THE PAY OFF

I was recently brought on by Dallas Travers to mentor members of her Thriving Artist Circle, an amazing group of dedicated artists who are striving to reach their goals. It is so inspirational and exciting to watch these individuals stretch out of their comfort zone to live the life they want to live. Check out the website at http://thrivingartistcircle.com.
One of the questions I received from a members of TAC was:

WHEN WILL I MAKE MONEY AT THIS, WHEN WILL THIS PAY OFF?

Wow. Absolutely. Right? When WILL this pay off? When am I going to book a job? When am I going to book regularly? When am I going to finally quit that Jay Oh Bee (Check out another TAC mentor DaJuan Johnson’s great article here). When are we going to finally lace up and run that marathon naked through the dollar bill forest?
Well, pause for a moment and ask yourself, what do I actually control in this process of “The Pay Off?” I can tell you it’s not booking the job. In the 50 national commercials I’ve booked, not once did I make the decision for the director to hire me.
 The DECISION is not up to you, but the prep, the mindset, the joy, the WORK is. But sooner or later you’re going to have to leave the audition room, and then it’s out of your hands. The “pay off” is out of your hands, if you think the “pay off” is the job. And here is where we need to switch our understanding.
When WILL this pay off if we have no control over whether it pays off?
In the 101, we talk about the engine of our audition being the act of service, being present in the moment so we can ask, with a true intention, How Can I Help? I have found that service, this presence of mind to recognize what is needed now, is what helps me through not only the seven minutes of the audition, but the much, much longer “tough” times, when the lack of money, lack of work, the belief of scarcity is present in my life. Service helps take control over how I can get paid off in this moment now. And it’s not money, it’s not status, it’s service. And I found, the more I serve, the more I work, and next thing you know, I have a career. Ask this question in your audition room, in your life. How can I help? Ask it wildly. Ask it with a recklessness. Ask it now.

Hey 101'ers! Welcome to the first entry on the Commercial Acting 101 blog! The blog will cover all things 101 in our lives from service in our lives to that last audition we won/tanked. I'll be going more in depth with the 101 here as well and helpful and useful tips, resources and secrets we can all use in our next audition rooms! Welcome!

Just had an incredible private coaching session with 101'er Keith. Keith came to me to work on Direct Pitch, which is talking directly to camera as the spokesperson for the product. Keith has been killing it since he took the 101 class. He booked a spot for Miracle Ear, a print ad, and just had a callback for Ramada Inn. Killing it!
We started discussing how the person that you choose to talk to makes all the difference in Direct Pitch. We were fluctuating between his good friend, then girl friend, and lo and behold if he wasn't two different people up in front of the camera. Amazing. It was eye opening for both of us. So Lesson Learned: Choose carefully who you talk to in direct pitch. It's all the difference between speaking to, or speaking at. We want to speak to, we want to communicate, we want to just be and let the camera pick up on who we're talking to in joy. That's our only job.