production crews dream of being on the movie that shoots on some tropical, sun-splashed beach, but more often than not, they end up in small towns like Vernal, Utah. These crews curse their luck and quickly go on the internet to see exactly what they are facing. What they read frightens them to their core, a city of maybe eight thousand people that is famous for a large pink dinosaur welcoming them to town. This is enough to frighten these crew members into contemplating another career, but they quickly remind themselves that they have bills and a mortgage to pay and it is only six weeks or so of their lives.
Of course, what they discover when they arrive, is a town filled with genuine, nice people in a city that is surrounded by the beauty of the Flaming Gorge National Park. For one such crew member, assistant editor, Christopher Marino, working on the movie Chill Factor in Vernal, Utah, that was exactly the experience he had. Of all the locations he has worked in, that one holds some of the fondest memories for him. Not because of the time spent seeing the sights, but for the people.
To this day, he speaks of their kindness and generosity. “I still haven’t gotten over how, at Halloween, when my wife came for a visit, we couldn’t find a pumpkin anywhere. (Vernal loves it’s holidays!) When I asked a local waitress where we could find a pumpkin, she told me that she had an extra and would have her sister bring it to the restaurant. My wife and I were just happy to have even the smallest reject-pumpkin at this point. At the end of the meal, in comes a woman carrying a twenty-pound pumpkin! My wife and I reminisce about that Halloween every year.”
Most of the people on a movie crew come to town with the Production. But, they always wait and hire the most essential crew member when they arrive on location, the Production Assistant (“PA”). This is usually someone young, eager and happy to race around town running errands and getting lunch. What the crews gets, is a person who knows the ‘ins’ and ‘outs’ of the area. What the entertainment industry gets, is another convert. The cubicles and production offices in Hollywood are filled with people who started their careers working as a PA on the movie that shot in their hometown.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
The Valley Wire - 3/21/2008 Column
Hollywood Does Lunch
By Mary Beth Gentle
You might think that in Hollywood the most important part of the day is when the Director yells ‘Action’ or when the Head of the Studio gives your project the ‘green light’. But actually, the most important part of the day in Hollywood is lunch. It is what gets us through. We watch our clocks for it. We plan for it. And depending how high up the Hollywood Ladder you are, determines just how much time you get for lunch.
The Agents and the Studio Bosses hold their three-hour power lunches in Beverly Hills at either ‘The Ivy’ or the ‘Grill on the Alley’. The hip hangout for the young Hollywood Celebrities and their two hour lunches would be ‘Hyde’ or ‘Les Deux’ which is easily recognized by the Paparazzi hanging around outside. And trust me, Hollywood has it down when it comes to serving up lunch from a Catering Truck. These are not ‘roach coaches’ either, these are Four Star Restaurants on wheels. When the First Assistant Director on the set of a Movie or TV show yells, ‘that’s lunch’ the cast and crew race to the chow line for their thirty minute lunch break.
None of those lunches comes close to lunch inside a Production Office. The Production Office is the hub of any Film or TV endeavor. They spend weeks and weeks prepping crews to go off and shoot in all types of conditions, they wrangle talent, they wrangle budgets and they wrangle trucks full of equipment. But, hands down the most important part of their day is wrangling lunch which is eaten at their desks.
This highly specialized and very important task ultimately rests on the shoulders of the guy or girl at the very bottom of the ladder. The Production Assistant (PA) is the lucky member of the crew to hold the position of ‘lunch wrangler’. The PA starts his day flipping through a pile of menus collected from every restaurant within a ten mile radius of the Production office. You don’t know stress until you have to figure out which one restaurant is going to make thirty or more people happy.
Most PA’s start their days praying that maybe, just maybe it will be a pizza day. Not only is it easier to order; they deliver. Sadly, pizza days are few and far between. Pizza days usually only happen when the PA must stand at the copy machine for nine hours making copies of the script for the entire cast and crew. So, really the whole concept of Pizza Day is not a winning solution.
Once a restaurant is selected, the PA will spend the next two hours taking orders from all the different departments within the Production office. You can always guarantee you will have at least thirty lunch orders to collect. And that is the easy part. You then have to go order all the lunches, pick them up and make sure they are correct and labeled for each individual in the office. This is usually where some ‘old-timer’ pats the poor kid on the back and says, “Welcome to Hollywood.”
That is how the rest of Hollywood does lunch. Of course, in the Hollywood Cubicle it is a completely different story. Those of us working the Studio jobs behind the scenes are left to fend for ourselves, but we do get to leave our desks for a whole hour. This usually means a trip to the Studio Commissary. And you better believe that there are the good, the bad and the ugly when it comes to Studio Commissary food.
