When I started in show business I thought I would have made it by now. I envisioned myself on any number of TV shows, I really didn't figure my disability into the equation. I started rehearsals for my first play "Caine Mutiny Court Martials,"
way back in 1980. I had only been taking acting classes about a year. I was such a babe in the woods! I knew nothing about
the inner workings of Hollywood. Nothing about the percentage of
disabled roles in the media, had never heard the expression performers
with disabilities, and basically didn't know squat about the business I
would still be in twenty-eight years later. Thinking back, it's probably a good thing I was so naive. I might have given up if I realized how much of a long shot being successful was even if I wasn't disabled.
I was still pretty naive when Highway to Heaven came along. I had been taking acting classes and auditioning here and there for about three and half years. Getting a guest starring role on a popular TV series figured right into my planse. After my second year on Highway to Heaven I considered myself to be a success. I
was working fairly regularly, I always knew what my next job was going
to be. I was sure that being the star of my own TV series was right
around the corner. I was recognized all over the world, I rarely had
to audition for parts, industry people knew who I was, I was getting
to be a name. Then, Highway to Heaven ended and jobs stopped coming.
No matter what I did, I wasn't getting higher hired. People were
quickly forgetting who I was. My fame went away in a flash. What else
could it be? It must have been because I was a quadriplegic.
It was a great theory, an even better excuse. The problem was, it wasn't true. The exact same thing had happened to several of my actor friends, good-looking, able-bodied guys. One actor, Terence Knox, was the star of Tour of Duty, one of my favorite shows. He told me that while the series was on the air he bought a house in the Hollywood Hills, drove a cool car, and had a hot girlfriend. When the series ended he lost the house, the car and the girlfriend. He told me straight out to stop blaming it on my disability, "It's Hollywood."
It's only in the last few years that I consider myself knowledgeable about the inner workings of Hollywood. I have several projects including "The Hollywood Quad" that I am actively shopping around town. Shopping means that I call up networks and production companies, tell them about whichever project of mine I think is right for what they do, and try and convince them to read it or watch it. Then if they pass on it, I make sure the door is open for me to bring other projects to them. For example, a few people have passed on the "The Hollywood Quad", but they all told me that I'm welcome to bring other projects to them. That is huge!
What is success to me? I think I've talked about it in earlier blogs, but to bring you up to speed, success in the mind of Jim Troesh will arrive when I can afford to live on my own without the aid of government assistance. Thank God I live in a country that provides opportunities for disabled people. I have friends from third World countries where the disabled, if they can't fend for themselves, live extremely short lives. I know that is, depending on the state you live in, assistance for the disabled falls far short of where it needs to be. I have been blessed to have had badly needed help come to my rescue and save me from being put in a nursing home. (a story you can all read about in my autobiography "Don't Make Me Get Out Of This Chair" that I'm writing.)
That is it for now, my friends. I will make sure my next blog goes up in a much more timely manner. I'm aiming for less than a week before my next entry.
