"LIGHTS! CAMERA! ACTION!" Part TWO. REEL or REAL? THERE'S NO BUSINESS LIKE SHOW BUSINESS.

ASIAN CINEMA 2

So there’s no show business like show business.

Oh yeah?

There’s glitz, there’s sleaze, there’s fan adulation, a true blue fusion.

But for how long?

As good as it lasts, it’s a COLOURFUL WORLD out there, for sure.

Plus there’s MONEY aplenty when you make it to the top.

And what if you cannot?

Are you content with playing SECOND FIDDLE in an insignificant role when you know the leading actor has lesser qualities than you have?

Such a shame, really.

Who says that the entertainment industry is fair?

As in every industry, FAVORITISM is prevalent,

It’s all about CHEMISTRY,

It’s either you like that particular artiste or not,

Producers, Management + Paparazzi can be subjective, not impartial -

The pen is mightier than the sword,

The Paparazzi can either build you or crush you,

So tread the line carefully,

Better earn a friend than make a foe, right?

Welcome to a plastic world of make-believe where falsitudes, truths and half-truths prevail.

You may have to rub shoulders, kiss ass.

No? Then you are lucky.

It’s a dog-eat-dog world in your own reality show.

You get thrown into a whirlpool of bitchy and jealous people trying to stay afloat, where the fittest survivor survives.

SMILES are cheap in the Entertainment arena.

Check this one out.

Grab a MENTOR along the way.

You’ll need one with loads of connections to bestow you a head start to put you up on that pedestal you crave.

Got the looks? Then half the job is done.

But looks aren’t everything, my friend.

There must be at least some raw talent in your bones, please.

You’ll also need oodles of luck, like being at the right place at the right time, lots of happy smiles, diligence, humility and the right attitude.

But please, do not preen with your nose up in the air even if you are so gorgeously stunning,

A stuck-up attitude is so cool?

Unless you think you making the million bucks like Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie,

Are you?

Just remember this – every other day there’s another beautiful hopeful toeing the line, waiting to be discovered.

Pride comes before a fall, and producers do remember your every move.

And do not hog or exaggerate about your credentials as some devious actors do for attention grabbing, because in the end, competent producers can sieve through it all.

Producers connect with one another worldwide, so there!

This is ASIA, you’d really need to achieve a couple of noteworthy merits by the time you hit 30, so you have to start early, in your early 20s.

Asian entertainment places their bet on youth.

So stay as young as you can with lots of exercise, diets and creams.

It sometimes appears that so many REEL LIVES end in poverty, suicides or obscurity,

SHOW BUSINESS IS A STARK BUSINESS

Today when you are famous, you are up and preening,

Tomorrow when you are aged and being eclipsed by a bright young star

You have fallen from your pedastal

You have come to face this brute called REALITY …..

You begin to question your sunshine FRIENDS and FANS.

REALITY BITES HARD, man.

Nothing lasts forever,

Even FAME,

And sooner or later, all good things will come to pass,

What are you going to do then?

Swim with the sharks?

Why not?

Hey, this is the digital age now.

You can start a personal BLOG to propagate your achievements,

Or you can create your own brand and hawk your wares on the internet

when you are no longer celebrated,

There are always young,mindless, unquestioning fans in cyberspace who are bored to tears for no apparent reasons

and are easily incited by the slightest ripple,

The list goes on:

Like they say:

NO VENTURE, NO GAIN.

(crestfallen face here).

So please put your best foot forward.

For all you know, FAME can just be around the corner.

For those whose acting careers are sagging -

There may be the chance of a second wind,

Nobody can tell …..

So good luck!