I have eaten at all the Studio Commissary’s and in my opinion, Twentieth Century Fox Commissary is just good eating. If you are working in a Hollywood Cubicle on the Fox lot, you have won the golden ticket. Not only are you basking in the glorious sunshine of the Westside, but you are eating high off the hog in the Fox Commissary. Now, the poor saps working in a Hollywood Cubicle on the Paramount lot, they truly are the saddest ‘Cube’ Workers in all of Hollywood. The Paramount Commissary makes a killer breakfast burrito, but when it comes to lunch you are better off brown bagging it.
No matter where you end up eating in Hollywood, it’s never about the food, it’s about the deal made at the power lunch, the crew getting a much deserved break after an already long day or the Hollywood Cube worker getting away from their four grey walls for an hour everyday.
So, the next time you head out on your lunch break and pull up a chair at your local Osceola Bistro, remember that it may not be the glamour of ‘The Ivy’ in Beverly Hills, but at least you are not eating Meatloaf Surprise at Paramount, again.
By Mary Beth Gentle
You might think that in Hollywood the most important part of the day is when the Director yells ‘Action’ or when the Head of the Studio gives your project the ‘green light’. But actually, the most important part of the day in Hollywood is lunch. It is what gets us through. We watch our clocks for it. We plan for it. And depending how high up the Hollywood Ladder you are, determines just how much time you get for lunch.
The Agents and the Studio Bosses hold their three-hour power lunches in Beverly Hills at either ‘The Ivy’ or the ‘Grill on the Alley’. The hip hangout for the young Hollywood Celebrities and their two hour lunches would be ‘Hyde’ or ‘Les Deux’ which is easily recognized by the Paparazzi hanging around outside. And trust me, Hollywood has it down when it comes to serving up lunch from a Catering Truck. These are not ‘roach coaches’ either, these are Four Star Restaurants on wheels. When the First Assistant Director on the set of a Movie or TV show yells, ‘that’s lunch’ the cast and crew race to the chow line for their thirty minute lunch break.
None of those lunches comes close to lunch inside a Production Office. The Production Office is the hub of any Film or TV endeavor. They spend weeks and weeks prepping crews to go off and shoot in all types of conditions, they wrangle talent, they wrangle budgets and they wrangle trucks full of equipment. But, hands down the most important part of their day is wrangling lunch which is eaten at their desks.
This highly specialized and very important task ultimately rests on the shoulders of the guy or girl at the very bottom of the ladder. The Production Assistant (PA) is the lucky member of the crew to hold the position of ‘lunch wrangler’. The PA starts his day flipping through a pile of menus collected from every restaurant within a ten mile radius of the Production office. You don’t know stress until you have to figure out which one restaurant is going to make thirty or more people happy.
Most PA’s start their days praying that maybe, just maybe it will be a pizza day. Not only is it easier to order; they deliver. Sadly, pizza days are few and far between. Pizza days usually only happen when the PA must stand at the copy machine for nine hours making copies of the script for the entire cast and crew. So, really the whole concept of Pizza Day is not a winning solution.
Once a restaurant is selected, the PA will spend the next two hours taking orders from all the different departments within the Production office. You can always guarantee you will have at least thirty lunch orders to collect. And that is the easy part. You then have to go order all the lunches, pick them up and make sure they are correct and labeled for each individual in the office. This is usually where some ‘old-timer’ pats the poor kid on the back and says, “Welcome to Hollywood.”
That is how the rest of Hollywood does lunch. Of course, in the Hollywood Cubicle it is a completely different story. Those of us working the Studio jobs behind the scenes are left to fend for ourselves, but we do get to leave our desks for a whole hour. This usually means a trip to the Studio Commissary. And you better believe that there are the good, the bad and the ugly when it comes to Studio Commissary food.
I have eaten at all the Studio Commissary’s and in my opinion, Twentieth Century Fox Commissary is just good eating. If you are working in a Hollywood Cubicle on the Fox lot, you have won the golden ticket. Not only are you basking in the glorious sunshine of the Westside, but you are eating high off the hog in the Fox Commissary. Now, the poor saps working in a Hollywood Cubicle on the Paramount lot, they truly are the saddest ‘Cube’ Workers in all of Hollywood. The Paramount Commissary makes a killer breakfast burrito, but when it comes to lunch you are better off brown bagging it.
No matter where you end up eating in Hollywood, it’s never about the food, it’s about the deal made at the power lunch, the crew getting a much deserved break after an already long day or the Hollywood Cube worker getting away from their four grey walls for an hour everyday.
