Connections Don’t Always Spell Career Success

It’s hard to feel sorry for Randy Spelling and Sean Stewart.

Randy’s father, the late Aaron Spelling, made millions as a producer of television shows, affording Randy and his sister, Tori, a life of extreme luxury. Sean Stewart is a member of Rod Stewart’s ever-expanding brood and also enjoyed a life of privilege and parties.

Yet, the men, now in their twenties, view their last names as a burden as they strive for success in their chosen careers. Randy is an actor, and Sean is a singer.

The duo allows us ordinary folk into their purportedly glamorous yet stressful lives via their TV show, Sons of Hollywood. Sean sings the show’s theme song: Born into fame in Hollywood/Great connections with no direction/Still misunderstood.

To bring some clarity to their predicament and to promote their creative projects, Randy and Sean go on a radio show. On the subject of having a famous name, Randy says, “I think the biggest misconception is because of my last name, and maybe because of Sean’s last name, people think ‘oh they’re just a Paris Hiltonish type’ … Because of my last name, I can get into the door, but it’s harder for me, because I have to be better … because of nepotism, all eyes are on me to be bad and not good …”

“You have to close the deal,” says the radio host (C. Thomas Howell of The Outsiders fame, incidentally).

Actually, Sean and Randy have an agent to handle their deal-closing. He is featured on the show, even though he is not the son of anyone famous. He seems to do most of the talking where business is concerned, especially for the inarticulate Sean, as well as squire his clients to appointments so they get there on time. The three live together in a spacious, gaudy pad with a pool.

Like I said, it’s hard to get the sympathy emotions flowing.

Sean is the higher maintenance of the two, an alcoholic attempting to leave booze behind, “because it always leads back to pills.” He resents his father, who was on tour for much of his childhood.

The elder Stewart advises his son against a career in music, suggesting his son doesn’t have the talent. Wounded, Sean interprets his father’s words as jealousy over his youth and good looks. In reality, his father knows a thing or two about the music industry, and is probably offering solid, if soul-crushing, advice. (In the show’s theme song, Sean sounds to my ears no better or worse than most of what passes for pop music today. Just a layperson’s opinion.)

Comparatively, Randy has a better shot at career success. He does not have the baggage of bitterness toward his parents. He speaks respectfully of his father and treats his mother with kindness, unlike Sean who tells his mother she needs to get laid.

But Randy appears aimless in his professional life, grasping at films small-time enough to regard him as a big star. He might be more suited to producing, but that would be too close to his father’s turf.

When following in a successful relative’s footsteps, it makes sense to veer a bit from the Successful One’s path in hopes of avoiding daily, blow-by-blow comparisons.

This was my strategy.

Like Randy and Sean, I grabbed on the coattails of a family member who toiled for years in a competitive industry before I declared it my chosen field as well. When I came into journalism at age twenty-three, I started at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, whereas my sister started fifteen years earlier at the much smaller Jackson Clarion-Ledger.

I did not drop her name in the interview, which I got with help from her assistant, who saw the job posting and hand-delivered my resume. The job was an obituary clerk, a position that did not require a college degree or journalism experience. I was over-qualified. Still, there were a lot of applicants.

Once I got the job, I resisted the temptation to disclose my family connection. I moved up by working hard and getting several well-timed lucky breaks. Still, other clerks gossiped about the supposed secret of my success.

In the end, the best response to skeptics is producing quality work.

My sister and I have worked in the newspaper business together for fourteen years, and because we have different specialties and, now, different last names, many of our colleagues don’t know we’re related.

In delivering quality, Sean and Randy are struggling. Yes, Randy gets acting jobs. But he is stuck with lame material. And Sean, who has a record deal, can barely drag himself to his vocal lessons.

Both lack confidence. “I don’t believe in myself,” Sean says, “and that all stems from my dad telling me I can’t do this.”

Neither appears to have much of a work ethic. They spend a lot of time frolicking among other bored, young Hollywood types. Yet Sean declares: “Growing up in my father’s shadow… it’s obvious I’m going to have to work ten times harder on my career, to show everybody that I can do it. Trust me, things are not handed to people in this town.”

Did I mention this guy has a record deal?

What jumps off the page with Randy, Sean, and other celebrity kids who amuse themselves and feed their egos by starring in reality shows, is that for all the wealth they grew up around, they come across as tragically uneducated.

Show biz parents who want their kids to stand on their own as adults would probably get better results if they invested in education. Instead, their kids appear uncomfortable in their parents’ careers, but untrained for anything else.

Now that I think about it, I do feel sorry for Randy Spelling and Sean Stewart.