Picasso’s Igor Stravinsky
Thanks to you, and Betty Edwards of course, a guy who couldn’t draw something if he had a gun to his head just drew a copy of Picasso’s Igor Stravinsky … well … better than he could possibly have imagined. Wow.
So grateful,
Dave
When Times Get Hard
I have never seen a better example of risk taking than this. In the face of so much rejection, he worked everyday to get results. This makes you think twice about feeling sorry for yourself when “times get hard.” Check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qX9FSZJu448. -Liam T
“Seeing the ‘Joy’ of Not Being Pre-Planned and Living in the Moment”
“. . . I am a very technical actor. I know when to do what, but I usually don’t know why specifically I’m doing what,and it’s rarely backed up with organic emotion. It’s technically perfect, manufactured shit. So, this ‘throwing away the toilet paper’ each time to leave room for new discoveries, I love and hate! I want to keep what works because it makes me feel safe and confident, even though I know it will never have the same spark as it did during it’s inception. I also love throwing it away though and having no clue because it’s extremely freeing! It’s exciting to let go while playing with what comes up organically. Through this process I am becoming more confident in myself and seeing the ‘joy’ of not being pre-planned and living in the moment, literally living in the moment! But, it also feels irresponsible as an actor to go into an audition situation not having something specific I know works, planned out (or I THINK works, planned out).
“While writing this I JUST realized that working your way I would have just that! I would have something I know works! No, it would not be pre-planned to my technical comfort level, but it would be known and understood. So I would have no reason not to trust my ability because I should KNOW I KNOW what needs to be done (after lots of practice and getting proficient at working that way!). Setting things in stone is useless and hinders our talent. No matter what we end up doing, it will be in accordance to the map the text has laid out because we will be able see that map immediately! And it WILL be ‘correct’ and truthful BECAUSE we don’t have anything pre-planned to mess with our ‘reactions.’ If that makes any sense at all… haha. Just having a little Lesly epiphany. 
” –From one of Megan J‘s First Week of Intensive Hosting Reports, September 2012
Dare to Suck
“If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing badly. Don’t worry about being perfect.” – Darren Hardy
I Can Act My Way Out of a Very Large Industrial Sized Paper Bag
I THOUGHT THIS LETTER WAS INSTRUCTIVE ON OH, SO MANY LEVELS. MY COMMENTS ARE IN CAPS. Love, Lesterina
Dear Les, . . . The audition was interesting…they wanted it a totally different way than we prepared. …he re-directed me a bit and I got there. But, OY! It taught me a big lesson. I realized something very important as I walked away from that office on that day. I have this thing where I am constantly trying to please other people. I do that in my personal life as it is, but I also, apparently, do it with my acting. I got hung up on the idea that [the casting directors] weren’t loving what I prepared, that it was all wrong and I was mad at myself for having the incorrect answer in my choices.
HEY, IF YOU WANTED TO BE MAD AT SOMEONE, YOU SHOULDA BEEN MAD AT ME BECAUSE I COACHED YOU. I’M THE ONE WHO’S SO FREAKIN’ EXPERIENCED AND SUPPOSED TO KNOW IT ALL. BUT I DON’T THINK YOU CAN BE MAD AT EITHER ONE OF US FOR NOT BEING A MIND READER.
I started to obsess about this in the room during my audition, judging myself, rather than just having fun, knowing that I had prepared and letting it go… That said, it was actually pretty cool that the CD took the time to re-direct me until I got there, rather than just blowing me off.
IF YOUR’E GOOD AND YOU MAKE A GOOD CHOICE, THERE’S NO REASON FOR THEM NOT TO REDIRECT YOU IF YOU HAVE THE RIGHT LOOK. IT’S ONLY NO CHOICE, OR A POORLY ACTED CHOICE THAT GETS THE OL’ “THANK YOU, SEE YA’, DON’T LET THE DOOR HITCHA IN THE ASS ON THE WAY OUT.”
I just need to learn to get over myself and know that I am enough and know that I can act my way out of a
VERY LARGE INDUSTRIAL SIZE
paper bag and let it go!!!
YUP.
Do Not Fear Mistakes
This is great shit.
“Hey Les,
Just came across a quote from jazz musician Miles Davis, whom I love especially for his messy, creative style of playing. It was in ‘The Artist’s Way’ so you’ve seen it but thought I would send it along again. It’s on the topic of perfectionism.
‘…Instead of creating freely and allowing errors to reveal themselves later as insights, we often get mired in getting the details right. We correct our originality into a uniformity that lacks passion and spontaneity. ‘Do not fear mistakes,’ Miles Davis told us. ‘There are none.’ ‘
Good for all of us tight left brainers out there.”