So, the next time you head out on your lunch break and pull up a chair at your local Osceola Bistro, remember that it may not be the glamour of ‘The Ivy’ in Beverly Hills, but at least you are not eating Meatloaf Surprise at Paramount, again.
Friday, February 22, 2008
The Valley Wire - 2/22/2008 Column
Hollywood and the Academy Awards
By Mary Beth Gentle
The Writer’s Strike is over! TV Shows are heading back into production. And the Academy Awards are going on as scheduled. Life in Hollywood is getting back to normal. Or, I guess, as normal as a place known to the world as ‘tinsel town’ can be. It will take some time to get the shows back on the air and to get everyone working again, but as the saying goes, ‘the show must go on’.
And in the blink of an eye, that is just what happens, the focus around town shifts from the striking writers to the Academy Awards. And excitement is in the air here in the Hollywood Cubicles. It begins the same way every year. As soon as the Nominations are announced, we all start making our lists. What have we seen? What do we need to see? What can we just pretend we saw?
Don’t get me wrong, this is not because I or anyone in my near vicinity is actually going to the Academy Awards nor will we be on any of the after party invite lists. This is for a far more important reason than walking the red carpet or sipping martinis with George Clooney. This is for the Office Oscar Pool. And it is serious business. In these hallways, this is bigger than the Superbowl. And it is not just our office pool that has us shifting into research mode, it is the Oscar pools that our family and friends across the country are in.
This is not simply picking a square in a giant grid, this is about successfully predicting the correct outcome of twenty-four different categories. You always have to start out with the big awards; best picture, best actor and best actress. The films in the running for Best Picture this year are; Atonement, Juno, Michael Clayton, No Country for Old Men and There will be Blood. Now early research shows that Atonement has a pretty good shot at taking the prize. But, no one is counting out Critical favorite No Country for Old Men, nor are they counting out underdog favorite Juno.
Best Actor nominations this year are; George Clooney (Michael Clayton), Daniel Day-Lewis (There will be Blood), Johnny Depp (Sweeny Todd), Tommy Lee Jones (In the Valley of Elah) and Viggo Mortensen (Eastern Promises). This category is a little tougher, early awards have gone to a few of these gentlemen with the favorites so far being Daniel Day-Lewis for There will be Blood and George Clooney for Michael Clayton.
Best Actress nominations this year are; Cate Blanchett (Elizabeth: The Golden Age), Julie Christie (Away From Her), Marion Cotillard (La Vie en Rose), Laura Linney (The Savages) and Ellen Page (Juno). Another tough category, the favorite is looking like Julie Christie for Away From Her, but no one is counting out the star of the Underdog hit of the year, Ellen Page for Juno.
Those are the big awards. Those are the easy ones to predict. Once you narrow them down to a short list, you can start researching what the polls are saying and take a pretty good guess. I mean they have odds running in Vegas on who will win those awards.
But, the tougher ones to predict are the awards for categories like; Best Achievement in Film Editing, Best Original Screenplay or Best Achievement in Visual Effects. This is where you really have a chance to impress you sister in Chicago if you can help her win these categories on her office Oscar pool. Because, if you do enough research and pay attention to who took the prize at the different Guild Awards Dinners this year, then you are on the fast track to getting these categories correct.
And finally, it comes down to the near impossible to predict, the awards for categories such as; Best Documentary Short Subject, Best Foreign Language Film of the Year or Best Animated Short. Don’t let anyone try to kid you either, even in the Hollywood Cubicles we really have no idea what has a shot here. It usually comes down to picking the title you may have actually heard people talking about or just picking the title that has a nice ring to it. Either way, these categories are all guess work and just plain luck.
I, myself, have never actually won an Oscar Pool. I start out every year with the best intentions. I do all the research. I read all the predictions. I should be able to win these things every year. But, at the end of the day, when it comes time to sit with my ballot and make my selections, I really can’t help but to go with my heart. I do it every year. And I lose every year.
But, isn’t that what the Academy Awards are all about anyway? Going with our hearts? Picking the films that touched something in us? Picking our favorite Actor for loyalty sake? I think it is what makes it fun to sit in front of the television every year and hope that the underdog can pull it off or hope that a surprise win will shock everyone. After all, putting on a great show is what Hollywood is all about. I don’t know about you, but I will be watching come Sunday night, with my heart-picked ballot in front of me, and my hopes high.
By Mary Beth Gentle
The Writer’s Strike is over! TV Shows are heading back into production. And the Academy Awards are going on as scheduled. Life in Hollywood is getting back to normal. Or, I guess, as normal as a place known to the world as ‘tinsel town’ can be. It will take some time to get the shows back on the air and to get everyone working again, but as the saying goes, ‘the show must go on’.
