We don't know. Maybe it is living in Los Angeles, cheek-by-jowl (trimmed, tanned jowl, we should add) with so many actors, writers, and artists, but it feels like everyone, at least around the entertainment industry, is feeling a tad braver about everything going down with the economy. Is it because there's so much downturn, personally, for people looking for their big break every single day of the year? Perhaps, if you're in the arts, you just have weathered it before so often, and you've grown that famous thicker skin.
Speaking of the arts... a piece on CNN says that now is the time to try that path you've always been wanting to try, and we couldn't agree more. That said, and we're firm about this, those crazy dreamers still have to pay rent, take care of the family and sundry obligations, be good, responsible citizens and live on the up-and-up. They'll need to get a job scooping at the ice cream shop or talk to Great Aunt Sally about selling off that family land or what have you, but, in the end, they need to make sure what needs shoring up is well shored up. Okay, that's out of the way. Sorry we had to get so stern there. You know we mean well.
We were talking with a friend in the industry the other day, and we made the point that it probably is a great time to be in the arts. When everyone is doing well, and making money, the artist can often feel like the train is leaving the station and they are standing in the smoke, coughing, and then the questions arise. "Should I keep doing what I'm doing with all the frustrations and struggles? Should I jump paths?" But when things are wobblier, the parentals aren't calling quite as much, pressuring their darling to leave the easel or stage behind for that ultra lucrative career. We're sensing phones ringing less around town, and the pressure valves getting turned down.
Or is it just us? Shaky economy or no, you have to always give props to the artist. A hard life, and a beautiful one. Something you've been thinking about?
