| What
does it mean to be an actor? How do actors do what they do? How do
they deal with the frustrations and rejections? This is the story
of my personal experiences in Los Angeles. Along the way I'll share what
I've learned.
Actors: Do What You Love, Love What You Do
And I just loved games. I was working on Broadway and they'd give you a $1,000 to spend the day at a broadcasting studio and I love broadcasting studios. And you'd do five (game) shows, and they'd run one each day. I needed the money and I loved the work. You could be funny. It was improvised and, you'd play the game, but then you were supposed to be funny in-between the questions and I loved that. What's My Line?, To Tell the Truth -- and I just did it for the fun. I'd come in carrying my five days worth of clothing on my shoulder and I'd get there and change between shows and there was a lot of camaraderie. It was very enjoyable. (Comedian) Soupy Sales was always next to me. The thing I didn't realize was that when I got my first job in a television movie, which was just prior to getting the job on MASH, was that I had a TV Q rating because of the game shows I had done. And I wouldn't have been hired if I didn't have that. So, I might not have had the career on MASH and the tremendous change it made in my whole life if I hadn't had fun doing game shows."
Comments |
"There was, and I think still is, this thing called the "TV Q Rating" which is a combination of how well the audience knows you, have they ever heard of you, and do they like you. So, they combine those two numbers and come up with your rating. And (years ago), if you didn't have a TV Q number of a certain magnitude, you couldn't get a job on television -- which was kind of a Catch-22 because you couldn't get a TV Q unless you were already on television. |
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Thanks! I love reading stories about famous actors journeys! It is so funny that some little thing you do can end up being the thing that helps you out big time later in life. I guess there is a lesson there.
Don
Posted by: Don Foley | July 20, 2006 09:14 PMI do as well. Success seems to take a certain amount of luck -- but being prepared when the luck comes is the real key. Alda could have had a high Q rating but if he wasn't good enough to be on the series, it wouldn't have mattered much.
Posted by: Trevor | July 21, 2006 11:13 PM