Young Hollywood, New Rules

There was a time when stars were distant, mythical, content in their own little worlds and hesitant to rock the boat. That was called the 20th century. Read on for five key ways young Hollywood is redefining show-business for the new generation:

Dealing in duality. Back in the day, movie stars did movies, TV stars wished they could do movies, singers failed miserably when they tried to act, and athletes would put out rap albums nobody would buy. Nowadays, almost everyone becomes a successful hyphenate. From Neil Patrick Harris and "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog" to Zooey Deschanel's "She & Him," and Tina Fey doing hard-core rap, the walls have come tumbling down.

Exposing themselves. The rule for young Hollywood seems to be a simple one: It isn't real until you tweet it. When Ashton Kutcher has a romance fall apart, Lindsay Lohan is accused of falling off the wagon, or Lady Gaga wants to address a controversy, the first place they turn is Twitter. For better or worse, there is no longer a filter between fame and the fan.

No shame in selling out. Jessica Alba, Justin Timberlake and Ashton Kutcher are angel investors for startups. Jessica Simpson and the Olsen twins design products for e-commerce sites. Khloe Kardashian was paid to tweet about Old Navy jeans. These days, Interpol is selling AT&T, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros sing for the NFL, and "How You Like Me Now" by the Heavy is selling everything from Miller Lite to the Kia Sorrento to movies like "The Change-Up" and "Ted." Face it folks: To this generation, the phrase "selling out" is as antiquated as "cassette tape."

Letting you into the party. In years past, a velvet-rope mentality existed in Hollywood: Either you were cool enough to participate in the stars' private conversations, or you settled for second-hand gossip from the media. These days, someone like Twitter-loving comedian Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) will rant to his nearly 1 million followers that not enough people realize women are responsible for many of our greatest films, to which Oscar-nominated actress Anna Kendrick can tweet, "I could kiss you on the mouth right now." From Lindsay Lohan getting mad at Jimmy Fallon to Justin Bieber simply telling Adam Levine "loving the new album bro," Twitter has made us all Hollywood insiders able to peek into the conversations of stars — and often interject our own thoughts.

Nerding out. Barely one generation ago, being labeled a "nerd" would preface a harsh wedgie and a broken pair of eyeglasses. Now, comedian Chris Hardwick's "Nerdist" empire has a huge following for its site, podcast, YouTube channel and other pursuits. And proud geeks like Seth Green, Zachary Levi and Felicia Day boast millions of followers as they profess their love for "Star Wars," "Dr. Who" and cosplay. Let's face it: Technology is cool, and now that we all have a supercomputer in our pocket, the geeks have gladly taken over.