The Valley Wire -1/15/2010

Hollywood and the New Year
By Mary Beth Gentle

New Year’s Resolution lists begin the same way every year; Start that long overdue exercise routine. Tackle the dreaded diet. Spend more time with Family and Friends. And everyone in Hollywood, from the super elite to the lowly cube dwellers, want the same thing, a fresh start. Each New Year holds the promise for a chance to begin again. It is the chance to wash away the mistakes of the past year and to set out on a new path. Whether we believe we will be able to achieve everything that we write down on our list or not, we cling to the hope that it just might be possible.

I can only begin to guess what the Hollywood Elite have put on their New Years Resolution list. I am sure that the one thing topping the Studio Executives list for 2010 is to be the lucky Studio to have a hit like Avatar. I can almost guarantee that there have already been a multitude of meetings to figure out how to achieve this goal. Entire Studio conference rooms are no doubt filled with writers pitching their epic Sci-Fi love stories to overly eager creative teams. Production executives are busily analyzing the new technology trends to see what they can imitate. And Finance Executives are plotting out budget scenario after budget scenario.

And I am sure the Hollywood talent roster has the same type of list going, although since most of them already live and breathe salads and sit-ups, theirs will probably start off with hopes of being on the short list for the Oscar worthy material making its way around town. Or they could be hoping to star in the next big hit movie or TV Series so they can be even bigger mega-stars than they already are.

But here in the lowly Hollywood Cubicle, the lists are a little more down to earth and I think realistic. When I sat down to write my list this year, I decided that I wanted it to be something I could actually achieve. So this year I left off the big grand goals of winning the lottery or jetting off to Paris on a whim and I decided to get down to the bare roots of what I wanted to achieve in a years time. I started off with the required three resolutions:

1. Get myself to the gym at least three times a week.
2. Stick to my Diet and eat healthier.
3. Spend more time with my Family and Friends.

With the standards out of the way I really dug deep to see what mattered and what I thought I could achieve:

4. Sit down at the computer and write a few articles a month (something I a sure your Editor will appreciate!)
5. Organize my photographs – I have boxes and computer files full of them. (This one is tedious but totally achievable)
6. Pull out the novel that I have been working on for years, dust it off and get it finished.

Okay. That was the one that got me. That was the one that mattered. And that was when it hit me – I could do this. This list was something I could put up on my cube wall and make happen. And then because lists are no fun without at least on big grand goal I wrote down one more:

7. Get my book published.

And that was it, my list was complete and I was ready for the New Year. If you haven’t made your New Year’s Resolution list yet, it’s not too late. You never know what you can achieve until you try – Imagine the possibilities! Happy 2010 everyone!