There is a rule in corporate ethics: "Don't do it if you wouldn't want it on the front page." It's a good rule of thumb, but in my experience, very few people in the business world pay attention to it. Just think about it--if the things your boss did were known to the world, wouldn't they be mortified?
The thing about Hollywood that is so unusual is that everyone DOES know what you do. There is no official front page that it's on, but believe me when I say this: Everyone knows everything right away.
This is not hyperbole. I can't think of any aspect of this production that other people haven't TOLD ME about. An agent for one of the actors called me the other day to discuss something, and he casually mentioned a piece of information I had no idea ANYONE in Hollywood knew. It wasn't anything that needed to be secret or was potentially embarrassing, it was just so...weird. How did the fuck did he know that?
I had meetings with several different PR guys in NYC. Every one of them had sheets with very detailed information about the movie, information they did not get from me--who we have cast, who we were considering for roles, status of various aspects of the production--it was like looking at a CIA briefing of my project.
Last night Nils and I had drinks with an actor, and he told me two different casting stories he'd heard...about me! And they were both pretty accurate. One was good, and one not so much. I wrote about it here (at the bottom, almost the last paragraph), when I basically laughed at an actor in the room. What I didn't know was that that dude left the room and told everyone what had happened, and to be honest, I don't blame him one bit. I was completely in the wrong, and I would have been pissed off too if I was in his position. [This actor was a treasure trove of information about gossip and about various other Hollywood things Nils and I had no idea about, but that's a different entry.]
Make no mistake about it, Hollywood is a very small town, and word travels fast and gossip is one of the most valuable commodities here. Everyone I have ever worked with in Hollywood has told me that "everyone knows everything right away," and damn if this isn't true. But even though I understood in an intellectual sense, seeing it in action is almost breathtaking. There really are NO secrets in this town. It's like you constantly have a thousand eyes on you, watching everything you do and reporting it back to everyone else.
At first, this was kinda disconcerting. Whenever you hear gossip about yourself that portrays you in a bad light, your automatic response is to be defensive about it. I started to try to defend myself to the actor about why I laughed in the room at that one guy, but I just stopped. The fact was, I did it, and I was wrong. I just need to learn my lesson and never do it again, not try to explain it away or give a reason for it, because the reason--no matter how valid--doesn't change what happened. Learn from the mistake and move on.
Then I started thinking about the nature of gossip and information flow in Hollywood, and I realized that even though it's disconcerting at first, I think I actually LIKE the fact that the Hollywood grapevine is so pervasive and all-knowing. The great thing about gossip and word of mouth is that it goes both ways. It doesn't have to be bad, but it is bad most of the time because most people do bad things.
Well, I want my business to be on the front page, because I have nothing to hide. The fact is, I am honest. I have integrity. I treat my employees and my friends with respect and fairness. I am nice to the people I like (mistakes aside). And I not only want to make great movies and art, I want to treat people well in the process and pay them what they deserve, not what I can force them to take.
Plainly put, I want to do the right thing the right way, and if I get up every day and actually live up to the standard I have set for myself, then, because of the Hollywood grapevine, everyone is going to know about it.
That kind of word of mouth is more valuable than any PR, any marketing, any advertising or other corporate bullshit I could ever do. Do the right thing, do it every time, and eventually everyone is going to know it and want to work with you.
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