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.
Hi Bill!
ReplyDeleteThanks for responding to my question.
I totally understand that booking the job is completely out of my control. My question arose from simple math. If I were to add up all the hours of prep, travel, auditioning, callbacks etc and divide it by the money I've made doing commercials (people tell me my booking rate is good) it would be a pretty dismal hourly rate.
I used to enjoy the auditioning because I was starting my career and it was fun to be active auditioning. But in all honesty, I am not passionate about doing ads for a living. Only to support other projects. And with the increase of lower paying internet spots, the odds of making good money in NYC doing commercials seems like chasing a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. The reason i've continued and had faith for 6 years is because i've heard others talk about this elusive "good money" they've made in commercials. But it seems that might be a dying breed of spots.
I love your emphasis on service. I think that is the key to life in general. I believe I am here to serve. But there are much more exciting, tangible paths in my life to apply this servanthood in a consistent way.
Sorry for the long response. I am processing these thoughts as I write. :)
Victoria-
ReplyDeleteI think those feelings are totally valid. That is the question, where is the joy? In class we search out that joy, both outside the audition room and inside. It's my belief nothing magical happens to you once you walk through that audition door, it's a piece of wood, you know? The joy (service) you have outside the room is going to dictate the joy you have in the room.
I feel you. It's no fun to get paid a low wage. So how do we turn it around? We have an average of seven minutes to book that job once we walk through the door. How do we use that seven minutes to our advantage? I encourage you to take the class and really immerse yourself in what I mean when I say service. Training our minds to find the opportunity, and therefore becoming an actor unlike any they've seen all day.
Thank you for processing as your write. So do I. It keeps it real, no?