Hold on to those coattails, buddy

I’ve always known that this city is saturated with leeches. You know, people riding on the coattails of their successful family member or friend. It seems that famous people are always just one degree away. “[Famous action director] is my 40-year-old boyfriend.” “[Famous director] is my brother.” “I’m [famous actor]’s cousin.”

And sometimes those people become successful. You can argue that talent and hard work are required at some point to really make it. Or not. Who knows?

But never have I seen such a blatant attempt to use someone else’s fame for their own success as in a recent email I received from a famous film director’s UNCLE. Here’s a sample of the email after I asked him what he was looking for me to write:

“i was trying to give u a story of one of the most famous directors in LA, You obvious dont have a clue to who [famous director] is?
I found u online, never read anything you wrote, I was giving you an opportunity of a life time , to interview my life , which is probably one of the most thrilling stories of our time , We have written a script on the story of my life called — which will knock you of your chair, Being am his uncle i thought it might be something you might of been interested in . LA times journalist approached me coming out of [director’s] house last year. and i said no , but i think its just the right time in my life , my projects, and my story.”

Now, I know a PR sceme when I see one, but I was shocked with how aggressive he got so quickly. I do of course know who this director is (and had double-checked with him that this was in fact his uncle), but I can’t quite see how this uncle thinks that any REAL journalist wouldn’t be able to see right through this poorly written attempt to sell the director’s story as his own.

I’m keeping this anonymous because I don’t want said UNCLE to receive any publicity from me, since that’s what he was going for in the first place. And I doubt this is the director’s fault, so he doesn’t deserve the bad press. And who knows, maybe the UNCLE’s intentions were genuine, but I think the words speak for themselves.

I wish people like this all the best. And I’m sure some of them make it. But their hands must get so tired from gripping so tightly on their relative’s coattails.