Enter, Stage Right.
by Stage RightIt was a cold November evening in 1994 when I shut off my television and went to a board meeting of a Los Angeles service organization for theatre owners and producers. I had just heard the news that for the first time in almost 50 years, both houses of congress would be under the leadership of the Republican party, MY party. I remember vividly feeling the hope and optimism that for the first time in my life, the Speaker of the House would have the same party affiliation as I had, and my father had.
There was a spring in my step walking to the board room. In the back of my mind I wondered to myself if I should violate my vow of silence about politics in front of colleagues whom I did not have full faith and trust in. Surely this sweeping victory signified that it was “ok” to vote Republican. Surely now I could admit that I had some sympathy for a more center-right perspective on politics. Yes, I’ll mention it during the wine and cheese portion of the meeting…
I opened the door and realized that I was not at a board meeting, I was at a funeral. Everything but black armbands. It was silent. People speaking in hushed tones. Grim faces. Not the usual revelry. And trust me, on any other normal occasion, if you get a bunch of theatre people in one room and open a bottle of wine, a party starts. Not tonight. The meeting was quietly called to order and before the president of the board could announce the agenda, a marketing executive from a prominent non-profit theatre in Los Angeles proclaimed: “Well, I don’t know why we’re even bothering having this meeting since our whole country is going to Hell as of tonight!”. It was at this moment I realized that I had absolutely nothing in common with ANY of my colleagues.
I’ve spent the interim time in the shadows trying to ascertain if I had any allies. I laid out a few rules for myself… only reveal my politics under certain conditions:
1. I had to know the person very well.
2. I had to know a secret about THEM. (I know that seems mercenary, but I actually had to employ the tactic once to stay in the closet)
3. Only reveal it in my home or in my office, never in a public location or at a colleague’s office. (this just seemed courteous and also defensive, who would quarrel with me talking my politics in the privacy of my own home)
So here I sit. After over twenty years of work on Broadway and Los Angeles, and I can’t talk politics with most of my colleagues. And, of course the irony is that my colleagues never blush for an instant to throw their politics around as readily as comp tickets to their latest showcase production at a dirty, hole-in-the-wall 40-seat “theatre” in Hollywood. I can’t tell you how many of my Facebook friends had their own lovely image replaced by that of Barack Obama or just the Big Guy’s “O” logo. And those who could not bear to replace their well-preserved image on Facebook with the Obama’s instead merely adopted his middle name as their own: My friend John Doe was John HUSSEIN Doe for three months and counting. Why do they do this? Because it is just ASSUMED that any friend of theirs MUST be as left as they are. I remember one of my friends status updates: “Peter is thinking that anyone who votes Republican must be either an imbecile or rich….” (I resisted the temptation to comment: Damn, I hope I’m both).
And so it goes, until this week, when Andrew Breitbart launches Big Hollywood, a place where we center-right denizens of the entertainment world can slowly inch our way out of the proverbial closet… Just a little. The term Hollywood has gone from a name of a geographic location, to a word describing the commercial entertainment product and industry in America, and certainly our live theatre industry can be a part of the Big Hollywood brand. I hope readers will stop here now and then as I try to keep tabs on what can arguably be described as America’s most radical venue for the performing arts. My posts won’t always be quite so biographical in style and I plan to tap into my sources inside the industry who are, like me, secretly holding our beliefs close to the vest so as not to be ostracized by our colleagues, or worse, our bosses.
Until the next post, Break a leg!
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41 Comments
Do conservatives believe in the free market anymore? You need to read Andrew Klavan on this very site. He sees conservatism all over Hollywood and in many of its recent hits. Is he wrong? Are popular actors and movie makers popular becuase the market says they are? Or does Meryl Streep get all the good roles while Bo Derek gets none all because of politics?
