Jun 20 2008
Death, Hollywood, and Taxes
Unsurprisingly, people die. However, when someone famous dies, everyone hears about it. If it is a Hollywood actor, then we reminisce about all the roles we saw them in on the big screen. Yet, most of the time we have no idea who the person really is, behind all the characters they played. The death of Heath Ledger recently was big news, and now it is coming up again because of his role as the Joker in the upcoming release of the Batman film. But what was he really like? You can read many stories about him, but they are mostly about his roles. Apparently, during the Batman filming, the Joker role actually made him depressed because the character was so hopeless and evil. At nights he was taking sleeping pills among other things so he could sleep amidst this angst.
Most of us have had sleepless nights, and stress. Very few of us kill ourselves by an accidental overdose during these times. There is something that happens to people in Hollywood when they make it big, something that affects their minds. There should be some kind of course for these stars to take so they learn how to deal with the sudden changes.
How many of these shining stars burnt out and discovered they had no money left, after blowing millions? How many found themselves addicted to drugs, a shell of what they formerly were? Before they were just people like you and me, but fortune and fame took a heavy toll on them because they were not equipped to handle it.
Meanwhile, in Steve’s life
A lot of what I have talked about so far has been things I have learned, but today I’m going to tell you about what is going on right now. First, remember that video I posted as Video of the Week last Friday? It was for a Hollywood intern job to promote a new movie. I will tell you without shame - I had the best video, hands down. Yet, they interviewed ten people, and hired three, and I was not even one of the people interviewed! Who knows why, they didn’t answer my sarcastic inquiry.
Last night I sold my first screenplay. It was for very little, not union rate at all (think 2% of union rate.) But, I have now joined a group of screenwriters that actually have been paid for their work, so I guess you could say, I’m now a pro. This screenplay, oddly enough, was a remake of an original Chinese film that the client wanted me to rewrite in English for American audiences. It is a drama. It’s basically one of those foreign films where, life sucks, some things happen, life still sucks, the end. I have two other screenplays; one is based on my short film, Driving, (which will be my video of the week!) and the other is a comedy/horror I wrote with my friend Jason, the rock star. I’m going to interview him soon for Video of the Week, so stay tuned.
Picture of the Day
I was driving in Highland Park and I saw this bakery that was all painted up. A lot of ethnic neighborhoods have stores with this type of art on the side.
Video of the Week
If you know me at all personally, you have seen this video. However, it is very important as this short film is one of the reasons I decided to move out here, because I enjoyed making it so much.