And in the blink of an eye, that is just what happens, the focus around town shifts from the striking writers to the Academy Awards. And excitement is in the air here in the Hollywood Cubicles. It begins the same way every year. As soon as the Nominations are announced, we all start making our lists. What have we seen? What do we need to see? What can we just pretend we saw?
Don’t get me wrong, this is not because I or anyone in my near vicinity is actually going to the Academy Awards nor will we be on any of the after party invite lists. This is for a far more important reason than walking the red carpet or sipping martinis with George Clooney. This is for the Office Oscar Pool. And it is serious business. In these hallways, this is bigger than the Superbowl. And it is not just our office pool that has us shifting into research mode, it is the Oscar pools that our family and friends across the country are in.
This is not simply picking a square in a giant grid, this is about successfully predicting the correct outcome of twenty-four different categories. You always have to start out with the big awards; best picture, best actor and best actress. The films in the running for Best Picture this year are; Atonement, Juno, Michael Clayton, No Country for Old Men and There will be Blood. Now early research shows that Atonement has a pretty good shot at taking the prize. But, no one is counting out Critical favorite No Country for Old Men, nor are they counting out underdog favorite Juno.
Best Actor nominations this year are; George Clooney (Michael Clayton), Daniel Day-Lewis (There will be Blood), Johnny Depp (Sweeny Todd), Tommy Lee Jones (In the Valley of Elah) and Viggo Mortensen (Eastern Promises). This category is a little tougher, early awards have gone to a few of these gentlemen with the favorites so far being Daniel Day-Lewis for There will be Blood and George Clooney for Michael Clayton.
Best Actress nominations this year are; Cate Blanchett (Elizabeth: The Golden Age), Julie Christie (Away From Her), Marion Cotillard (La Vie en Rose), Laura Linney (The Savages) and Ellen Page (Juno). Another tough category, the favorite is looking like Julie Christie for Away From Her, but no one is counting out the star of the Underdog hit of the year, Ellen Page for Juno.
Those are the big awards. Those are the easy ones to predict. Once you narrow them down to a short list, you can start researching what the polls are saying and take a pretty good guess. I mean they have odds running in Vegas on who will win those awards.
But, the tougher ones to predict are the awards for categories like; Best Achievement in Film Editing, Best Original Screenplay or Best Achievement in Visual Effects. This is where you really have a chance to impress you sister in Chicago if you can help her win these categories on her office Oscar pool. Because, if you do enough research and pay attention to who took the prize at the different Guild Awards Dinners this year, then you are on the fast track to getting these categories correct.
And finally, it comes down to the near impossible to predict, the awards for categories such as; Best Documentary Short Subject, Best Foreign Language Film of the Year or Best Animated Short. Don’t let anyone try to kid you either, even in the Hollywood Cubicles we really have no idea what has a shot here. It usually comes down to picking the title you may have actually heard people talking about or just picking the title that has a nice ring to it. Either way, these categories are all guess work and just plain luck.
I, myself, have never actually won an Oscar Pool. I start out every year with the best intentions. I do all the research. I read all the predictions. I should be able to win these things every year. But, at the end of the day, when it comes time to sit with my ballot and make my selections, I really can’t help but to go with my heart. I do it every year. And I lose every year.
But, isn’t that what the Academy Awards are all about anyway? Going with our hearts? Picking the films that touched something in us? Picking our favorite Actor for loyalty sake? I think it is what makes it fun to sit in front of the television every year and hope that the underdog can pull it off or hope that a surprise win will shock everyone. After all, putting on a great show is what Hollywood is all about. I don’t know about you, but I will be watching come Sunday night, with my heart-picked ballot in front of me, and my hopes high.
Friday, January 25, 2008
The Valley Wire - 1/18/2008 Column
Screenwriter Annie Deyoung with Supporters James and Ethan Marino
Hollywood and the Picket Line
By Mary Beth Gentle
Not every picket line you come across has writers picketing alongside pilots and flight attendants or row after row of ‘Trekkies’ walking the line at Studio Main Gates. But, in Hollywood, that is how the picket line has come to look. They are called ‘theme’ days. Inviting the fans and crew of a particular show or members of a particular union to picket the studio where the show is produced is one way the writers on the picket line have found to keep their momentum going. It clearly shows the support from other unions and from television and film fans.
There have been quite a few ‘theme’ days to date: Teamster Support days, Bring Your Favorite Actor to Work days, ‘Battlestar Galactica’ days, Joss Whedon Fandom days, Veteran Writer days, Bring Your Kids to the Picket Line days, Bring Your Dog days, Singles on the Picket Line days, SAG Solidarity days, Horror Writer days and Crime Writer days. The list could go on, and will go on, as long as the strike continues. In doing all of this, the Writers are sending a clear message: we are not alone and we are not going anywhere.
