Last night I was fortunate enough to see a production of an
adaptation of John Fowles’ novel, The Collector at the Ruskin Theater Group in Santa Monica, CA. (In the interest of full disclosure I should
note that the director, Edward Edwards and I have been friends for over
thirty-five years.)
The
two young actors in the show, Jaimi Page and Dane Zinter do wonderful things
conveying the horrifying experience a beautiful young woman endures after being
kidnapped by a deranged lottery winner who is obsessed with her.
As
I said to Eddie afterwards, “Even though I’ve been acting for forty years I
have to ask myself how those two did what they did. It was amazing.”
Ms.
Paige conveys all the terror and desperation of her ordeal while maintaining
her dignity and deploying intellectual superiority over her captor for minimal
gains in her basement prison.
Mr.
Zinter’s deluded butterfly collector is both disturbing and oddly
endearing. While abhorring his
actions one feels a kind of pity for him not unlike that of his victim, who
professes a desire to defend him should she escape and he stand trial.
At
a small reception afterward I did my best to convey to each of them how
impressed I was by their work and how I hoped they both found success in “the
business,” as we call it.
Upon
deeper reflection this morning over coffee I wondered whether I should have
also told them that even breaking into show business and garnering roles worthy
of their talent might still leave them in need of a day job to make ends meet.
The
unfortunate truth for young actors is that they are entering a world where fees
are diminishing as the marketplace offers fewer venues for fiction on
film. The break down of what we
called, “the quote system” in show business, a dollar amount an actor could
reasonably demand for his time, the reduction of “top of show” fees for a guest
actor on a series by over fifty percent in most cases, and the amount of
competition they will face are daunting elements for aspiring actors. Fees for actors in independent film are
always quite low and Internet shows are rarely providing that much, if
anything at all.
On
a personal note let me put it to you this way. I landed a role opposite George Clooney in Tony Gilroy’s Michael
Clayton. It was the fifth largest role in the film. Clooney, Tilda Swinton, Tom Wilkinson
and Sydney Pollack had the leading roles.
I was paid scale and hired as a local actor, which meant that even
though I was living in Los Angeles at the time I would have to find my own bed
and board while in NY. In another
era, one in the not so distant past, I would have been paid a high five-figure
perhaps even six-figure salary, given a hotel room, and a per diem. Those days are gone.
Unless
young actors break in as stars, or land series regular roles on the dwindling
TV series market, they will have to make serious choices about lifestyle,
family and planning for retirement.
My fear is that the smart ones, like Ms. Paige and Mr. Zinter, will take
a look around and wonder why they should bother at all. And I couldn’t blame them. It’s easy enough to blame producers,
studios and networks for this. But
in fairness to them they are catering to the tastes of the market place and
keeping an eye on the bottom line.
So, who’s to blame? No easy
answer there. This is just who we
are and how we treat ourselves in show business.
Ms.
Paige and Mr. Zinter will have to find that out for themselves. With a bit of luck they may rise above
the fray. I certainly hope they
do.
Despite
the blistering frustration I sometimes feel after forty years as an actor I
still believe in the power of theater, film and TV to convey the poetry and
elegance of artistic realization to a large audience. If only those of us who could would spread the wealth around
just a bit more artists might sustain themselves and realize their
potential.
