Hello World!
Now I bet people have been searching for my face on the side of milk cartons and on posters stapled onto lamposts. But fear not, I am not missing ... it has just been a crazy few weeks professionally and personally and I haven't been able to fill my blogging duties as well as I had wished. So as I owe the world 2 blogs, I shall try and make this one doubley good!
I thought I would shy away from the current affairs which I seem to have favoured in the past few blogs, instead I am going to use what I have learnt from my absence in the past few weeks and create this weeks blog. Everyone comfortable? Good, lets begin!
As I said the past few weeks has brought up a few issues in my personal life, and it affected the way I thought about my own life and how I saw my career.
Now I bet people have been searching for my face on the side of milk cartons and on posters stapled onto lamposts. But fear not, I am not missing ... it has just been a crazy few weeks professionally and personally and I haven't been able to fill my blogging duties as well as I had wished. So as I owe the world 2 blogs, I shall try and make this one doubley good!
I thought I would shy away from the current affairs which I seem to have favoured in the past few blogs, instead I am going to use what I have learnt from my absence in the past few weeks and create this weeks blog. Everyone comfortable? Good, lets begin!
As I said the past few weeks has brought up a few issues in my personal life, and it affected the way I thought about my own life and how I saw my career.
Over one set back I became very negative and lacked the ambition and
pro active spirit I usually face the acting world with. I am not going
to go into the personal thing as it is not interesting for people who
don't know me, and I am sure everyone has their own personal issues to
deal with. But it gave me the mentality that was very anti-productive.
So instead of waking up at 9, getting my self sorted and preparing for
a day of writing to people, looking for auditions, constantly
bombarding my agent and generally working on my business etc, I would
wake up at 12, watch Loose Women, Cash in the Attic, check my Facebook,
oh look Goldenballs is on, make some food, great I love the Deal or No
Deal repeat on More 4 and then spend my night seeing 'friends'
(obviously back poking people on Facebook).
This went on for a week when I just realised 'what on Earth am I doing?'. I feared for my life, I was worried I might end up on Jeremy Kyle, never mind watching it.
It is an easy routine to get into, and before you know it you have wasted another day and when you're down the last thing that you want to be doing is trying to find your next job. The thing I realised though, was that there is no time to waste in the business - you need to keep your foot on the gas because if you don't you will probably miss out on another opportunity.
I think actors are their own worst enemy, because I've heard so many actors complain about how there are no jobs out there but in some ways I believe there is no such thing as an out of work actor. Yes, you may not be acting in the next blockbuster; you might not even be doing a T.I.E tour; you may not even be acting but you still have to be working as it is your business, so whether it be attending networking nights, acting workshops or your time just writing another letter to Shane Meadows, it will pay off.
So I decided, after I spent a week of being down in the dumps, that I would go on a shopping spree to Ikea to make myself feel better about my life, and the next day I got back to pestering my agent, searching the internet for acting jobs and writing to everyone and anyone. And because of that extra little bit of work I put in, I have just spent the past few days working on a short film for the BBC. Yes the short film might not change the face of the world as we know it, but it changes the face of my bank balance from a - sign, to a + sign.
I guess I shall be heading back to Ikea, as there is a wok, a plant and a futon that has my name all over it!
"A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort." - Herm Albright
This went on for a week when I just realised 'what on Earth am I doing?'. I feared for my life, I was worried I might end up on Jeremy Kyle, never mind watching it.
It is an easy routine to get into, and before you know it you have wasted another day and when you're down the last thing that you want to be doing is trying to find your next job. The thing I realised though, was that there is no time to waste in the business - you need to keep your foot on the gas because if you don't you will probably miss out on another opportunity.
I think actors are their own worst enemy, because I've heard so many actors complain about how there are no jobs out there but in some ways I believe there is no such thing as an out of work actor. Yes, you may not be acting in the next blockbuster; you might not even be doing a T.I.E tour; you may not even be acting but you still have to be working as it is your business, so whether it be attending networking nights, acting workshops or your time just writing another letter to Shane Meadows, it will pay off.
So I decided, after I spent a week of being down in the dumps, that I would go on a shopping spree to Ikea to make myself feel better about my life, and the next day I got back to pestering my agent, searching the internet for acting jobs and writing to everyone and anyone. And because of that extra little bit of work I put in, I have just spent the past few days working on a short film for the BBC. Yes the short film might not change the face of the world as we know it, but it changes the face of my bank balance from a - sign, to a + sign.
I guess I shall be heading back to Ikea, as there is a wok, a plant and a futon that has my name all over it!
"A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort." - Herm Albright
Hey Brennan,
I don't know if you read these comments, but thanks very much for that very personal blog. It takes alot for someone to admit when they are down and actually move on from it and turn it into something productive. It also made me realize that I am not the only one who sometimes sees this business as more of a hinderence than a help.
So thanks, you put a smile on my face and made me get off my bum and do something.
Jillian xxx