I have not had to cross many picket lines in my life and it breaks my heart a little every day as I drive through the Studio Gate past the striking writers. So, I do little things to show support. I wave a big sign that reads ‘Support the Writers’ as I drive into the Studio, which gets me a few cheers from the cold and tired writers and more than a few glares from the security guards. I proudly wear a ‘Support the Writers’ wristband and have succeeded in getting them on quite a few wrists in my hallway. I have a ‘Support the Writers’ sign pinned to the wall of my office, which gets its share of comments from the studio executives on the floor. It is not much, but I always hope that my small show of support might help the writers know that they are not alone.
I have talked to a few of the writers who struggle every day to remain hopeful. They have been at this quite a few months now and, with the powers-that-be avoiding the negotiating table, it has become harder to walk that picket line and hold onto the hope of a quick resolution. I have talked to one of the writers on those lines directly and have asked a few questions.
Annie DeYoung, writer of The Ron Clark Story (TNT) and the Disney Channel movies Return to Halloweentown and Johnny Kapahala: Back on Board, spends four out of five days on the picket line every week. She has shown her support and raised her voice at Union rallies and at a Los Angeles City Council Meeting. I asked her to quickly share with us an update directly from the picket line and have also asked her what support from fans has meant to her.
“The AMPTP (the Producers) would like people to believe that the writers are the ones depriving them of their television shows. Nothing could be farther from the truth. We are and always have been ready for fair negotiations toward a contract which will compensate us in a small way for what we create. We are ready and willing to go back to work, to create great film & television. But this strike is about preserving our livelihood. It is about being paid a decent wage so we can make our mortgage payments, our car payments, our children’s tuition. We’re working for a living just like everyone else in this country. Except we earn our living by creating television shows and films. A big part of our wages are paid in residuals when a show or movie we write is rerun. The problem is that the producers don’t want to pay us a fair rate when they rerun our shows on the internet. And, since the future of television is the internet, if the AMPTP has it’s way, soon we’ll get paid next to nothing for internet reruns and downloads, even as the studios and producing companies are raking in the profits. It is hard facing this day after day, but when we have the support of our families and our fans, it means a lot. Every little bit of support gives us the courage to continue to stand up for our rights.”
As someone who lives and works in Hollywood, I have found ways to show my support for Annie and the other writers on the picket line. If you would like to show your support to the writers and to let the producers know you do care about the material that is piped into your homes and cineplexes, here are a few websites that you can visit:
Strikeswag.com is a site that sells T-Shirts about the strike so you can show your support. All profits are donated to the Writers Guild Foundation Industry Support Fund to assist non-WGA members of the industry who are in financial distress as a direct result of the strike. Fans4writers.com is a site created by the fans. This site has downloadable banners for your MySpace and FaceBook pages and websites. It also has downloadable posters for your home or storefront windows, and many ideas on how you can help wherever you live.
These are just a few of the many sites out there that have been created to help show the support the writers need from both the Hollywood community and the community at large. As always, I remain hopeful that this strike will end in a fair and amicable manner so we can all get back to the business of making and watching wonderfully scripted entertainment.
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
The Valley Wire - 12/21 Column
Christmas in Tinsel Town
By Mary Beth Gentle
Christmas, Hollywood style. It’s that time of year when the overstuffed gift baskets and bottles of wine start pouring in like snow falling on the Prairies. Of course, for the row upon row of entertainment assistants sitting in the cubicles it’s more like snow falling on Hollywood Boulevard. Not going to happen. But, the flurry surrounding the ‘gift’ arrival is still exciting. For those of us sitting in our cubicles, we can hear the gift laden mail carts creaking down the hallway and one can’t help feeling like a little kid at Christmas. Is it going to stop at my office? Will it be for me?
Of course, when the mailroom kid does stop, it is only to have someone sign for the basket that gets added to the pile overtaking your boss’s desk. Which is really okay, because most of the time they will throw a basket or two your way to help spread the office Holiday cheer. And when you go home at the end of the day with your basket of gourmet food and you put your new bottle of ten dollar mustard next to your squeeze bottle of yellow store brand mustard you can’t help but catch some of that Holiday cheer yourself.
It only takes a few leftover gift baskets and before you know it that cheer is spreading throughout the cubicles in the office. People start wrapping their normally grey cubicle walls in Santa paper, stringing shiny gold garland around their IMacs and lighting up their fake pink sparkling Christmas trees. Even the really ‘cool’ Hollywood Assistants can’t help hanging a decoration or two. Because it is that time of year where the real work slows down and all of our energies shift to planning the Department Holiday party.
