Why I didn't take the Gig.
Hollywood as we know it, is going through a change. I call it the slowly dying a slow painful death phase. The war on cable is being waged and won by the so-called cable cutters who care little about paying for cable and instead opt for cheap, and in many cases, free on demand Internet TV. I am one of those people. Increasingly the entertainment found on the internet is better than real TV and Hollywood can't or won't keep up.
With the saturation of reality shows, clip shows, and about 100 horrible TV channels that just air repeats of Cops; you have to wonder what has happened to our entertainment and how this has adversely affected the industry. TV shows used to be 25-28min in length, now with the amount of commercials jammed in, its more like 20min of actual show. Late at night I can't even enjoy watching Family Guy without a huge billboard advertisement blocking half my screen.
Last week my very aloof agent contacts me for a "major" audition. A national commercial for a beer company. The "Principal speaking" role paid a whopping $450 US dollars. So lets do the math:
They want me to go audition - Day 1 = $0 IF they like me they will have me back for a callback audition - Day 2 = $0 IF I then pass these two auditions and book the job - Day 3 =$450...maybe That translates to $150.00 per day IF and only IF I book the job.
I'm sorry fellow thespians but to me that is just unacceptable. A national commercial for a major brand used to pay an average of 30k for a year of use. Now they want to pay us bus fare to exploit us on TV, Internet, and publications. WTF?! Some of you may say, "Yea but you'll be on TV"... my answer to that is, BLEH! That is precisely the mentality that is eating up all the good and real entertainment to save a buck. Fake Fame is winning out over Real Talent.
Even though it was a principal speaking role to air nationally they still called it a non-union job. Your kidding right? I think the words, "Contract work" and "Non-Union roles" are now synonyms for Bullshit.
I don't even like beer!
For the first time in a long time I turned down the possibility of work. Call it blind integrity.
Your thoughts?