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Rewatched La La Land the other night and the way actors are portrayed really felt reminiscent of how many designers are treated in my experience. There are a lot of us, and I can only imagine what % never get published.
And the hardest part of that truth is that it's not even just bad games getting shoved to the side. This is from a well-known design contest's results over the last few years. The green cells are games that have been signed (to my knowledge, I looked into every game)
In the film they also show Mia, the protagonist, going to auditions where there are basically look-a-likes and let's face it - a lot of designers look the same. Not only that, a lot of our GAMES look the same too. JASE is a term for a reason after all.
I will concede that most designers aren't in it as their career, just a side thing, which isn't the same for actors. The up-sides for designers are much smaller than for literally any acting gig.
But in the same way most designers need a publisher (I understand self-publishing is a real option, but the costs are real), most actors need to get cast for a production.
And on top of that the constant cold-calls and auditions that actors have to go through, hearing no over and over, can be very similar to going from pitch meeting to meeting and not getting anywhere. One of my first cons was especially savage, but that's a story for another day.
It's probably because it's commonly on my mind, but this was felt like a glaring comparison in the movie. I doubt most people would think to compare the two, but as someone who has actually been involved in both it feels surprisingly apt.
Let me leave you with a banger from La La Land if you haven't seen it recently, or if you've yet to see it. All the songs are great, but this is one hits the right spot for me right now.
