Intro

George. You leave a comfort zone. You know I could walk down almost any street in Pittsburgh and you know I could have a story about something, or know somewhere, or see somebody I know. Out there, you know, it's pretty-- it's unchartered territory for me. It's exciting, all in the same, but still a little scary. I guess it's just human emotions kicking in. Can't always be the Man of Steel.

Biography

George Williams, age 24, left Pittsburgh for Los Angeles on 10 August, 2002. Upon his arrival, shit happened. He is now content, and devotes a portion of his time to sending back interviews for Pitt In Hollywood. A week before his departure, George sat down with Pat of Pitt In Hollywood and John Paul of the Creation Station for an interview.

Start of interview

George: I need a nice pedicure first.

Patrick: What's going on George?

G: Hey, nothin? much. Nothing much. Just kind of wrapping things up for the big move.

P: When's that going to happen?

G: Uh, move day, the launch day is August 10th.

P: August 10th.

G: August 10th. Saturday.

John Paul: Now George, you're the first official PIH [Pitt in Hollywood, now Pitt Film] member going out to L.A.?

G: The first official Pitt in Hollywood member taking the big leap to the left.

P: Big leap to the left? Are you speaking democratically?

G: Ah, Left Coast. West Coast.

P: Word. What is the reason behind this move?

G: Well, to pursue my acting career. You know Pittsburgh'many things have been done in Pittsburgh, but most of the decisions and the heart of the acting world is in Hollywood. So it was only the smart move, I would say.

P: Is acting your only focus when you go out there or do you have other diversified interests in the entertainment field?

G: Well, uh, at this point acting. I would love to hopefully, later on, get into some producing. But right now, my main focus is acting.

P: Once you get out to L.A., what are your first major steps'stationing yourself in a good place to live, the right acting classes. I mean, how do you plan on going about on your mission?

G: Well, about two months ago I made a trip out to L.A. for about a week and did some surveying of the area. Look for places to live. Looked at acting schools. Talked to some other actors. Got their points of view on what it's like being a working actor.

P: A working actor. What do you mean by that?

G: Well, you always have the people that are, you know, the superstars, and they are in a different bracket. But you also have the people that are out there going to acting school and doing commercials, doing theatre, being extras, getting little cameo spots. Those are the working actors. People that don?t necessarily really have the high paying job.

P: How do you plan on moving into a position where you can actually interact with the working actors and move yourself into what they're doing now?

G: Well initially I'm going to go to acting school at the Beverly Hills Playhouse and that date--- it's going to start a week after I get out there. And through them get an agent and probably start off just doing commercials just to get immediate cash flow. Eventually definitely try to get into feature films or sitcoms. Whichever.

P: There's a lot of acting classes out in L.A. I mean you can walk around the corner and find another acting class to enroll in. What do you think is the key to finding a successful class, one that actually works well and will actually get you roles and find you with the right people?

G: Well, I would say the best thing to do--- just like anything else, if you want to eat some good Mexican or if you want to eat good Chinese food you go by word of mouth. You know referrals are the best for anything. So, you talk to people. I have no problem meeting people or talking to people, so a lot of times people are attracted to people that are like them. So, normally you guys will have the same type of interest and feelings toward certain things like an acting school. So, you ask around and, unfortunately, for some people it will be that way but for other people it might just be trial and error.

P: Very cool. Now, as far as the essentials, a place to live, where to move to, finding the best place with the best rent, do you have any tips or suggestions---you know, you're going out there early just to check the scene out---how someone else could benefit from doing the same kind of thing.

G: I could tell you this. If you're one of the type of people that want to experience it first hand, I'd definitely suggest going out there for a week. If not, they sell a book. It's called the Actor's Hand Book to Hollywood. It lists acting schools, places to work, places to eat, places to live. Apartment scales. If you come from money or you have a lot of money, you can live anywhere from Brentwood to North Hollywood. Or you probably will have to live in East Hollywood or Culver City, where it's lower rent. Or even in the valley. The rent situation can fluctuate from place to place, but I tell you this. To get your hand on the book costs about 35 bucks.

