A Month of Curly’s Advice

First of all, thanks for the overwhelming support here on the GreenRoom Blog and on Facebook for my post on Curly’s Advice. I’m glad it resonated with so many of you and hopeful that my journey can help unravel some of the struggles that you might be having too.

Just to sum it up for those who didn’t read the first post, I decided (after a mini-breakdown in my car in a traffic jam on my way to a Portuguese speaking physical theatre audition) that I needed to stop scattering my energy, my career and my life into any and every project that came my way. I decided then and there to take Curly’s Advice (from City Slickers) and do Just One Thing, as an experiment for three months. And that, I decided, will be to concentrate on working in film. This is what’s happened so far:

SOD’S LAW: of course, the week after I made my proclamation, not one but TWO offers came into my email, for work in something other than film. I had a momentary panic: maybe this was the universe telling me something, maybe I’ve made a mistake, I can’t turn down OFFERS. They didn’t even make me audition. But… then I stopped and promised myself to just take a few days before answering… a few days to stop the drama and make a rational decision. After taking time for these offers to sit with me, I was able to make a confident and calm decision on both. One, it turns out, was not only out of alignment with my short-term goal of focusing on film work, but it was out of alignment with my bigger acting picture. It didn’t pay, was hastily organized and the material was not my style. A couple of months ago, though, I would have jumped on this gig, so pathetically grateful for any scrap of acting I could do (ouch, I’m being harsh on myself, but it’s true.) The second offer was different though… it was an interesting gig (working with kids in radio drama) and paid, a bit, and was for a date later this summer, so I’d have plenty of prep time. But I wasn’t ready to commit just yet… they just couldn’t pay a reasonable amount for the time it would take to prepare. So I asked for more money. They said they couldn’t afford me. And all was fine though and we agreed to keep in touch and hopefully work together in the future. All in all though, I felt glad that I was able to make decisions about these opportunities through the prism of Curly’s Advice.

SEEDS: These first few weeks have been about planting seeds… you can’t just go from scattering energy to booking film jobs in a few days. I’ve been getting in touch with casting directors that work in film and also re-connecting with filmmakers I’ve worked with or admire. In some ways, I’m surprised how many film-people relationships I’ve already “planted” while I was scattering. But I also know that if I had been consciously planting my film acting seeds for all these years, I’d have some full grown watermelons by now (ok that’s enough with the garden analogies, sorry)

SOMEONE ELSE: I can’t take full credit for all of this new action in my film career. After I had my mini-breakdown, I started working with Dallas Travers the fantastically brilliant career coach. If you haven’t been following her, I recommend you start now! You can tell her I sent you. She has really helped me focus my energy in a positive way and I know I’ll be thanking her in my Oscar speech one day!

THE BOTTOM LINE: I’m auditioning a lot LESS, but everything I audition for excites me. I’ve had just two film auditions this month, and they were both so much fun. I decided I’ll still audition for commercials, since they don’t take up too much time, I have an awesome agent and I enjoy commercial auditions (and jobs!) I’ve had several castings this month, and I think my newfound mindset even helps there. I don’t feel desperate and needy anymore. I feel much more in control. So here’s to a second month of Curly’s Advice…stay tuned!