Running Down a Dream

Sunday, June 9, 1996

They’ve got goals, glamour, and a few tips for success. These
UCLA graduates have successfully chased after careers in the
entertainment field and are ready to let you in on their secrets.By
Kathleen Rhames

Daily Bruin Contributor

Everyone knows the horror stories of trying to "make it" in the
entertainment industry. Everyone knows about the college graduates
who wait tables for decades. But does everyone know about those who
actually succeed?

A few examples of those who have made it come from UCLA’s
campus. Susan Egan, actress, Brian Boyl, animator, and Miguel
Santiago, dancer, have survived Hollywood horrors and came out on
top.

Egan, who at 26 starred as the original Belle in Broadway’s
"Beauty and the Beast," credits her success to simple
motivation.

"A lot of people don’t go to the auditions. They complain like
‘Oh, I’m not working’, but they aren’t going to get the job unless
they get up and go to the audition," Egan says.

Egan did not always have this confident outlook. After touring
in both Los Angeles and in New York as Belle, Egan reveals that she
almost didn’t show up for the audition because she did not think
she was pretty enough for the part.

"It’s the perfect lesson. It’s like I need to take my own
advice," she says. "I mean I could just shoot myself now because
what if I hadn’t gone? I might still be unemployed. You’ve got to
have enough confidence to go and say, ‘These are new Broadway
producers and I don’t really know this casting director and it
would be good for me to go.’"

Boyl, a former graduate student in animation with the School of
Theater, Film and Television, has this confidence as well.

"If you sit around on your couch waiting for someone to give you
a call because you think you’re the best person for a certain job,
it’s not going to happen," he says. "You have to get up, shake
hands, meet people, keep calling them back, look interested, be
interested and be willing to take things you don’t necessarily
want. You have to stick your neck out."

Professor Denise Mann wants all her students to feel this way.
As Vice-Chair of the graduate Producer’s Program and undergraduate
professor within the School of Theater, Film and Television, she
tries to convince her students of the value of interning in various
positions in the entertainment industry.

"What I encourage every undergraduate and graduate student to do
is to go intern in the industry," she says. "One of the few things
that I feel really puts UCLA students ahead is if they’ve already
made some kind of exploration of how the industry works as well as
having literally worked in those industry offices."

Interning is one of the few tricks of the trade that Mann feels
gives students the opportunity to learn both concrete skills and
groom themselves to the needs of the industry. She agrees that
people enter into an internship position with a preconceived notion
that the success of their academic background will get them special
attention in the industry. Instead, the key to gaining a position
in the world of arts and entertainment is making yourself
accessible to what the company wants. It’s understanding how the
system works, and being willing to do whatever it takes to make it.
She feels her own success is a result of interning.

"I feel I would have been totally ill-equipped within the
professional world had I not done internships and other
activities," Mann says. "I feel what was true of me is true for
other students as well. You need to re-make yourself, and perceive
yourself as somebody who needs to understand the way their system
works."

According to Mann, though, interning is not enough. Future
careers depend on an education. Internships let students get where
they want to be, but their UCLA background enables them to stay
there.

Boyl, for example, who designs and produces a multimedia and
television show called "Zap," also teaches at UCLA. He keeps close
ties to the university ­ the place he feels was responsible
for his success.

"I would not be doing what I’m doing today without UCLA," Boyl
says. "I chose it because it offered to teach me entertainment
purely and I couldn’t get that anywhere else. I learned how to tell
a story visually."

Santiago, who holds a master of arts degree in Choreography and
Performance, was inspired to dance as a child but didn’t realize it
could become a career until he arrived at UCLA.

"It taught me to look at art in a more scholastic, disciplined
way," he says. "It gave me the opportunity to look at dance within
the format of research methodology that is usually used for
scientists and other people. I was able to see it in a more
empirical form. It changed my perspective of dance and suddenly it
made sense."

For Egan, UCLA gave her a realistic overview of the industry and
a chance to mold herself into an actress.

"It’s being able to know what you don’t know," she says. "I
think it’s important to stay grounded and see yourself very clearly
and then to see very clearly what’s going on in the industry.
There’s no roles being written for Barbara Cook anymore, so for me
to work on my soprano is useless. Musicals are being written for
pop-music. So if you want to sing on Broadway, you have to learn
pop-music. You have to be intelligent about it."

And according to Egan, this intelligence is something that comes
from both education and experience.

"What you need to do is make sure you’re prepared for the
opportunities that arise," she says. "I mean, Oprah Winfrey said it
for God’s sake: ‘What is luck? Luck is opportunity meets
preparedness.’ You need to rise to the occasion."

PATRICK LAM/Daily Bruin

Brian Boyl designs and produces "Zap."