Dear Stage Right,
It doesn’t matter to me if you post anonymously or not. Right now it’s what you say that counts. Andrew continues to say that this is just a start. Those who are bashing the anonymous contributors (and you know who you are) can go pound sand as far as I’m concerned. Personally I don’t blame you and I act much the same in my unimportant little job. I’m not so afraid to say good things about President Bush as I was to say anything during the past election.
I actually graduated with a Communications degree back in the day (when it was called a Radio & Television major) but by the time I finished the four years, I was so sick of the “personalities” I never tried to persue a career in it. How sad is that. (However, I do live vicariously through Bob Iger (Disney) who graduated in the same class.)
So write on, brother! I look forward to your threads. And who knows, maybe some day, the time will be right to sign your real John Hancock (Hat Tip to the Founding Fathers)
4. never donate money to a conservative cause where your name could become public record.
ran into a guy on a motorcycle forum who had worked for ten years at the same studios as me, though we’d never met. turns out we have the same politics. i suspect there are a lot of us in hiding out there.
tgb1000,
1) are you posting on the correct article? he never said anything about which movies/actors get green-lighted.
2) Many times crappy scripts do get made into movies, frequently for political reasons (see the vast majority of movies made between 2003-2008).
3) Low-talent actors do get jobs, repeatedly. I have no idea why, but I’m sure that many times it has to do with running in the correct circles, and having the right friends.
was on a biker forum, ran into a guy who’d worked in the same field, same studios as me for ten years. though we’d never met. turns out we have the same politics. can’t imagine ever opening up to someone like that directly at work.
Aren’t the studios in the business of making money? Sure, they make bad decisions all the time. Movie-making is high risk/high reward. But this notion of conservatives as a secret, persecuted minority, a concept that permeates this site, just seems ridiculous to me. But meanwhile, as I noted, others (A. Klavan) see conservativism in many of Hollywoods biggest hits. So which is it?
(And no-talent people succeeding just because they have the right friends is hardly unique to Hollywood.)
It’s just like all this silly talk of discrimination against blacks. Black musicians and singers have been at the top of the charts for at least 50 years. So which is it? /sarc
And this is the land of the free. It blows my mind to think of living like that, Stage Right. (Though a day may be coming. The Obama Kool-Aid has spread so far that I’m getting afraid to mention my politics in CHURCH!) Anyway, God bless, and I’m glad you have an outlet here.
I agree you have to keep your head down. It’s like being in a secret organization. It’s kind of fun in a way but you really have to watch what you say. To be tagged and outed as a conservative or Republican is a career-buster unless you are too big to mess with (Bruce Willis? Gary Sinise?). Some posts here just don’t get it, must be liberals (what me worry?).
If this website (and Andrew’s larger mission) is to succeed, you need to come out of the closet. Now. Never let a ridiculous, racist, lefty, “Republicans are Fascists!” comment go un-answered. Never let a wrong fact go uncorrected (i.e., Hamas are the victims.) You don’t have to fight. Treat it like an off-color joke that goes to far. But your silence in public helps the hippies.
People, this is a skill we all must train on and practice daily. We ALL need to be public ambassadors for our philosophy. It’s easy to hate Bush, but much harder to hate the people they see and work with every day. Be a happy warrior, but don’t back off your principles.
I feel your pain – I’m a public defender, and I went to law school in Seattle. You will never find more dense hives of ultra-leftism. But I’ve found my decision at all of those places to be boldly out of the closet to be profitable, fun, and not nearly as destructive as I was warned by my closeted brothers.
Orrin
You are the first anti-silence conservative to put up a good argument for coming out.
Instead of insults, you give reason.
Feels like reverse McCarthyism, great to be a socialist, but a possible career ender for conservatives. Tell me why we even support this hypocrital industry? The ones drunk on Obama Kool-aide, have their jobs and status because of capitalism. it boggles the mind that they don’t wake up from the stupor.
As much as I often complain about being “stuck” in Oklahoma, after this last election I’m quite happy to be around “normal” people who feel like Breitbart, Graham, et al.
