Lynda Obst explains how to Waltz with the pythons of L.A

INGRID SISCHY: As the writer behind Hello, He Lied: And Other Truths from the Hollywood Trenches (Broadway Books), a book that is all about how to survive in Hollywood, we thought it would be fun to get some advice from you for people just arriving in L.A. and looking to find their way there--literally and metaphorically. For instance, a while ago L'Wren Scott, the fashion editor, told me this funny story about surviving in Hollywood, and something someone once told Johnny Carson. Apparently he asked Tallulah Bankhead--or maybe it was Bette Davis, no one seems to know--what advice she'd give to a young actress newly arrived in Hollywood. and the legend answered...

Which our readers should be told is a road. So let's start there. Can you explain, please?

LYNDA OBST: Fountain is one block south of Sunset Boulevard, the Sunset Strip, which is the main east-west thoroughfare in Los Angeles. It takes you to the beach from anywhere.

IS: Is Fountain as well-known as Sunset?

LO: No, Fountain's kind of a secret. It's full of spectacular apartment buildings built in the '30s that are overgrown with ivy, where wonderful, fascinating, bohemian movie stars used to live. And it's pretty much noncommercial, so you almost never experience gridlock on Fountain. I think what Belle, or Tallulah, was trying to say, metaphorically, was avoid gridlock by not doing the same thing as everyone else. Which is take Sunset, and be stuck in the mainstream. If you're on Fountain you're meandering on a less straight road, but on a more scenic route that's far less traveled.

IS: Do you think she was being metaphorical and not just literal?

LO: I think she was probably being literal, but I've decided to make it metaphorical. The other way to look at it is that actresses don't give each other concrete advice. [laughs]

IS: When you first went out to L.A., did anyone give you advice--other than "Dont' go"?

LO: [laughs] Well, the first great lesson I learned when I got to L.A. came when a friend of mine, a very important woman in Los Angeles who had been a friend of mine when I was in New York, said to me, "Sweetie, why do I need to talk to you? I can get your boss on the phone." That was a rude shock: that my L.A. friends from when I was in New York had to be re-earned. I could take nothing for granted.

IS: So what would your advice be to a young actress arriving in L.A. today?

LO: Classically, the advice would be to date upward. I don't think you can date downward until you get to be Julia Roberts. But it's important that an actress not get confused and think she can sleep her way to the top. You can only sleep your way to the middle, and then you get stuck in the middle forever. It's really more about flirting upward than giving yourself away.

IS: What about a young actor? Should he date upward too? Is it good to be an unknown and be dating a famous actress, or is that bad? Are you always thought of that way and never as a leading man?

LO: It's different. Isn't that interesting? I don't think it helps a man to be on the arm of a famous woman in Hollywood, the way it helps a woman to be on the arm of a famous man. Everyone sees a man like that as opportunistic; they see a woman like that as ambitious. That's a real holdover from an earlier era of Hollywood. I know of a terrific actor who was dating the head of a studio, and he had plenty of access to meet people, but it was his auditions that got him parts.

IS: Is it a good idea to audition?

LO: You should always audition.

IS: Really? Even if you don't get the part?

LO: Even if you don't get the part. You always have to do face time, and you always have to show up. You can't be afraid of rejection, because rejection is endemic. The whole town is built on rejection. The most successful pose you can have in Hollywood is that you don't take rejection to heart. Every rejection is an opportunity. You have to be like a tank. If you hit a wall, you have to keep on moving to a place where there's an opening in the wall. You have to be seen. For that reason, "Take Fountain" might be a distracting piece of advice, since you can be seen more on Sunset. But you have to be seen in the right places. Go to the places where actors can perform and meet people who are looking to meet other young actors. If there's no light shining on you, it doesn't matter how much talent you have. There are lots of pools of light in Los Angeles; the goal is to find one and stand in it and hope someone is there to see you.

IS: Is it a good idea to get a job as a waiter?

In New York, if you're a wannabe model it's a good idea to get a job at any Keith McNally restaurant, places like Pastis or Balthazar, where powerful people tend to congregate.

LO: Well, that's visibility, so in a way it's the same. You have to figure out where the people you need to be seen by go, and be there. Make a grand entrance into a restaurant or party where everyone is, or be working at the restaurant.