A Tale of Two Hollywoods

Out of the many colorful adjectives people use to describe me, I doubt "cool" would ever be one of them.? Of course, no one knows this more than me. Even my wife claims I roll with the "nerd herd." But I recall once-upon-a-time, in the "Motorola Razor era, when I was somewhat on trend. I would sport those Kanye West, Venetian-blind glasses and a lame, graphic-tee with a "low-brow metaphor" printed on it... disguised as wit. And then I would hit the Sunset Strip... as long as I wasn't spotted in my P.T. Cruiser.?

But in those early days, I thought LA's night scene was where the big deals got done, where who's-who of entertainment rubbed shoulders with each other. I bet scripts are being sold next to the mechanical bull at Saddle Ranch... or so naively I thought. Turns out... The "actor" only once played a one-liner character on "How I Met Your Mother." The "producer" ran the "International Magician Awards Show" in 1987, and the "director"... well, they've got big ideas they're working on right now. Of course, they're not going to tell you, (but usually within 5 minutes of saying that... they tell you._

It didn't take long to catch on... but there's THAT Hollywood. The "scene" as they say... and then there's another Hollywood. The other Hollywood runs on talent and confidence, -the business side. In this Hollywood one has time to visit 'da club' because they're hustling and grinding out the creative. There's work to do because there's passion here. And it isn't done to impress others, but done because there's a purpose and joy of the craft. It's a Hollywood not filled with just dreamers, but the dreamers here are also doers.?They are the creatives.

Picture George Lucas. Go ahead, close your eyes and imagine his Midwest Home Depot dad look. That man created one of the most successful franchises in entertainment. He's worth billions. I guarantee you that Mr. Lucas was never the type to smoke a bone with Corey Feldman after a Steel Panther concert.?

And the more I started to picture my idols, the more and more than didn't look like the people I aspired to be like. Spielberg, Zemeckis, Scorsese, Bigelow, Vince Gilligan, Craig Mazin, Charlie Kaufman, Brian Grazer, Kathleen Kennedy (and countless others). Maybe being a part of the "nerd herd" ain't so bad after all. Perhaps an old pair of beaten-up white sneakers is all the 'shoe-in' that you need. I mean, Bigfoot has had more public outings than me... but when people ask how crazy LA-LA land is, well, tell them there's two worlds... the ones who glitz and the ones who grit.