Finding some Olympic Inspiration

I love the Olympics.  Every four years I completely forgo sleep and watch as many events as possible.  The work the athletes put into their sports is awe-inspiring.  So, what's the Olympics have to do with acting?  Well, I've related actors to athletes before, especially when it comes to training.  To be good at anything you need to practice - lots.

One thing training gives you is a place to turn when you hit a snag or run out of steam or things just aren't going your way.  There is the story of Michael Phelps winning a race even though his goggles filled with water and he couldn't see.  He trained so thoroughly that his body knew how many strokes away the wall was and he didn't need to see it to know when to touch.

When you see a gymnast falter during a routine and fall off an apparatus, they get back on and finish with their back arched.  The ability to push slip-ups out of their mind and simply continue is all because of their training.  They are able to do this because they have done this routine so much that their body has the muscle memory of it, they don't have to think.

Actors are the same.  When you are tired, facing hour 12 on set, and have to create an emotion filled scene; it is your training that will get you through.  By training so much that you can do it without thinking.  Actors can create the same muscle memory through training in their craft.

The American Skeet Shooter, Kim Rhode, who won gold in her fifth consecutive Olympics shoots between 500-1,000 rounds a day, everyday.  She figures she has over 3 million targets under her belt.  That is what it takes to be a champion.  How much time do you spend working on your craft?

Well, I have some more swimming and gymnastics to watch.  Go team USA!!!

 

Being Okay with Failure

I fixate on things.  When something goes wrong I can't stop thinking about it, worrying about it, and going over everything that I could have done differently.  Simply put it is hard for me to let things go.

This can be stifling both in my career and in my art.  I take criticism to heart more than I should; and when you put yourself out there on places like FunnyorDie or YouTube you can get a lot of criticism.  Here is a quote my friend, Karen Weza, put on Facebook the other day:

To avoid criticism do nothing, say nothing, be nothing.    -Elbert Hubbard

It's true that no matter what you do someone is going to find fault in it.  If you go around worrying what other people think or if you are going to fail, it can be very difficult to start anything.  This is a battle I have most days.  Once I start something I'm fine, it's the actually getting up off the couch that I find nearly impossible.

One big reason you can't let fear of failure stop you is because it doesn't matter.  Seriously, what's going to happen if you fail?  Unless you are jumping out of plane, failing generally isn't a life-or-death situation.  Okay, so you fail or someone on the internet says mean things about you or things don't happen how you planned - then what?

Then you get up and try again a little differently - the important thing is to keep going forward.  Like I said before Failure is Never Trying.

So, go forth and FAIL.  Seriously, get up and fail in as dramatic a fashion as possible, because this time might be the time that you surprise yourself and SUCCEED.

Know What Play You Are In

Over this past weekend, I attended a panel for The Hobbit at Comic Con.  You can read my musings about this panel at the guest blog I wrote for The List Film Podcast.  Besides all the geeking out over Peter Jackson and getting to watch 12 minutes of footage from the movie, there were some acting lessons to learn from the extremely talented folks on the panel.

Martin Freeman said something that really stuck with me:

You have to know what play you are in and what your role is in that play.  Bilbo [the lead character in The Hobbit] is in a lot of ways the eyes and ears of the audience.  He needs to be relatable.

As an actor it's your job to know how you fit within the entire story that you are telling.  This is true if you are a small or large part.  Every character is there for a reason and everything you do as an actor in that role must serve the story as a whole.  Plus you have to understand what type of play or movie you are in.  Although, the basics of acting by being truthful in imaginary situation are always the same, the way you chose to portray your character can be very different in a broad comedy vs a period drama.

Many actors don't seem to understand that and all they do is learn their own lines, hardly bothering to read anyone else's lines much less reading the scenes that they aren't in.

In the Game of Thrones panel, Michelle Fairley (she plays Catelyn Stark), spoke of the importance of her scripts.  She says everything she needs to know is in the script and she reads it over and over again to gleam every bit of information she can from it.

I've gone on a rant before on how annoying I find it when actors say they don't watch TV.  But, it can be bad for your career if you don't because if you are auditioning for a television show you really need to know how your character fits in with the show as a whole.  Because it is your job to be part of a story that is already being told.

What are your Priorities?

I don't seem to be able to book commercials.  Maybe it's my face or maybe I'm a little too sarcastic, I dunno.  People just don't seem to want me to sell their stuff.  I came to an unusual realization: I don't care.

It's not that I wouldn't love to be the new face of some national commercial campaign, because trust me I would love that paycheck.  It's just that I can't make getting a commercial a priority in my life.  I can't let it bother me that I'm not the next Bud Lite girl.  It's not worth the energy. 

My priorities right now are on creating my own work.  I look at people like Brit Marling who are really making it happen for themselves.  For those who don't know she wrote and produced two movies in Sundance the same year and I highly recommend her movie, "Sound of my Voice."  She is writing roles she wants to play and that is what I want to do.  I think creating your own stuff may be the best way to be in the films you truly want to work on.  To get them seen by other people you need to make them look really good and that is where my priorities lie.

When I say I am not going to prioritize working on things like commercials, I don't mean that I won't go on auditions when they come up.  I will and will do my best on them.  But, in my spare time I will focus on writing and producing my own stuff. 

And cast myself as the star.