…from Eric N
(THE ARTIST’S WAY, Copyright 1992 by Julia Cameron)
Highlights from the Comedy Intensive Rehearsal Reports
“The chunk of time between the completion of the other actor’s line and having our thought is torture for most actors because we want the scene to “flow”; and these gaps, these big pauses before each line…because they’re uncomfortable, they cause us to race through that moment of not knowing, before the thought hits us, and we almost try to get to speak the next piece of text too soon, depriving us of the opportunity to allow, to really invite a more specific, articulate thought to form in our minds, which, in turn, would add that much more specificity to the moment that ensues, which we covet so much because finally we get to speak the memorized line! It’s like…waiting for the line leaves us out hanging out to dry, so we try to process the minimally appropriate word or words that qualify as a thought in order to propel us to the line we have to speak, which, when it comes, is such a relief! . . . In other words, it’s easier to succumb to the quick, manic, terse thought, but it seems to have a direct and somewhat narrowing effect on the possibilities in the scene and, since it’s not specific, it’s more difficult for the thought to sustain you through the ensuing moment. . . . there is a difference between the actor trying to get through the uncomfortable feeling of having to “have a thought” and the character simply having these thoughts. I guess another way of saying this is…is the actor commenting, in a way, on his/her own insecurity of having to quickly come up with a thought or is he/she just having the thought, as the character, in the moment, which, I suppose, is what we all aspire to? . . . Fascinating stuff…the class, I mean, not this email.” – From one of Marc J’s First Week of Intensive Rehearsal Reports, September 2012
Risk, Fear and Worry
“Fear is the workout we give ourselves imagining what will happen if things don’t work out. . . . Worry is our effort to imagine every possible way to avoid the outcome that is causing us fear, and failing that, to survive the thing that we fear if it comes to fruition.” – Seth Godin
Check out the full post here!
Show No Insecurity
An old writing client recently wrote, “I have a big meeting the following week with potential buyer/maker-happener and that wrecks me. I guess it’s exactly the same as auditioning for a part you really want. Any insights to send me in with???”
I responded, “Here’s the thing re that meeting. You have something THEY want. You will ONLY sell it to them if you’re in the moooooooood to sell it because you don’t neeeeeeeeeeeeeed to sell it. You MIGHT sell it. You might NOT. YOU are in charge. I know you THINK you’re HAVE to sell, but that is the exact stance that puts you at a disadvantage. Remember: your product will HELP them. If they want to HELP themselves, they will buy your fabulous product. If they want to continue suffering without your product, that’s their business. You don’t NEED them. You are a lovely, kind person who is taking time out of her fabulous, busy day to meet with them to see if you can help them be less miserable. KEEP THE POWER. DANGLE the CARROT. If they say, “We think your script is too x,” you respond, “Oh, that’s too bad. Everyone else seems to love the xness. So and So and Such and Such particularly commented on it. But hey, if it’s not for you, that’s ok. I hope you find what you’re looking for. Have a wonderful day.”
She wrote back, “It helps, I just don’t know if I have it in me to pull it off. The picture-them-naked thing NEVER works for me.”
So I sent her this amazing quote I heard from my teacher Tej (who came so highly recommended by many, including Angelique C and Courtney P) at Golden Bridge today. I think Yogi Bhadjan says it a LOT better. Don’t you?
Yogi Bhajan – 7/4/89 – “Show No Insecurity”:
Be in command. The statement is, “Be in gainful command.” Your posture should not be aggressive or shallow. It should be gracious, slightly bright, self contained. There is one thing every woman should learn. Show no insecurity. This is a key to royalty. If you take on this conscious behavior in forty days, seventy percent of your problems will be gone. Just show no insecurity, even if you are deadly insecure. “God, he is going to tell me to get out of the house, ‘pack up, you bitch’.” Show no insecurity even then. Men love that kind of woman.
You may be beautiful, intelligent, rich, working, supporting, and blindly in love, but show insecurity and you are done. Man by nature is a super insecure idiot. It is true, believe me. This whole macho thing unbuttoned shirt and all that, is make-up. This is a rat who growls like a lion. First of all you do not know how to be mad, then you get mad and you don’t know how to get out of it. In one second men are dead mad and the next minute they ask you out for dinner.
Don’t try to “not” do things.
So I’ve been in Alison’s clinic and last week she said to me – just do what you want – whenever you don’t edit yourself it’s always fun. Don’t try to “not” do things – like trying to not be too theatrical, etc.. Tonight Trisha was our sub…. So I did the West Wing scene with all kinds of “don’t be too…” thoughts. Then I did it again and I thought – what the heck – fire. I’ll just do what I want (thank you Alison:). So I explode onto the scene and Trisha stops me one line in and says – I love it – but I think your essence is a little quirkier than hers. Then she says, “She’s nerdier than you.” Bingo. Instantly I knew how to adjust and the whole scene was so much better than the first time. It took me showing Trisha “what I had” or “who I am” or “what I thought about what was happening in the scene” for her to know what kind of adjustment to give me. It’s like a specific application of the dare to suck principle. When I do what I want, put it all out there, it may not be “right,” it may be totally wrong but it shows people what I’ve got and then they have more to work with.
