The Real Life… On TV and Hollywood

  • This is a post from my son, the other Charlie McDermott, on Tumblr. He plays Axl on the ABC Comedy, “The Middle”. I thought you might enjoy… In it he talks about life in Hollywood, and shares a valuable lesson for entrepreneurs.

    From Charlie…
    “I really don’t have anything to say right now; but I’m sitting awake and alone in a quiet house with nothing to do so I figured I’d “tumbl”(r). I’m following the Phillies game on my phone, unfortunately the Cubs just tied the game with a homer by Colvin at the top of the ninth. “Boo” is how I feel about that. Besides that though, not much else is going on.

     

    Hollywood is a Strange Beast

    If you’ve been following me on twitter, you probably know I’ve been doing a lot of driving lately. This is true. I left LA on Monday to drive back to my hometown of West Chester PA and I already feel lighter. Hollywood is a strange beast; and if there’s one thing I’ve learned in my (almost) five years there, it’s that it’s not for me. I love film and I love tv; but the industry itself is like a Death Eater from Harry Potter, it can just suck your soul out.

    I’ve been fortunate though, having a steady job in this career is a rare thing. “The Middle” saved me and my family in many ways and has offered so many opportunities I never would have seen otherwise. I’m lucky to have it and even luckier to have people who support it, because with no support, there would be no show and I would have no job. So I guess, ultimately, what I’m saying is thank you. Thank you for watching, thank you for caring.

    It’s an odd thing seeing yourself on television…

    I don’t know how other actors feel about it, but it’s something I still haven’t gotten used to. It’s amazing how foreign it seems. As actors, we show up at 6am, learn our lines in the hair and makeup chair, walk onto the soundstage, learn where we’re gonna stand and when we’re gonna say each line, then in the course of (on average) two to three hours we film the scene and then it’s on to the next one. The second the scene is done it’s out of my head, gone forever. Then, about three months later, you’re flipping through the channels, exhausted from filming for twelve hours, and suddenly you’re face and, in my case, naked pasty body pops up on screen and you’re doing the scene you filmed for three hours three months before and the only thing that I can think is; “oh my god this is so embarrassing”. Instantly the self criticism starts seeping in. All I can see is what I’m doing wrong. It feels like someone filmed a talent show routine you put together in a couple hours and then showed it to 8.5 million people. It’s very surreal. But at the same time, it’s pretty cool.

    I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to work with many of the people I looked up to as a child, Patty being one of them. I remember watching “Everybody Loves Raymond” with my family and thinking she was the funniest woman I’d seen on tv. I remember thinking how cool it would be if I was ever cast as her son in a project but quickly shirked that off as a ridiculous thought. Low and behold, four years later I’m cast in “The Middle” working under none other than The Heat herself. It’s strange the way life works sometimes. I got my start in this business working with an idol. “The Sixth Sense”, “Unbreakable” and “Signs” were my favorite movies in middle school. My main goal in life has always been to become a director and M. Night Shyamalan was my idol at the time. He filmed all his movies in the counties surrounding mine in Pennsylvania and when “The Village” came to town I was fortunate enough to hear about an open casting call and even more fortunate to be lucky enough to be cast as an extra. (Phillies just won in the 11th inning.) Somehow I finagled my way into getting lines and my acting career was born.

     

    So, What’s The Point?

    I don’t really know what the point of this lengthy post is supposed to be, but I guess if there’s one thing I’d like to leCharlie McDermottave you with it’s this: Don’t shirk your dreams, they just might come true.

    I’m going to go to bed now. I’ll leave you with this photo of me from the set of “The Village” that I found on google images. Not sure who took it or why it was posted on the internet but I’m glad it was. This is where it all began.

    I’m done rambling now. Goodnight.”

     

    P.S. To follow Charlie (The actor) on Tumblr go to: http://impeterpan.tumblr.com/


    P.P.S. We’ve added Charlie     (The actor) to our Web Tv Show Experts Panel on June 21 and you can attend via Live Stream by making a $10 donation to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.


    June 16th, 2011 | admin | No Comments | Tags: , , , ,

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