Age Doesn't Matter Unless You're a Cheese
Or does it. It does if you're 35-years-old or over in Hollywood. And forget it entirely if you hit the big '6-0' and are looking for work. You can have as much energy, vision, talent as you did in your 20's, but that's irrelevant. It's all about the number of candles on your birthday cake. Even plastic surgery can't save you if you're a card-carrying member of AARP. Why is that? Why are so many who were on top of the Hollywood ladder just a decade ago unable to get a meeting with their 25-year-old replacements? Why is it that actresses over 40 count for only 9% of movie roles? Why is it that those few fortunate actresses are consistently snubbed by Talk Shows and Celebrity Magazines when they reach out to promote their work?
Why is it that Madison Avenue is similarly preoccupied with youth when our population is increasingly aged? Why do they continue to ignore the fact that older Americans have more money to spend and are, according to exhaustive research, more responsive to advertising then the young?
Why is it that Hollywood across the board is myopically focused on the limited perspective of youth?
Frankly, it doesn't make any sense.
According to the 2007 MPAA Movie Attendance Study, 45% of all moviegoers are 40 or over. As our older population expands, the number of older moviegoers will rise significantly. Similarly, the aging Baby Boom generation is TV's fastest growing demographic. Shouldn't writers, filmmakers, stars of that generation be in demand to create product for this ever-growing segment of our population?
Why is it that Hollywood is content to ignore this vast and rapidly expanding underserved audience?
I have no answers. It makes no sense. So what to do?
It's simple. Head East.
Head to the Great White Way.
Attention all disenfranchised Hollywood writers, actors, producers: Broadway needs you. Broadway, in fact, wants you!
Join our multicultural, multi-ethnic, multigenerational 'hood where your work speaks for itself. And, guess what! The majority of 'executives' will actually know your work...even if your masterpiece was written, produced, directed or even 'propped' 25 years ago.
You don't believe it?
Just take a look at some of the 2009 Tony Award Nominees:
Arthur Laurents - Director "West Side Story" - 91
Jane Fonda - Tony Nominee - 72
Angela Lansbury Tony WINNER - 84
Stockard Channing - Tony Nominee -65
Estelle Parsons - 82
Susan Sarandon - 63
Horton Foote - Playwright - Tony Nominee - 92
Elton John - Tony WINNER - 62
Dolly Parton - Tony WINNER - 63
Geoffrey Rush - Tony WINNER - 58
Roger Robinson WINNER (Best Supporting Actor) - 69
Liza Minelli (WINNER) - 63
Broadway welcomes talent. Age, color, size, wealth or the car you drive is completely unimportant.
Join us...we'll leave the klieg lights on for you...
GOTTA DANCE opens today in Los Angeles and is currently playing in New York. For more information, please visit www.gottadancethemovie.com
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A solution is to develop more quality scripts filled with rich characters of the ignored generation.
Are there people interested in publishing/producing them?
This article fails to mention that all of those people listed as currently making it on the Great White Way broke through while they were still very young. If you're trying to break through, whether as talent or tech and you're over 30 it's just as ageist in theater as it is anywhere else.
Welcome to the club Dori! I challenge you to get ANY job if you're 50 or older. Let's face it, younger workers will do that job at a lower salary and their health insurance (if any) will cost considerably less. This country is all about profitability--concern for the welfare, knowledge and experience of other citizens be damned.
You might want to add, there are still way more parts in H'd for men over 35 than for women. If you are over 35 in Hollywood, not only had you better check yourself in to the surgery clinic permanently and say goodbye to any facial expression, you had better have invested money well in the past or find a new part-time career as well.
I knew New York is the place for me.
Too bad i can´t sing, nor act.
I can dance though. And write.
well, kind of.
still - nice post.
thx!
Ageism on the West Coast has ramped up since Jerry Rubin declared ""can't trust anybody over 30" at the 1968 Democratic Convention. The cut-off age for many production and camera crew members is 30 these days and getting younger. Camera crews working for reality TV are often just out of film school, and they are quickly timed out and replaced by younger crews. The Discovery Channels are increasingly cycling fresh young faces as their anchors, but you may never see them again because faces that are young today may be too old for the next show.
Easy answer: cash.
Yes, on paper people 35 and older have more resources and would seem to be better targets for advertising, which rules all.
But their greatest attribute is also why they're ignored: maturity.
Wiser, i.e., older individuals know when they're being had, know the value of a dollar and aren't so easily snookered by flashy campaigns created to drain their wallet. They're smarter, value-conscious and need more than quick editing in a commercial to convince them to purchase a product.
The fact that Hollywood and Madison Avenue don't cater to them is the biggest left-handed compliment of them all. They're, on the whole, too smart to fall for their scam.
It's far easier to care to a dumb, undiscerning audience who find Adam Sandler a great talent than to spend the effort to sell quality to an audience with sophistication.
Which is a shame.
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