There are actual meetings about these events. There are budgets done, schedules are created, heck, I think they even make T-shirts. A lot goes into the planning of these productions, for a brief moment we all become crew members working on a very low budget movie. Because to those in the cubicles this could be the only Hollywood Christmas Party we get invited to.
As with any major Hollywood production, ideas start out really, really big. The excitement is everywhere when you hear that for five minutes the Holiday party might actually take place at Spago. I mean who would have thought that our little Holiday Party could be important enough to become a Spago event. For once I might actually be on the invite list for a party worth crashing. But, of course, when the budget is reviewed it becomes clear that Spago is not in our future. We quickly downgrade the plan to cocktails at the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood. Which would still be okay, if it’s a good night we might even get to see Brittany take out a few Paparazzi’s.
But, when the ‘powers that be’ review the budget plan, reality really starts to sink in and the Accountants quickly inform us that our party will not take place at any trendy Hollywood hot spot, nor could it be downgraded to a ‘small but trendy’ spot on Ventura Boulevard in the Valley. We would, again, be holding our Holiday party in the Commissary, on a weeknight, after work.
There are a few moments of disappointment throughout the corridors, the ‘cool’ Hollywood Assistants even take their few Holiday decorations down in protest, but at the end of the day a party is still a party. And this is where the real movie making magic comes into play. Because the one thing Hollywood has always done right, they know how to put on a show. With a few calls to the Prop Department, the lighting Department and the gathering of a lot of Holiday Basket leftovers, a once dreary cafeteria is transformed into a Winter Wonderland for a terrific Holiday Party…Hollywood style.
I hope you all have a wonderful Holiday Season and I’ll be back after the New Year with an update on the Writers Strike with word directly from the Picket line. For now I’m off to enjoy my gift basket of gourmet food because after the New Year I’m back to Store brand delicacies and regular old commissary food. Happy Holidays from the Hollywood Cubicle!
By Mary Beth Gentle
Christmas, Hollywood style. It’s that time of year when the overstuffed gift baskets and bottles of wine start pouring in like snow falling on the Prairies. Of course, for the row upon row of entertainment assistants sitting in the cubicles it’s more like snow falling on Hollywood Boulevard. Not going to happen. But, the flurry surrounding the ‘gift’ arrival is still exciting. For those of us sitting in our cubicles, we can hear the gift laden mail carts creaking down the hallway and one can’t help feeling like a little kid at Christmas. Is it going to stop at my office? Will it be for me?
Of course, when the mailroom kid does stop, it is only to have someone sign for the basket that gets added to the pile overtaking your boss’s desk. Which is really okay, because most of the time they will throw a basket or two your way to help spread the office Holiday cheer. And when you go home at the end of the day with your basket of gourmet food and you put your new bottle of ten dollar mustard next to your squeeze bottle of yellow store brand mustard you can’t help but catch some of that Holiday cheer yourself.
It only takes a few leftover gift baskets and before you know it that cheer is spreading throughout the cubicles in the office. People start wrapping their normally grey cubicle walls in Santa paper, stringing shiny gold garland around their IMacs and lighting up their fake pink sparkling Christmas trees. Even the really ‘cool’ Hollywood Assistants can’t help hanging a decoration or two. Because it is that time of year where the real work slows down and all of our energies shift to planning the Department Holiday party.
There are actual meetings about these events. There are budgets done, schedules are created, heck, I think they even make T-shirts. A lot goes into the planning of these productions, for a brief moment we all become crew members working on a very low budget movie. Because to those in the cubicles this could be the only Hollywood Christmas Party we get invited to.
As with any major Hollywood production, ideas start out really, really big. The excitement is everywhere when you hear that for five minutes the Holiday party might actually take place at Spago. I mean who would have thought that our little Holiday Party could be important enough to become a Spago event. For once I might actually be on the invite list for a party worth crashing. But, of course, when the budget is reviewed it becomes clear that Spago is not in our future. We quickly downgrade the plan to cocktails at the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood. Which would still be okay, if it’s a good night we might even get to see Brittany take out a few Paparazzi’s.
But, when the ‘powers that be’ review the budget plan, reality really starts to sink in and the Accountants quickly inform us that our party will not take place at any trendy Hollywood hot spot, nor could it be downgraded to a ‘small but trendy’ spot on Ventura Boulevard in the Valley. We would, again, be holding our Holiday party in the Commissary, on a weeknight, after work.