JP: Another good place to look is SoYouWanna.com: 'so you wanna move to L.A.? [http://www.soyouwanna.com/site/syws/laapartment/laapartment.html - Ed.]

P: Ah, nice.

G: Ah. So you wanna move to L.A. dot com. There's a lot of websites out there and like I said, the best thing a person from the East can do that wants to move out there is just talk to people. Because you never know. You never know who knows anyone. You never know. You could talk to somebody that you think never even thought of going to L.A. and they might know one of their best childhood friends that lives out there that could possibly---

P: Networking, that's what you're saying.

G: Definitely, definitely. Keep your mouth going. Blab. You shoot buck shots I'm pretty sure you're going to hit something.

P: Eventually, yeah. Now, when you first got into acting, where you much younger? Or, was this a relatively recent decision? How did you go about making this decision?

G: Well, I guess everyone starts out in a little elementary school play, but after that, it was all basketball for me. And then once my basketball career was over, I had a buddy of mine that asked me if I wanted to do a commercial. I did the commercial with him and--- you know for 45 minutes of work you got paid five hundred bucks. So after that point I went to a casting agency, and they told me that I have the look, or I have the personality at least, so I figured that I'd give it a shot. And I just came to Pitt, studied theatre, and just found that I love it.

P: Here you are now. Ready to go in like seven days, ten days.

G: Oh. T-minus.

P: So you played a lot of basketball. Are there any lessons that you brought from the basketball court to the acting and the idea of just working in the entertainment industry.

G: Well, definitely. There's always the competitive nature that you need. Teamwork. Especially in theatre. You work with the cast. You know, to bring comparisons, the cast is the team that you play with and the director's the coach that you listen to. You might have you're idea of what you want to do with the ball, but if that's not the play that the coach throws out or the script that the director wants you to adhere to, then you just don?t do it. You listen. You listen. Keep your ears open.

P: There's no "I" in team, basically.

G: You got that right.

P: You just got to go with the coach's vision, or the director's vision and realize that you're part of the bigger picture. So, since you've been in Pittsburgh--- how many years have you been here now?

G: Five years.

P: Five years. How would you describe the acting community in the city. Where it is now, where it could be in the future.

G: I think that Pittsburgh's acting community is in certain areas it's still in an infant stage. They have a real rich history of theatre here, but I really feel that a lot more projects could be brought to Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh is one of the cities that can look like other cities. There's a lot of potential. Whereas people like me that want to do it have to go to L.A., definitely within the next few years here it can be a place where people that are from CMU [Carnegie Mellon University], Point Park [College], Pitt, any of the smaller schools, can stay here and have a career directing, be a PA, or acting.

P: And get the experience they need to make that next step eventually. Even possibly live here in the future if they really wanted.

G: Definitely. Yeah, I plan to move back to Pittsburgh and bring my knowledge back.

P: Alright, you've worked on a few commercials, been a bunch of different theatrical projects, plays, and taken acting classes here. What advice would you give to someone who's just coming to the city as a freshman or whoever they might be here? How to begin the process the way you're ending now. You're leaving. You're ready to move on to explore a different scenario, or set, for that matter. And how would you tell them to get into it?

G: Get with Pitt in Hollywood. There's a lot going on. Get with people that think like you. Get with people that want to be in the same field. If you want to play basketball you've got to go to a basketball court. If you want to do theatre, you want to act, you want to be around actors, and get your creative juices flowing. Creativity breeds creativity.

P: Alright. Very, very cool George. I wish you luck in the future. I think the advice you've given people, as far as how you'll move to L.A. in the near future, the way you came to your decision to go there, get involved with something in Pittsburgh. I think what all this stuff really points to is that you can get involved in an organization but it's really self-motivation that pushes you forward.

G: Definitely. Definitely. Someone can tell you that you can act, or that you should be a police officer, or that you can be a doctor. But whatever your passion is, you have to find that in you, and go after it.

P: Once the doors are open you have to physically walk through yourself.

G: Yeah, you're right about that. They can open doors, but you're right, you have to walk in yourself.

P: Nice, well it's been good talking with you today George. You're advice has been wonderful.

G: Thank you very much.

P: I wish you luck in the future. I'm sure we'll be doing another one of these in five years out in a beach house.