As the title implies, this site will continually update changes and trends in anger management services, research,referrals and provider training. In addition, books,CDs,videos and DVDs used in anger management programs will be introduced.

Friday, August 04, 2006

Acting Up: Anger and Stress in the Entertainment Industry

Like many people in Los Angeles, I’ve spent a fair amount of time working in various facets of “The Industry”, which is Hollywood’s self-aggrandizing way of referring to the entertainment biz. I’ve worked for film production companies, TV production companies, awards shows—I even pulled a classic Hollywood maneuver and worked at a restaurant while maintaining the delusion that I was, in fact, writing a screenplay. All of this experience has taught me a few things about the entertainment industry and the people who run it.

On the set of 'Emotional Intelligence from 0-10'

1) Making a movie or television show is essentially a form of calculated gambling, with millions, sometimes hundreds of millions, of dollars at stake. Since the amount of money on the line is so astronomical, so too are the stress levels of producers and financiers.

2) Unlike money, which tends to get stuck at the top, tremendous pressure and stress do trickle down, affecting absolutely everyone involved. This is true of most businesses, if someone at the top gets stressed out, aftershocks of anxiety ripple through the entire company.

3) A large percentage of people are ill-equipped to deal with the enormous stress of The Industry, often demonstrating the degree of their inability to cope through misdirected acts of proportional terribleness.

4) Anger (and the ability to express it whenever and however you want without getting fired) is the Industry’s version of driving an expensive gas-guzzler; a status symbol that is neither efficient nor practical.


5) The way a person deals with anger is a learned behavior, usually coming from his family of origin. However, it is never too late for a person to learn bad habits. In The Industry, where it is almost expected that someone will bully his underlings, people learn bad habits that, as they rise through the ranks, they then pass on to others.


Needless to say, I firmly believe companies within The Industry would benefit from a proactive approach to anger management, including offering structured anger management programs to employees on all levels. In addition to presenting material on anger and stress management, the classes should teach skills to improve emotional intelligence and increase the use of assertive communication, both of which would prove invaluable to the inherently collaborative process of filmmaking.

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