When I haven't booked for months
and nothing seems to help
I rely on something relatively simple to pull me out of the funk.
I'd like to tell you about something called the Swing Shake.
In this weeks letter:
- ๐ How I beat the tricky patches
- ๐ฅ NEW reader Wins
- โต๏ธ Somebody won the Odyssey ticks
You might have noticed, as a result of last weeks vote our email has resumed its Monday morning slot. Thank you to everyone who voted - you're boss.
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Tricky tricky
Not too long ago, I went through a tricky patch where i was sure i had been blacklisted by the secret cabal of all the casting directors.
It had been about 7 months and I hadn't booked anything.
i was lucky to be taping - maybe a tape or two a week, but everything i was putting down felt awful awful terrible acting dead eyes no life no wonder i havent booked
23 emails to voiceover agents, and then berrating myself for not having thicker skin because the silence that came back burned.
sitting down to "write my own work" many, many times and failing to make any meaningful progress
I'd see friends in a similar bracket working and working and want to throttle anyone who told me "there's nothing out there at the moment".
who the fk am I?
I'd wake up with no idea how i was going to get any acting job, let alone one that allows me to make a decent contribution towards my bills, let alone one that would put me anywhere near my acting goal: being a full time actor. No more side hustles. No more forced down time. just doing creatively fullfiling work.
But that goal looked very very very very distant.
I could go back to bed?
I was stuck.
I could feel the vitality draining out of me.
Why am i so stuck?
the path towards the future i wanted was becoming more and more uncertain every day.
then
after months of wading through this deep thick, grey, nonsense, i got very very bored of it.
I got so bored that i started raging.
i raged and raged and raged
I raged at the inadequacy I felt. I raged at my past self for signing me up to this shit. I raged at my powerlessness to do anything about it.
and after raging for about a day, i realised what i was really raging at
i had stopped believing anything i did would make a difference
against this huge, unyielding, concrete slab of an industry
I had stopped believing I could break the rock.
but then
it hit me
maybe i don't have to believe right now
maybe i just need to find the energy to keep swinging the hammer.
and that's when two powerful words popped into my tiny little brain:
Fuck it.
Fuck it.
Fuck it.
What have I got to lose...
It's time for a shake up.
time for a new
class
method
routine
book
exercise
habit
dance
film
podcast
something different, something new, something that knocks me for 6 and makes me feel like I'm on the front foot again
examples of some of the things i have done in the past to shake things up:
starting this newsletter was a direct result of a shaking up, and it has been a consistent source of new energy. (thank you once again for being here)
whilst i was training to do a triathlon, something i never thought I could do, I was surprised to see my hit rate started going up.
Every time every time i dragged myself to swim when i didn't want to, or saw improvements in a distance i ran i would get a boost, and that boost seemingly would translate into the room or the tapes.
This new thing i was trying was giving me a new energy.
I found myself more inspired to keep doing the conventional things (agent emails etc) as well as unconventional (becoming part of a creator/filmmakers community).
All of which kept me swinging.
we are in a fight
the industry will find new ways to try and grey up your life.
it's up to us to find new ways to bring vitality back into it.
we can do that by shaking and swinging.
We are the stonecutter, swinging away at the rock
sending agent emails are hammer swings 6 to 34
sitting down to write something, 53 to 76.
if we hadn't taped those 3 "shitty" tapes we would not have hit the rock with the 98th, 99th and 100th blow.
Shaking it up helps us raise the hammer for the 101st swing that splits the whole fkn thing wide open.
Our self belief wavers, of course it does, the industry does its utmost to challenge us on that. But that doesnt mean shit.
The stone will break not because you believe in yourself the most, it will break because, you will do whatever it takes to raise the hammer one more time, and bring it crashing down on the seemingly unbreakable thing.
crack!
You could've stayed in bed
but you didnt.
Know an actor who loves their art, wants to act more but is fed up with the industry?
They might find this newsletter useful:
โsixfigureactor.netโ
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Reader Win
Congrats to reader Floss added her contribution to The Working Actor's Notebook. It's about how to feel less scared and more in control when on set. Well done Floss!
reader Harry had a big win this week. Huge mate.
If you have had a win this week, big or small - well done - any win in the face of all the muck the industry throws at you should be celebrated accordingly:
The 4am Odyssey Winner!
Drumroll please (drum drum rolllll petumchk!)
reader Maggie. You're the winner.
Congratulations you are the proud owner of two tickets to watch one of the first screenings of The Odyssey in the country
Tickets should be in your inbox...now!
Well done.
What are you going to do to shake things up this week?
have a great friggin Monday wherever you are.
A x
p.s. one small win is enough to start an earthquake. I'd love to celebrate with you - just reply to this email with it and we'll boogy.
p.s. clicky much...๐
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