WRITERS

I was watching Dustin Hoffman on the Actor's Studio (with that awful man, Lipton, but the concept is good) and he was relating the story of Olivier's last dinner with him. When he asked Olivier why he "did what he did", Olivier leaned over the table and said "Notice me. Notice me. Notice me."

And the funny thing was that it took me back to my first play and a line in it that was so true, it startles me even now. I wrote "Osmosis" in the first person and the line I remember was "Notice me, but don't let me see you do it." And that is the difference between actors and writers. Actors live for the attention. Writers live for the attention once removed. But we both need it. The attention.