There are a few moments of disappointment throughout the corridors, the ‘cool’ Hollywood Assistants even take their few Holiday decorations down in protest, but at the end of the day a party is still a party. And this is where the real movie making magic comes into play. Because the one thing Hollywood has always done right, they know how to put on a show. With a few calls to the Prop Department, the lighting Department and the gathering of a lot of Holiday Basket leftovers, a once dreary cafeteria is transformed into a Winter Wonderland for a terrific Holiday Party…Hollywood style.
I hope you all have a wonderful Holiday Season and I’ll be back after the New Year with an update on the Writers Strike with word directly from the Picket line. For now I’m off to enjoy my gift basket of gourmet food because after the New Year I’m back to Store brand delicacies and regular old commissary food. Happy Holidays from the Hollywood Cubicle!
The Valley Wire - 11/30 Column
My Hollywood Cubicle
By Mary Beth Gentle
The Valley Wire saved my life. That may sound a little on the dramatic side, but I honestly think it might be true. And normally, I would be the last person to believe that something as out of my realm as a local newspaper from Osceola, Wisconsin, could save the life of a single girl living ‘the dream’ in the glitz and glamour that is Hollywood California. But, that is the truth. The moment the latest edition arrives in the mail, I read it cover to cover.
I work at a major Movie Studio. And for many reading this, I am sure the thought of Hollywood life brings to mind things like; Film Premieres, Movie Stars, Outrageous Parties, Paparazzi, and oh, yes, the Glamour and Glitz. I am here to tell you, that only encompasses about five percent of the reality behind the Dream. And I am not saying that in an attempt to burst any bubbles. It is a fact. The majority of the cogs turning the wheels that run ‘Hollywood’ sit in grey cubicles surrounded by other grey cubicles, wondering if we will ever get our invite to the big Premiere party or if they will pass us by again.
It is a funny business. The Business of Hollywood. For one thing, not much of it actually takes place in Hollywood. The magic happens in very unglamorous places like Burbank and Culver City to name just a few. And the offices are filled with more accountants than filmmakers. A good reminder, that at the end of the day, it is a business.
I came to Hollywood to be a screenwriter. The guy in the cube next to me plans on directing one day. And just about everyone you meet believes that they would make a great producer. I still write. Everyday! The guy that wants to be a Director, is still out there raising money to shoot his short. And everyone I know is out there pitching a project to Produce. Because the one word that never makes it into the glitzy description of Hollywood is ‘Hope’. But, we all have it. It’s what keeps us here. It’s what brings new people to this industry everyday.
The longer you are here, the longer you will remain. Because that’s how they get you, you work on one movie, then the next and pretty soon you are hooked. It gets easier and easier to envision that your movie will be the next one to be made. Maybe right now you are just getting coffee or typing up script changes for someone else. But, the thing is, you are here. You are living the dream. Those of us that have been languishing in the same grey cubicles waiting for our big breaks, recite that line to ourselves several times a day. ‘I am living the dream. Oh yes. I am living the dream.’
I am hoping that with the help of the Valley Wire, maybe I can live the dream a little sooner than most. I am writing something that someone is reading. I hope you are anyway. And in return, a couple of times a month, I will get a glimpse into your world. And maybe we will see that our worlds are not so very different.
Right now, the world I live in is in Turmoil. We have entered into our fourth week of a Writer’s Strike. I am sure by now, many of you have heard of it, whether it was the celebrity appearances that made the Primetime news channel or the latest E! Hollywood update. Celebrities aside, it is important to remember that ninety-five percent of the writers on the picket line are just regular working people (who have a really cool job), working paycheck to paycheck and doing their hardest to make sure that they are being paid fairly for the work they do. It’s no different than any other unionized industry. Well, except Jay Leno probably doesn’t bring striking airline workers a box of doughnuts nor do you see striking city bus workers marching down Hollywood Boulevard. But other than that, it is pretty much the same. When negotiations fail, you go on strike.
Basically, negotiations have broken down over the financial formula that is used to pay writers a share of the DVD revenue and the fact that the writers are currently paid nothing for Internet and other Digital sales. It is only fair that the Writers should be guaranteed a fair percentage of the money the Studios make every year on DVD and Internet sales.
And, maybe I’m biased, because I have friends walking the picket lines, so it is affecting me on a personal level. But, the longer this strike goes on, the more people it will effect. And not just the other industries or the non-union staff people who will be out of work when production on TV show after TV show shuts down, it will start to effect you as well. Without the writers we will be faced with months of reality TV. And I don’t care what part of the country you live in, there is only so much humor a person can find in bad singing and dancing.
