Its been a crazy month since I last wrote here. Many ups and downs. I will share one with you here. This post is about trying to stay positive when things seem so wildly unpredictable and hard.
I had the good fortune to book my first SAG national commercial last month. And then my second.
The first one was a big production, many actors hired, many locations used. I went into it very excited, I mean this is a mile stone for us actors in our careers. I was very grateful for the audition, the callback and the notice that I had Booked It! The shoot went well, I met some really fun talented people on set and went home feeling like anything was possible. As fate would have it… I saw the commercial and I was not in it, nor was anyone else I shot with that day. I know this happens all the time but when it happens to you, it feels pretty drastic. I went from on top of the world to under a rock in 5 seconds. I sat with it for a day and worked it out in my mind. I had been paid for the day of work, met some great people and I did move forward in my career, even though it didn’t pan out exactly as I had wanted it to. I share this story because I think it’s so important to keep yourself in check, it is easy to get mad, or jaded when these things happen and we have to fight to stay positive, see the good things and move on to the next opportunity, because there will be many more down the line.
The second commercial shoot was just as epic, a great director fun actors and beautiful location. A great experience … we will see if and when it airs if I made this one.. fingers crossed guys.
This is just one of the several things that happened over the last month that was challenging to my mind set. I have been struggling lately with the buisness in general and the feeling that I am treading water, rather than making upward progress. But I guess we all feel that way and we just have to keep trying until we break through.
It’s a long bumpy ride. Hang in there. I know that’s easy advice to give, and not easy advice to take. I go about it in several different ways. I do something for my career every single day, unless I am taking a vacation from the biz or life in general. I submit on Actors Access and LA Casting which makes me feel like I am at least keeping an eye on the projects available to us actors to submit for on our own. I also have a list of industry people, CD’s, Directors, Writers that I would love to work with … I do some research on them every week to see if they have anything new in the works to read up on. I am constantly reading articles on the business to keep current with what is going on out there. Basically I just try to feel like an active participant each and every day so that I feel like I have a hand in my own career. Does it feel like it’s working… uh… well…that’s hard to keep tabs on really. I do get auditions from the submission sites, that I go on to keep practicing my audition technique. And I do feel like I am part of the industry even if it’s not in the way I hope to be someday.
In addition, I have found especially lately, over the slow and daunting summer months that it’s so important to have other interests and hobbys. I am taking guitar lessons and rock climbing and hosting an indy concert series on my deck ( www.deckopark.com) to keep myself part of the world that is not the entertainment industry. It’s so hard to see our day to day progress as actors, it’s hard to set exact goals, and then do a, b and c to reach those goals, I find that having other things in my life where those types of goals can be set, defined and met really help keep my head on straight.
Keep fighting the good fight ladies and gents.