Op-Ed: Learning Hollywood’s vernacular — and the meaning of 'validation' (via latimesopinion)
In the original version of “A Star Is Born,” nearly every scene reinforces the movie’s function as an advertisement for Hollywood. Released in 1937, it was the story of a young woman named Esther Blodgett, played by Janet Gaynor, who wants to leave North Dakota for Southern California.
My wife, Rachel, and I worked together as a screenwriting team. One night, we were invited to a dinner with a successful showrunner, a man who had created several big television programs.
How people in Hollywood see themselves, or are seen by others, often requires labeling. One afternoon, a successful film director at a party complained about “karaoke movie stars.” A karaoke movie star, he explained, was an actor who wanted so badly to be a movie star that they came across as desperate; even if they became a star, they would always still only seem like one.
In the same call, the star asked if she’d go on a date with a studio executive they knew in common, to potentially secure their project’s financing. “You know how the town works,” the star added. The friend didn’t quite know how to answer. She told him she was busy; she was spending all day in bed writing. “Good, don’t move, I’ll send him right over,” he said.
The word applied mostly to parking. Producers’ offices often had valet parking service, or were located in buildings with parking garages, and the phrase meant the producer would cover the garage or valet fee. But the broader meaning also had bearing. Producers perceived themselves as those who knew a good thing when they saw it. The best were curious and thoughtful. The worst ran on fear and envy. And some meetings with producers, being generally surreal, lacked labels.
After an hour more of this, the receptionist asked if we needed validation, we said yes, and she pasted several stickers onto a ticket stub to pay for our parking. Unfortunately, the parking attendant in the basement told us the receptionist had messed up; she’d applied only enough stickers for an hour’s worth of parking, but the meeting had run an hour and 15 minutes. An unvalidated parking space in their garage cost $50 per 30 minutes. The meeting had cost us 25 bucks.
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