The writers are the people that dream up the stories, create the characters and write the dialogue that we all gather around our Televisions and computers to watch every week. They make us laugh, they make us cry, they create the characters that become ingrained in our culture. So, for this hopeful girl in Hollywood, sitting in her little grey cubicle, I am going to hope for a quick resolution to the Strike. And considering that this past Monday negotiations between the Writers and the Producers have finally resumed with talk of a positive result, maybe all that hope will pay off.
I look forward to sharing more moments from life in ‘Hollywood’ with all of you.
By Mary Beth Gentle
The Valley Wire saved my life. That may sound a little on the dramatic side, but I honestly think it might be true. And normally, I would be the last person to believe that something as out of my realm as a local newspaper from Osceola, Wisconsin, could save the life of a single girl living ‘the dream’ in the glitz and glamour that is Hollywood California. But, that is the truth. The moment the latest edition arrives in the mail, I read it cover to cover.
I work at a major Movie Studio. And for many reading this, I am sure the thought of Hollywood life brings to mind things like; Film Premieres, Movie Stars, Outrageous Parties, Paparazzi, and oh, yes, the Glamour and Glitz. I am here to tell you, that only encompasses about five percent of the reality behind the Dream. And I am not saying that in an attempt to burst any bubbles. It is a fact. The majority of the cogs turning the wheels that run ‘Hollywood’ sit in grey cubicles surrounded by other grey cubicles, wondering if we will ever get our invite to the big Premiere party or if they will pass us by again.
It is a funny business. The Business of Hollywood. For one thing, not much of it actually takes place in Hollywood. The magic happens in very unglamorous places like Burbank and Culver City to name just a few. And the offices are filled with more accountants than filmmakers. A good reminder, that at the end of the day, it is a business.
I came to Hollywood to be a screenwriter. The guy in the cube next to me plans on directing one day. And just about everyone you meet believes that they would make a great producer. I still write. Everyday! The guy that wants to be a Director, is still out there raising money to shoot his short. And everyone I know is out there pitching a project to Produce. Because the one word that never makes it into the glitzy description of Hollywood is ‘Hope’. But, we all have it. It’s what keeps us here. It’s what brings new people to this industry everyday.
The longer you are here, the longer you will remain. Because that’s how they get you, you work on one movie, then the next and pretty soon you are hooked. It gets easier and easier to envision that your movie will be the next one to be made. Maybe right now you are just getting coffee or typing up script changes for someone else. But, the thing is, you are here. You are living the dream. Those of us that have been languishing in the same grey cubicles waiting for our big breaks, recite that line to ourselves several times a day. ‘I am living the dream. Oh yes. I am living the dream.’
I am hoping that with the help of the Valley Wire, maybe I can live the dream a little sooner than most. I am writing something that someone is reading. I hope you are anyway. And in return, a couple of times a month, I will get a glimpse into your world. And maybe we will see that our worlds are not so very different.
Right now, the world I live in is in Turmoil. We have entered into our fourth week of a Writer’s Strike. I am sure by now, many of you have heard of it, whether it was the celebrity appearances that made the Primetime news channel or the latest E! Hollywood update. Celebrities aside, it is important to remember that ninety-five percent of the writers on the picket line are just regular working people (who have a really cool job), working paycheck to paycheck and doing their hardest to make sure that they are being paid fairly for the work they do. It’s no different than any other unionized industry. Well, except Jay Leno probably doesn’t bring striking airline workers a box of doughnuts nor do you see striking city bus workers marching down Hollywood Boulevard. But other than that, it is pretty much the same. When negotiations fail, you go on strike.
Basically, negotiations have broken down over the financial formula that is used to pay writers a share of the DVD revenue and the fact that the writers are currently paid nothing for Internet and other Digital sales. It is only fair that the Writers should be guaranteed a fair percentage of the money the Studios make every year on DVD and Internet sales.
And, maybe I’m biased, because I have friends walking the picket lines, so it is affecting me on a personal level. But, the longer this strike goes on, the more people it will effect. And not just the other industries or the non-union staff people who will be out of work when production on TV show after TV show shuts down, it will start to effect you as well. Without the writers we will be faced with months of reality TV. And I don’t care what part of the country you live in, there is only so much humor a person can find in bad singing and dancing.
The writers are the people that dream up the stories, create the characters and write the dialogue that we all gather around our Televisions and computers to watch every week. They make us laugh, they make us cry, they create the characters that become ingrained in our culture. So, for this hopeful girl in Hollywood, sitting in her little grey cubicle, I am going to hope for a quick resolution to the Strike. And considering that this past Monday negotiations between the Writers and the Producers have finally resumed with talk of a positive result, maybe all that hope will pay off.
I look forward to sharing more moments from life in ‘Hollywood’ with all of you.
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