J.J. Abrams’ Mystery Box

Patsy Rodenburg “Why I do Theater”

OK, not technically a TED talk, but part of their “Best of the Web” series

Jamil Abu-Wardeh on Bringing Comedy to the Axis of Evil

Dan Gilbert Researches Happiness

We are taking an end of summer break.  We’ll be back with new content on September 14th.

Photo by dorena-wm

Mumbai immediately came to mind. Mumbai (formerly called Bombay) is India’s most populous city and the home of Bollywood, which is the catch-all name given both to a type of large-scale, commercial movie the city is famous for and the industry scene itself. While at Minerva we focus on energizing and evolving the conversation of the LA acting life, I’ve always hoped we’d have the opportunity to explore acting in Bollywood.  When Mark Bennington, one of LA’s busiest headshot photographers, sent me an email about an on-going project in which he’s juxtaposing images of the Hollywood actor and the Bollywood actor, I knew I’d found our man.

While the term ‘Bollywood movie’ is likely to evoke images of the family-oriented musical romances that are the industry’s economic powerhouses, Mumbai is also home to a rich tradition of independent filmmaking that began with the Parallel Cinema movement of the 1950s. In the 1970s, Bollywood films began to take an ever-increasing share of the international box office, with particularly large audiences in the US and Russia. And of course, with the attention brought by the recent success of Slumdog Millionaire, a new crop of international producers and investors is exploring the city’s film community.  Last month, Mark and I sat down to discuss his January 2010 trip to Mumbai to document the lives of its actors. He was immediately struck by how much the city felt like LA – the beaches, the population, the big dreams, and, of course, “the Starbucks where all the aspiring actors hang out.” Here are a selection of photos from this work-in-progress and the stories behind the images.

Ashwin Mushran

One enormous difference between Hollywood and Bollywood is the absence of acting unions in India. As such, residuals payments for actors don’t exist, and the industry functions relatively agent-less; actors negotiate their own deals, and actors at all levels find auditions through their personal networks and word-of-mouth. Ashwin Mushran, a Mumbai native, attended drama school at The Drama Studio in London. Ashwin’s career is exceptional because he works in several areas of the industry (voice over, movies, television) at once. Explains Mark, “There’s far less cross-over between media for the actor in Mumbai than in the States.” Ashwin is also one of the few to have a manager. Many of his opportunities come from his three years of starring on The Great Indian Comedy Show, a popular television series. His current bread-and-butter, like many American actors’, is commercials. Though booking a couple of ‘nationals’ a year isn’t going to cut it for the Mumbai actor; with a day rate of 7,000 rupees ($150.00) and no residuals, there’s no downtime from the hustle.

Puja Verma

In this photo, Puja Verma prepares in her dressing room of Bhagya Vidhata, a popular soap opera. Puja comes to acting after attending college in the US and working a corporate job in Minneapolis. Upon her return to India, she took an acting class as a hobby and saw an audition posting for the soap at her acting studio. She won the part and now spends on average 25 days a month shooting.

Neetu Chandra

Neetu Chandra is in her prime as a Bollywood starlet. She works only in features and is recognized as one of the country’s most exciting up-and-comers, “Comparable to Charlize Theron, 10 years ago,” says Mark. Neetu is from Northern India and began working after a year-and-a-half of struggling in Mumbai. One of Neetu’s particular talents is using the press to keep her image in front of the public and producers. At the time of this shoot, Neetu was in the news for appearing in a newspaper in risque, Sapphic photographs with another actress. Mark was struck at how assertively she managed their session, coming to set – entourage in tow – with tons of ideas for

Neetu Yogas

set-ups. Yet despite the star trappings, Mark said she was “sweet as can be” throughout the shoot and ended the day by extending an invitation to tea with her and her brother.

