at 6:59 when asked by the host about his occupation he says
Quote
"i'm originally from chicago, and now i own a computing and consultancy firm in los angeles"
chicago checks out on his bio, but "computing and consultancy firm"?
I would have thought he would have mentioned that to the show host, "I'm an actor and have recently been involved with..." or was he in character as an actor during the show? Or was he really also the owner of a computing and consultancy firm and appearing in feature films at the same time?
Scott has been running his computer business www.ScottWorld.com since 1992. That's what pays his bills, not the acting!
Los Angeles is a completely different world. Almost everybody in Los Angeles is an aspiring actor. Acting does not typically pay the bills. (For example, Scott made a grand total of $500 for his role in High Voltage, then got a residual check for $200 a few years later. That was it!)
Almost everyone in Los Angeles -- even down to the taxi drivers and the gardeners and the dentists -- is an aspiring actor. Scott has a standup comedy joke about how his dentist had a headshot of himself on the ceiling, so while the dentist was working on your teeth, you would be staring at his headshot. Particularly effective if you were an agent or casting director sitting in the dentist's chair. Same with the eye doctor… instead of looking at a normal eye chart to test your vision, you would be testing your vision with the eye doctor's acting resume: C -- S -- I -- N -- Y
All the game shows (which are all filmed in Los Angeles) have extremely strict rules that you are prohibited from mentioning that you are an actor on the air. This is for at least 3 reasons:
(1) It would make it seem like the game shows are scripted or rigged, even though they are not anymore (ever since the Quiz Show scandals of the 1950's). All game shows are carefully monitored by the Federal Government during all tapings. There is always a federal government watchdog employee present at every game show taping. The Federal Government has an entire game show regulations division.
(2) It could be considered solicitation for acting work from the viewing audience. Game show regulations require that the contestants are not allowed to promote anything on the air, nor can they ask for work on the air. This is also why you never see anybody on any game shows wearing corporate logos on their shirts: it's not allowed. This is ALSO why contestants always *GENERICALLY* state what they do on game shows. For example, they never say, "I work at Apple Computer." They always say something like "I work at a nationwide computer manufacturer." You will never hear a game show contestant specifically state the name of a company or product.
(3) It would also make for an extremely boring show if people could state they were an actor. Every single person in the audience is very likely an aspiring actor. At least 95% of the audience is probably aspiring actors. It would leave nothing for the host & the contestant to chit-chat about. Game shows want people who are very expressive with their emotions on-camera, so they reach out to the acting communities to get actors to audition for their shows. Actors are also very likely to be struggling for money, which gives them even more reasons to want to be on game shows! Scott had to go through 3 days of auditions before he was even allowed to sit in the audience for that game show. They put you through on-camera improvisational speaking games, they make you play samples of the game, etc. Many people do NOT make the cut. (Price is Right is different… they are the only game show that does very quick auditions immediately before the show starts taping… but they still do auditions.) Once Scott got selected to be in the audience for the real taping of the game show, the rest is up to luck & chance & skill. In other words, once the game show starts filming, it becomes a real game of chance & skill. Nothing is scripted or pre-determined.
Hope this sheds some light on the wacky world of Los Angeles!
