Bad Gigs

Last year, during the run of Macbeth in Schiller Park, a cast-mate announced she'd booked a commercial, and after accepting the general congrats all around, smiled at me and said " I apologize, Mark"

This took me by surprise. Then I realized she must have heard me sound off about commercials at some point. She wasn't really apologizing, of course, just acknowledging that she remembered my opinions of the subject. Which are, when all is said and done, complicated.

First of all, I condemn no one for doing commercials. I recognize they are a necessary evil, and allow actors to make some extra cash, and in some cases, amazingly good cash. No problem with that at all.  They're just not for me.

It's just that I didn't get into the performing racket to sell someone's products. I lack the acting talent, I suppose, to be enthusiastic about the Olive Garden, or auto parts. I admire those who can, but I wonder, also, if they aren't wasting their time and talents. Every time I see a douche commercial (and why must I be subjected to a douche commercial??), I look at the actress and think "Four years undergrad, two years MFA, all to sell douche products. Hey mom, your sacrifices for my college tuition finally paid off"

And it isn't really acting, is it? Actors can delude themselves into thinking it is, but it isn't. The objectives are entirely different. Many actors I know have to invent some sort of playable objective so they don't have to face the knowledge that they were not hired because they were talented--they were hired because they had a "look", and that "look" is to be used entirely in service to a dancing doughboy, or a Honda Civic. 

However, commercials are one step ahead of the gig I resent the most--the walking costumes. People who hire actors to be in costume at their parties...this chaps my ass! It lacks dignity, and encourages the belief that actors are not "people of parts", to use the old Tudor expression. And yet so many actors are eager for the gig--so you'll see a wonderful actress, for example, with a four octave singing range, one who has trained in the best schools, wearing a Cinderella costume at a Disney party for some spoiled little brat on her 7th birthday. I burn when I see this.

Maybe my sense of dignity is too high. I don't even like taking photos in costume, in character, for publicity purposes. It feels undignified. If the paper wants my picture, they can use my head shot. Or a still from the play--one that wasn't set up for the camera, but rather was filmed while the action was going on.

It's all about money, I know. But that doesn't fly for me. Wait tables, drive cabs, work in call centers...these are honest labors, and don't dilute or cheapen the art form you've chosen to to do. I have been asked several times, recently, if I would be interested in starting up acting classes, and while I like the idea of it, I would feel like a failure if a student of mine ended up performing in a commercial. Maybe I could make them sign a pledge not to, before accepting them as students.