Patience, Persistence and Balance... Oh My!

patience
1. the quality of being patient, as the bearing of provocation, annoyance, misfortune, or pain, without complaint, loss of temper, irritation, or the like.

2. an ability or willingness to suppress restlessness or annoyance when confronted with delay: to have patience with a slow learner.

3. quiet, steady perseverance; even-tempered care; diligence: to work with patience.

persist

1. to continue steadfastly or firmly in some state, purpose, course of action, or the like, especially in spite of opposition, remonstrance, etc.: to persist in working for world peace; to persist in unpopular political activities.

2. to last or endure tenaciously: The legend of King Arthur has persisted for nearly fifteen centuries.

3. to be insistent in a statement, request, question, etc.

balance

1. a state of equilibrium or equipoise; equal distribution of weight, amount, etc.

2. something used to produce equilibrium; counterpoise.

3. mental steadiness or emotional stability; habit of calm behavior, judgment, etc.

4. a state of bodily equilibrium: He lost his balance and fell down the stairs.

SPOILER ALERT: I don't have the magic formula for this.

I can look back over stressful situations and see how FEAR played a huge part of it. I worked myself up in a big batch of worry over an expected outcome or desired response. Most of these circumstances I had little or no control over the end result. But you could have fooled me by the way I was worrying about them. Was I being persistent enough? Did I do everything I could do? Should I send another email? Make another call, do another draft, rework the presentation deck, call my agent for feedback or just give it all up entirely and work at The Grove?

READ MORE

PODCAST FROM AMERICA: EPISODE 5 WITH MARK GANTT

Welcome to the Christmas episode of PODCAST FROM AMERICA, with my special guest Mark Gantt, a talented actor/writer/producer/director, who I was lucky enough to speak to at the beginning of October. You can listen to the show via iTunes by clicking this link.

I’ve been following Mark’s career with interest since I met him on the set of Sony’s The Bannen Way, just over a year ago. He and his Bannen co-creator, Jesse Warren, were on day 18 of a 19-day shoot at the Lacy Street Studios in east LA, filming their ground-breaking high-production value web series, about a gangster who wants to go straight.

I blogged at the time that ‘Hollywood’s future was in Bannen’s hands‘, and after the series scored more than 14 million hits, and went on to be sold as a feature on DVD, I think they ably demonstrated that well-produced, original web shows can have clout. Their model is very new, but proves that there is another viable way that talented actors, producers and directors, who might otherwise not get the chance, can showcase their talents.

Mark’s now an authority on making shows on the web, and runs a kick-ass course on the subject – find out more at www.ganttworkshops.com.

He also has a host of projects coming up, including the episode of Suite 7 that he directed, starring Eddie McClintock and Jaime Murray, which is out now.

Interview: Mark Gantt – How To Create Your Own Career

Tired of hearing no? There are other ways… When your career hits a speed bump, and opportunities seem non-existant, there are two paths you can take: the easy way or “The Bannen Way.”  No longer are we limited by the opportunities people present to us. Current technology allows anyone to be an actor, producer, director or writer. The secret is to never settle for less that your dreams desire.

A quick check of Mark Gantt’s website or his IMDB page reveals he had a career, just not the one he had mapped out for himself.  “I had my foot in the door and people were at the party saying ‘Hey come on in,’ but I was like ‘no, I gotta be an actor.’” He seemed to be gaining ground on a career path many would cherish, but even after appearing in a Sundance Short, and knowing the industry pros, his own agent still had no faith Mark would actually be getting auditions. Luckily Mark doesn’t acknowledge the word no.

Three years or so ago, Mark Gantt found himself dissatisfied with the way his acting career was progressing. In fact, it was barely inching forward. His girlfriend had booked a film and a TV pilot, but Gantt was spinning his wheels, unable to get many auditions or meetings with casting directors. His one dependable creative outlet was his acting classes at the Beverly Hills Playhouse.

One day a woman in class complained that her career was, like Gantt’s, stalled, while her sister was booking work regularly. The teacher, Allen Barton, advised, “You’ve just got to build your own door and walk through it.”
Barton’s edict touched a nerve with Gantt, setting him on a course that would result in a starring role in an original web series and feature film, both entitled The Bannen Way. Gantt would play Neil Bannen, a suave chick-magnet of a thief who finds himself torn between the examples set by his chief-of-police father and his criminally inclined uncle.