Mussasir Zafar at Whistling Woods Film School

Whistling Woods International is an established film school in Mumbai that offers a two-year acting program. In this photo, student Muddasir Zafar participates in an emotional recall exercise. With a $29,000 price tag, the program is in the reach of only the most privileged students. One of the organizing structures of Indian society is its caste-system, a Hindu social stratification system in which social classes are defined by hereditary groups. Though caste-based discrimination was outlawed by India’s Constitution in 1949, the system is still prevalent and certain professions are dominated, controlled, and/or accessed only by certain castes and sub-castes. As such, Mark explained, “It’s likely that you have to be pretty well-off, to have a lot of support from home, to come to the big city and try to make it acting. Survival jobs don’t really exist. Maybe here and there, but – because of the caste system – you can’t just go out and get a job waiting tables.”

Naved Aslam

“Mumbai is India’s film city, Delhi is its theater capital – much like the LA/New York split here,” explains Mark. Naved Aslam spent the 80s in Delhi as a theater actor and then began working behind the scenes in Mumbai’s film industry in the 90s. As an actor, he started working steadily in films in 2000. Naved still works in the theater, though, including a turn in an Indian production of Threepenny Opera that toured the states in 2004. He also teaches acting. What stood out about Naved during the shoot? “He has so much integrity in the way he talked about acting, theater, the whole process,” says Mark.  “He’s seriously dedicated.”

Shashi Kapoor

Shashi Kapoor is the proprietor of The Prithibi Theater in Mumbai, one of Mumbai’s most established theaters, “Like the CTG, The Taper in LA,” says Mark. Shashi is a member of the Kapoor family, a huge theater dynasty in India (comparable to the Barrymores or Lunts back in the day) and was a “megastar” in films in the 1960s and 70s.

Deepak Dobriyal has been in the business for ten years. He too started in the theater in Delhi and moved to Mumbai in 2002. He recently won a Special Performance Filmfare Award (India’s equivalent of the Oscar) for an adaptation of Othello called Omkara. He now gets offers for parts, but he still auditions frequently, estimating that he’s booked 25 jobs out of 1,000 auditions. Here, Deepak sits in producer Guneet Monga’s office. “The movie industry in Mumbai feels like a giant campus,” says Mark. “When they’re not working, between appointments, everyone just hangs out in each others offices, playing ping pong, hatching ideas and plans.”

Deepak Dobriyal

Gaurav Gera spent three years acting with Ashwin in The Great Indian Comedy Show and now appears on another comedy series for Sony in which he plays a woman (which, he says, happens often). He began his career as a dancer and then got his break on India’s version of Ugly Betty (playing a man). He works 4-7 days a month at $3,000 a day, much of it earned hosting award shows and charity functions. “He was so relaxed,” said Mark. “See his shirt? ‘Cheers to Being Single’? That’s Gaurav.”

Gaurev Gera

Mark recalled that, in each of his conversations, the actors said it would be the “will of God” that would ultimately determine the height of their careers. The decision to come to Mumbai to pursue their dreams was a way of embracing their destiny, whereas so many of us come to Hollywood in order to transcend what we perceive as ours. Bollywood’s ethos is to “dream bigger” at the same time that one’s opportunity to even play the game is deeply influenced by one’s place in the caste system. Yet India’s biggest star is Sharukh Khan, whose working class Muslim origins placed him far outside the Hindu establishment. “They love him,” explains Mark, “because his is such a Hollywood story.” As with any vibrant artistic community, Bollywood’s creative lifeblood, like Los Angeles’, may lie in its contradictions.

Mark will return to Mumbai later this year to continue documenting its actors. To see more images of this project and others (including his headshot work), visit his website.

Post Title Image – Puja Verma on the set of Bhagya Vidhata

All images copyright Mark Bennington Photography

Perseverance: My Lessons with Judith Ivey By Robert Dolan

Connection, Wisdom and Inspiration: My Friendship with Tony Award-Winning Actor Elizabeth Wilson By Liz Morton

10 Books to Inspire By Brendan O’Malley

Queer as Folk’s Scott Lowell: A Theatre Snob Finds His People…in TV

From Treading the Boards to Lighting Myself on Fire By Naomi Peters

A Clarion Call to Dream and Plan Big! By Lesli Ishii

Breaking into Winter’s Bone: an Interview with Lauren Sweetser By Laine Monica Baker

