Monday, April 1, 2013

My Agent part 2

I met my new agent. He seems like a nice person. The image of Hollywood agents isn't much better than lawyers. Everyone thinks they're leeches who lie, cheat and steal to get whatever they want. But that's in Hollywood. Chinese culture is different. There is plenty of lying, cheating and stealing, but they're much more polite when they do it. This guy seems genuinely interested in getting me parts, and he should be. He found me. I didn't find him.

One of the things I liked best about him was that he speaks English. You could fill a stadium with the people in Hong Kong who claim to speak English but can barely put more than two words together. I can't complain. Their English is often better than my Chinese. But I would never claim to speak English if no one who speaks English could understand me, just as I have never claimed to be fluent in Chinese. My agent's English is great.

He says that being American will both help and hurt me. I always assumed it was a plus since I don't look like most of the other girls here. The problem is that in Chinese culture, they want people who look like everyone else. Conformity is the thing. Being unique is frowned upon.

The good news is that the younger generations of Chinese people like being different. They go out of their way to dress differently and get crazy hairstyles, just like in any other country. In the film community, that means there are rising actors, producers and directors who don't want to look and act like everyone else. They will be more interested in me than most of the older filmmakers. Of course, I'm not the only foreign actor here. Now that I have an agent, I will probably be up against all the other foreigners for the same parts. At least with Americans, you get a wider variety of looks and styles. If they want lighter or darker hair, I can wear a wig. There's nothing I can do to look Chinese.

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