are you an idiot?

some common sense…

Here are some things I have been thinking about this week:

A) Common sense

I heard my neighbour yelling at her kid the other day

“For god’s sake, just use your common sense!”

From what I can gather, the kid sprayed a garden chair with a hose.

I remember being scolded by teachers that way.

“Are you an idiot? use your common sense, yeah?“

I realised the other day that I have spent my life with the unquestioned belief that “common sense” was some innate set of rules that everyone knew.

A script for what’s right and wrong that’s actually a universal truth – and if we ignore it we should really know better.

Like spraying a garden chair with a hose.

It made me think – what are those for acting?

What are the innate sets of rules we have in our heads – that seem like truths, but have most likely come from some form of scolding?

Here are a few of mine:

• My initial instincts are always too “big” for camera
• There is something called star quality (and I don’t have it)
• You should be ashamed if you feel envy at others’ success.
• If you question a director/casting director, that makes you difficult
• The entertainment industry will never change – its just the way it is

Every single one of these gets in the way of my work.

B) Names

A friend of mine works in movie financing and distribution.

It is fascinating.

In order to make a movie, the movie needs funding, in order to get funding it needs investors, in order to get investors, the movie needs a name.

A name is an actor or director (rarer) well known enough that the investor feels safe putting their money into the film.

So, the logic goes – If Tom Cruise is playing the lead, the investor believes more people will turn out to watch the film, than if Joe “i’m sorry, who?” Bloggs and therefore more return on the investment.

The risk is less.

No name?

No investment.

This is why “stars” are attached very early on in production.

Because they can literally get something made.

But the more I investigate what actually qualifies someone as a name, the less people can tell me about what that actually means.

Yet, this is the very top level of the industry.

Having the power to get things made.

So is this yet another case of the powers that be basing hundreds of millions on a hunch? Or is there an actual measure of how these things get decided?

The temptation is to say “that level of “stardom” is so far out of your control, why bother?”

But isn’t that just another unquestioned “common sense”?

C) Trust

A show I’m in came out on Thursday and a familiar voice came a knocking

You should be promoting yourself and the show

You should be talking about it on instagram.

Take advantage…

But why?

What do I plan to get out of it?

to gain a bigger audience using the show’s publicity

But why?

let me draw you a diagram, the voice replies

So this is where it led me, I feel the need to post about the show because I want to gain the gate keepers trust so I can work more and feel safer.

Trust. It’s all about trust.

I haven’t used social media in earnest for around 10 years now, but as you’ll see in the p.s. that is soon changing

Social media is hard for actors. I’m thinking about deconstructing how we use social media to achieve our goals.

Looking forward to hearing your responses to the above question

see you next week

A x

p.s social media is very much part of this newsletter’s expansion plans and you will all be happy to know that 6 figure actor now has an instagram account.

As stated above, I’m running before I can crawl really so any help from those experienced in it would be greatly appreciated.

If you follow us now, maybe you’ll see a post in about 10 years time once I muster up enough courage to leap into my unknown.

And to celebrate this momentous occasion, here’s something my wife found that really got me

p.p.s dont forget to reply with either a) b) or c). Thanks! x