So I Married an Actor By Jody Rosen Knower

Love, Work and Documentaries By Claire Winters

Josh Gad of “The Daily Show” and “21″ Pt. 2 By Sarah Sido

Photo By FriaLOve

Risa has cast over 65 movies including Desperately Seeking Susan, Wall Street, Something Wild, Angel Heart, Fatal Attraction, Born on the Fourth of July, Talk Radio, JFK, Sneakers, The Joy Luck Club, True Romance, Speed, How To Make An American Quilt, Dead Presidents, Twister, and Flirting with Disaster and numerous television shows, including Roseanne, CSI:NY, and the recent Universal/NBC pilot, The Cape, which was picked up for 2011. Risa was a Producer on Oliver Stone’s films Heaven and Earth and Natural Born Killers, movies she also cast. Risa’s developed a passion for teaching. She holds Master Classes in acting and auditioning in Los Angeles & throughout the US and Canada. She coaches actors on an individual basis as well. Visit her Facebook Page for more on her class schedule and her blog with audition advice and career perspective.

What is it about what we do that we love? What makes us do this thing? This acting thing. How much is it artistry? How much is it salesmanship? How much of it is just the grind in pursuit of the chance to be who we really are?

We knock on the door of possibility, hoping that someone inside will throw it open, embrace us, and take us in out of the storm. Sit us by the roaring fire of desired success and tell us how safe we are now, how wonderful we are, how fine it’s all going to be. Well here’s the truth of it – When that door opens, the storm rages on. It’s like the door of a standing set on a sound stage – there’s nothing there but more sound stage.

Once the opportunity presents itself, it’s most likely filled with more pressure, more compromise, more disappointment. It’s never what we expected, what we set up for ourselves. The stakes are higher. Everything’s on the line.

I recently cast a TV pilot – The Cape – and I have to say, as difficult as these experiences always are (pilots are excruciating births), this one was pretty pain-free. I worked on a good project with really good people and I was able to maintain my sanity and my dignity (no easy task for me.) And then the show was picked up for series. And I, knowing better, imagined a paradise of success and happiness. Not so fast… The storm clouds have gathered. As Margo Channing said: “Fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy night.”

And while the people are good, and it’s good to have the work, the nature of the beast is that once we get to the other side of that door, the magic is gone and it’s time to get real. In this case, the daily grind of putting out a show and juggling the many new egos that have shown up for the party. The honeymoon’s over.  Grab the last lifeboat. Don’t look back. And the only person who will determine our success – creative and otherwise, our peace of mind and heart… is each of us.

We have so much stuff we have to deal with that’s outside of the real work – the joy of acting, directing, writing, creating.  We have to hustle, to train, to work out, to rehearse, to prepare, to drive long distances in hot cars and immovable traffic just to get to a place where we can have a chance, a moment, to leap into the unknown for 3 minutes, which really only means 20 seconds before they start to twitch, itching to check their iPhones. The suspended instant when we pray that our 10 – 40 years of work will manifest themselves before the crucible closes. We have to work our managers and agents and friends who we dare to ask for favors – if we have managers and agents and friends who will even email us back. We have to find the time for “meaningful self-exploration” and shrink appointments and coaches and hair dying and pilates and… life. And if we don’t get the job, we have to do it again and again and again.

And we see the shows and the movies and know we can do as well, most likely better. Eventually we get angry, tired, disheartened, depressed. We tell ourselves it’s not personal, it’s not about us. But it breaks our hearts. And we start to shut down, to protect that wonderful, open, vulnerable part of ourselves that made us the pure, innocent, devoted artist we know ourselves to be. We don’t recognize ourselves anymore. We stop even wanting to approach the door. We can’t imagine the roaring fire. The only thing roaring is our resentment.

