An Actor's Life

Wayne Robson was a character actor I knew from his appearance in The Grey Fox,  one of the great Canadian movies and one directed by my close friend Phil Borsos, who passed away at the age of 41.

Wayne however, stuck around for awhile and was always working. He began with a small role in Robert Altman's McCabe & Mrs. Miller with Warren Beatty, and went on to a full career mostly as a character actor.

Besides working in dozens of Canadian television series, he did American features that came to Canada to film. He also had parts in Incredible Hulk, Anne Of Green Gables and even Popeye with Robin Williams.

An actor's life has to be one of the hardest and often cruelest of any job you'd want. For one, you are always rejected and  not particularly because of your experience or craft, many times simply because of the way you look.

It can be said that a lot of people lose jobs because of the way they look, but actors can face this several times a day.

One of the best things about writing is that writers don't necessarily need a job in order to write. They can sit down and write a spec script that maybe can be sold or used as a sample of what that writer is capable of. My Christmas script, produced in 2010 was just that. I wrote it based on an experience I had. The script hung around Hallmark for 3 years, but then it was made.

And I got paid.

If I hadn't decided to write a spec about Christmas I would never have made a dime.

But actors, and for that matter, everybody else on a film set or studio, have to be hired before they can work. And of them all, actors are probably at the bottom of the list. Writers in WGA number around 8000, they won't really give an accurate number. Directors are less.

But actors number 200,000, according to Wikepedia. And that's only the ones in SAG, the actors union.

One way to have any kind of a career is to be a character actor. A good one always gets work. What's a character actor? It's not the star. Rather it's a supporting role, often smaller than the secondary stars. And they usually play the same type of part, the store owner or the buddy or the truckdriver. Actors like Dub Taylor, Strother Martin (who said the most famous line of any character actor ever, "What we got here is a failure to communicate", said to Paul Newman in Cool Hand Luke.

For women you have great character actresses like Cloris Leachman and Betty White and younger ones like Joan Cusak.

You see them in western movies, of which there are fewer and you see them in thrillers and sci-fi movies. They're usually there for maybe a few minutes, but you always seem to remember them.

Wayne perfected the Canadian character actor, he played second fiddle to the lead actors but could steal a scene simply by smiling. I once worked with Stuart Margolin, who had a great part in Rockford Files, an 80's series. Stuart was a co-star in a series I worked on and he was a master of stealing a scene. The lead actor could be talking and yet you'd be watching Stuart. How he does that, I don't know. But it works.

Another good thing about character actors is what I said above. They always work.

Most actors, if not all, become actors to be successful. I'm sure they all have the dream of being the star in a movie or play. The reality is so far from that. Average income for actors is around $8000 for the year. And the chances of being a star are less than winning at a lottery.

But a good director will surround the star with character actors. Wayne had that "little guy" thing that he did, and an engaging smile and you'd just like him in the scene, even if he just stood there.  He was familiar and comforting. That's the secret of a character actor.

Wayne died in his sleep. He was at Stratford, home to Canada's premiere theater stage. Many of the best actors in Canada worked that theater. Wayne was set to perform as Grandpa in John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath, which is to begin in June. As a friend of mine said, what better way for an actor to pass away, but to be rehearsing a great part at the best theater in Canada working with the best actors.

As a dying vaudville actor once said "dying is easy, comedy is hard".


We'll miss that smile, Wayne.

Has Hollywood Really Changed?

Back a few months ago I had an ongoing dispute on the blog with someone who used the name/pseudonym "Jerry" who, after I described some actions I did on a series I worked on, said that I never got work after that because of my behavior and also, that "the industry has changed".

Now I don't know who Jerry was and he/she wouldn't tell me, so I just stopped posting his/her comments and he/she gradually faded away (I think). But I did get work after that, preferring TV Movies to series and accumulating credits on 17 of them over the course of 14 years, not a bad record at all. And the most recent one will be shown in a month or so. 

Which brings me to The Pat Hobby Stories.

I had heard about the book but never read it. Simply, it's a collection of short stories about a down and out screenwriter in Hollywood who survives by hustling any writing jobs he can get. It's a great collection of stories about writing and what you have to do to survive in a business that rips your heart out some of the time and then praises you for a little bit to give you encouragement, only to be ripped up again.

In other words, it's Hollywood as it's always been.

But the twist here is this; it was written between 1939 and 1940. And it's author was none other than F. Scott Fitzgerald, who, by this time in his life, was Pat Hobby, living from rewrite jobs to whatever he could muster. His successes were behind him, The Great Gatsby would be re-discovered in the 1960's and Fitzgerald died at 44 in the same year.

And while I read the book, a collection of 17 stories, I wasn't surprised to find out something else. 

It's the same today.

Nothing has really changed. We have computers, and Netflix and iPhones, but the business remains exactly the same. Exactly.  I can only assume that Jerry doesn't know Hollywood history, maybe because he/she is young and full of their self. And that's perfectly normal. I'm not knocking younger writers, hell, I was one once. 

