Author: Madeline Merritt

Actress, Freelance Writer - Madeline grew up on stage and has loved telling stories her whole life. From the Bay Area, California, Madeline received her degree in Theatre and Political Science from Northwestern University and moved to Los Angeles in 2008. She recently spent a year in Paris, France but missed the city of Angels and the entertainment industry here. She cares deeply about social issues, including women’s rights, indigenous rights, poverty and the environment. She feels the role of storyteller through entertainment is very important in opening dialogue and creating change in the world. You can see her in The Guest House (available on Netflix, Itunes, Amazon and Time Warner on Demand) and the soon to be released American Idiots, coming to a Redbox near you in June 2013. She is thrilled to continue her journey of collaborating with women in film and television through Ms. In the Biz.

This is not a political post. This is not a political post. I repeat, this is not a political post. This post is a call to action. As Ms. In The Biz moves on to a new phase as an archived resource that can be perused for years to come (I for one am excited to finally catch up on all the incredible tools and advice that have come into the world through this collaboration), I reflect on how empowering the site has been in my own process of reclaiming my voice as a media artist. When I started writing…

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As much as acting is a craft defined by bringing forth a person in a different set of circumstances than your own life, as one becomes more experienced in the art-form, an interesting paradox emerges where it becomes vital to know self, so that honest reactions take place in real time. Especially while working on camera every thought is captured in the eyes; small shifts of emotion and presence in the moment are absolutely apparent to the lens. The more one acts, the less about “acting” it becomes, and the goal, if there is one, is to stay present and…

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When is the last time you had butterflies? During a particularly engaging date last week, or every morning when you wake up next to your beloved? Maybe that feeling is a distant memory, with a love long ago ended, or when your now deeply intimate relationship was brand new. Most of us creative types, as we dance in the world of emotion and human experience, cherish that uncertain, exciting feeling of that brand new potential love, the many possible visions stretching out before us into the horizon. A crush can take us by absolute surprise, and sticks us in the…

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Most artists harbor closely held limiting beliefs about themselves. Especially actors. We are naturally incredibly sensitive people, empaths, and storytellers. The stories we tell ourselves about our inner worth can have an incredible impact on our career, and they can be completely false. These stories are often residual from our early years (remember the kid who teased you for singing too loudly, or the director in the middle school play who told you he gave you a smaller role because you thought too much of yourself? Yeah, me too…) These stories may also be the ones we develop over years…

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The New Year starts unsympathetically for entertainment creatives. It’s like a race official says, “ready… GO!” and completely forgets to give you that much needed “set”. So as artists, we need a massive internal bang that will lead us off to the races: to positive, groundbreaking, gangbusters career growth. We have hopes and goals, intentions of focus: to grow as artists and business people. Yet we may also have to face heaps of self-sabotage, heaps of mental detritus and doubt that we really can make a difference THIS year. Our own minds (our allies in creativity) can be our greatest…

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All of us creatives are trying to achieve the nearly impossible: to make art that connects the world, to make our voices count, to affect change, to spread laughter, to create catharsis and belonging. We are sensitive humans with something to say. We see the way the world is connected, and we want to reach out and touch as much of the world as we possibly can. Yet we are doing this in a reality where cat videos will be cooler than us every day of the week, probably for eternity. We are trying to get a foot in the…

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If you are a generous person and live your career in service: offering help when needed, opening your heart to vulnerability in your performances, and creating art with integrity, you will most certainly encounter a destroyer archetype on your path. This person may want to take your work and not give you credit, or they see the joy in what you do and feel their own desperation, their own lack of joy, and want to hurt you. They may have so much repressed rage that they want to kill your inner artist; they may want to stop you in your…

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In my acting class this week I did a scene that rocked me. Titled, “Rape Victim Doesn’t Have a Case,” it touched something deep within me: anger and sadness, bordering on despair, at the reality of rape in American society. In the scene I play a sexual violence specialist in a prosecutor’s office. As I listen to the young victim (probably the 5th I’ve seen this week) tell her story, it dawns on me that we have none of the necessary elements to make a case against her coworker/rapist. Even though she happens to be intelligent, employed, Caucasian, by all…

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I’m going to say it directly: right now, I’m sad; really, really sad. It’s that kind of unidentifiable sadness that slurps up from the depths of your being, crying out for attention, crying out for redirection. A lot of this sadness is old: as I dive deeper into my acting work and the alchemy of therapy I have encountered these younger versions of myself I thought were safely tucked away, these wounded young girls that are finally ready to be integrated. It is powerful, deeply healing work: bringing these little girls into the light, letting them be seen, letting them…

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I have a confession: lately I haven’t had that, “Eureka!” jump-start, super-energized and amazingly inspired euphoria that I’ve grown used to experiencing in unpredictable cycles as I navigate my creative life. Do you ever get that manic career boost? Suddenly all these things you put off forever get done, you drop 5 pounds off a master cleanse, and you feel like a bodhisattva as you pass out extra cashews and coconut water at auditions, and even let that jerk cut you off without a honk as you navigate rush hour traffic for your “other” job, because you are suddenly super…

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I’ve been going through a challenging time. My vibrant, generous, loving step-grandmother Arna, who has been part of my life since I was three years old, is dying of cancer. When I look for one example of the artist in my family, she has always been it. Arna Means creates drawings and etchings and paintings. She taught English, Art and Special Education across northern California for 50 years before retiring. She has been making and selling her stirring works since the 1960s, and has raised an impassioned family that now stretches four generations. She has become a fixture in her…

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Spring is the season when we plant our seeds. They will be nurtured by April showers (please return to us, April showers!) sprout and grow, to be harvested in the fall and stored over the winter months, digested, and re-sowed with new dreams and goals in the following cycle. In many traditions this time of planting: of crops and of dreams, marks the New Year. As artists, Spring is the time when we reinvent ourselves: new headshots, new representation, new classes, updating our website, and expanding our network with casting directors and other artists. Spring brings new opportunities to dream…

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Your “to do” list is probably a mile long. It has old crumbly objectives from years ago such as: make a web-series! Create a mailing list with all my industry contacts and send out regular email updates! Build a website! Target casting directors based on my “type” who are known to cast new talent! Collaborate with a mostly or completely female cast and crew! Start my production company! Get new headshots that I LOVE! Lose five pounds! Figure out every important person in Hollywood and memorize them so I can sound REALLY on top of it at my next agency…

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If you’re anything like me you’ve always known you wanted to make moving pictures. You were inspired by the epic stories of your childhood that lit up your internal world, the self-esteem building films and television that helped you navigate the tough realms of adolescence, and the enlightening cinematic works that gave insight into life’s meaning. Magic, storytelling, performing: moving people to laughter or tears as you express the human condition through your instrument- that became your passion. Acting was something I’ve always done: in the school of life every experience brings new levels to my work as an actress.…

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