The Red Pants of Justice on Learning How to Type

Mr. Red Pants is up and blogging again with the usual well-written, quarterly missive about the world of entertainment. Here he asks 'How low can you go?' without actually going that low.

There's a long-standing myth that pervades the film industry, which states that one has to be prepared to do anything when one is just starting out. Now, don't get me wrong. I know all about paying your dues. I'm on first name terms with Mssrs. Putup and Shutup, and am uncomfortably well acquainted with their slovenly neighbour, Mr. Minimum Wage. If you can't stand the heat, the old saying almost goes, get out of the studio. If you're not willing to put up with it, you might as well learn how to type.

And in a sense, who can argue, so long as there is an endless stream of wide-eyed bright (and, more to the point, not so bright) young things, willing to stand any indignity, acquiesce to any demand, regardless of the number of employment laws they break in the process. The lower echelons of the business subsist on this kind of underground service economy because of the massive cost incentives involved, in the same way many Western societies would essentially collapse if one removed all the illegal immigrants, because there would be no-one left to do the jobs no-one else wants to do.

Read the rest by following the link above. I'll only add that truth of the matter is that we never finish paying our dues. But the Red Pants of Justice types just fine.