7 Deadly Sins - The Actor Overcomes: Business of Acting Insight By the Founder of the Actors’ Network

By Kevin E. West and Roger Wolfson

7 Deadly Sins The Actor Overcomes provides a unique approach to the profession of acting. The profession of acting is a vastly different conversation than the artistic desire to perform. One could argue the business of performance art may be the most difficult relationship you ever have with yourself. The desire to perform on stage is innate. The credibility afforded the actor who performs regularly on stage is well earned. However, your belief system about the art, when challenged by the desire to make money acting on camera, can be an emotional and psychological conundrum.

7 Deadly Sins The Actor Overcomes provides a fundamental toolkit to increase the likelihood of success in your on-camera acting career, while protecting the delicate balancing act of offering your psyche and soul as a product for sale. This work will also guide you through many of the emotional and philosophical traps that snare actors almost every day.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: May 13, 2016
• ISBN: 9781483571287

Book preview

utopia.

Chapter 1

LUST

When you’re from a smaller city anywhere in the world and you move to a big city to pursue an acting career, you will naturally meet a lot of people really quickly. I joined an acting class in Hollywood immediately upon arrival and within just six months, I’d already met nearly a hundred actors through parties and friends of friends.

Over the course of 18 months in Hollywood, I consorted with such a crossover mix of people I needed a Venn diagram! I’d go to a party, picnic, barbeque or some other gathering and about 75% of the same people were in all those places with only about 25% of them being someone different or new to me. I was naturally curious and observant because of my interest in psychology, and I noticed I kept seeing this one guy who was a bit much for me, but everyone seemed to like him.

At some point, we met and while there was nothing bad about him, he just was not my kind of guy. I was from the rural south, so a lot of the Hollywood or wannabe types didn’t really mesh with my sensibility. So about eight months later, I get to know this guy a bit and, as usual, I start asking questions. By chatting with him, I actually figured out his whole deal and Hollywood plan. His entire angle was to just have people like him. He had set out to meet as many people in casting or directing or producing that he could and concluded that by having them like him, he’d get plenty of acting opportunities and have an instantaneous career. Boom. I was new enough to Los Angeles (L.A.), so I didn’t question his plan or discuss it further. It seemed plausible to me. I knew that not all of Hollywood was based on talent, but I just felt that this particular approach wasn’t for me.

Before too long, I began to hear some of the industry folks say pretty demeaning things about the guy. I just listened to try to understand their position. Pretty soon, it all became clear; this guy claimed he could make you feel good. Yep, that was his play. He didn’t work on his craft or work on his business. He just figured he’d be given jobs because he was the cool party fun guy. As you can imagine, he never worked, and he never had a career. He had a fantasy about how to work in Hollywood, and he got used.

The Premise

Lust: an intense and uncontrolled desire. Usually thought of as uncontrolled sexual wants, LUST was originally a general term for desire. So, LUST can include the uncontrolled desire for money, food, fame or power. LUST synonyms: quick and short-term. Not really career words.

The sensation of LUST tends to start visually, and then a strong internal magnetism grows. LUST is easy to feel, but when you apply it to the pursuit of acting, it can be gross. LUST usually promotes the desire for quick career advancement without any effort. Let’s associate LUST with words, such as like, desire, longing, passion or urge. Now consider the biblical phrase: the love of money is the root of all evil. Far too often, people simply state that money is the root… when quoting this verse, inadvertently omitting the word love. Without the word love included, the value of the statement is minimized, just as LUST is often only associated with sex or desire. Now replace the word love with lust and apply it to acting.

Actor LUST is limitless because succeeding in the movies or on television is sexy. The LUST of becoming a star is a root of all pain, failure, internal discord and depression. Insert the sin into a sentence about the business of being an actor and it makes even more sense. The LUST of being a star is a root of all actor evil. Actor LUST tends to be all talk and no action. LUST is not a goal or even a dream.

