Commentary: Entertainment business provides metaphors for life

People are forever taking Hollywood and the Left Coast to task for not being serious, for not being, well, deep.

But, hey, entertainment is serious business. And so is acting. It’s not for nothing those big actors get those big salaries.

If we study books and materials by people like the casting director Bonnie Gillespie, the screenwriting coach Michael Hauge, the acting coach Sanford Meisner, or the playwright David Mamet, we can begin to put together a very interesting protocol for living, and succeeding, in high-stress, high-competition situations.

Here are some tips.

• Believe in yourself.

• Don’t worry too much about what other people are saying about you, especially the negatives, especially those nasty personal negatives. There are always going to be people around who don’t like your act!

• Build within yourself a certain tough-minded certainty about the value of your identity and your mission in life — your place in the world.

• At the same time, remember your limits, and cultivate an attitude that is modest, respectful, appreciative and forgiving.

• Always be friendly. You can never tell who you’re talking to. Or who they’ll be next year.

• Never bad-mouth anyone. You can never tell who’s listening. Or who they’ll tell next year.

• Work hard. Forget those legends about Lana Turner getting discovered while sipping a cherry Coke at Schwab’s Drugstore. Put no limits on your effort. Go for it. Don’t give up!

• Whatever goal you can think of, whatever identity you aspire to, however glamorous, has components, specific things you need to learn and learn well to succeed. Work at those things every day. Drill!

• Whatever else happens, you’ll be living with you. So read deeply and broadly, observe sensitively and compassionately, and be, finally, a good friend, a good person.

STEVE DAVIDSON is a clinical psychologist in Newport Beach.