Fame

Fame. A desired dream of many. The lights, the cameras, the glamour. Some people are so hungry for this dream that they will do anything to have it. Even if it means risking everything they have, including their future.

In 2004, it was recorded that there were about 368,000 wage and salary jobs in the motion picture and video industries. Most of the workers were in motion picture and video production. They are involved in casting, acting, directing, editing, film processing, and motion picture and video reproduction.

So what does it take to make it in this industry of so-called "glitz and glamour?" Well Carlton Smith, a student at Fullerton College can tell you it will take a lot of strength in handling rejection and a strong personality that will make you standout amongst all the other fame seekers. Growing up in the rough streets of North Long Beach, Smith, who goes by his rap name C-nice, which was given to him by his former producer, started rapping when he was 14 years old.

"Besides basketball, rapping kept me occupied from all the hardships of growing up in my neighborhood. A lot of my friends sold drugs and rapping seemed to be my way to stay away from that. I figured instead of selling drugs to make money, rapping was a better way to get my talent out there and make money."

His sophomore year of high school, he joined a rapping group called "Three the Hard Way." They were a well known group in Long Beach and performed at other high schools with in the community and on cable shows. A few years later, their contract was up and he decided to go solo. C-nice is currently in the process of recording his second demo and "on the grind" to get his first big break.

"Me personally, I was blessed with the ability to do something that artists who are in the industry and that are mainstream can do, and that is, the ability to flip my personality to whatever the song is about, whether it's rapping real fast, slow, or to many different topics. It is hard for an upcoming artist in the Music Industry because so many people have the same dream: to make music and be famous for it."

Artists in the music industry are not the only ones who face the struggle to stand out amongst others. Brittney Werner, also a student at FC, says that having a personality that really stands out is something of great importance when being an actor.

Werner moved to Fullerton from Orodell, New Jersey to pursue acting.

"The reason I didn't go to New York is because it focuses more on musical theatre than on film and television. The first time I visited Hollywood, I was very disappointed. I thought it would be somewhat like New York, a flashy, glamorous city. Hollywood is very overrated."

With one of her older sisters being a professional dancer, the other a production assistant for a known director, and her mother being a talent agent in New Jersey, Werner had no other choice than to become hungry for fame and follow in her family's path.

Werner recently signed to an agency in Hollywood called "Alvaradorey." Along with many print ads, Werner has been in three­ Tommy Hilfiger commercials, and a few Z100 commercials, a local radio station in New Jersey who also advertised on television. Like any aspiring actor, she has had to over come rejection.

"Going into an audition, I feel nervous, but I also feel very confident because of all the support I have from my family," she said. "When I do have to overcome rejection, I just remind myself that one day, it will come."

Trying to stand out amongst others isn't the only hurdle these aspiring artists must endure. For painter John Hagan, keeping the motivation and the drive to get his work out into the world is his biggest obstacle to reaching his level of success.

"Laziness and lack of effort are my biggest obstacles as far as getting my work out and sold," Hagan explained. "I am fairly confident in my production and over the years I don't really have any doubt that people like my work, not everyone likes my work, if everyone liked my work I would be scared, but it is just a matter of getting it out into the world and letting people decide for themselves and it is a very long process."

The art world is a tough world. Today more then ever it's more accessible for an artist to make a living because the field is so huge, but to be a fine artist, showing your work at galleries and selling it for top dollar, that's a difficult world to infiltrate and I guess its like any other field its about who you know and being in the right place at the right time."

Over the years John has done several gallery shows, but focuses on producing rather than preening, and still considers himself a rookie in spite of nearly ten years of painting. Even with making the top four on "America's Next Top Model", the hit reality show, Amanda Babin also considers her self as starting off in the journey to becoming "famous".

"I don't really consider myself famous. I think people recognize me from the show but I'm not stalked by paparazzi, for the most part," Babin said. "I would not consider myself a super-model, I'm more of a reality TV which isn't really famous, in my opinion."

Babin is still looking for an agency and says that her biggest obstacle in becoming famous is overcoming the connection with "America's Next Top Model".

"Designers do not want you to be more famous then their clothes. They usually think that I'm going to be stuck up or something just because I was on the show so I have to detach myself from that image and become and average model, not Amanda Babin from America's Next Top Model. Even though being on the show has helped out my career, now I have to get away from that and start my own identity as a model," she said. "It was a way to get exposure, but you can't have that forever."

From Rapping to acting, painting to modeling, all of these artists are all seeking one thing: Fame. No matter how one interprets fame, Hollywood is the place to find it.