Just for the Hell of it -- Episode 9

                      There's a lot of truth in this, which I found here… 


I've talked to more than one actor lamenting the fact that they so often have to leave town (and their families) to find work these days. Yes, you can jeer at actors for being overpaid, pampered, whining prima-donnas if it makes you feel better, but the truth is many are in a tough bind: stay in town to be a good mom or dad to their kids -- and go broke -- or head out on the road for extended stays in New York, Louisiana, Georgia, or Canada, where the work that once filled our cups here in Hollywood has followed the lucrative tax-subsidy dollars elsewhere.

It's just another iteration of the age-old proposition made by highway men, robber barons, and asshole bosses ever since we crawled out of the trees to create WalMart: your money or your life.  Only in this case, it's "if you want the opportunity to earn any money, you must surrender your life."

Any way you parse it, that's one hell of a choice.

Thus it was refreshing to read about one actress who reacted in a most unexpected way when the producers recently informed her that after shooting two seasons in LA, they'd be taking her show over the border into Canada for Season Three -- for the sole reason of hoovering up a suitcase full of Canadian taxpayer dollars.  Rather than meekly follow their marching orders, Alyssa Milano told them to take this job and shove it, using less colorful language, of course.  She didn't want to leave her husband alone with their two young children for months at a time, and decided that their family life together was worth more than a role in a TV show.

Good for her.  Granted, with two seasons worth of income in the bank, Alyssa Milano won't be hitting the bricks looking for a waitress job anytime soon, but turning down work (regardless of the reason) is one of the scariest things any of us can do in this town, especially when it was a good job we liked. That took guts.  So here's a tip of the hat to Alyssa from the entire crew here at Blood, Sweat, and Tedium.*

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Hollywood veteran Rob Long posted another pithy Martini Shot commentary last week.  It's a good one, and at three minutes-and-change, won't slow you down for long.  I find Rob's above-the-line commentaries to be as informative as they are humorous, which means they're always worth a listen.

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And now one last follow-up on Zenia, Jim Gallagher's futuristic e-book tale of aliens and humans joining forces to battle the rising robot tide.  By the end of September, twenty-seven of you had accepted his offer of a free download.  Given this robust response, Jim agreed to extend his offer to BS&T readers until the end of the year, so if any of you missed the September boat and are still curious, that ship won't be sailing until January 1 of 2015.

And to those of you who downloaded the book, thanks again.  I hope you enjoyed the read as much as I did.


* Uh, yeah… that would just be me…