Welcome back!
And thanks for reading! Acting can be a tough job. Sometimes it just feels like nothing is happening. It can be discouraging at times, and many now well-known actors were at a point in their careers where they were ready to throw in the towel just before they got their big break. An acting career requires diligence to be successful. This week let’s talk a bit about being diligent.
REMEMBER:
Just a reminder here that when I use the term “actor” I mean it to encompass all forms of acting including voice, stage, and screen. Yeah, I know I say this every week, but it falls under the heading of “The things that go without saying are the things that most need to be said”. What follows applies relatively equally to all of these forms of acting.
What is diligence?
It’ll come as no surprise to those of you who actually read this blog every week (except last week, since my life is so hectic right now I actually fogot to write!) that I’ve turned to my favorite online dictionary, Merriam-Webster to find the definition of diligence:
;steady, earnest, and energetic effort : devoted and painstaking work and application to accomplish an undertaking : assiduity
Steady, earnest, energetic, devoted and painstaking. THAT’S what you need to be to make it in this industry.
Coming up with things to write about
One of the most difficult things about writing a (mostly) weekly missive is figuring out what things to write about. And of course once finding a topic stretching that out to about 1500 words (my self-imposed word count for this blog), but that is a topic for another day. So how do I come up with a topic? Well, usually I pull from something that happened over the last week, and this week is no different.
A story
I wrote a couple weeks ago about how chaotic my life is these days buying, selling, and improving real estate, as we prepare to move to a different state. As we approach the date our house goes “live” in the real estate market it’s a scramble to get everything done. There is so much to do that in some instances we needed to hire people to help us, and this week was one of those weeks.
The house is dirty
No, not that kind of dirty. It had algae and just general filth all over it from, well, sitting outside all the time. It’s funny how you don’t notice these things until it’s time to have a million pictures taken to showcase your home for other people to want to buy it. Anyway, it needed to be pressure washed so it looks good, and it was just too big of a job for me to do myself. Besides, it is tall and I am afraid of heights. So, we hired a professional power washing company and scheduled them for last Wednesday.
We have a deadline
Pictures are on the 12th, and the yard guys are coming on the 10th to landscape, so the house needed to be cleaned by the 9th. No problem, right? We scheduled the washing for March 27th to make sure we had plenty of time to get it done before the landscapers arrive NEXT Wednesday. And then…
It rained
Under the heading of things you can’t control, it rained all day Wednesday. So, when I saw the forecast, I called the power wash guy. Of course, he can’t really work in heavy rain so needed to push off the job till the weather was better. And then it rained Thursday. And Friday.
Schedules and Deadlines
Funny thing about schedules and deadlines: They don’t always align. I wish I was his only customer, but that’s not realistic. This coming week was a full schedule for him, and he doesn’t work weekends (especially not Easter weekend) so it looked a lot like it just wasn’t going to be done in time. He wanted the job so we discussed how we might get it done and he agreed to come out Saturday to do the job, even though his wife was not really happy about it.
It’s a big house
Apparently, bidding a job based on Google Earth and pictures on Zillow is not terribly accurate. When he got here and actually saw the job, he realized he had significantly underbid. He’s honorable though and agreed to do the job at the original bid anyway: Good for me, bad for him. He also was doing this job alone because no one in his crew was willing to work the weekend. And he asked me to never tell anyone what he charged if I recommended him (I definitely recommend him – if you want to know and live in Northern VA give me a shout).
Here’s where the diligence comes in
He began working, alone, at around 11:30 Saturday morning. At 8PM he was about ¾ of the way done with the house, but hadn’t started the garage yet – oh, and it rained a bit too. I spoke with him as he was wrapping up for the day, and he said he’d have to get back to me on a time to return. He contacted me later that night and said he’d be back Sunday to finish. True to his word he arrived about 1:30 PM Sunday and got to work. I asked how much trouble he was in at home, and he said “Well, a bit”. An understatement to go along with his under bid.
Aaaaand….
Around 8:30 PM I went out to check on him again. He was just finishing up the garage, but still had ¼ of the house to finish. And it was full dark. And he hadn’t eaten all day. Clearly, he wasn’t going to be able to finish (and get paid) so he said he’d be back Tuesday for the last little bit. And of course it is predicting rain all day Tuesday. April showers and all. I have no doubt he’ll get it done by the deadline, though, because I can see he is very DILIGENT. I plan to give him a good-sized tip, partly because he has done an amazing job this far, and partly because I feel kinda bad for him.
What does all that have to do with acting?
I’m glad you asked. I’ll start by saying that’s the kind of actor I want to be. No, not the kind that has to start a power washing business to survive, the kind that just doesn’t give up even in the face of major difficulty and does an amazing job to boot. I want to be a diligent actor. Steady, earnest, energetic, devoted and painstaking (remember those from earlier?). Just like this guy.
Sometimes
Sometimes this work can be discouraging. You submit, and submit, and submit. Audition, and audition, and audition. And Nothing. When you do book work, it seems the roles are small (there are no small roles BTW), or the project is small and won’t be seen by many people, or the project doesn’t have much of a budget, so the pay is low, or the project never gets done. It’s enough to make you want to quit. And a lot of people do.
DON’T
Jenna Fischer (Pam in The Office) writes in her book: The Actor’s Life: A Survival Guide, that just before she booked the role of Pam she was considering giving up acting and concentrating on a 9-5. Bryan Cranston (Walter White in Breaking Bad among many others) writes in his book: A Life in Parts about his struggles early in his career and considering giving up acting. But neither did, and now you know them. There are a lot more, but you get the idea.
IMDB
Take a look at any well-known actor’s IMDB page and you will see tons of projects you’ve never heard of nestled in between all the ones you know well. Unknown projects, low paid roles, weeks, months, sometimes years between gigs is common in the industry. The one thing (besides great acting) that sets these well-known people apart is this: Diligence. They never gave up. They were steady, earnest, energetic, devoted and painstaking in pursuing their craft and career. You (and I) should be too.
So, just don’t
Don’t give up. I’d say don’t get discouraged, but that may be a bridge too far, just: Don’t. Give. Up. Stay focused. Be Steady. Be earnest. Be energetic. Be devoted. Be painstaking. And keep on going. To be honest, the odds of you becoming a Jenna Fischer or Bryan Cranston are small (very small actually) but the odds of you becoming a working actor who is able to support themselves with their craft? WAY bigger. And besides, the odds of you being able to do either of those things is exactly ZERO if you give up! So, just don’t.