Yeah, I guess the [Chicago] theater ain't all it cracks itself up to be, but it does crack itself up a lot, hurting those who could help it most with its own idiotic myopia, its clannishness, its insistence on being marginal and out of step with where the country should be going.

I think commenting on this sentence would merely be gilding the lily.

I was in Hollywood for seven years, trying to be a screenwriter while working a day job at the studios. My best friends were trying to do the same thing. Everyone agreed that half the game seemed to be socializing.

There was a huge aspect of success down there, though, that seemed to be called Just Showing Up. Three of the four of our circle of friends ended up being staff writers, and only one of the four was a "life-of-the-party" type. There's hope. Also, as far as people's emotional and social commitments being "thimble-deep," that's very true in a lot of cases. There are faithless people down there. There are also screamers, back-stabbers, front-stabbers, mafiosi, and other harsh types. But I'm telling you truthfully, there were many, many people who were bright, dynamic, funny, and yes, kind. I think many of the people our friend indicted as having thimble-deep commitment really do have real goodwill. There are just so few opportunities for them to actually give anything to anyone. It's like a nice person being hit up for alms everyday, but only starting each day with three dollars. It doesn't mean they're fake.

And as to the yet-unraised-but-should-be-raised question of Nepotism, it is rampant. However, many, many people also got their jobs at my studio simply by showing up with a resume. In some cases, they simply showed up and asked, and in others, they got the phone number of the mailroom lady and kept calling back once a month, until there was an opening. Quoting Prince: "everybody says/nothing comes 2 easy/but when you've got it, baby/nothing comes 2 hard."

>or that guy--what's his name?--who wrote Adaptation.

When we speak of this man, we must say his name: you speak of the Great Charlie Kaufman (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Being John Malkovich). I know, you knew that.

Peter Birkenhead is one of the few actors actually able to make a steady living at his craft for the past 20 years, but doesn't seem to take any joy from it. He never talks about the joy of practicing his craft, the thrill of regularly having the oppurtunity to play different characters. Instead he complains that he hasn't made it big, that TV sets are dull places, and that people don't get that for every big name star, there are a thousand actors like him, just getting by.

I've got news for Mr. Birkenhead. I have known many out of work actors who would be thrilled to death to trade places for him. Who would consider a mark of success to have his resume and who are more interested in the actual work of acting then on hitting it big and becoming a star. Perhaps if Mr. Birkenhead put more effort in to acting and less into hoping to become a star he won't find his character cut so many oppurtunities that have presented themselves over the years.

Stephen King used that many years ago in the Author's Note for "Night Shift", his first collection of short stories. That was in '78. Did he also steal that from Margaret Atwood? Just curious.

Oh hell, I actually went back trying to see if it was Oscar Wilde...here in Canada we all steal from Margaret...sometimes it seems the rest of the world thinks we only have one author! Good to know I'm also plagiarising SK though...

You know how sometimes you just marinate some things so long the lines get fuzzy? I've heard a hundred variations of it, and of course I think everyone is misquoting me.

Still wanna be a writer, Peter??

Relax. Just because Margaret Atwood said it before you, doesn't mean someone else didn't say it before her. Everybody reacts to really cool witticisms by socking them away in their heads, and it's hardly a crime to tell a joke that might have come from someone else. Not everyone has a card catalog in their heads of just where every little bit of info came from.

That person that so tactlessly pointed out your blunder only made me roll my eyes at the nitpickery. The joke was funny, you weren't plagiarizing, and that person really ought to get a life.

I couldn't even bring myself to read this story... the headline and subhead told me WAY more than I wanted to know about this guy.

boo hoo boo hoo... I'm not a star... boo hoo

(puke)

I am always amazed by letter writers like Tomkin--people who not only write something grossly uninformed, but, by admitting they have not read what they are writing about, *admit* that they are uninformed.

Thankfully, Mr. Birkenhead's piece was not what Tomkin stereotyped it as being. And that is to Mr. Birkenhead's credit. I have lived in L.A. for 8 years, been affiliated with the entertainment industry for over 15 (since high school), and learned things from Mr. Birkenhead's article that I did not know before.

As for Tomkin, why do some people post letters to the editor without at least aspiring to be as intelligent as the publication they are writing to? Could this be a consequence of the digital, information, blogging age? If so, more's the pity.

This article is Interesting, honest and funny as hell. I think the choice to pursue a writing career is a wise one. I look forward to reading more from Peter Birkenhead.

-Madeline Wall

At last someone told the truth about an actor's life. Yes it's hard. Yes, it's dehumanizing sometimes, but when it's good, it's good, and sometimes even thrilling.

I would love to read anything else write, Peter.

SueAnne Morrisey

"Or did Peter already try that once and come afoul of Midwestern Chip on Shoulder Syndrome where he was greeted--let me see if I remember the phrase--like the Second Coming of John Starks at a Bulls game?"

Too true.