Unscripted
TUNE-IN: Premiere January 9 at 10pm/9c. 2 episodes air back-to-back January 9 and January 16 (at 10pm/9c and 10:30pm/9:30c)
1/2 hour comedy series.
To make it as an actor in Hollywood, you’ve got to study your craft with religious zeal, immerse yourself in each role as if it’s your last, and respect the tradition and rules forged by yesterday’s great actors. It also helps to know how to cheat on your résumé, hustle to get auditions, and stoop to whatever it takes to meet the big shots who can make or break your career.
Krista Allen, Bryan Greenberg and Jennifer Hall are actors whose thespian dreams are tempered by Hollywood realities in Unscripted - a new HBO series from George Clooney and Steven Soderbergh.
CONCEPT:
Executive produced by George Clooney and Steven Soderbergh, this half-hour series takes a dryly humorous insider’s look at the all-too-earnest, frequently raucous, often disillusioning lives of several young actors trying to make a living - and make it big - in Hollywood. With cast regulars (playing themselves) frequently crossing paths with real-life actors, producers, directors and agents, the series gives new dimension and context to the concept of “struggling actor,” providing a fly-on-the-wall glimpse at how, in LA, the process of learning how to act often takes a backseat to the less-subtle skills involved in selling yourself in a cutthroat and highly competitive business.
A funny, highly accessible, wholly original look at what it really means to be a Hollywood actor, Unscripted marks the next step in HBO’s ongoing relationship with two of the biggest names and talents in movies and TV - George Clooney (who directed the first five episodes) and Steven Soderbergh.
A blend of improvisational and real incidents, Unscripted shows how low struggling actors have to stoop to get through the day while chasing their dream. Although the hope of red-carpet celebrity looms large, the reality usually involves struggling to pay rent, enduring nail-biting auditions, embellishing lackluster resumes, and relying on acting classes to sharpen their skills. In a twist to the half-hour comedy genre, the experiences faced by the series’ lead actors (who play themselves, more or less) are inspired by their own stories as well as that of the executive producers, who themselves struggled before attaining success.
Over the course of the series, we get to know several actors participating in a workshop taught by a veteran actor named Goddard Fulton (Frank Langella) at LA’s Tamarind Theatre. There’s Jennifer Hall, a wholesome Midwesterner who will accept almost any role - stand-in, walk-on, car-wash shill - and whose naivety might be her greatest asset. On the other hand, Krista Allen, a single mom in her early 30s, has been in her share of films, some of which didn’t require clothes. Now she’s looking for serious roles after years of getting by on sex appeal. Then there’s Bryan Greenberg, green yet fearless, a charmingly self-effacing actor who has some success getting TV auditions, despite a mostly fictitious résumé. Note: Hall, Allen and Greenberg play semi-fictionalized versions of themselves, with many of the incidents based on (but not necessarily depicting) occurrences in their own lives.
1/2 hour comedy series.
To make it as an actor in Hollywood, you’ve got to study your craft with religious zeal, immerse yourself in each role as if it’s your last, and respect the tradition and rules forged by yesterday’s great actors. It also helps to know how to cheat on your résumé, hustle to get auditions, and stoop to whatever it takes to meet the big shots who can make or break your career.
Krista Allen, Bryan Greenberg and Jennifer Hall are actors whose thespian dreams are tempered by Hollywood realities in Unscripted - a new HBO series from George Clooney and Steven Soderbergh.
CONCEPT:
Executive produced by George Clooney and Steven Soderbergh, this half-hour series takes a dryly humorous insider’s look at the all-too-earnest, frequently raucous, often disillusioning lives of several young actors trying to make a living - and make it big - in Hollywood. With cast regulars (playing themselves) frequently crossing paths with real-life actors, producers, directors and agents, the series gives new dimension and context to the concept of “struggling actor,” providing a fly-on-the-wall glimpse at how, in LA, the process of learning how to act often takes a backseat to the less-subtle skills involved in selling yourself in a cutthroat and highly competitive business.
A funny, highly accessible, wholly original look at what it really means to be a Hollywood actor, Unscripted marks the next step in HBO’s ongoing relationship with two of the biggest names and talents in movies and TV - George Clooney (who directed the first five episodes) and Steven Soderbergh.
A blend of improvisational and real incidents, Unscripted shows how low struggling actors have to stoop to get through the day while chasing their dream. Although the hope of red-carpet celebrity looms large, the reality usually involves struggling to pay rent, enduring nail-biting auditions, embellishing lackluster resumes, and relying on acting classes to sharpen their skills. In a twist to the half-hour comedy genre, the experiences faced by the series’ lead actors (who play themselves, more or less) are inspired by their own stories as well as that of the executive producers, who themselves struggled before attaining success.
Over the course of the series, we get to know several actors participating in a workshop taught by a veteran actor named Goddard Fulton (Frank Langella) at LA’s Tamarind Theatre. There’s Jennifer Hall, a wholesome Midwesterner who will accept almost any role - stand-in, walk-on, car-wash shill - and whose naivety might be her greatest asset. On the other hand, Krista Allen, a single mom in her early 30s, has been in her share of films, some of which didn’t require clothes. Now she’s looking for serious roles after years of getting by on sex appeal. Then there’s Bryan Greenberg, green yet fearless, a charmingly self-effacing actor who has some success getting TV auditions, despite a mostly fictitious résumé. Note: Hall, Allen and Greenberg play semi-fictionalized versions of themselves, with many of the incidents based on (but not necessarily depicting) occurrences in their own lives.
