DAILY DOSE OF HOPE – BLOG – NAIMA LETT
HOLLYWOOD’S A DIFFERENT WORLD
A Different World ©NBC, Carsey-Werner Productions
A DIFFERENT WORLD
I know my parents love me
Stand behind me come what may
I know now that I’m ready
‘Cause I’ve finally heard them say,
It’s a different world…(oooh) from where you come from… (yes it is now!)
Thus begins the stirring opening theme (sang by Phoebe Snow in Season 1 and the Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin thereafter) of the award-winning NBC sitcom, “A Different World”, which aired 142 episodes over 6 successful seasons. The series was originally created by Bill Cosby as a spin-off of The Cosby Show starring Denise Huxtable (aka Lisa Bonet) going to a prestigious historically black college. That was 25 years ago. Can you believe it? The first episode aired Sept 24, 1987.
For our younger readers (shout out to 2012 high school graduating fam like Bryanna) who may have caught the series in syndication on Nick at Nite, the episodes were groundbreaking in dealing with issues like equality, race relations, HIV/AIDS, relationships, etc. It launched Jasmine Guy, Kadeem Hardison, Marisa Tomei and Jada Pinkett Smith and was a Who’s Who of guest stars: Whoopi Goldberg, Halle Berry, Diahann Carroll, Patti Labelle, Billy Dee Williams. Powerhouse Debbie Allen, fellow alum of Howard University (HU!) produced and directed.
By all standards, A Different World was… different.
Especially in Hollywood.
With all the colorful people and storylines, the show aired after the #1 Show on TV, The Cosby Show, and it consistently ranked between #2 – 4 in the ratings with 20 million viewers over its first 4 years on the air. Thus, it proved that people of all colors watch TV shows with good storylines and diverse casts.
Hollywood rapidly accepted the trend, because only one color really matters in our industry frankly, and that’s green.
HOLLYWOOD’S A DIFFERENT WORLD
I’m convinced that more people would “get” Hollywood if they started from the premise that first and foremost, Hollywood is an industry (like all other capitalist industries) that exists to make profit. The bottom line is the bottom line.
Hollywood churns out what makes profit.
If Keeping Up with the Kardashians did not make Executive Producer Ryan Seacrest and the E! Network millions of dollars in advertising based on an average of 3 million viewers weekly, then E! Network would not have awarded the Kardashians 3 spin-off series plus the richest contract in reality TV history: 3 more seasons of Keeping Up for $40 million (up to 9 seasons). Somebody is watching the show. 3 million somebodies are watching the show. Weekly.
Hollywood does not keep spending money where it does not make money. No business does.
And it rarely takes risks and spends money on talent that has not yet made money.
If artists who move to LA would get this, I think it would revolutionize the way that we work.
The truth is that people want to hire successful people.
So, how can you, the artist, prove that you have been successful?
Do you have a resume where you’ve landed 5 equity plays or several costar or guest star roles? Do you have an outstanding web series with millions of viewers? Do you have a YouTube or Vimeo video that garnered millions of viewers?
Hollywood wants to know: how have you been successful? Show us how you’ve been successful. Then, we’ll use your success to help our success.
It really is that simple.
Will Smith’s Men in Black 3 made $70 million domestically in 4 days and over $133 million worldwide, topping the box office this weekend and finally dethroning Marvel’s The Avengers. This is Will Smith’s 13th blockbuster film that has made over $100 million in the box office. Does anybody understand why Smith can ask for a reported $20 million salary + 20% of backend? Because his star power is making the studios billions.
Hollywood wants to do what? Make profit.
CHRIST’S DIFFERENT WORLD
Now, what we try to explain through Hollywood Christian Ministries is that for artists of faith, we work in Hollywood, but we don’t operate solely based on Hollywood’s standard that profit is king. Same goes for followers of Christ who work in other industries where profit is the king. We have a king who ultimately owns everything, so we have a different perspective.
We do need to be excellent in business and in our artistry and phenomenal stewards of the resources that have been entrusted to us, but at the end of the day, we don’t make decisions solely based on profitability.
We love God. We love people.
We make decisions based on what’s best for others.
When asked about the greatest commandment i.e. the most important thing, Jesus responds to the religious leaders in the following way:
35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
If we follow Christ, we love and honor God first, then we love others as we love ourselves.
That means that we don’t approach people thinking, “What can he do for me? How can she advance my career?”
We do the opposite. We think, “What does she need? How can I make his life better? How can I make her job easier? Where can I add value? How can I help?”
I know. I know. That’s different.
But we’re different, aren’t we?
Now that doesn’t mean we start acting weird. I’ve had enough of the weird, Fam. LaLa is strange enough without adding Christian strange on top of it. Just saying.
We are “different”. We love God and love people. That’s different enough in any industry driven mostly to make money. We’re the people who are caring for the needs of others.
Isn’t your world different? Are you not, different?
Hey, it’s a different world… (oooh) from where you come from… (yes it is now!)
‘Bout to get my Phoebe Snow/Aretha Franklin on,
Naima
