I’m sitting in a hotel room in Hanoi, Vietnam, more than a little travel weary and bewildered. I’m about to begin a two-week stretch here and in Thailand – floods permitting – to screen Make Believe across the two countries. It’s part of the American Documentary Showcase, so I have the honor of combining my passion for storytelling with my desire to be an active citizen. Suddenly, I find myself representing the US overseas, using film as the impetus for discussions with people of an entirely different culture. I am excited to see what this adventure brings!
Documenting this work-driven travel gives me a reason to begin a long-overdue blog. In short, the blog’s theme, core to my life, is about being a generative artist. [I removed the travel-focused posts, so the blog can be more dutifully focused on this core theme. -SK 04/12/15] Beginning it as I begin a trip resultant from Make Believe feels appropriate.
Since there is little to report travel so far – 20+ hours in planes and airports aside – I will begin with printing the more fleshed-out draft of a piece I wrote for Back Stage West, a trade paper for actors, last year. The original, cut down to 600 words, can be found here.
The fuller version, which gets at more of the underlying philosophy of this blog, follows….
If Only The Button
If I had a button that ensured I was given great, meaty roles in strong projects for the stage and screen; that these projects had brilliant scripts, were directed by visionaries, and that I worked with wonderful artists on sets without crazy people; that the projects were overseen expertly into their final editing or production, and that they were delivered to market intelligently so that people actually saw them…if I could have all that and “just be an actor,” just show up and act in these miracles? I would push that button Now.
Here’s the thing: that button doesn’t exist for anyone. It doesn’t exist for me. It doesn’t exist for George Clooney or Julia Roberts. And it doesn’t exist for you.
To Counter Unhelpful BS
It took me nearly a decade to accept this. I had fallen into the trap evident in the whispers you hear at acting programs everywhere: “I just want a future in which I have my choice of projects.” And believe me, I used to be one of those – like a lot of you – for whom the word “actor” was tied to my very identity. I fell in love with the craft when I was nine, and something in me has been pulled, pushed, forced, and drawn to tell stories ever since. Over the years, I’ve learned that many of my old ideas about “being” an actor came from ego, and ego rarely serves art. Letting go of those old ideas and replacing them with more useful ones was always challenging, often painful, and is one of the smartest things I’ve ever done – leading to more access to better work.
The Lesson: Interpretive to Generative
I used to think of myself as the kind of actor willing to do the dirty work necessary to give myself a job as an actor. Then I realized this dirty work is called “producing.” And I was already doing it: helping to get plays off the ground in random spaces, starting a theater, starting a film collective to make digital shorts, all with only the conscious identity of Actor and with a strong resentment of someone wanting me to produce. I was tied to the idea that being an actor was to be an interpretive artist only: to play the stories generated by others. To make a very long tale quick: I finally embraced the power and depth inherent in becoming a generative artist, including as an actor, but – by definition – not exclusively so. The journey between those ideas, from interpretive to generative, taught many lessons, and I have tried to distill them to practical points below.
- Start Making: Don’t be precious. Don’t try to make the Best Thing Ever. Just make. Hell, make badly. And in making, learn. Put up a play. Shoot a short film. Then do another one. Don’t over-market these projects, don’t make it about people knowing you’re doing them – do them small, let them suck, don’t put yourself out there yet. Just start the journey of generating. You may know “how to act,” but give yourself time to learn how to take the reins as a generative actor in the professional world.
- Bet on People, Not Projects: When you’re doing the above, bet on people – your collaborators – not on the projects you make. I know you’ve wanted to play Hamlet or Lady M since you wept at summer Shakespeare when you were 11, but that urge is on your behalf, not your audience’s, and, years from now, it just won’t matter that you played Hamlet in a small production. The very fact you can identify “I want to play X role” means that X role is already in the public consciousness, and that makes it something tough for you to profit from. If, on the other hand, you try to think “I want to work with X person” – be it some director you saw put up a reading, the best actor in your class, the emerging writer who just had a short play published in an anthology but who’s yet to get a break – then you can be part of discovering and creating value. As you travel through the industry, it’s these relationships, not the specific projects you generate, that will serve you. As each of you progresses in your separate careers, you will still have access to each other and to continuing collaborations, and those will become professional gigs with real budgets. (For this to be true, you must pick collaborators because you truly admire their work, not because you think they’ll go far. You must resonate creatively. Only if you truly share tastes about what is good will these collaborations be satisfying to everyone, and only if they are satisfying to everyone will they build sustaining allegiances.)
- Redefine “Business” to Serve You: Somehow, artists have agreed to teach each other that “business” is a dirty word, synonymous with “selling out.” When you buy into that, the only thing you achieve is handing over all creative power in the marketplace to people who shouldn’t make creative decisions. Learn that business is a tool. It is the process of getting anything done, including creative projects. Take a business class, learn how to write a business plan, learn how to think in goal-oriented business terms. Being a generative artist is being an entrepreneur, so equip yourself for that road. Have we forgotten that Shakespeare’s company was run by its artists?
- Get Over Yourself: Nobody cares about “what” you are or what you dream of, in part because they’re busy caring about whether you can help make their dreams come true. As an actor, you don’t serve other people’s dreams unless you’re valuable in the marketplace…yet you somehow expect other artists to care about giving you “a break.” But if you learn to generate – as a writer, director, producer, etc. – you are inherently of value to others. You can help their dreams. Then, you can leverage that into having them help your own. A less gain-oriented way to express this: stop worrying about “what” you are. Worry about The Story. Find great yarns to spin and let go of your ego about having to act in them. Do whatever gets the good story told, and learn that your true job as an artist is serve that story, not your ego. (A secret: this attitude will also make your acting work stronger.)
- Realize that All of the Above Is Acting in the Pros: Sure, every now and then someone wins the lottery – books some role early on, does it well, and never hustles again. Go ahead: play the lottery. Otherwise, recognize that wanting to “just” act is like wanting “to be a lawyer” when you mean “making great speeches in courtrooms,” simply ignoring that every minute a lawyer spends in trial is backed up by dozens of hours of painstaking research, briefing, precedent checking, etc. If you don’t find some form of entrepreneurial hustle just as invigorating as actually getting on stage, then I’ve a newsflash: you don’t like being an actor. You like learning a craft in acting class. Which is great. But don’t sadden yourself by confusing the two. If, however, entrepreneurialism does invigorate you, makes you chomp at the bit – even to prove how wrong I am – then you are good to go. So: go.
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