Insight From Bob Lefsetz
1. Fame is fleeting.
Used to be very few could get through the sieve, now with fame up for grabs, from reality TV to YouTube, it’s easy to break through, but nearly impossible to sustain.
2. Quality counts.
If you want to have longevity. It’s too hard to game the system, too hard to stay on top, in the public eye, your best bet is to focus on the work.
3. Talent is not god-given.
You have to do the work, there’s no way around it.
…
4. Spamming is irrelevant.
It makes you feel good to get the message out, but no one is paying attention.
… One personal e-mail to a tastemaker is more important than a generic press release sent to a hundred people from a list you found online. The personal touch is everything. And in this era, the written word is everything. First, know how to type. Second, know how to spell. Third, know grammar. Fourth, be able to tell a story. Fifth, don’t get frustrated when you get no response. People remember personal e-mails, they can pay dividends down the line. But it’s always best to focus on the work more than the marketing. And if you don’t know how to use spellcheck, if you haven’t got the time for spellcheck, tastemakers have no time for you. …
6. Ignore the haters.
… I’m just saying breakthrough work is usually rejected at first.
…
9. Just because you made it, don’t assume anyone is interested in it.
Don’t be a child showing his parent his feces. Your work is not that important, … You want to create something so good it sells itself. Which I know is almost impossible, but those are the odds you’re up against.
10. Money comes late.
Success is slow. And when you get it, if you overcharge, you shorten your career. …
11. Major labels want radio hits.
They want the easy sell. Unless you can get on radio, immediately, the major label doesn’t want you. Period. …That’s why the classic rock era was so classic, none of the bands sounded alike. That’s one thing wrong with the younger generation, they date in groups, they want to be a member of the club, individuality is shunned. But when it comes to lasting art, individuality is key.
-Bob Lefsetz
–
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/.
Move Mountains
The main reason someone moves mountains, wins friends, influences people, amasses a fortune, or anything else … is because they thought they would.
You can do this,
© Mike Dooley, www.tut.com
No Is For Wimps
Remembered this thing that Dave Eggers wrote (http://students.ou.edu/M/Eric.C.Mai-1/DE.htm), and thought the whole thing, but especially this passage works well for this class:
“The thing is, I really like saying yes. I like new things, projects, plans, getting people together and doing something, trying something, even when it’s corny or stupid. I am not good at saying no. And I do not get along with people who say no. When you die, and it really could be this afternoon, under the same bus wheels I’ll stick my head if need be, you will not be happy about having said no. You will be kicking your ass about all the no’s you’ve said. No to that opportunity, or no to that trip to Nova Scotia or no to that night out, or no to that project or no to that person who wants to be naked with you but you worry about what your friends will say.
No is for wimps. No is for pussies. No is to live small and embittered, cherishing the opportunities you missed because they might have sent the wrong message.
Saying no is so fucking boring.”
(from Clay L’s Intensive hosting report)
Fail While Daring Greatly
I know I’ve posted this before, but I can’t find it and I love it, and Brian S wrote, “I’m sure you’ve used this quote from Theodore Roosevelt before but a friend of mine gave it to me the night before I tested for something. I love it.” So enjoy.
“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.” -Theodore Roosevelt
Be Married to Your Work
You’ve got to be married to your work to be successful today. It’s got nothing to do with cell phones and accessibility, it’s got to do with effort. On a planet with billions, only he or she who dedicates and practices triumphs. And it’s sweet reward. But never enough.
-Bob Lefsetz
–
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
Give Our Eyes a Break
“Doesn’t it feel like we’re just bombarded with stuff now? That everywhere we go there’s just some picture that’s worse that the one before? . . . I wonder if we could give our eyes a break and maybe try and see things in a different way . . . try to see things by reading about them or talking about them or listening. I kind of feel like my eyes need a break. . . . It’s okay to NOT be looking at whateverbody else is looking at all of the time.”
-Allison P’s fave moments from ASK AMY, Ep. 20 with Amy Poehler: “I Love You Boston”
Wisdom From Stephen Tobolowsky
“When you are an actor you get used to long periods of ‘the same.’ If you work in the theater, your life becomes all about getting ready for the opening curtain. During pilot season you get used to the routine of working furiously on auditions—and then praying. The worst are the horrible stretches of ‘the same’ when nothing is happening at all.”
“Upfronts are like any other loud party except all of the drunk people write for newspapers. I was ushered through a gauntlet of photographers. The first one aimed her camera at me and said, ‘Just be you.’ She focused, refocused, and then lowered the camera with a touch of dissatisfaction and said, ‘Can you just be you—but more?’”
-Stephen Tobolowsky
–
The Voice of the Locker Room
However much television likes to think it is a force in modifying society and changing perspectives, its main function is and always will be lowering the bar. Because the motives come from a place that is intensely commercial at every step of the process, the results will never be the voice of enlightenment. It will always be the voice of the locker room. That’s why we love it so much.
-Stephen Tobolowsky
–
Focus
Relevant quotes on focus from Kelly F:
“Most people have no idea of the giant capacity we can immediately command when we focus all of our resources on mastering a single area of our lives.”
“The immature mind hops from one thing to another; the mature mind seeks to follow through.”
-Harry A. Overstreet
Casting’s Perspective
An actor who recently started casting wrote, “What was most surprising was how quickly I was doing on the casting side what I bitched and moaned about on the acting side: pigeon-holing actors based on their pics and/or credits. It makes a little more sense why it’s done, but it still blows.”
Food for . . . thought.