Here’s the thing. That’s all normal. Reasonable. It’s real. It’s human. But we cannot give up our souls to the process of getting work. We can’t weaken. We can’t retreat. We have to find ways to protect ourselves from the rejection and from the heartlessness. We have to protect our artist selves – the fragile and pure creators in us. While at the same time embracing the transaction of our talent for hire. It’s part of what we have to do. And we can actually find a way to welcome, even love it… It’s possible. If we open our hearts and remember the joy of the creative flow that called to us long ago and demanded that we show up every day to do this thing, this intangible, unwrangle-able, scary thing. And then bring ourselves to the door, armored and intrepid.

Do we have to love it all? Of course not. Some of it is incredibly stupid and horrible. And none of that belongs to us. But we do have to love the part of it that we can claim. Our artistry. And there’s artistry in every phase of it. In managing people, in navigating the industry, in preparing ourselves for the moment the door opens, in handling the meetings and auditions and time on the set, and… in letting it go.

There’s an absolute need for artistry in all parts of our lives, enhancing and infusing the work with the passion of our families, our homes, our friends, our other creative endeavors. When Rebecca Romijn had her twins, she became a better actor. I directed her in a film last year and she was more joyful, free, and truly deep in her work. It can be our kids or our rock band or our blog writing or our inward journey, but we all need a place, a way to get purely connected to the expression of our artist selves.

Recently, when I was teaching in Chicago, an actress who had been sitting quietly in the corner for hours, almost invisibly, came down to do a scene. She seemed sort of plain at first, hunched over, not aware of her power and her beauty. But her work was gorgeous. The kind of work that’s free of self-awareness, free of judgment. It’s the kind of work that’s undeniable. She took my breath away. Along with the entire class. It even caught her by surprise. She was so fully inside the “want” of the character. So connected to the other actor. So in the moment. Specific, truthful, willing, available, emotionally present…  And I realized that this is what we have to strive for every day. Focusing on that moment of pure connection, abandoning all expectation, believing absolutely in the creative gods who transport us.

My 13 year-old daughter has been singing in a small kids’ choir, backing up Dead Man’s Bones, Ryan Gosling and Zach Shields’ band. Raw, soulful, eerie, with the sweet humor of this quirky kids’ chorus. Watching them on stage (as I seem to have become a rock ’n roll stage mom) I understand that even someone with infinite “success” finds his liberation in creating something personal and meaningful, on his own terms, and outside the industry that celebrates ambition, celebrity and fast cash. This solidifies for me the core truth that we must each find the divine creation that guides us. We must believe in the spirit of our inspiration and make it our practice to serve our artistry. Every day. Sounds a little religious. Well, in many ways this is our faith. This is our divinity. And that belief, that connection, frees us, and then, somehow, everything else works. It puts it all in perspective. It relieves the pressure. It flows good energy into those places that are artificial and stuck. It makes it easier to love the rest of it. It keeps us true to our artistry, to our humanity, to ourselves. And in fact, it removes the door altogether.

An Insider’s Look at Booking and Shooting TV Guest Stars by Neil Hopkins

Emmy Winning CD Holly Powell on the 4 Steps to Casting a Series Regular

Jason Pugatch on Getting Dropped by Your Agent

Love, Work and Documentaries by Claire Winters

The Actor as Translator: Miki Yamashita on Industry Expectations of Bilingual Actors

Video Interview with Silas Weir Mitchell from Prison Break Parts One and Two by Sarah Sido

Video Interview with Dileep Rao, Star of Avatar and Drag Me to Hell by Claire Winters and Kristina Klebe

How to Set Up a Home Recording Studio by Yuri Lowenthal & Tara Platt

Building a Project with The Artist’s Way by Claire Winters

Grants for Actors by Claire Winters

Photo By The Alieness Gisela Giordano

Michael Winters is also known as Claire’s Dad. Originally from Preston, England, he has spent the last several decades living in the US. Every World Cup he gets homesick and wants to enjoy the games with people who actually care, so he goes to Europe. He then gets disenchanted because they don’t have Sam’s Club and realizes why he left in the first place. He currently lives in Tampa, FL, where he works in the computer industry. He knows a lot about acting because he used to drive Claire to play practice.

