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Art and A**holes

On a recent episode of the televised black hole known as Bravo's "Double Exposure," Lindsay Lohan showed up somewhere between eight and ten hours late for a photo shoot. There's still a dispute about exactly how late she was--as if eight hours is any less insulting than ten hours.

When she does finally arrive, the photographer remarks that he'd prefer to have someone show up ten hours late that can deliver a good photo rather than someone who might not give him the perfect photo right away.

All I could think of when I heard that were all the divas and a**holes across the country who would now believe that it's fine to be a jerk as long as you have some sort of talent to back it up.

I see this same behavior accepted in theater all the time. An actor will be inconsiderate, rude, or cause trouble, but if they can deliver a good performance they're cast again and again, despite the protestations of other actors.

Even worse is when a director hears bad things about an actor, and swears "they won't do that with me."

"Really," I always feel like asking, "And how exactly would you stop someone from showing up late? Go to their house and escort them to rehearsal yourself? Get them an armed guard?"

And why should any of that be necessary when there are plenty of actors who actually DO WHAT THEY'RE SUPPOSED TO DO?

Sometimes I feel like directors/producers/casting people can be addicted to the crazy. They like working with performers (notice I use the term "performer" and not actor or artist) that unstable because they feel like that's part of that person's gift.

For me, a gift is showing up and not poisoning the entire process just so you can spin yourself into a frenzy before you walk out onstage.

Being good at what you do doesn't give you permission to behave abominably when the audience isn't watching. It's not like being in a restaurant where all you're worried about is the food and you don't concern yourself with the kitchen.

If someone's driving everyone else insane in a production, it's going to erode the show itself.

It also encourages the opinion amongst people who don't work in the arts that artists are people that are less professional or organized than people in other fields of work, or that we feel we're held to a different standard.

Well, let's face it, in a lot of cases, people are.

Still, I hope the next time anybody shows up eight hours late for something, regardless of who they are, the person in charge won't care how good they are at what they do.

They'll just be sending them home.

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