A Working Actor's Lament (Chapter 71)
Driven, Driving, Droven
B.C. Forbes has been quoted as saying "A business, like an automobile, has to be driven in order to get results." I think Forbes had it wrong. I think a person has to be driven, or at least be in the drivers seat.
My wife and I had a conversation recently (is it a conversation if the neighbors can hear you?) about being driven as actors. We sat on the couch and watched "Glee" and "Intervention" and just had a lazy day.
Then, out of the blue, the question was asked "Do you think you are driven"? Who asked it between the two of us doesn't matter, but comparisons were made to fellow actors who have had successes that we have not. The argument was "Are they more driven then us"?
I decided to do an inventory of accomplishments in the last couple of years: written a couple of shorts which I have directed (and both my wife and I produced) that have made it into prestigious film festivals - Check. Written scenes for casting director workshops - Check. Co-starred in a web series - Met many casting directors and agents along the way - Check. But is that "driven"?
Our friends have had success overseas in London, touring in Equity shows, can be seen on TV and in the movies. But are they "driven"?
What constitutes someone who is driven...it is their successes? Their savings account? Their ability to not give up in the face of adversity...AH YES!!! This is the one I think stands out to me.
I have watched talented actor friends 'drive' their car off the freeway and onto the side streets until they are somewhere in suburbia with a mortgage, two-and-a-half kids and a vegetable garden in the back yard. And, talking to them while they pick turnips out of the dirt, they try to sound like they are happy...that this is what they want.
The fact that I am still here in Los Angeles with no connections, no nepotism, no money and yet I still can not stop my creative side from bursting out...that is a good thing, right? I am under the belief that the reason 90% of actors don't have success as actors is because 85 % of them were not driven to succeed in this industry.
Yes, I don't have an "Olivier". Yes, I don't have a huge savings account...or a house...or two-and-a-half kids. But I will never give up my dream of being an actor, I don't care how much I like turnips, I will not do it. I am going to drive my car until there is no more road to travel...like Thelma and Louise did.
And, no, I don't think they died in the end.
B.C. Forbes has been quoted as saying "A business, like an automobile, has to be driven in order to get results." I think Forbes had it wrong. I think a person has to be driven, or at least be in the drivers seat.
My wife and I had a conversation recently (is it a conversation if the neighbors can hear you?) about being driven as actors. We sat on the couch and watched "Glee" and "Intervention" and just had a lazy day.Then, out of the blue, the question was asked "Do you think you are driven"? Who asked it between the two of us doesn't matter, but comparisons were made to fellow actors who have had successes that we have not. The argument was "Are they more driven then us"?
I decided to do an inventory of accomplishments in the last couple of years: written a couple of shorts which I have directed (and both my wife and I produced) that have made it into prestigious film festivals - Check. Written scenes for casting director workshops - Check. Co-starred in a web series - Met many casting directors and agents along the way - Check. But is that "driven"?
Our friends have had success overseas in London, touring in Equity shows, can be seen on TV and in the movies. But are they "driven"?
What constitutes someone who is driven...it is their successes? Their savings account? Their ability to not give up in the face of adversity...AH YES!!! This is the one I think stands out to me.
I have watched talented actor friends 'drive' their car off the freeway and onto the side streets until they are somewhere in suburbia with a mortgage, two-and-a-half kids and a vegetable garden in the back yard. And, talking to them while they pick turnips out of the dirt, they try to sound like they are happy...that this is what they want.
The fact that I am still here in Los Angeles with no connections, no nepotism, no money and yet I still can not stop my creative side from bursting out...that is a good thing, right? I am under the belief that the reason 90% of actors don't have success as actors is because 85 % of them were not driven to succeed in this industry.
Yes, I don't have an "Olivier". Yes, I don't have a huge savings account...or a house...or two-and-a-half kids. But I will never give up my dream of being an actor, I don't care how much I like turnips, I will not do it. I am going to drive my car until there is no more road to travel...like Thelma and Louise did.
And, no, I don't think they died in the end.
Labels: Accomplishments, Driven
