The Great Acting Blog: “Own Your Work”

The Great Acting Blog: “Own Your Work”

“what chance has made yours is not really yours” – Seneca

If you follow the industrial model of acting then you can survive by being merely competent. That is the lure of it. It’s reassuring, it’s safe, there’s no pressure to be extraordinary, it’s just a question of having a high threshold for boredom and churning through those auditions. You may have no control over it but it’s not terrifying. Truth is however, this is the route almost all actors take and almost all of them fail. Some languish forgotten on the books of some agent somewhere, while others take full-time jobs but still refer to them as “day jobs”, even though they never work as actors. If anything is accomplished through the industrial model it is  usually by chance, certainly the actor won’t own it. The industrial model is what encourages people to shove the word “actor” on their social media profiles even when they seem to lack any credentials whatsoever. They are chancing their arm rather than making a full commitment. They complain about “the industry”  but do nothing about it. They constantly moan about some imaginary future that hasn’t quite happened yet. Well, it’s never going to happen, it’s all a pretence and an excuse.

The dedicated actor is not only committed to accomplishing something extraordinary, but also strives to take control of as much of his work as possible. It’s too important to leave to chance or to other people. This route is more frightening than the industrial model because there are no excuses, it requires truthful self-examination. In the end however, rather than be merely a guest to it, the dedicated actor will own the work he does.

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