"You're Hilarious!" is a phrase I've heard in many an LA casting office. It's always directed at you with piercing volume, a slap of the thigh and slightly dead eyes. One time I even had it screeched at me after a meeting for a serious drama. I had wept my way through a scene, and so had they, apparently.
Ella Smith
Telling you what you are to your face is a very American thing. It's their way of vocalising the brand they see in you. That's what LA is; a city of brands. It's also a beautiful open space for creativity. Somehow this positivity orgy is what creativity needs to thrive. You don't finish a marathon because you're constantly telling yourself you can't. You finish it because there's a voice in you saying "Actually maybe I can". That's what LA represents for me; a place where, just as you start to lose hope, someone perks up with "You're hilarious!" I'm OK with the dead eyes because LA has constant sunshine, drive-through pharmacies and there is also a lot of "massaged" kale.
In LA, famous people are literally everywhere. I've been at parties with Seth Rogen, Oprah and Katy Perry. But I've also been on a cross-trainer next to Amy Adams. I recently caught up with David Hasselhoff at a swanky LA restaurant with my cast- mate Brett Goldstein. One of those places you have to have a special secret key- ring to get in to so the bullsh*t meter already rings high. Hoff in LA is a different guy. He's made his life and career here and so he knows EVERYBODY. He also doesn't flinch a bit when a waiter taking our order uses the sentence "Would you like to integrate some of the side-dishes into the interface of the situation?" That's a really weird way of saying "What do you want to eat?" See? Branding.
I'm over here because I'm writing and making TV/films and acting in more and more American movies now. It's fun. At times I've buddied up with Ryan Reynolds and Anna Kendrick and set the world to rights over ice tea with my triple-threat friend Brit Marling who always inspires me on a monumental level. There's a huge market for fresh new voices here, especially for females and diverse ethnicities. People are drifting from the same old tired "white male" stories. There are only so many movie trailers I can watch where a brilliant but complicated male protagonist punches a mirror, only so many superhero films with characters where you think "Nice cape but we have nothing in common".
So here's my advice for working in LA; you could waste your time rolling your eyes at the plastic, weird land where waiters are poets and protein is your strongest ally OR you could jump onboard the positivity boat cruising the river of productivity and be a strong voice who eventually, if you're lucky, gets sent that special keyring.
Hoff the Record Series 2 starts on Friday 6th May at 10pm on Dave, catch up with the first series on UKTVPlay.