There are a lot of movies about screenwriters, Bogart did one, William Holden did one, there are dozens of them out there, many you can still watch. And they all came before "The Player", the film most film students know of. And it was directed by Robert Altman who was 67 at the time.

There's also Day of the Locust, a brilliant film with Donald Sutherland and based on a novel by Nathanael West in 1939  . I read the book and again was surprised by the similarities in the business. Sure, the cars were different but the stories and the lives of the people in it are still here today.

And another great movie from the Coen Brothers Barton Fink, again a period piece about a screenwriter. And even Jeff Bridges was a screenwriter in Hearts of the West.

And there's one thing in common for all of them. The writer is always screwed. There's even a self-help book out called  "The Writer Got Screwed (but didn't have to). Honest, there is. I have a copy of it, written by Brook Wharton.

And before you think I'm starting to whine, I'm not, I rarely got shafted but that's mostly because I did have the protection of the Guilds.

And as far as not being hired again I offer this story; I wrote a script called Maiden Voyage, about the takeover of a cruise ship. It was made by by the British Company Granada. They paid me for the script but not the story. I had written the script as a spec, and they should have also paid for the story, as well as the screenplay itself.

They refused to pay.

WGA said they had 5 days to pay.

An exec told my agent this; "this might sour us for using Jim in the future". My agent said he'd pass that information along to me.

They paid up, very upset at me and my agent.

One year later, I met the same exec at a party and he shook my hand and said the movie turned out great and that it was because of my terrific script.

And we would work together again.

Was this the same guy who threatened to make sure I'd never work in this town again?

My agent said the saying is really "you'll never work in this town again... or at least until we need you."

Know this; Hollywood never really changes, it's about the dreammakers and those who finance the dreammakers. It's about breaking in, surviving, falling out and maybe, if you're really persistent and lucky, breaking in again.


Just ask Manoel de Oliveira, the Portuguese film director who continues working at the tender age of 102.


(Thurs: We cast Casualties of Love)

Meanwhile Shirley wins awards and travels the world with her latest Short Film 'Roxy'.

Those of who who started with this blog detailing the funding of Travel Day have often read about Shirley Petchprapa, the filmmaker and director who partnered with me on the project. We met when she was looking for screenplays and read one of mine, a drama called Secrets of the Salmon.

We almost instantly got along, the young, smart New Yorker and the Canadian writer and director. It wasn't long before we decided to make a feature film together with me producing one of my screenplays that she would direct.

One of the things that impressed me, besides her talent (and I rarely use that word) was that I don't know many filmmakers who can actually grind a lens, you know special glass and "sand" to make an optical lens. Shirley did that and she has designed and created several other camera accessories.

Shirley comes from Graphic Design and Art Directing eventually editing a documentary and producing, shooting and editing several documentary pieces as well as a narrative television short that was pitched to the SyFy channel in 2006.  It was around then that she decided to pursue filmmaking exclusively.

Earlier this year she received the Best Soundscape award for her short film 'Tuesday' (http://www.issara.net/tuesday) from the Dresden Filmfest in Germany. She is currently traveling around the globe with her newest short, 'Roxy' (http://www.issara.net/roxy), which had it's World Premiere at the prestigious Festival del film Locarno in Switzerland. 'Roxy' is headed to the Mill Valley Film Festival in October as well as in competition at the Lucca Film Festival in Italy and the Marbella Film Festival in Spain. 

Iain Stott of 'The One-Line Review' says "There are echoes of J.D. Salinger’s A Perfect Day for Bananafish (1948) in Shirley Petchprapa’s intensely sensual and ethereally beautiful self-financed short film…" (Full review: http://1linereview.blogspot.com/2010/09/roxy-2010.html). You can also read some insights about her experience making 'Roxy'.

You can read some other recent press at the following:

http://www.aarising.com/content.php?49-Filmmaker-Shirley-Petchprapa-A-Profiled&s=37eda3faa58aed75f88f8f469adfe111

http://www.jimhalterman.com/interviews/reel-time-short-film-roxy-and-shirley-petchprapa-will-wow-you/

Our first project was Travel Day and after a few disagreements, one of which I blogged about that nearly ended the project. Since TD went down (at least for now), we continued to talk about other projects.

We both come from different worlds and yet can agree on particular films and themes even though I'm a lot more commercial in the sense that I have done primarily TV movies and several of my screenplays are pretty offbeat and shall I say, artsy?

It wasn't long before we both agreed that The Last Station (previous title was slightly wrong) would be a good choice as I had done a workshop with it years ago and it got a glowing review at Sundance with the reader calling it a combination of Robert Altman, George Lucas and Horton Foote.

You don't get better than that.

We both agreed that the singular location would be greatly helpful in funding the project which will be dependent on cast; better actors cost more, although SAG has low budget programs that will definitely help us.

For now, I'm working on  both projects, Casualties of Love and Last Station to film in late fall or early winter.

So, for now, have a look at her short films and demo real (http://www.issara.net) and read the reviews on Roxy, all under Materials.


(Thurs: The Christmas Movie has wrapped)

When stars fall to earth.

