“Someday, Someday, Maybe” by Lauren Graham

The summer of 1980, I was 17 years old and worked on the Paramount Studios lot for casting director Bobby Hoffman, one of the nicest men in Hollywood. My dad was making me take this job in Bobby’s office because he wanted me to see what he did for a living, and he thought Bobby could be my guide into his sitcom world. Bobby knew I had no interest in acting, but he generously taught me the ropes. He showed me how to comfort and greet the actors. He demonstrated how I should give them their “sides” or scripts for the scenes they would be auditioning for, and how to staple headshots to their resumes and say, “Mr. Hoffman will see you now.”  The summer turned out to be better than expected, but cemented the fact in my mind that being an actor is the scariest thing one would ever want to be. The fact that so many people aspire to such an overwhelming profession baffles me but Lauren Graham’s story is a testament that some do make it, and they make it big. The star of “Gillmore Girls” and “Parenthood” wrote this fictional story of Fanny Banks, an actress waiting for her big New York break in 1995. Franny describes her quest as  “Peering into the window of a party you have not been invited to.” In the last six months of a three-year-deadline, Franny dreams of having a career like her idols Diane Keaton and Meryl Streep. She waits tables at a comedy club, only gets auditions for dishwashing and peanut butter commercials and falls for a sexy-yet-slippery working actor. Despite the frustrations of feeling invisible, Franny makes herself memorable in a charming and smart way. I can only imagine that when Graham was sitting at her computer writing this book and mining her early acting days for stories, she did it with a big smile on her face. Maintaining your sanity and wit in Hollywood is no easy task but she seems to have done it brilliantly.  (In real life she is dating “Parenthood” co-star Peter Krause, which is just so cool, too.) To purchase this book on Amazon click here.