I am sitting here staring at the page.
I want to write something inspiring and insightful about being in the entertainment industry yet all that comes to mind is a voice yelling “tell anyone starting not to do it, you will have a life of constant chasing and longing and thinking the next thing just may be the thing!”
I hate to be a ‘ Neg Bomb”, a term recently brought to my attention. It means a person who is so negative they are affecting everything and everyone around them
However the cold hard facts are 99 percent of people’s experience of the entertainment industry is that of ‘a chase’, a challenge stuffed full of many hopes that the next job will be the catalyst that changes everything. I can’t know how the one percent feel, I would think Halle Berry, Jennifer Aniston, Brad Pitt and Angie don’t worry about the next role or maintaining the momentum – maybe they do. However, I guess they hope for the momentum to shift and slow down so that one day they will be able to run out for milk without their picture ending up in every magazine….who am I kidding they don’t drink milk.
The thing is, I have learned there is an illusion or delusion when it comes to momentum.
I believe it is dangerous to think one will always build on momentum, build on the next job and move up, up, up. First of all it is hard to determine which way is up and the fact is no one’s career is a perfect diagonal line on a graph.
Shows are cancelled (even when they are hits), parts recast after the pilot, people fired on a whim.
Wow, maybe I am a “Neg Bomb” Okay time to turn it around.
What I would say to someone entering the industry isn’t “don’t do it”, it would be “don’t be tricked by the illusion of momentum.”
In the entertainment industry one moment you are riding high and then all of sudden there is nothing going on. NO yes’s. What one must remember is that this is okay, momentum always shifts again and there is a lesson to take as well.
Stay present.
Stay present and always soak up the moment. Don’t get caught in the thoughts of where it is leading good or bad. Do not think about what could happen after the audition, the show, the part, the play etc.
Hmmm sounds like a very familiar thing all actors know. Stay present, as it is also the key to great acting. Staying present in the moment is a valuable lesson to transfer to every part of our lives and I believe the secret to a great experience in the entertainment industry.
We cannot know what is coming next, good or bad and so all we can do is enjoy what we have today. We must enjoy the audition we are doing in that moment no matter if it leads to the part, the series, the commercial – enjoy it for what it is.
This line from the poem, “With Every Goodbye You Learn,” sums it up.
“And you learn to build all your roads on today
Because tomorrow’s ground is too uncertain for plans
And futures have a way of falling down in mid-flight”
I believe this is the secret to happiness and to success.
Tonight I put a voice over audition on tape while cramped in a closet with a blanket over my head. Sweating with a kink in my neck I had a fantastic time. I did take after take trying to get it just right, I picked one and sent it off. That is all I need to take from that audition – I was lucky enough to create for a part of my day. If I get the part great but I can safely say I enjoyed the experience itself. I built my road on today.