Casting About

LET'S ALL GO TO THE LOBBY

Like it or not, the best way to get noticed for an Emmy isn't on the small screen- it's in personal appeal

Hugh Laurie of Fox's "House" is a a bit mystified by the whole Primetime Emmy process - and just how as an actor he's expected to go about getting one. "I'm not really sure what any of it means to be considered and then to win," he says. "But the idea of flogging one's candidacy and then being brokenhearted at not being nominated is baffling. It isn't why you do the work. The truth is, I'm not certain why we do it. Oh yes, that's right - the love of it."

Few performers would ever admit to purposefully seeking out Emmy attention. Copping to that is a bit tacky, not to mention self-aggrandizing. But somebody is behind the big push for actors who want awards, and don't think it's just the studios. Even if one could attribute all of the screeners sent out, ads crafted, personal appearances scheduled and campaigns masterminded to agents, managers, networks, publicists and studios, it's the actor who ultimately employs all of those folks. Says James Woods (who has won two Primetime Emmys and might be up for another this year, thanks to his guest role on NBC's "ER"), "It's amazing how many actors get inspired during Oscar and Emmy season to visit the Motion Picture & Television Fund retirement home to lobby shamelessly."

The truth is that it typically costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to effectively plug the Emmy candidacy of a given series actor. "For Your Consideration" trade advertising alone runs in the tens of thousands. The elaborate packaging accompanying at-home DVD screeners can run into the low millions of dollars in design, duplication, materials and postage costs. But the prevailing belief is that this is simply the price that must be paid to get a name on the Emmy map, or to keep it on the kudofest radar year after year. One of the dirty little secrets of the awards business is that there is an inverse relationship between what is spent to hype an acting candidate and success in landing the desired nominations and wins.

"If you want an Emmy, you've got to go out and campaign for it to some extent," believes CBS' "Without a Trace" star Anthony LaPaglia, a 2004 Emmy nominee for lead drama series actor. "We can't sit here and pretend like we don't."

Adds ABC's "Lost" regular Evangeline Lilly, who is seeking her first Emmy nom, "My policy when I got into the industry was 'no kissing ass.' But (now), I can see it's not quite so absolute."

"It makes me a little nauseous to see those 'For Your Consideration' ads in the trades," admits Rainn Wilson, a supporting comedy actor contender this year for NBÇ's "The Office." "But I understand where people are coming from. It's just part of the game."

If one must sell one's soul to land an Emmy nomination, Jon Cryer of CBS' "Two and Half Men: - a contender this year for a comedy supporting actor nod - might deal. "You don't get into acting so no one will know you're alive," he says. "But you can't will it to happen, you know? To some degree, early on, the press decides you're either one of the cool kids, or you're not."

A veteran like Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who was nominated seven times for her role on "Seinfeld" and won once in 1996, is considered a favorite for her new CBS midseason comedy, "The New Adventures of Old Christine." She's all too familiar with the "weird dance" actors have to perform in the awards-promotion process.

"You have to have a healthy ego in the first place to be selling yourself," she says, " and no matter what we say, we all must to a certain degree. We, after all, are the product. But you have to work really hard, and at the same time, pretend that you don't care."

Yet, there is one person who makes no bones about the need to hype his product for Emmy accolades: Marty Ingles, longtime husband and manager to Oscar-winning singer-actress Shirley Jones. He has lodged a one-man advertising and marketing blitz to land his wife an Emmy nomination for her supporting work on the Hallmark Channel film "Hidden Places." Ingels estimates that he has spent more than $80,000 on her campaign this year.

"It's a comeback for Shirley that I want to be sure doesn't get ignored," Ingels says. "But if I don't call attention to it, no one knows. So, it's worth every penny."