Since we pay these actors and basically have their jobs in our hands, we could boycott the far lefties. That, of course, means no more “Bourne” or “Oceans” for me, but I’m okay with that. I’ll support anything Kelsey Grammar, Gary Sinise, Bruce Willis, Patricia Heaton, Gary Graham, etc. do. Let’s see if we can fill the so-called “A” list with conservatives/moderates.
I love this site! Thank you Andrew, and all the writers!
Don’t be worried. I have worked in another field that is also mostly liberals. What you will discover is most of them can not support their beliefs. Mostly likely because someone told them what to believe but not why and they don’t have the intellect to decide for themselves. Most actors and actresses fit into this category. Maybe that’s why most of Hollywood is usually high on some crutch.
I’ve started to speak out and it’s been interesting.
Lefties don’t really have any facts so when you hit back with facts invariably they want to change the subject.
Kinda funny.
Thanks, Kit.
The REALLY funny thing is when you start turning things around on them, pointing out when they’re actually being Conservative. One of my favorite lines when some of my liberal law school friends were complaining about the incompetence (both real and imagined) of the Bush Administration was to say, “Yeah – can you believe there are fools out there who actually want to put him in charge of our health care industry?”
SR, I didn’t look at your bio before I posted. I understand. Hopefully it’s not necessary for long. We need you where we can see you!
Where are the conservative/libertarian billionares willing to fund quality movies? The movies from such a hypothetical corporation would not even have to be political, but it would give conservatives the freedom to work and liberals interested in also working there a reason to learn tolerance for other people’s point of view.
Stage Right . . . .
I think you need to understand WHY the liberals would shun you. Unfortunately I do not have the ability to remain silent. The best I can do is to state “I am not a democrat” and walk away. Where I work the majority are now liberals which is extremely unsual in my profession. I am a CPA. Despite the fact that they know I am a conservative they will frequently engage me in conversations for no other reason than to find an excuse to either scold me for what I think or to try to convince me that I msut move to their position to be “reasonable”. I find this behavior quite odd. I rarely like to talk politics with anyone on the left and usually never at work unless I am alone with someone I know is a convservative.
What I have come to understand is that because the liberal views there politics in group identity someone who disagrees with the concept that they must act as part of the “group” is in and of themselves a threat to them. Their ideology is based on “control”. That is why they must tax you more than 50% of your income and tell you what you can smoke and eat and where. It’s also why any cultural or social institution not under their control must be attacked and destroyed such as churches or the boy scouts. If they do not exact control then their Plato’s Republic ideology can never work.
Take heed of the words of the Night Ranger song “Hold on loosely, but don’t let go. If you grip to tightly you’ll lose surely control”. This is the reason that despite their totalitarian efforts liberals always end up losing it in the end. There greed for power does them in.
Be bold and know your facts. Offer qualified references and try not to sound defensive. There is a tide turning here, …enjoy the surf!
Beevo
The Prager Westside Meet-Up group has been a good place to commiserate for me. You might want to join us. I can actually bring up facts there without liberals storming away in a huff as they do at my synagogue. It’s been held at a sports memorabilia archive off the main street recently and has the feel of clandestine subterfuge — something right out of the McCarthy era but in reverse. That aspect is truly sad but, like this site, it’s great to know we’re most definitely not alone.
[...] Big Hollywood » Blog Archive » Enter, Stage Right. [...]
It is very pronounced in Hollywood, this “assumed liberalism”, but I assure you it is not just in entertainment. You can’t safely say you are a conservative anywhere in Los Angeles. Even if the boss is conservative. You still have to watch out for the long knives of your unintentionally evil liberal co-workers. They don’t just disagree with you because you’re conservative. They HATE you the moment they find out you are not ONE OF THEM. This goes for school too.
