"Acting" vs. "Reality"

On set this week I was having a conversation with a friend about acting. It was a progression after my new agent and what I should do about pictures. She said that I as an "actor" it didn't matter anymore in the world of entertainment that now exists. Because of the glut of reality television and all the celebrities who are famous for being famous, i.e. virtually nothing, that an actor like myself had lost any edge in the entertainment industry. Because of all these "real" people acting is kind of moot.

Actors don't matter because everyone is equal in this polyglot miasma of cable, internet, television, youtube, etc. Everyone, no matter how untalented, is the same as someone who studied acting at Juliard. All you have to do is capture the imagination of the audience.

But what captures the audience? What creates a celebrity? Bad behavior, treating people like shit. Generally behavior that would be squelched if you were in kindergarten. Tantrums and an overwhelming sense of entitlement does not make someone talented. It makes them a brat.

Is anyone ever going to want to see some idiot from Jersey Shore do any acting of real substance? The situation doing Hamlet? I don't think so. What are they? They are the unbridled ego, the bad behavior that we all, at some point, would like to do. If there were no consequences or just plain didn't give a shit about being arrested for drunken disorderly. The exec producers of Bones were thinking of having the situation do a guest spot as a dead body on the show. But they decided against it. I don't know, but I doubt he could play a dead person believably.

How many reality TV shows have come along in the last 10 years and the cast becomes the media darling of the moment? A lot. Do you remember any of them? I don't. As far as reality TV goes, the Real Housewives of Wherethefuckever are never going to be watched by me.

Has entertainment changed? Yes. Youtube and the internet have created stars that then move to mainstream conciousness. But are they really that good? Justin Beiber anyone? If his voice were in the body of a 16 year old 5 foot tall 350 pound kid with bad acne, would he be famous? Probably not. The thing Youtube does is give a format for anyone to be seen. There are probably a billion videos on the website. So for anything to get noticed is small, and from what I have seen, most of it is crap.

It's arrogant, but I'd like to think as an actor I am not equal to all the idiots on the Jersey Shore. Or any reality show people. I'd like to think training and talent will set me apart somehow.

I may be wrong. But think of this in the days before the Emmy awards; if reality TV is really real, why does the Emmys have a category for writers of reality TV?