COUPE DU MONDE DE LA FIFA

It is over. Spain has won the world cup. I am devastated. I did everything that I could.  I placed ridiculous bets. I flew to England. I wore this year’s shirt. But I still lost. Maybe I shouldn’t take it so personally. Even if I had won who would have thanked me? Certainly not those overpaid Prima Donnas, prancing around in their Three Lions shirts. As the Queen would say, in her impeccable Latin accent, “MMX is an annus horribilis.” First the Vikings were beaten by New Orleans and now England barely gets past the group stage. Maybe it’s time for me to switch my allegiance. I’ve lived in Tampa for over 30 years and I left England in 1966.  But could I really support the US team?  What if they were playing against England? And what if they won? Who in this country would know about it? How would I celebrate?

There isn’t a person on this earth, except in Canada and the USA, who doesn’t wake up every morning and think, “How can the richest nation in history, a nation that invented the i-pad, a nation that can put a man on the moon, how can this nation not be able to put a decent football team onto the world stage?”

I said stage. I know that this is a site for actors and I’ve been told to keep my posts “relevant.”  Was that “relevant” enough? I realize that most Americans, especially actors, don’t give two hoots about world football.  But that’s the problem. We make a fuss about the “World” Series and the Super Bowl while the rest of the world laughs at us, and in our ignorance we are not even aware of it. Believe me they are laughing at us. I once heard a fellow say that he thought the USA women’s team could beat the men’s. Of course that’s not true, even though the women’s team have been a lot more successful, even winning the Women’s World Cup twice, and is ranked the top team in the world. Why not send the women, you might say. Well there is still a big physical difference between men and women.  Think of it in American Football terms. Do you think that a team of the strongest young ladies could score a touchdown against even the Detroit Lions? Of course you don’t. It doesn’t bear thinking about.

So we need to make the men’s team better. We can’t keep spending billions of dollars on the military and fighting wars all over the globe only to have the rest of the world, not only not intimidated by us, but actually sniggering at us.

The men’s team will not get better until Americans start watching them. Just imagine if nobody wanted to see you act. You would probably rush your lines and try to get off the stage as fast as you could if the only people in the audience were family and friends. Well that’s how the US men’s team must feel. If I’m to support the US team I need your help. People look up to actors. You are leaders in not only fashion and style but also as advocates for worthy causes. If I am to become a fan of the US team you Americans will need to improve your fanaticism. I’ll need to educate you on the finer points of football in a way that is relevant to actors and then you can go and tell your friends.

Actually there is only one thing to learn about soccer. Singing.  Fans, especially the English, sing and chant in perfect harmony.

There is something exhilarating about being in a large crowd singing in unison. It happens every week in British Football stadiums and, to a lesser extent, everywhere else football is played.

The English have always enjoyed a sing-a-long. They say that’s what got them through the wars. You’ve probably seen them singing at Wimbledon on a rainy day or at a Proms concert. Back in the twenties, when both football and popular songs were becoming commercially successful, club owners would hire a band for a pre-match sing-a-long. Supporters often latched onto one song and turned it into their anthem. West Ham United has “I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles” and Liverpool has  “You’ll Never Walk Alone”. But that came much later.

Oh. In case you don’t think any of this is relevant here is Rik Mayall’s Henry V.

So for years they went along singing before the game and cheering during it. They had rattles and bells and chants such as “hip hip hooray” and “Come On England”.

But it wasn’t until the 1962 world cup in Chile that the musical genius of Liverpool was awakened. Funnily enough that is the same time that The Beatles came onto the scene.  That year Brazil won the cup and many of their supporters made the trip to Chile. Their fans chanted “Brazil Cha Cha Cha” and made a staccato clapping sound over the cha cha cha.  In those days football was a working class sport. It was cheap to get into the stadium, especially on the terraces where there were no seats only the occasional safety barrier. Fans in the crowd pressed against each other and swayed together. It started at the first game of the new season “LIVER-POOL” then the staccato clap. Then it mushroomed. Soon the fans were singing the popular songs of the day and changing the lyrics. Each week there were different songs and different lyrics. The crowd had a mind of its own. When Gerry and The Pacemakers sang “You’ll Never Walk Alone” before a game, it was adopted and now each home game begins with the crowd holding up their scarves and singing in full voice. Chelsea fans or Chelski, as they are sometimes called because of their Russian owner, had the “Celery Song” but it was banned recently. Football is no longer a working class sport and the old fans are being crowded out along with their stalks of celery, which have a phallic symbolism, and which they would throw onto the playing field after singing increasingly ribald verses of the song.

