SHERMAN OAKS, California
United States
Los Angeles Valley College
Writer and artist
publisher
Change is the only constant in the universe.
Joining the Best GenerationJoining the Best Generation
Hi. I am new to AARP and have been a member since March of 2007. I have led a long and rather adventuresome life since I have participated in groups devoted to Science Fiction and Fantasy in both literature and film since I was a teenager, and have been writing for just as long. It used to be a hobby of mine, but now I am devoted to writing and publishing a series of novels based on short stories I wrote for a monthly fanzine over ten years ago.
I am coming to terms with some issues about aging which I have been confronted with recently. To help finance my SF/F habit I have been taking on background acting work since 2006. At first it was relatively easy because at the time my hair was dyed dark, but when I got sick of not looking like who I was I let my hair grow out a little and discovered that I was prematurely grey (like my father, who was grey by the time he was thirty like Anderson Cooper). I decided then and there that I would stop pretending I was younger and be myself. Imagine the shock I received when the number of roles I was eligible for dropped like a stone. It used to be that being yourself was the going thing, but recently most of the shows on television are preoccupied with pretty young things who can barely fill a bikini, and the film industry has experienced a marked dropoff of projects because of the writers' strike. Like a great many others I have suddenly been put at the bottom of their "desirable" list. That may be a normal thing in Hollywood, but since several actors my age do get work, it must be because they have better agents, or because they belong to SAG, whereas I do not. I'd like to become eligible, but their intiation fee is the price of good dental work.
Feel free to comment about this, but is there an "ageism" standard in Hollywood again, and what can someone like me do about it?
SciFi is just about as realistic as mainstream fiction is. That is, it takes the same skill and devotion to realism to write a book about other planets. The people have the same issues no matter where they are because one has to write so us Earthly readers can relate to the characters. I guess the imagination comes with the descriptions and cultural habits of the aliens one is reading about, but that's very much like writing about the people in a country halfway around the globe. LOL
I wonder if, other than getting a good agent, you can remain yourself (grey hair and all) and perhaps work on specializing in more mature roles. Update your look (your photo shows you wearing your hair like I did just a short while ago) by perhaps wearing a youthful short (pixie, perhaps or a shag). Sell your experience. Sell your current self, not trying for youthful roles. There has GOT to be a place for older, yet not ancient by any means, women in Hollywood.
Maybe you can consult an image consultant who will work with you remaining YOU, but renewed. Does that make sense?
Ageism exists in every field, but I can only well imagine that in Hollywood it runs rampant. I sure admire your ability to write and Sci fi must be great. I don't have that kind of imagination, but admire those who do. I am more into writing on a realistic level and we all know that can be boring at times.
Best wishes on finding that work and welcome to AARP, the Greatest Age Group.
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