Denzel Washington and Flight and Tyra Banks and Modelland

These days I have little patience for junk movies and I always check what people say. The actually rating isn't so important as whether people feel a movie is worth the cost of a ticket. There are a few exceptions to this thought. If  Denzel Washington  is in a movie, I will see it on blind faith.  He's one of my favorite actors, so I am biased. But it's more than that. I trust that he turns down bad scripts.

This brings me to my first point.  Denzel's career did not start here but at the bottom of the food chain. Contests like America's Top Model are a shortcut to the top of the heap. And you see it every season. The contests, especially those who do well, start to see themselves as Tyra's equal, sometimes even refusing a task. Denzel gets to choose his movies and Tyra got a publishing deal for Model Land (among a gazillion other opportunities) because they have proven themselves. But when they started out, I don't think either of them turned down paying work. They grabbed hold of opportunity and held on for their dear lives. In other words, what you write today may not be what you want to write or pay as much as you like (if at all) but an opportunity, is an opportunity.

Next:
Movie companies know that there are x number of people who will flock to see fligh just Denzel is in it. Tyra's publishers took a chance that x number of fans would flock to her book just because she wrote it. But the situations are two very different things. Tyra had never written a book before while Denzel stuck with what I think is his wheelhouse role, a flawed hero in search of redemption. Both choices are admirable for different reasons. (But I think because I'm a writer, I can empathize with Tyra more. Writing a book is like birthing a child. But I digress.)

My second point: Everybody has a wheelhouse and there is nothing wrong with exploiting what you're good at. Certain wheelhouses, such as romance, are not ranked high on the prestigious scale by critics. But hey, critics get paid to judge. The point is,  figure out what your wheelhouse is, take advantage of but take risks too. Do things you've never done regardless of what anyone thinks.