DUKE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD

Pretend for a second that West Main Street is Santa Monica Boulevard, and that the Liggett and Meyers Tobacco sign soaring over Brightleaf Square is more like a Scarlett-on-Sunset billboard. Turn those pine trees into palms, those red bricks into Spanish tiles, and then for one last movement of the imagination, transform Alivia's Durham Bistro into The Ivy. This is where you'll find the five girls of Brickhouse-the name of their off-East Campus home-sipping coffee and tea on a lazy Wednesday afternoon: physically in downtown Durham, but dreaming of the Los Angeles lifestyle that they're planning to lead after graduation.

Senior housemates Meredith Musselman, Colleen Rafferty, Andrea Pemberton, Nicole Shabtai, and Sarah McCue represent the small contingency of each graduating class that bolts for the West Coast to chase Hollywood dreams. At a university where significant emphasis is placed on pre-professionalism and lucrative first jobs, the choice to chase after high-risk Industry opportunities such as acting and screenwriting is among the least likely of pursuits.

"It's important to explore your options before you throw yourself into one forever-really-invested job," Musselman says. And though the conventional Hollywood story advises against creative dreamers, the girls-none of whom has ever lived in Los Angeles-plan to make the trip west in September.

"It's something we should see and do," Rafferty says. "It's not a question of why anymore. It's kind of like 'Why not?'"

The five did not make the collective commitment to move until after sharing a creative experience. When Musselman and Rafferty wrote a script for their Theater Studies Senior Colloquium, the whole house got involved. Thrilled by the product and inspired by the group effort, the girls became convinced that they should continue to pursue these sorts of passions in a professional setting.

"The five of us all have these really great talents and we love living together, and we all want to go out there and experience it," Pemberton says. But she is quick to point out that they don't intend to get wrapped up in the cutthroat lifestyle of their chosen fields: "We don't feel like we're going in there to compete with people and make a place for ourselves in a certain industry in a competitive way."

"We're not going there to be famous," Shabtai says, echoing the sentiment. "If it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out."

Here's where the girls' story splits off from the conventional Hollywood narrative of desperation and survival. Regardless of their successes and failures, they have the built-in safety net of a Duke degree. For others, missing a big break means bankruptcy and a crawl back to wherever they came from. For the Duke student, it means merely the potential late embrace of the opportunities that classmates had taken advantage of after graduation.

Shabtai's brother is an actor and her sister is an actress and writer. Now that she's set to pursue her own writing and acting her mother jokes, "Oh great, we're going to have a family full of waiters."

Friends tend to react with more skeptical support. "I always feel like there's something behind their eyes that's like: I'll see you in a few years," Rafferty says. But McCue elaborates, "People are excited at first, impressed-and then immediately they ask, 'What are you going to do?"

And that's the real question. "We kind of have a place that we know we're going to, but we're not exactly sure what we're doing yet," Pemberton says. Screenwriters and actresses, the girls have yet to find a place to work or live. One just wouldn't know it by the confidence and air of invincibility they exude when discussing future plans.

They haven't quite figured out the 'What' so much as the 'Why,' and an embrace of the passionate, creative adventure has come to drive the whole process. And they're all perfectly up front about it.

Maybe they're the only screenwriters and actresses at Duke who care enough to put it all on the line. But what about when they get to L.A., sit down in a Santa Monica coffee shop, and realize that all eighteen other people sipping fair-trade brew are feverishly tapping out their version of the screenplay that will single-handedly save the fledgling creativity of Hollywood? What then?

"It's totally inspiring," Musselman says. The eyes of the other four light up. "To be in that kind of environment is really inspirational. It's more invigorating than anything else. I don't think it'll be intimidating."

But even with talent and passion, the lack of professional and social networks makes Thompson most skeptical about the chances of Duke graduates stumbling into the Industry-it's hard to deny that they're already behind students from the University of Southern California or UCLA who have spent four years making connections and living the L.A. life.

"A Duke student cannot pop into L.A. and compete with a USC student," Thompson says. "No one knows you, you don't have connections.... [The USC student] knows Hollywood etiquette: how to dress, what's cool, how to act with celebrities. [Duke students] know where to get good barbeque."

Whether seeking a high-profile internship, casting calls, or a lowly post in the mailroom of a talent agency, Thompson emphasizes the sacrifices that must be made. "You do whatever they tell you to do," he says. "If you come out with false expectations, you're going to be crushed."

If Thompson draws the distinctive line between those who can do Hollywood and those who must do Hollywood, all evidence seems to place sophomore Scott McKenzie in the latter category. In pursuit of an Economics major and the Film/Video/Digital certificate, McKenzie spent last summer at USC exploring an interest in the business side of Hollywood. His course, "Breaking into the Film Industry," addressed practical topics like how to get meetings with the right people. Suffice to say, McKenzie confirmed his interest. "I got all wrapped up in the whole culture of California and L.A."

The Dallas native gained plenty of experience watching the Hollywood crowd react to the Duke name. "You get a significantly increased amount of respect amongst peers when you meet them," he says. "But beyond that you're way better off being in California." McKenzie plans to participate in the Duke in L.A. program next spring, and continue to build his impressive Industry network with an ABC Sports internship this summer.

While Theater Studies lends itself appropriately to the pursuit of an acting career, Duke students tend to exchange their Economics degree-at least in the short run-for cushy financial analyst positions. McKenzie does not see his Hollywood interests as working against other opportunities. "If I want to, at any point, I have the credentials to apply for those same jobs," he says. "If I go out [to L.A.] and find that's not what I want to do with my life, I'll be better prepared to do something else."

McKenzie is working late on a warm Thursday evening, the first of spring. He's on his cell phone as he drives back to West Campus after a film shoot for one of his classes. Just another hotshot producer, only this is Durham, so he's one of a kind. "You know," he says, "if I had gone to USC, I would have had better networking, film classes, it would have been cheaper because of scholarships." He pauses. "Occasionally, I'll question myself."

Over coffee and tea, the Brickhouse girls begin sorting out some more of the 'What' questions. They decide they're going to live at the beach, as part of Venice's grungy art scene. It's hard to nail down the details, but it's a close approximation of a concrete plan. They've never lived there, and they have trouble naming a Duke grad in L.A. The whole thing's still just living in their collective imagination.

"I'm writing a screenplay about the L.A. in my mind," Shabtai says. The L.A. that's just right. The post-graduation plans that pacify all the anxiety.

"At the very least, it's going to be a blast," Musselman says. And maybe that's the key: nothing to lose, everything to gain, five attractive young women talking about Hollywood on a Durham street corner, like they're already there.