Rank and File

There comes a time in every blog's life when topics are a little slow to come by. I just returned from Mexico and thought I'd try to correlate the trip with some higher purpose. But, it was just fun. I'm nearly finished with a writing class but homework's not the thrill it used to be. I have a new song in the works, but it's only working. So, what's a blogger to do?

Ah, yes. I start a movie soon. I play a former assassin turned sage. The exact date hasn't been set but it's moving forward. I know this because it showed up on my IMDB. Isn't IMDB grand? Trick question. It's like the internet as a whole. Dark and light. Necessary but easily manipulated.

It gets me a little when a producer wants someone "5000 or below" on the "Star Meter." Any producer with a spec of experience knows an actor can hire a slew of companies to manipulate the algorithm to shoot their client to the top, eh, er, bottom of the list. Wherever the lower score lands. Does it mean that actor is more successful or even more well known? It does not.

I think if you know the name you probably know the work. A-lister's don't care where they are on the star meter. I'll bet they don't even think about it. Neither do the fans. They want to see the next thing because the A-lister's had a chance to prove themselves.

Full disclosure, I get a twinge of thrill Monday morning if my star meter number is lower. And, a twinge of disappointment if it's higher. So fickle, it would seem. Except, I know what I can do to artificially improve my standing and am faced with the recurring dilemma; to manipulate or not manipulate. That is the question.

Do I blame people for using conduits to improve their score? How could I. If getting under a certain tally gets you a job and it's not hurting anyone, go ahead. But, is it "not hurting anyone"? Who slipped over the coveted threshold so you can slip under? Hmmm.

Theoretically, the casting director will still have to decide who gets the audition. But, getting in the door is the hardest part about acting. Is it fair to impose arbitrary and specious predicates to pick the lock?

At the end of the day ability and ethic must mean something. Otherwise there wouldn't be hundreds of thousands of people on IMDB in the first place. Everybody on there has done something. Would that that were enough.

I can't bring myself to enhance my standing. It seems dishonest. Maybe it isn't, but it seems so. I prefer to trod the authentic path of honest tribulation and pray for help from a higher source.

I'll keep you posted on the movie and anything else that comes up right here. Blessings all.