Life Lessons from You Soul - Hollywood "Ethics"

The word 'ethics' and Hollywood don't fit well in the same sentence. I walked into my first Hollywood lesson with the part I got in the Heinz commercial. You know, the one with 'no pay'. I asked the casting director/producer what the commercial was for. (Intuitively, I smelled a rat and wanted to poke around a bit to see what he was up to.) He told me it was for a commercial contest. So I Googled 'Heinz commercial competition'. It turns out the winner gets $57,000.00.

I come from the world of Metaphysics. It's a world where sharing the wealth is not only ethical, moral, reasonable and integrous, it is our birthright. I felt empowered when I called up the talent agency to find out what the industry standard was in a case such as this. The agency told me that when money is made off of my image after a spec commercial gets picked up, it is in fact the standard for the production to pay the actor in arrears for the work. He said to go back to the producer and ask him to sign a contract that would pay me a daily rate if he does, in fact win. He also said that if he refused, to NOT taked the job because he is 'not a decent human being'.

I went to the producer to ask and left a detailed voicemail. He did not return my phone call. Two days later, only a day and a half prior to the shoot, I e-mailed him asking for a contract. He e-mailed the day before saying "We won't be needing you for this project . . ." I knew it!!! He was one of those Hollywood types that gives all of them a bad name. He makes money off of the work of others while they starve, reel in hand and 'credit' for a commercial when commercials don't have credits.

Was I upset by all this? NO WAY!! Was I empowered by this? ABSOLUTELY!! When someone you know chooses to act with no integrity and you say yes to it by compromising yourself, you will always end up feeling bad about what you did. People like this will continue to operate in the world as long as others agree to their lack of integrity. I felt so empowered that I said no. I felt so strong that I did not participate when my gut told me not to. I was not the least bit disappointed in his choices. They were his choices. He did not do it to intentionally hurt anyone. He only did it to serve himself. People like that create their own misery. And that kind of thing never goes unnoticed by the nonphysical world.

Stay tuned for the next installment when I tell you how, along with my Hollywood friends, we make our own commercial for Heinz. You never know where something will lead you . . .