Crowd Sourcing for your web project - Be Smart - There is an 'Art' to the 'Business' of Filmmaking.

This started as a quick response to a Live Twitter Chat (#webserieschat) that @Slebisodes hosts Wednesdays at 11am.

One of the topics that came up was: "Setting financial goals to crowd source and fund your web project."

I think this is a very acute Point of View from S.E. Olson, and is important for any filmmaker, creator or artist to hear. There is an 'Art' to the 'Business' of Filmmaking.

From S.E. Olson: "Well I'm coming at this from the perspective of someone who practiced a little entertainment law & then went whole hog as a fan of all kinds of things. And someone who's been online since 1987 so I know of many places where fans go online. Mostly I'm a fan. I'm inclined to like you & what you do. I want you to succeed (or more accurately I'm not strongly motivated to see you fail), but you have to introduce yourself to me somehow, show me what you can do, convince me (maybe even woo me) that I should at least spend a little time watching what you do & see if I like it. Then you can ask me for all kinds of things, like start with my opinion on what you're doing.Then ask me if I think it's good enough to ask my friends & people I know to take a look at it. Then you can ask me for money if you need to pay for it that way. I don't expect you to give me everything immediately and for free, but I do expect to have some idea of what it is you can do before we go to the next stage. And frankly I want to be moved by what you do. Try to make me laugh, cry, think -- whatever, but *move* me. If you succeed, I'm going to go along for more of the ride. If not, you should regroup, rethink & try again. You can even ask me what you think isn't working and I'll try to give you some constructive criticism. I may not know what's wrong, or I may not nail the problem down perfectly because I'm not the creative one (ideally you should be the more creative of the 2 of us, otherwise I could go off and amuse myself without you), but if you put a little faith in me, I'll give it an honest try. Maybe we have to sort that out together, maybe you have to sort that out by talking to other creative people, maybe it requires you to do the deep soul searching, maybe it's some combination of them all. I can't say for sure, it has to be dealt with if & when it arises. Just as I don't expect you to give me everything all at once and for free, you cannot expect me to give you all my attention, time, energy, advice, generosity & money plus access to everyone I know right off the bat. It has to go in stages & in its own due time. Looking to get $60,000 in 30 days when I don't know you would be like you seeing me on the street, grabbing me by the hair, dragging me into a room & expecting transcendent sex & undying love from me. Not gonna happen."

I've mentioned this in a couple different interviews but wanted to expand on it a bit in a new unit of time. I think it was mid 2005, I sat down with my mentor and teacher, Milton Katselas to discuss my decision to QUIT acting. I was very frustrated. I wasn't enjoying acting, the business mostly, but it affected my desire to improve my craft in class. So I was going to tell Milton that I wanted to quit acting and pursue directing. I sat across from him in his incredible house and pleaded my case, "I don't enjoy acting anymore. I love directing. I realize when I assist you Milton, I'm watching you as a director, seeing how you discover what the scene's about, work with the actors and tell a story. When I watch a movie, I'm thinking as a director, as a filmmaker, not as an actor studying their choices. I am a director!" I sat back in my chair, I felt good about what I just spewed.  Sitting next to me, was Art Cohan, the Senior Stage Manager of the Beverly Hills Playhouse, Milton's right hand and one of my best friends. I looked over to him for reassurance as Milton began writing on his notepad in broad strokes. He wrote the words ACTOR and DIRECTOR and drew a line between them.  He turned the pad to me and said, "You have to make a decision today, ACTOR or DIRECTOR... you can only do one... which?"

Without hesitation I pointed to DIRECTOR... "did he not just hear my case just now??"  I was thinking. He turned the pad around and circled ACTOR and DIRECTOR and at the bottom wrote the word "BOTH". He turned it around one more time and showed it to me. He said, "YOU... can do BOTH. But you have to give a hundred percent to the acting or you'll never succeed as a director. You have to confront what's blocking you in your acting or it will block you as a director.  You need the skills as an actor, you need to kill that and then you'll be able to do both... with success."