Profile
Photos
Comments
Queer Town: Insider Howard Bragman Reveals the Hollywood
'Machine'
By Patrick Range McDonald in Queer Town, media, politics
Thursday, Jul. 16 2009 @ 8:00AM
When gay rights activist
Robin McGehee told Queer Town that the gay community -- especially gay
filmmakers -- needs to be "challenging
the machine" that keeps gay actors stuck in the closet, we looked to
longtime Hollywood insider Howard Bragman to explain a few things about
it.
 |
| Hollywood insider Howard Bragman |
"There's still a lot of prejudice in
this town," Bragman told Queer Town right off the bat, and then proceeded to
give us the cold, hard facts about how and why gay closets are still crowded in
a city and an industry that are supposedly liberal meccas.
Bragman knows
what he's talking about. The openly gay founder of Fifteen Minutes, a high-powered public
relations firm based in Los Angeles, Bragman has been working in the
entertainment world for 30 years, with such clients as Stevie Wonder, Ricki Lake
and Benjamin
Bratt. His book about how the system works, Where's My Fifteen
Minutes? includes a chapter dedicated to "coming out."
"Casting is a red flag business," explains Bragman,
referring to the process by which actors are chosen for movies or television
shows. "It's often a process of elimination, and what you don't want to do is
give people one more reason not to pick you."
So, Bragman says, many gay
actors with eyes for big stardom, who are represented by agents and managers who
themselves have eyes for big stardom for their clients -- not to mention the
millions of dollars that come along with it -- believe they have no other choice
but to keep their heads low, improve their odds to be cast in a major movie or
TV show, and stay in the closet . . . much to their agents' relief.
"It's
not in an agent's interest to tell a client to come out of the closet," Bragman
says, "They don't want to shake things up. Because, in the end, it's all about
money, and they don't want anything to hurt the bottom line."
But it's
not just agents -- gay and straight -- who play a role in the closeting of
Hollywood. According to Bragman, casting directors, the people who run the "red
flag business," are key figures in the entertainment machine. They're the ones
who say someone isn't right for this movie or that TV show, and sexual
orientation is part of their decision process.
"They won't tell you
that," says Bragman, noting that he's heard "horror stories" from gay clients
about the way casting directors treated them because of their homosexuality.
Amazingly, Bragman says, "some of the biggest offenders" of this kind of
institutionalized homophobia "are the gayest people in town."
The public
relations guru, though, counts Todd Holland -- the openly gay, Emmy-winning director who caused a major
controversy over the weekend when he revealed that he advises young, gay male
actors to "stay in the closet" -- as one of the "good guys" in Hollywood.
"He's always been there for gay causes," Bragman says of Holland, who's
not his client. "He's one of the good guys in the industry, and he's one of the
good guys in the gay community."
Yet Bragman doesn't dish out Holland's
brand of advice. Over the years, Bragman has helped actor Dick Sargent,
basketball stars John
Amaechi and Sheryl Swoopes, and politician Sheila Kuehl come out of the
closet, as well as many others.
"What I always tell young actors is that
they have to follow their heart," Bragman says. "My personal shoes is that I
would rather be out of the closet and be happy."
Bragman adds, "In all
the time I've helped people come out, I've never had someone tell me they were
sorry about it."
The Hollywood insider thinks the public is far ahead of
the casting directors, agents and studio execs in accepting gay actors as
heterosexual characters on the screen.
"Girls don't look at Cheyenne
Jackson and say, 'He's gay, I'm not turned on,'" Bragman explains. "They
think he's hot. They don't care. We're in a whole different
world."
Bragman believes some day soon a talented, gay, male actor will
take it upon himself to fight the machine, come out and, if he's not there
already, land himself on the A-list with a hit movie -- and remain on it.
"We will have our leading man, our action hero," says Bragman. "It's
coming. It's coming. Maybe it'll be Cheyenne. He has everything it takes to be a
superstar."
Contact Patrick Range McDonald at pmcdonald@laweekly.com.
referring to the process by which actors are chosen for movies or television
shows. "It's often a process of elimination, and what you don't want to do is
give people one more reason not to pick you."
So, Bragman says, many gay
actors with eyes for big stardom, who are represented by agents and managers who
themselves have eyes for big stardom for their clients -- not to mention the
millions of dollars that come along with it -- believe they have no other choice
but to keep their heads low, improve their odds to be cast in a major movie or
TV show, and stay in the closet . . . much to their agents' relief.
"It's
not in an agent's interest to tell a client to come out of the closet," Bragman
says, "They don't want to shake things up. Because, in the end, it's all about
money, and they don't want anything to hurt the bottom line."
But it's
not just agents -- gay and straight -- who play a role in the closeting of
Hollywood. According to Bragman, casting directors, the people who run the "red
flag business," are key figures in the entertainment machine. They're the ones
who say someone isn't right for this movie or that TV show, and sexual
orientation is part of their decision process.
"They won't tell you
that," says Bragman, noting that he's heard "horror stories" from gay clients
about the way casting directors treated them because of their homosexuality.
Amazingly, Bragman says, "some of the biggest offenders" of this kind of
institutionalized homophobia "are the gayest people in town."
The public
relations guru, though, counts Todd Holland -- the openly gay, Emmy-winning director who caused a major
controversy over the weekend when he revealed that he advises young, gay male
actors to "stay in the closet" -- as one of the "good guys" in Hollywood.
"He's always been there for gay causes," Bragman says of Holland, who's
not his client. "He's one of the good guys in the industry, and he's one of the
good guys in the gay community."
Yet Bragman doesn't dish out Holland's
brand of advice. Over the years, Bragman has helped actor Dick Sargent,
basketball stars John
Amaechi and Sheryl Swoopes, and politician Sheila Kuehl come out of the
closet, as well as many others.
"What I always tell young actors is that
they have to follow their heart," Bragman says. "My personal shoes is that I
would rather be out of the closet and be happy."
Bragman adds, "In all
the time I've helped people come out, I've never had someone tell me they were
sorry about it."
The Hollywood insider thinks the public is far ahead of
the casting directors, agents and studio execs in accepting gay actors as
heterosexual characters on the screen.
"Girls don't look at Cheyenne
Jackson and say, 'He's gay, I'm not turned on,'" Bragman explains. "They
think he's hot. They don't care. We're in a whole different
world."
Bragman believes some day soon a talented, gay, male actor will
take it upon himself to fight the machine, come out and, if he's not there
already, land himself on the A-list with a hit movie -- and remain on it.
"We will have our leading man, our action hero," says Bragman. "It's
coming. It's coming. Maybe it'll be Cheyenne. He has everything it takes to be a
superstar."
Contact Patrick Range McDonald at pmcdonald@laweekly.com.