In appreciation

This is a post to thank actors. (I hope I don't get drummed out of the Writers Guild for this.)

They do a lot of work, give their time and talent for free. (A few later make $30,000,000 a picture but that’s a small number.)

Actors, by and large, are extremely generous with their gift. They do readings, student films, web series, videos, and narration for minimal payment or no payment.

You could argue that unless someone hires an actor he can’t really practice his craft. And that’s true. There are classes and showcases, but actors primarily have to take advantage of the roles that are out there and available. They then have to lucky enough to get those roles.  Writers at least don’t need to audition to further their craft. They just need a computer and nearby Starbucks (and maybe an idea).

And writers do their share of pro bono work as well – writing specs. But that screenplay you write on speculation could sell for six figures. Actors doing a screenplay reading rarely find themselves in a bidding war.

I’ve been concentrating on stage plays and theater pieces lately. No one does that for the moolah. You’d stand a much better chance of getting rich by manufacturing phonograph needles. The truth is, other than big productions, theater work is largely a labor of love. No one makes money in small theaters. We do it because we love it.

For me, I get to hear actors performing my work and audiences responding to it. That’s reward enough (although I’d gladly take a nice windfall).

Recently, my new play, GOING GOING GONE, received a staged reading at the Atwater Theatre in Los Angeles as part of EST’s Winterfest staged reading festival. (The photos for today’s post are from that reading.) It went great and provided terrific feedback for future drafts. (What was I thinking with that fucking R2D2 joke?) But what really made the evening a success was the awesome cast I had – a cast that provided their services for free.

So a special thanks to George Wendt, Annie Abrams, Kareem Ferguson, Kevin Comartin, and Tony Pasquilni. And thanks for putting up with me as a director.

From time to time I’ve had other readings (my own or for the UCLA class I teach) or one act plays and wonderful actors have answered the call. Since I’m not going to win any awards and will have no chance to thank them in an acceptance speech, I can at least do it in this space. So a public thank you to Andy Goldberg, Jules Willcox, Harry Murphy, Sara Lukasiewicz, Ryan O’Neal, Chip Zien, Andrew Rannells, Ed Asner, Wendy Cutler, Mandy Kaplan, Suzanne Mayes, Liz Bliss, Paul Pape, Jason Alexander, Matthew Letscher, Kurtwood Smith, Eric Pierpoint, Howard Hoffman, Keith Szarabajka, Wendie Mallick, Joanna Gleason, Jennifer Tilly, Bill Ragsdale, Paul Dooley, Malcolm Gets, Alan Simpson, David Rasche, Paul Lauden, Paul Culos, Julie Meyer, Carolyn Hennessey, Patrick Breen, Michael McManus, Bob Rosenfarb, David Schramm, Evan Arnold, Bess Meyer, Mehera Blum, Sterling Sulieman, Jack Zullo, Kimberly Wallis, Jeremy Licht, Mark Chaet, Ken Jenkins, Nell Teare, John Content, Mark Blum, Dan Ingram, and I’m sure there are others I have regrettably left out.

I know – the playoff music started around “Ryan O’Neal” but I wanted to get in as many as I could. That’s about $1,000,000,000 worth of talent there. And I bought them lunch… well, some of them.