"With today's young audiences, names won't sell a picture anymore.  A great script and a devoted director-- that's what makes things happen."
                             - Charles Bluhdorn


Sounds true enough, right? The studios are constantly complaining about huge salaries for overrated stars, $20 million for a movie and attachments like their agents, hair dressers, cars, drugs and whatever else they can demand.  How many movies this year with big stars made the big bucks. Paranormal Activity has made $62 million in less than 3 weeks and it cost $15,000.00. Slumdog Millionaire had no stars, nor did Napoleon Dynamite. And the big action movies, Transformers, Wolverine, don't really have big stars.

Back to the quote, that came from Charlie Bluhdorn who was the head of Paramount. And he said it at the beginning of the 1970's.

History repeats itself, doesn't it.

Here's another quote by LA Times writer Patrick Goldstein about the new movies being made in the early 1970's. 

"The best movies, with rare exceptions, weren't the most expensive ones. They certainly weren't the ones that tested well with research audiences. They weren't remakes, they were diamonds in the rough,  made fast and cheap by talent with something to prove." 

What movies did he mean?

Chinatown, The Godfather, The Graduate,  Midnight Cowboy, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Bonnie and Clyde, Mash, Easy Rider, Paper Moon, Nashville, Serpico, The Conversation.  I could name 50 more like that. Okay, Godfather was a studio picture but it wouldn't have been made if it weren't for a new hip, cool studio head named Robert Evans who was smart enough to hire Francis Coppola who had made a studio flop previously.

Now think of the hits in the last few years, Slumdog Millionaire, Juno, Little Miss Sunshine, The Hangover. And as much as I hate it, Borat. Given the budgets of those movies, it could be argued that they were more profitable than Transformers and Wolverine.

So here we are, after 40 years, and the studios are in the same predicament. All they need is that injection of fresh new talent.

My question is... where is that new talent?

One of the reasons that many of those movies I mentioned from the 70's, were stories from a different time, less cynical and sarcastic as the movies are now. As much as everyone says young people want edgy and cynical movies and horror films where people are tortured, they also will fall for good dramas and comedies, like the recent ones I mention.

The writers are different now also, all of the writers in the 60's and 70's were young, but also didn't have the advantage or disadvantage of being exposed to millions of videos on YouTube. They looked for good stories in novels, true life stories and their own stories of growing up after the second World War.

I had the chance to speak to some of these writers, and their lives sounded more like movies than mine. In fact mine was pretty boring as compared to these guys who rode rails, worked in mines, hitched across America and Canada, lived hard and drank even harder. No wonder they came up with great stories. It's harder to write a good story if you grew up in the suburbs and your biggest thrill was buying your first pair of flip-flops.

Or thinking that The Brady Bunch was good TV.

I remember seeing the first video-cassette recorder for home use.  It was a Sony top deck where you shoved a Beta tape into the top and pushed down. That was it. No date or ability to record from a TV.  And it cost $2000.  Right, two thousand dollars and all you got was playback. And there were very few movies to buy. I thought right there and then, this was going to change the industry. People at home could now become involved in show business. 

It was easy to anticipate the next big thing -- video cameras for the home. And something else happened. Many of the new filmmakers, but not all, were film school graduates. The Movie Brats, as one book was titled. The old filmmakers went back to the silent days, where you learned how to make a movie by screwing up and learning how to make it good.

John Ford, arguably the best American director (with 6 Oscars) made hundreds of 1- reelers and a few dozen features before he made the classic western Stagecoach in 1939 and won 2 Oscars, also 2  nominations for Drums Along the Mohawk and  1 nomination for Young Mr. Lincoln. All in the same year!

But the film school bug exploded. When once there were only three real film schools, NYC, USC and UCLA, now every campus begin to have courses. I went to 2 film schools, actually 4 month courses, and I failed in the first one at Banff, along with my friend Phil Borsos I'm the bearded smiling one, Phil's to my right, bushy hair), and dropped out of the second one after Phil and I made a film with school gear. Interestingly enough none of the other students at Banff ever attempted a career in film.

But film school alone isn't the key, you have to have good stories. There are a few filmmakers now who seem to be fresh but consistency isn't their best suit. More than not, they are "1-hit wonders". The generation of filmmakers just before me had runs of 5 or more great movies, Robert Altman continued directing until he died in his mid 80's. Right now I don't really see that many consistent young filmmakers. Of course the competition is incredibly fierce now and a director's total career can consist of one movie. 

The late 60's and early 70's almost destroyed the studios and the industry was struggling to stay afloat. Fox sold part of it's backlot for shopping malls and office towers after Elizabeth Taylor was paid $1 milliion for Cleopatrra, a flop. Crews were laid of, directors like John Frankenheimer (Manchurian Candidate) had to go to Europe for work.

Sounds the same now.

But I have faith. Why? Because big studios are making fewer and fewer movies at larger and larger budgets.

Why is that good for me?

Because they will need more movies from outside to feed the machine. And that will most likely come from people like me, who do character-driven movies for a smaller audience on realistic budgets.  All we need is one thing...

"A great script and a devoted director".