Anyone who claims there is no Left-wing bias in Hollywood is just delusional. You don’t have to look any further than the music director who was forced to resign after years of distinguished work because it was discovered he had donated to the Prop 8 campaign. The funny thing about Liberals isn’t that they aren’t informed (there are plenty of people on the Right who don’t bother either), it’s that they are so sure of their superiority that they don’t feel any reason to hold back from proselytizing, no matter how inappropriate the situation is (especially at work). They believe anyone who disagrees is either ignorant or evil, so anything they say or do is completely justifiable. Trying to reason with them is impossible (unless you want to cause someone to never speak to you again).
Liberalism is it’s own religion, with Global Warming as the Holy Spirit (which I guess makes Al Gore Jesus….or at least John The Baptist).
Frank,
38 Special, dude. Never was a big fan but saw a CMT Crossroads with them and Trace Adkins. It was pretty good.
I am in non-profit fundraising and have worked in left leaning places…conservation groups, universities, hospitals…I am almost always the only GOPer on staff (despite the fact that, when I force co-workers and bosses to dig into our donor base they discovered to their horror that the majority of our major donors are GOPers) I kept my mouth shut for a long time. part of it was job safety, part of it was just not wanting to have to duke it out all the time with folks. They did not want to debate issues and concerns, they wanted me to defend my politics…
Perhaps because I am getting older and crankier, I have stopped staying quiet. But we all have to do it in our own time and SR’s reasons are valid…it isn’t always about us, we have families that suffer from the ramifications of liberal intolerance too…
I write this anonymously because I am a published author of thriller and mystery novels, and the liberal bias in the big New York publishing houses makes Hollywood look like Tolerance, America.
In New York, if you write a thriller based on current events, you must make the villain a businessman, a military man, or a religious person. If you make your villain a politician that is identifiably liberal, you won’t get a contract. In my case, I was already in a two book deal so I got the book published anyway, though they tried to force me to change the villain to an evil military man. They got the last laugh; they refused my next book.
If you write a mystery that is centered in the west and not in New York or Washington, D.C., you’d better have an environmental theme. Big bad developers better be the bad guys. Or else you won’t get a contract.
Sure, big authors can write whatever they want (RIP Michael Crichton, and long may you prosper, Dean Koontz) but the midlist and those who are trying to break in have no chance unless they toe the liberal line.
Come out of the closet? Not on your life. I’d never get another book contract.
I think you mean Jackson Browne :p
I work in publishing, but not a segment of publishing that is infected by liberals (I work for a small mapping company that also publishes directories and tourist guides).
Thankfully I don’t have to worry about politics as we’re all a pretty conservative crowd here (I work with a bunch of gun nuts, hunters and evangelical Christians). Most of the political arguments that happen here are between the more libertarian gun nuts and the more socially conservative evangelicals … but nothing EVER gets out of hand and nobody is EVER held down professionally because of a political opinion.
I feel for those of you in Hollywood, I know I couldn’t do it (of course the fact that I’m not allowed to carry a gun there is reason enough :p )
Zudfolge,
That was .38 Special – not Jackson Browne.
Aren’t the studios in the business of making money?
The continual stream of anti-war flops answers that question. That there wasn’t even a hint of a “let’s show the good side of America in its war on terror” big film puts it in bold. Underline it with Ollie Stone’s pre-election flop. Most of those movies were put into production in order to influence opinion and sway that culture.
Sorry, that cliche’ won’t work, anymore.
Orrin,
Great point about not being silent.
A great learning experience is posting comments on current political videos on YouTube.
To my responses, I’ve been called a zionist, a bigot, a RePUGlican, a Nazi, a murderer, Satan (no kidding), etc.
Among other things.
It’ll give you thick skin if you do it long enough.
And it’s a great feeling when self-appointed intellectual leftists give up on arguing with you.
PRICELESS.
Is life starting to mimic art ?
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_oZwSBXOerBc/SLIt0yaxwFI/AAAAAAAAAG8/jdctXnEBKck/s400/image005.jpg
Seems the above is the reaction when “they” find out your stage right beleifs?
