HOLLYWOOD DIARIES- A Short Story

Acting was my passion. For as long as I could remember I had wanted to be an actress. It was this very dream of mine that had brought me here to Los Angeles, the city of Hollywood. It had not been very easy to convince my family but I had somehow managed to persuade them and after saving money working part time jobs I had been able to buy the golden ticket that would take me to L.A.

Los Angeles was just how I had imagined it to be- full of beaches, partying, palm trees and “want to be actors”. I was not the only girl from a small town wanting to get into Hollywood, there were so many more. Numbers you cannot imagine came every year trying to make it big here. I had worked very hard to come here, all my grades and hard work had led to this. Little did I know that I was living in a utopia thinking that coming here would mean end of my worries and would turn me into a superstar.

Life here was not as easy as I had expected, I was just a naïve 19 year girl excited to be out of her hometown and trying to live her dream. That changed as I kept giving auditions and got refused every single time. I did not give up, it was harder than I had thought but I was Emily Sarah William Jones and nothing could make me lose hope or change my dreams.

However, due to movies and books we think dealing with failure and rejection is easier than it actually is.  Little do we realize that even if we have willpower and the strength to keep trying and not give up there are always external factors stopping us. For me, this was money. I had now been living in L.A. for 3 months and all my savings had been spent. We were not very well off and it was not possible for my family to help out in any way and nor would I have accepted help being the proud stubborn person I was. I also did not want to see their sympathetic and smug faces not expecting me to succeed. There was nothing to be done.

As the days passed, my frustration increased. There was nothing I could do to prove myself. Getting a job even doing odd work was proving to be futile. I had no money and soon I had would have no roof to live under. The best thing for me to do would be to let go of my pride and return to my hometown to help in the family business. We owned a bakery and usually required all the help we could get as we were the only bakery in the town. However, my stubborn mind would not let me accept defeat and go back home. I would just have to find myself an odd job like the millions of people there all hoping to make it big one day.

After a lot of searching and pleading I found a job as a waitress in a café. Securing this job had not been easy and my pay was very minimal but I had to make do with what I had been given. I did not end up keeping my job for too long. I was fired within a week due to my clumsiness and messing up of orders, even my less than average salary and the overtime work could not make up for the food I had spilled and the plates I had broken.

I was now homeless and jobless. I had no source of income and did not know what to do. I was beyond exhausted with my ordeal and not as keen on living in the city of Angeles as I had previously been. I was ready to forsake my pride and return home but this too was not possible as I had no money to buy a plane ticket home. I took my belongings and moved around L.A. trying to find a job to make enough money to go back home. After a day of incessant searching I finally gave up. I was now homeless, jobless and very hungry. That night I slept on a bench in the park having nowhere to go to and not knowing anyone in this city. The next morning on waking up I realized that my suitcase of belongings had been stolen. I was now homeless, jobless and did not have any belongings. There was nothing that I could possible do.

That morning as I walked on the streets of la utterly devastated, I saw a man sitting on the sidewalk and playing his guitar surrounded by people listening to his music. After listening they would leave some money for him and he would continue playing happily the entire time. Seeing his carefree personality I could not resist introducing myself and telling him of the situation I was in. He heard my story and shrugged saying, “Music is my passion. It is all I want to do in my life. I would love to be a music producer or some big hotshot but none of that matters as long as I have my guitar and some money to feed myself. It makes me happy and gets me enough money to eat 2 meals a day.”

His words had a huge impact on me. Being here in L.A. and not getting what I had wanted had made me so miserable that I had forgotten the one thing that had made me happy and brought me here. Acting was my passion, it was my life. I did not have to be in a film to act, I did not need anyone to tell me to act or give me a job, acting came so naturally to me and so I decided to start acting right there on the streets of la and make enough money just to feed myself. I was happier than ever before, so what if I was homeless as long as I was doing the thing I loved the most.

It was on those streets while acting that Mr. James Matthew saw me acting and decided to cast me as a lead actress in his movie. It was a dream come true for me after acting on the streets for a week I had finally got a chance to show my talent to the world. I gladly accepted his offer and became a part of the film. It was through this that I learned the lesson that when the going gets tough, the tough get going and it is in the middle of difficulty that opportunity lies and I was very lucky to get one.