The songs are sung not only in support of the team but also to unnerve the opposing team and their fans. In 2008 the Irish government complained to the Scottish government after a Glasgow Rangers versus Glasgow Celtic match where “The Famine Song” was sung. The Rangers are supported mostly by Protestants and The Celtics by Catholis with Irish backgrounds. One of the lines in the song goes, “The Famine is over, why don’t you go home?” In Russia there was the strange case of the Easter match where the opposing fans chanted back and forth “He is Risen”, “Truly Risen”.

Of course when you get a large crowd waving emblems dedicated to a single goal and singing, you can expect a little fascism to creep in. I find it very disconcerting to watch Germans raising their arms but I think that it is worse in England. At the Olympics it is Great Britain but in international football it is England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales separately. Instead of the Union Jack the Cross of Saint George is flown which has also been co-opted by the BNP a far right political party. English songs have always been patriotic like “Land of Hope and Glory”, “A New Jerusalem” or inane like “Vindaloo”, “We’re Drinking Beer and Having a Laugh” or just amusing. This year I’ve noticed a sense of hope but also a reminder that the English have been disappointed so many times before.

So what do you think?  Can you do it? Can you make this a soccer loving country so that I don’t have to fly to England to get my heart broken? Probably not…I wonder if Bret Favre will play next season…

Here are a few Youtube videos which were specially made for the 2010 World Cup.

The official World Cup song “Waving Flag”

From England – “Harpers Heroes” is influenced by the old music halls and is set in Blackpool.

“We are the Rulers” Reggae.

“Bring it Back to Blighty” features a brass band.

And here’s a sampling from around the world.

IRELAND – They didn’t make it to the finals because of the French cheat Thierry Henry. But it doesn’t seem that they were expected to anyway.

THAILAND – Football and the sex trade seem to be tied into this one.

SCOTLAND – More losers who didn’t make it.

GAZA – Quite political.

USA – I don’t get what this one has to do with the World Cup, but they say it was made for it. I read that the most popular national team in the USA is Mexico. It seems that they can sell out stadiums much more easily than the US national team.

Fan photo by Larvorski Live!

Using Facebook and Twitter to Grow Your Acting Career By Puja Mohindra

Interview with Celebrity Publicist Joy Donnell: Parts One and Two By Sarah Sido

Know Your Target Audience to Market Like a Pro! By Dallas Travers

Do Less More Often to Change Your Career: Parts One and Two By Dallas Travers

Holiday Party Networking Tips By Betsy Capes

Stagetribes.com: a New Social Network for Actors By Justin Waggle

Photo By Luc Legay

Thanks to Shelene’s article earlier this week on using your craft to move beyond comfort zones in your life, we’re feeling a little contemplative these days. Summer is often referred to the ‘slow’ time in the industry, but whether or not your audition/work schedule is feeling full or full of anticipation, why not take advantage of the longer days and warmer nights to think about how to better focus and organize your efforts. The following articles will help you create the space and motivation in your life to let your work shine its brightest.

How to Do Your To-Do List by Samantha Bennett

Crafting a Mission Statement to Guide Your Career by Ian Forester

An Actor-Therapist on Making Your Thoughts Work for You by Chad Schwartzman

A Clarion Call to Dream and Plan Big! by Leslie Ishii

The Best Resource You’re Likely Not Using: The Actors Fund by Claire Winters

How Volunteering Enriches My Life in Acting by Sarah Sido

A Financial and Artistic Wakeup Call for 2010 Parts One and Two by Miata Edoga and Bryan Scott Bellomo of Abundance Bound

Photo by Andy Price

Who couldn’t use a little free publicity? If you have an upcoming class, service, show or website you want to promote on our site, this is the contest for you.  The prize is transferable – you can give it to your favorite blog, acting teacher, charity or Fringe show!  Our ad program is very simple to use – no need to have a professionally designed ad ready to go.  You just upload text and an image and our program formats it for you.

