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“Fall down seven times, get up eight.” Japanese Proverb Good morning cheeky monkey Parenting and filming has left not too much time for writing this week, so today we’re just going to jump straight to the best part of this letter – your wins. and also a video with Christopher Nolan. But first Next week I’m thinking about diving into what an actor’s payslip on a tv job really looks like. I’d love to hear if this is something you’d find useful or if it is, in fact, a nonsense idea by a nonsense…

“Absolutely no amount of experience or success gives you a free pass from the daunting level of doubt that is an unyielding part of the process” Brené brown A few weeks ago I finished an audiobook. It was a fucking slog. It was hard work. It was gruelling. Towards the end it took everything in my power to haul myself back into my homemade sound booth that is really just a sweaty cupboard with an ikea stool in it so i could finish recording the fkn thing. I didn’t want to be in there. It…

“Do not let your soul die, you will need it.” Kaffe keating Last week I asked you for a simple rule that would help an actor who’s just starting out. The readers of this newsletter delivered. Here they are in one place A growing doc of things you probably won’t hear a famous actor say on a talk show. Things your drama school won’t tell you. Honest things from working actors intent on making a life from our art. Thank you to you if you sent yours in. Here they are: notes from working actors…

“Everything should be as simple as it can be, but not simpler.” Einstein Was this forwarded to you? Subscribe Here Happy Wednesday you cheeky monkey. I love Isaac Asimov’s 3 laws of robotics. Here they are: I love their simplicity and logic. Clearly Asimov did too – he spends most of the Robot’s series stress testing these laws. A few years ago I thought I would try my hand at making some Asimovian laws that might be useful to me on set (I was filming at the time), and this is what i came up…

“The trouble is, you think you have time.” Jack kornfield When I wake up at 3am worrying about where I’m at in my acting and i’m thinking about stuff like: the fact I haven’t booked something in months or my peers getting jobs when I have barely had a self tape or more genrally feeling like my time is running out. I often think about the following: I am 36. I have been acting professionally for about 18 years. I respect and admire Anthony Hopkins, he’s still having a great time at 88. All…

“Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you” Anne lamott Was this forwarded to you? Subscribe Here Don’t worry if you are feeling a bit blurgh at the moment. If you are feeling overwhelmed or brain foggy. If you have had a rejection-filled week. If you have been made to feel small in an audition. If you’re getting fed up with hearing nothing back. If you feel creatively drained or demotivated. If you are uncertain about where you will be in the next…

“Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you” Anne lamott Was this forwarded to you? Subscribe Here Don’t worry if you are feeling a bit blurgh at the moment. If you are feeling overwhelmed or brain foggy. If you have had a rejection-filled week. If you have been made to feel small in an audition. If you’re getting fed up with hearing nothing back. If you feel creatively drained or demotivated. If you are uncertain about where you will be in the next…

“Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.” Haruki Murakami Was this forwarded to you? Subscribe Here I’m really very sorry about this. I was in the middle of sending you a breakdown of the selftape that booked me a job on the scottish docu-drama, Outlander. It was supposed to be a glorious return of Selftape Pizza, the first of the year. But just before I sent it to you my deep research team (me) realised the tape has plot spoilers in it (that i’d completely forgotten about) and the…

“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves” viktor frankl Buenos Dias. Today we’re looking at why one actor said this: and another said this: and why they’re both wrong. Let’s begin. Our industry thrives on scarcity. On gatekeepers. On making us think we are competing with each other for scraps. But we are not. We’re not fighting for the same 10 roles. We’re all trying to build sustainable careers in a broken system that wants us desperate and…

“…not because it is easy, but because it is hard.” JFK Was this forwarded to you? Subscribe Here Good Bank holiday monday morning to you today we’re travelling around the moon. Coming up in the letter: 🚀 What an actor can learn from an astronaut Let’s get to it the Moonshot… This week i have been glued to the Nasa Live stream. or as Margot put it: “Big Brother in Space” I’ve collected some of my favourite pictures from the last 5 days of space, along with some thoughts about how it…