Anne M.Strick has spent over twenty years in the movie
industry. She has worked for Universal, Warners, Paramount and EMI, as a Unit
Publicist, Project Coordinator and National Publicity Director, and with such
Hollywood legends as Jack Nicholson, James Earl Jones, Sean Penn, Arnold
Schwarzenegger, David Lynch and Dino De Laurentiis, among many others.
She has been a Congressional speech writer, published
articles, theater reviews, short stories, two non-fiction books (one an
international best-seller), two novels,
and the highly praised ("remarkable") critique of our adversary legal
system, Injustice For All. Born in Philadelphia, educated at Bennington College
and UCLA, she lives in Los Angeles.
Author Anne M. Strick has stopped by today with
an excerpt from her book All The Doors To Hollywood and How To Open Them
ALL
THE DOORS TO HOLLYWOOD & HOW TO OPEN THEM
Some time ago, I needed a
job. I had spent six years finishing a book, living on and finally totally
depleting my savings. At last, I found employment with a start-up corporate
public relations firm, worked there for six months, was fired for insubordination,
refused several apologetic hire-back offers, and was on the scramble again. But
in those six months, I had learned the publicity game. Several friends
suggested I try the movie business. I put together a resumé, and on my third
interview, was hired as publicist for the movie The Border with Jack Nicholson. The
fun began.
Most of us -
perhaps you - have an almost insatiable interest in all things Hollywood. Often
we fantasize - secretly, perhaps - about being part of the film business
ourselves. But being so seems impossible.
What actors and
stars do, what producers and directors and writers do, seems light-years beyond
our reach - despite all the advice books telling us how to make the rareified
leap. We lack, we believe, the talents, the training, the connections, the
youth and physical perfection, the long grinding grit and sheer gumption
necessary to break in. Even, possibly, the luck.
But we have
other abilities. Abilities rarely
associated with film-making, but ones that stand behind the screen and make the
magic possible. Abilities without which there could be no movies at all. The
high-profile professions, so excessively publicized, so glamorous and brightly
lit, are not the only doors to Hollywood. There are other doors - many doors -
doors we walk through, without a thought, every day - to professions absolutely
necessary to the Hollywood show’s going on.
This book tells
you what those other doors are.
On these doors,
most of us - ordinary people in every city - nurses, carpenters, teachers,
first-aid workers, journalists, electricians, photo lab and metal workers,
secretaries, sketch artists, plasterers, makeup artists, cooks, hairdressers,
model-makers, truck drivers, photographers, seamstresses, accountants, and so
many more - need only knock. We will, of
course, probably have to knock more than once, as for any job. Nor is ultimate
employment inevitable – as for any job.
But if the doors
open, we will be extremely well-paid. We will take great pride in our skills
and enjoy the camaraderie of our colleagues. We will be delighted with our
union benefits. And we will have, for all of our lives, wonderful
behind-the-scenes stories to tell.
These are some
of the doors; this is how some people have opened them. And these are some of
the adventures they’ve had.
Perhaps you’ll
do the same. I did.
Author's Links:
Website
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