So give us your thumbs up and tell your cast-mates, colleagues, and co-workers too.  Be sure your name is in the drawing by “Like”-ing us by Sunday at noon.  Winners will be contacted Sunday.  Your ad can be up by Monday morning!

Image by Patrick Hoesly

Why did you start the Hollywood Fringe?

We always knew we wanted to do a theatre festival in LA once we arrived 3 years ago – we produced “The Hatchery Festival” for a couple years in Washington DC, a festival of new works where we workshopped plays with emerging playwrights. It was fun, but I always wanted more – a full-on theatrical experience, not just a showcase of new plays. I spoke with a few folks “in the know” in LA theatre, and asked if they knew of anyone doing a Fringe in LA. When all the avenues went cold, I discovered that there was an opportunity for something special here.

We conceived the name of the fest in my Hollywood apartment in Sept 2007…immediately bought the domain rights…and started slowly building up our capabilities step-by-step: Incorporation, Nonprofit, community contacts, organization memberships, venue relationships, artist marketing, website, sponsors….always wanting to do it “the right way” rather than the “fast and easy way”. We assembled a great team of folks I had worked with in DC, Chicago, and Iowa and we have been working ever since.

What will set Hollywood Fringe apart from other Fringe festivals (Philadelphia, NY, Edinburgh)?

Every Fringe is different. Some of the best advice I ever received was from FringeNYC founder John Clancy when he told me every Fringe needs to be reflective of its host city. This has been a guiding star for us ever since – how can we make the Hollywood Fringe right for Los Angeles. A few basic differences: Philly is a “Fringe” to a curated Festival, namely the Live Arts Festival. We have no such “elephant in the room”. NYC is curated (there is a jury deciding who gets in), we have no such requirement. If you can find a venue, you can join the HFF. Edinburgh is in many ways our model. Unlike many North American Fringes, we adopted the “entrepreneurial venue” method they spearheaded. Each venue is an independently operating business – as is each participant production. You might call this the “free market” model as the fringe organization is very decentralized, and focuses on doing a few things very well.

Deciding between available fringe models was a very difficult decision. In the end we opted for the Edinburgh Model over the lottery or first-come-first-served model as we live in a town where the arts are an industry and producers are used to calling their own shots and managing their own shows. One of out goals has been to nurture new producers, so this model really fits. For a list of many of the world Fringe models with descriptions, you can check out this site.

Can you give us a few promising/rare/intriguing/just plain weird shows to put on our Fringe radar?

Hahaha, well we can’t really promote one show over the other – that’s one of our guiding principles. We have developed some tools to allow you to choose-your-own-fringe-adventure. Check out this page where you can browse shows by category and this one where you can browse by day and time. There’s lots of interesting stuff to see – many of which qualifies as promising/rare/intriguing/just plain weird . I’d also suggest folks join us for our opening party at King King for an excellent cross-section of upcoming shows.

Can you give our readers some tips on parking and dining near the Fringe venues?

For parking, we’d all suggest parking at a convenient satellite metro station and taking the red line train to the Hollywood/Vine or Hollywood/Highland stops…then walk or use public transport from there. It’s a great way to save money and frustration on parking and score a point for the environment. Otherwise there is relatively inexpensive parking at the Hollywood/Highland shopping center and on the street in the Southern portion of our map closer to Melrose.

As for dining, we are assembling a list of business to be included in our “Hot Spot” program which we are launching soon. For a small fee, patrons can buy a card redeemable for discounts at local dining, drinking, partying, and shopping institutions in the Fringe Zone.

Are volunteer opportunities still available?

You bet! We need all the help we can get. Interested volunteers can sign up here: http://hollywoodfringe.org/volunteer

Make sure you’re following us on Twitter. Minerva’s intrepid intern Laine will be tweeting from the Festival to keep you in the loop!