“They HATE you the moment they find out you are not ONE OF THEM”
So true. I was in NYC theater for almost a decade, totally a narcissist until the veil of 9/11/2001 came crumbling to ash. Until then I thought was a Liberal yet one dark day late 2002 during a rehearsal all I said was “I support the liberation of Iraqi people” because I thought Liberation was a JFK-type of Liberal philosophy.
From those few chosen words supporting Liberty all of the sudden I was treated by the very people I thought were liberally-minded friends as the ‘lone Republican’ and a ‘Bushie’; after which I was ostracized out of the social network. I finally left in 2004.
I didn’t vote for Bush in 2000 nor was I a member of the Republican party, however the vicious groupthink encouraged me to join the Republican party in 2003 and vote for President Bush in 2004.
Today, after spending the last several years educating myself on literature other than plays or movie scripts I am a proud Conservative Republican.
I love Liberty and the only philosophy representing my beliefs exist in Conservative thought; freedom of speech and religion, small government(anti-Collectivism), right to opportunity to prosperity, personal responsibility, and protection of the most vulnerable in society.
In general, I am a Conservative Republican because I love the indomitable American spirit of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness; or rather, everything the Collectivist groupthink is determined to destroy.
For those posters who point out the conservative themed movies which have been huge hits of late – a well written movie that also has guaranteed mass appeal will always get made, one hopes
. And it certainly is no confirmation of the conservative stance of the actors involved. In my view, many liberals are not able to see the forest for the trees. This is particularly true of celebrities – no offense. 
‘The Pursuit of Happyness’ was a pull up by your own bootstraps movie, if I ever saw one, and yet Will Smith spoke in one of the promotional interviews for the film about the need to always have affirmative action. I laughed – Wall Street has only one color – GREEN – and it doesn’t matter what your skin color is – if you do not have what it takes to make GREEN, you do not work on Wall Street. Affirmative action would not have saved Christopher Gardner if he did not perform and I am not sure, by reading any of his bios that affirmative action even got him in the door – for all I have read it was just a chance meeting on the street.
I am just saying that too often blanket statements and some social notions are not challenged, especialy in Hollywood. This makes for entirely too much intellectual laziness. And it shows – maybe some actors have not one clue when they are expousing conservative ideals on screen.
Frank –
Stage Right . . . .
try to convince me that I must move to their position to be “reasonable”
That is why liberalism is more of an religion than a political stance.
A fun thing I have found with Facebook is that when my “friends” publicize something stupid regarding their liberalness, I simply go and find an extremely conservative group to join so that they immediately get notice on their news feed… that gets their heads spinning, and I sit and enjoy a good laugh. Then I delete their “I’m shocked” comments for an extra kick.
To those who say “You must come out and let people know who you are……”
I work in the Music Industry, so there is a bit more freedom, since it involves an audience and record and concert sales, so “green lighting” a project is not really so much of a problem.
But in Rock, for lack of a better word, liberalism rules and in order to get up the ladder you just don’t talk about politics or else you get the cold shoulder.
Now I am a Christian too, so I can’t be silent about that, so it’s like I got two strikes against me as far as building friendships and “networking” in the secular world. So unforunately I don’t talk poltics much, although I don’t think people miss where I am coming from, I hope I give a good example and scare allot of them since they don’t really know anyone else like me except for maybe their parents.
I also teach at a Major Music School and the few times I have said something in a big group I got a response similar to that of Luke Wilson in Idiocracy when he tries to defend himself in court. (Now that was a great “conservative” style movie showing how the effects of liberalism and PC-ness will eventually poison our country if not the world).
I am surprised by an above poster who says his coworkers engage him in conversations about politics to prove him wrong, my experience has been the opposite. On a few occasions I have tried to have debates with others but as soon as they deal with someone with logic and not the typical stereotypical strawman arguments they have been spoonfed they get frustrated and either walk away or get really mad. There usually isn’t another converstion after that, and I am sure they view me as a bigoted, homophobe.