LUST intrinsically diminishes consistent effort, dilutes reality and can affect how you handle professional encounters. Since 1991, I have used dating as a perfect metaphor for the pursuit of show business. Understand that this dating metaphor is only meant to apply to your mental state, not your craft. Think of it in terms of the principled difference between casual sex and a long-term relationship.

If LUST does minimize your core career business principles, you might turn into this actor: yeah, I’m doing the acting thing. I’m sorry, what? Can you imagine within the arts someone saying: yeah, I’m doing the ballet/violin/opera thing? If you’ve ever said the acting thing, you may wish to review your career decision. LUST isn’t limited to fame, money, applause, approval or the spotlight. Actors can even LUST for the chance to feel entitled, immortal and no longer in need of consorting with the little people. Actor LUST will attempt to fill some empty space in your soul, but eventually you need to acknowledge that those things are temporary. An acting career for money driven only by LUST will likely run out of gas quickly.

I love lofty goals, but they need to include visions with a plan to arrive at your destination. Sadly, far too many actors justify their disposition on LUST because they know so many actors who live in this same dream state. Learn this phrase: A goal is a dream with a deadline. To achieve a goal originating from a dream, you need to apply consistent professional effort. Unbridled LUST will likely kill any intended actions.

Consider one final note on actor LUST—the word treatment. Stay aware of how actor LUST affects your treatment of others. Many years ago, I coined this phrase: If you knew you’d run into them on Sunday at a hip coffee shop, would you treat them like that? How you treat others says a lot about the treatment you’re willing to accept as an actor. Familiarity can really breed a lot of contempt among your acting peers when LUST is your driving force.

If you LUST for professional results without sustained effort, then you’re lessening the value of the professionals on the set with you. If you want a cinematographer to care about the craft instead of just LUSTing for an Oscar, then you have to respect your end too. My ultimate goal is for you to overcome actor LUST, which will require a very principled business game plan, a solid time management system and a consistent pattern of weekly execution.

FANTASY

Lust – Trap I

The absence of requirements and/or barriers creates a free-for-all atmosphere. Calling oneself an actor lacks any form of entry barrier. Therefore, the first actor LUST trap is fantasy. The line between a dream and a fantasy is minuscule and varies individually. Professional dreams tend to include a plan or logical effort that can someday be accomplished. Pure fantasy lives in our minds growing more improbable each day.

Large cities like Hollywood, Sydney, London, Paris, Chicago or New York can fill an actor’s mind with the fantasy of walking on the red carpet. Fantasy-filled actors can be fairly inactive in terms of pursuing their dream. Growing up in rural Tennessee didn’t affect my approach or psyche before moving to Hollywood, but the omnipresent fantasy of an Oscar is a strong force. Pure fantasy and professional dreams have a clear distinction—I’m not trying to trample on your dream.

A dream and a fantasy are separated by plans and effort. To accomplish a dream, you need to establish long-range goals. When actors are snared by pure fantasy, they won’t have much of a plan for achieving success. Hollywood or any other formidable large city can create a sense of fantasy. Believe it or not, thousands of actors move to Hollywood annually without doing any real professional planning or research beforehand, which boggles the mind. (Note: In this work, allow references to Hollywood to also include any large city with a theatrical industry and community of actors.)

Yes, the process of acting is make-believe, but the actual progression of working as an actor is exactly that—work, not fantasy. If you make the professional pursuit of acting a mental fantasy, then your chance of success is very slight. In the U.S., a very small percentage of actors’ union members (SAG-AFTRA) earn more than $50,000.00 annually. For some people, $50,000.00 a year may seem like a lot of money, but if you’re over 30 years old and have a child or two, you know it isn’t much income—consider this an example of professional reality instead of wishful fantasy.

No matter where you are right now, take a moment and visualize being in that big city. See it: The Hollywood lights, Beverly Hills, Rodeo drive, the Big Apple or the London Bridge. If you live daily in the pure fantasy of actor success, it might be difficult to travel the very long road necessary to make a living as an actor.

