![[Making it in Hollywood Derrick’s edit]](https://development-q5nzhaa-ou7jifsrmm4uk.us.platform.sh/wp-content/uploads/2006/06/1240464353-742384e1fdc68c36a7a3fb7f8dac201b6f9dbf633f3d3863ea4c504ca0c6fc59-d_295x166-228x160.png)
An 6 min 30 sec. rough cut of the 1976 documentary “Making It In Hollywood”, which follows several actors as they attempt to break into the movie business. This cut centers around the comments made about acting by actors Julius Harris and Robert Walden while eating dinner at Derrick’s Restaurant.
In 1975, the Chicago video collective Videopolis produced a documentary called “It’s a Living.” The tape was loosely based on Studs Terkel’s book, “Working,” which was a collection of interviews with ordinary people talking about their jobs. This hour-long program was shown on Channel 11 (WTTW) in Chicago. After the success of this tape, the videomakers were commissioned to make six half-hour shows that had the same type of mission. “Paper Roses” featured residents of the Chicago Housing Authority’s Clark-Irving Apartments, which provided low-rent housing for senior citizens. The tape is not a traditional documentary with formal interviews, rather, it is a simple collection of real people talking about themselves. The subjects seem very comfortable talking to the camera and speak honestly about aging and retirement.
![[Making It In Hollywood raw #67 & 68]](https://development-q5nzhaa-ou7jifsrmm4uk.us.platform.sh/wp-content/uploads/2006/06/1205124492-e0030258c022cc3982335c529113e27d9f646c9c4edf6afcc5dae25027903a08-d_295x166-228x160.png)
Raw footage from the 1976 documentary “Making It In Hollywood,” which follows several actors as they attempt to break into the movie business. This tape features excerpts from “Making It” raw #67 & 68 that have been color corrected to partially remove greenish cast on the camera original. In these clips actor Robert Walden discusses how he prepares for certain roles, and how he discovered his love for acting.
A composite of episodes of Lanesville TV, which was broadcast every Saturday night in Lanesville, New York to residents of a few small towns in the Catskills. The show had a lighthearted community focus, and featured segments on local events and people. Verbal description does not do it justice because it is a unique example of early “pure” video.
Three documentaries by Chicago videomakers from the 1970s: “Jane Byrne Election Night” by Scott Jacobs, “Golden Gloves” by Tom Weinberg and Scott Jacobs, and “Election Day (Chicago Style) by Scott Jacobs and Valjean McLenighan.
A documentary made at the 1976 Democratic National Convention in New York City, which was produced as a live 3-hour cablecast for five days during the convention. It was subsequently broadcast on WTTW and other PBS stations. It chronicles the events in and around the convention, and includes interviews with various delegates, politicians, members of the media, and people connected to Jimmy Carter, including Rosalynn Carter and Jeff Carter (Jimmy’s son). It also includes footage from the convention floor and demonstrators outside the convention, led by Ron Kovic.
This unique documentary is a time capsule of Hollywood in the 1970s and the American obsession with fame. It follows a few of the thousands of people who come to Los Angeles every year to “make it” as actors and actresses–at their day jobs, going to auditions, and waiting for acting work at legendary Schwab’s Drug Store. It tells the story of Cissy Colpitts, a new young face, hoping to find an agent and become a star. It also features the perspectives of several successful actors, including Tab Hunter and Shelley Winters, discussing what it takes to survive in Hollywood and how fame changes a person. That excess is portrayed through Sally Kirkland’s legendary parties, attended by a wide variety of 1970s Hollywood players, including John Badham, John Belushi, David Blue, Dylan Cannon, Bud Cort, Dr. John, Kinky Friedman, and Robert Walden.