Barry Bonds

Baseball's All-star game was yesterday and Mr. Barry Bonds was a big story, just as he's been for the past year or so on sports shows and in the sports section of your local paper.

What does the soon-to-be, all-time American major league home run leader have to do with Hollywood? Any tale of Bonds will usually include two terms, steroids and ego. Betcha can guess which one interests me today.

Ego isn't necessarily a bad word in Hollywood, mainly because you have to have some sort of ego to even consider trying to make it in this business. In terms of being a writer, no one comes to L.A. thinking, "I really don't know if I can write, but I'd really like to take a chance and see if I can become successful." Replace "write" with "act," "direct," "choose projects that will be successful..." Well, you get it. The simple thought of "I can do this" is ego-based and if you don't believe in yourself, it's hard to convince others to believe in you.

Ego drives an agents'"I know this will be a winner" mantra when they're trying to sell their clients' work to a buyer. The writer has the ego that what they've written is better than anything out there and I have the ego to believe I can differentiate between those who actually have written something better from those who have to work at their script a bit more. The producer/executive has the ego that they know what will be successful and the director has the ego that they take the promise on the page and translate it magnificently to the screen. And I know you haven't forgotten the actors...

It comes down to what I've said before and I'll say it again, if you think your script is "as good as anything out there," you haven't accomplished your task yet. To paraphrase Gordon Gekko, "Ego is good."

That's not to say it can't get out of control. But, if you're successful, no one will tell you to calm down, as it just might be part of the mojo that makes you succeed.