In 1991, I founded a business organization for actors called The Actors’ Network from an idea born by a dream. Dreams are great, but the next thing I knew, nearly 24 prime years of my life had passed by. I never intended to become a small business owner. But I did. During the early years, I found myself entertaining a small fantasy. If someone as focused as I am can fall victim to the fantasy trap, then any of you can be snared as well. Fantasy in small doses is fine, but when the dream state of mind becomes the only option, a severe trap takes hold.

Fantasy pulls you away and keeps you apart from basic success principles. Grounded dreams allow for an intelligent pursuit to grow those dreams into a career. Fantasy is just dreaming about the results.

Our greatest glory is not in never

falling, but in rising every time we fall.

–Confucius

Any actor trap has the ability to kill potential professional progress weekly. If you’re locked into pure fantasy and have no tangible plan, then you can find yourself saying I’m here. Fantasy can then be solidified by knowing lots of movie trivia or watching the Oscars while fantasizing. I want to win an award, too, but there is work to be done. Additionally, actors who live near the Oscar ceremony location feel closer to their fantasy. The illusion of proximity is a strong one and makes the fantasy trap feel more possible and more difficult simultaneously.

Too often, actors seem to fantasize about their 15 minutes of fame as if the status is a career. Fantasy is fed by ego, a little poor self-esteem and is equivalent to an actor quickie. The fantasy trap can consume your daily life. Be careful, or before you know it, decades will have passed by without any real career movement.

The fantasy of going to work on a TV series every day is a wonderful image. However, please note I said go to work every day. Professional actors have to memorize lines and add the craft into their work, every day! Your career pursuit must live outside the bubble of your mind. The professional multi-layered effort required to sustain a working actor’s career isn’t a fantasy. The LUST of effortless success exists in most of us so you’re not alone, but those folks who can turn their dreams or even a fantasy into measurable reality are the actors who break free of the mental snow globe.

THE DECISION

Lust – Solution I

The first solution presented here is both a strategic catalyst for this entire work and incredibly important as it applies to LUST. I encourage you to take a break from reading this work and go sit quietly after the first time you finish this chapter. View this solution as a new beginning to your career, regardless of any time or efforts invested to date. Ask yourself the why question. Did you ever purposefully determine that you needed to make a decision, or was the decision just a natural evolution of performing?

Have a conversation with yourself right now about the decision to pursue acting for money. Did you really psychologically process the decision to turn your performer passion into a business? The choice to get headshots and attend auditions for paying jobs seems like a professional decision, but that aspect is part of your career progression. To enjoy acting or choose to be a performing artist is one thing. The decision to be a professional acting product for sale is an entirely separate subject. The decision is the most important solution to LUST. I recommend you reconfirm it now.

The challenge to overcome LUST can be extremely daunting. If you feel that LUST may be affecting your career, then overcoming it needs to be priority one. LUST is not concerned with your age or academic prowess or other career successes. LUST can erode any little gap of doubt or insecurity you may have.

As in any journey, the strength of the launch will forever direct your successful passage. Contrarily, a ship that isn’t seaworthy facing rough seas will eventually be exposed for its weaknesses and go down. Scripted actors are human instruments. They’re not musicians playing an instrument, dancers following choreography or an artist using paints and brushes.

The emotional and psychological gap between being an artistic product for sale and being an actor who loves performing is about the size of the Grand Canyon. The business of show sees you differently, which requires you to see yourself differently. So, the decision is actually a beautiful and liberating process when handled properly.

Just because you make the decision doesn’t mean that all of your emotions immediately disappear, but the action does help minimize them. The decision clarifies a particular consciousness, which opens the gateway to a new form of self-identity, similar to going through puberty. Puberty is a period of time in which you begin to see and understand yourself in a whole new light.

Puberty can also be a very emotional time for both genders. Products don’t have emotions, so when you make the decision, it helps to separate the personal self from the actor product who is for sale every day. The decision will create a new mission-critical attitude about the separation between the show and the business of acting.