If you have such superior talent that you can afford to piss people off or have a rich uncle who can bankroll your projects you really are best off keeping your head down and mouth shut.
Even Cyrano hid behind a bush…. did that make him less of a man?
I’ve been surprised that one of the most commented aspects of my first two posts has been the subject of my anonymity. I appreciate all…. (most, actually) of the comments on this subject and I very much appreciate the sympathy and support for my anonymity.
To those who encourage me to not cloak my identity, I suspect I will not be able to sway you and I actually agree with many of your points. I regret that some of you have taken the position that until I “come out of the closet, fully” my contribution is invalid. I hope that in future posts your opinion can be changed a bit. Either way, please don’t harshly judge Big Hollywood as a whole because you disagree with my personal choice to stay anonymous, at this time.
On Friday I will be posting on the biggest, anti-conservative, theatre industry story in the past year: The forced resignation of Sacramento Music Theatre Executive Director Scott Eckern.
I hope that reading it might help shed a little light on my decision to use a pseudonym as I continue to change my name “to protect the innocent!”
Break a leg….
Stage Right, I understand and support your anonymity completely. I run in similar circles (Broadway and concert industry) and am a closet conservative. Coming out is career suicide. Sad but true. I’ve seen it happen to friends a couple of times. And as deeply as I hold my philosophical convictions I also enjoy my home, car, and family. All of whom are dependent upon my income.
t was a cold November evening in 1994 when I shut off my television and went to a board meeting of a Los Angeles service organization for theatre owners and producers. I had just heard the news that for the first time in almost 50 years, both houses of congress would be under the leadership of the Republican party, MY party. I remember vividly feeling the hope and optimism that for the first time in my life, the Speaker of the House would have the same party affiliation as I had, and my father had.
There was a spring in my step walking to the board room. In the back of my mind I wondered to myself if I should violate my vow of silence about politics in front of colleagues whom I did not have full faith and trust in. Surely this sweeping victory signified that it was “ok” to vote Republican. Surely now I could admit that I had some sympathy for a more center-right perspective on politics. Yes, I’ll mention it during the wine and cheese portion of the meeting…
I opened the door and realized that I was not at a board meeting, I was at a funeral. Everything but black armbands. It was silent. People speaking in hushed tones. Grim faces. Not the usual revelry. And trust me, on any other normal occasion, if you get a bunch of theatre people in one room and open a bottle of wine, a party starts. Not tonight. The meeting was quietly called to order and before the president of the board could announce the agenda, a marketing executive from a prominent non-profit theatre in Los Angeles proclaimed: “Well, I don’t know why we’re even bothering having this meeting since our whole country is going to Hell as of tonight!”….
Sorry to copy and paste most of your article but I was so reminded of a similar experience at the same time, just the next day.
I had been with the US Chamber of Commerce about 2 months when that election happened. Plus, I live in the heart of Tom Foley land!! Our guy had just defeated the Speaker of the House, the first time it had happened in a long long time.
Anyway, I called on a law office the morning after the election (I was still inexperienced as to trial lawyers). Man, what an eye opener. These guys were all but crying and the guy I spoke to first said “do you realize what has happened??”. I was a conservative already of course, but a really confirmed on after that!!
I just posted this because the koolaid flows freely in trial law offices also.
Re election night in ‘04: unfortunately that board president was right!
Speaking as a gay classical liberal (that’s libertarian in Yank-speak) this whole issue of the conservative closet in Hollywood is eerie in its resonances.
I entirely understand. One way progressivists (that’s ‘liberal’ in Yank-speak) take over institutions is by making it so unpleasant for those who disagree to stick around (at least, not openly).
And, like the mindset that forced gays to be closeted, it is so, so confident that it is defending “simple moral decency”. Rather than an effortless sense of moral superiority. (How much effort does it take to go along with everyone else? Just as, on the who you have sex-and-fall-in-love-with, how “virtuous” can you be for not doing something you have no interest in doing anyway?)
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