Oh lil nepobabies
Originally adapted from a post on Tumblr
Ya know what I don’t like about the chatter about “nepo babies” in Hollywood?
The fact that everyone doesn’t already assume that most famous people are them.
Because y’all. We should be assuming it’s the default in Hollywood. Because it is.
After 20 years in the extremely indie micro budget filmmaking community in both Indiana and Texas, I can tell ya, all over the country there are extremely talented folks creating, writing, acting, etc. who should be recognized but they’re not. Whose work should get more eyes but it doesn’t. And it’s pretty much exclusively because they don’t know the right people to open the right doors and they don’t have the ability (for a variety of very different reasons) to leave their entire lives and communities behind to move to LA and spending years taking abuse at low wage PA gigs, working 3-4 jobs to make rent, pounding the pavement with endless auditions, withstanding constant rejection, etc. waiting to see if they “make it big.”
Power perpetuates power. Hollywood insiders will always give advantages to their kids in ways big and small. Even if someone’s famous parents don’t ask for favors or overtly hire them, those kids’ social lives and networks are linked with the right people to open the right doors. Plus getting the education a mega celebrity can afford for their kids? The private lessons? The exposure to the industry from day one? Knowing the right way to socially comport yourself in Hollywood spaces from day one?
Advantage on advantage on advantage.
I’m not saying that there aren’t very massively talented nepo babies in their own right. But I am saying that for a nepo baby we can never REALLY know if they would have made it on their own. We simply can’t know if they grew up in a trailer park in Kansas if we’d ever know their names.
I think we should talk about that all the time and never stop letting them know we’re aware of it honestly 😂 I think that given all the advantages and given how gatekept Hollywood is, the literal least nepo babies can do is just own the truth that we can never ever ever know if without daddy they would have ever broken out.
I guess what I really get pissed about most is when nepo babies are offended to be called or known as such when 1) said advantages are so obvious and 2) they’re a dime a dozen in Hollywood. Like we all notice it 👀
I can’t for the life of me recall who it was but like a year ago someone was being interviewed on fresh air who is a very obvi nepo baby and he said something like “the term doesn’t offend me at all. It’s absurd not to acknowledge the career I have was influenced by my last name” or similar and it was such a fucking breath of fresh air* to hear someone just be honest. Like no one was saying he’s not a good actor or whatever it’s just plain THE TRUTH that famous parents open doors.
*I didn’t mean to make this pun or notice it until rereading but I’m leaving it now 😂