Keeping these components separate in your mind and heart is the first step to overcoming actor traps. I can appreciate the desire to be consumed only by the art of acting, but that singularity leaves you vulnerable. Once you’ve processed through the decision, you can enjoy the time you spend with your art and engage in the business with less emotion. Everyone has chores, errands and tasks in life. The business aspect of your art contains a new list of tasks. The less emotion you allow while accomplishing them, the easier they are.

A Kevin’ism: It is almost more important to know what you’re not interested in pursuing as it is to know that which you do wish to pursue. I stand by this mantra 100% because the word pursue denotes action. The decision will professionally and emotionally assist you in what you do not wish to pursue. Please identify which aspects of on-camera scripted acting you prefer. The topic entitled Areas of Industry appearing later in this work is critical to consider.

This cliché is correct: You never get a second chance to make a first impression. However, in show business, you can restart better than ever. Resolving the decision first can mean that subsequent traps may never come into play. Please watch the video entitled The Decision on the main page of The Actors’ Network (www.actors-network.com) website. Say out loud: I am a human product for sale—I am a very good and valid product—and at various times my product will be bought and sold. The first of 35 solutions within this work, the decision is by no means on any level an accident, I assure you.

APPLAUSE

Lust – Trap II

Who doesn’t love to hear the roar of a crowd? As an actor or a stand-up comic, sometimes even I couldn’t say that it mattered if I was in front of a paying crowd. I was a stand-up comic for a couple of years, as well as a live improvisation (improv) artist. At present, I am a national and international speaker. Trust me when I tell you that I do love applause. But beware if you have a raw LUST for applause itself, as therein lies the trap.

The potential trap for actors isn’t that applause in any way is bad. Of course, applause on its own merit isn’t bad for an actor. But applause as a LUST trap is quite dangerous. Why? When you pursue scripted on-camera acting work, realize that Elvis has left the stage. Bryan Cranston had this line in Argo: If we wanted applause, we would have joined the circus. Remember, the entire focus of this work is the pursuit of on-camera scripted acting, not theatre work.

Applause is a form of appreciation, approval and a great emotional performance benefit! I love the laughter, the validation rush and the audible gratification of applause. However, the daily life of the on-camera process does not include applause.

The lack of applause can be very hard on many actors if their need for validation borders on LUST. Applause is an actor trap because it is missing from the process of on-camera auditions and on-camera work. Actors really only receive applause in theatre, other live performances or when receiving an award.

The lack of applause can create a psychological or emotional vacuum during the normal on-camera process. Think about the last time you went to a theatrical film and television (TV) or commercial audition. Perhaps you just finished shooting a film where the crew was not populated by all of your best friends. Work in the mediums of film and television lacks applause. No awards are presented during the shooting process of a commercial. A few scripted shows may still shoot in front of a live audience, but 21st century production is minimal. If you need some applause, perform in the theatre. Just recognize the difference between a need and a LUST for applause.

Applause feeds our ego and psyche and can energize the performance during the show as well. Therein lies the potential rub and applause trap. Do you need applause or to know that applause is eminent to energize your acting work? You can do a brilliant job in an on-camera audition, yet hear the sound of crickets or only a nice professional comment like that was great, thanks for coming in.

The lack of response from your audition audience is why applause can be an actor trap. The total silence can be unsettling psychologically. I have experienced applause while on a TV set and I know many others who have as well. But the experience is very rare due to time constraints. Perhaps you do not have an applause issue. If that is the case for you, then this trap may not really ever apply to you or your career. But check in with yourself and be certain you do not mind before passing over the applause trap.

Typically, the real trap is that our natural actor desire for live stage applause can pull us away from the focus of our weekly on-camera pursuit. When the applause trap wins, your business pursuit energy becomes fragmented. Start to prepare now to find your emotional gratitude in other ways. The ability to excel artistically without the need for immediate applause can be a tremendous tool.

Much like Pavlov’s dogs, when you are conditioned early on to absorb applause for validation, the habit creates expectation. Even at theatre auditions, the producers are far more likely to be verbally positive. That is the beauty of being a theatre artist–you find a generous degree of giving on both sides of the