My buddy Kiran Rao appeared in an episode of Alias a few weeks ago which I gratuitously advertised on my blog.   He published a write up of the experience on his website that gives you a bit of insight into the "day to day" Hollywood scene. 

Whenever I visit him down in la la land, I'm constantly impressed by how much of Hollywood is actually quite decidedly "middle class."   It's quite far from my expectations of a bifurcated society of hyper-rich stars and power brokers on the one hand and wannabe starving actors-cum-waiters on the other.   In actuality, there are legions of actors / actresses / behind-the-camera types who make relatively comfortable livings at the periphery of the power centers.

A few excerpts:

	Casting call >> [a] traditional cattle call, consisting of nearly 20-30 actors, most of whom are friends. The Shoot >> ...there was a shot where the heroes of the story (Jennifer Garner, Victor Garber, and Lena Olin) recover their guns and go M16-happy on myself and remaining bad guys. I might have felt strange pulling the trigger before, it was my turn to bleed now.
Kiran making peace with his inner child. I wonder if he got to keep the wardrobe afterwards