When I was a little kid, I didn't want to do anything other than act. For the longest time, that's all I would do, since I was 7. I would choreograph intense fight scenes with my brother, and stage plays on our front deck. For a 7 year old, I would handle intense plays -Greater Tuna, MacBeth, GlenGary GlenRoss (although HIGHLY sanitized). I would also write plays and scenarios and sketches - and this has turned into my most recent hobby, writing.
But there was never for 1 second a doubt in my mind that I would act when I got older. But as luck would have it, as I did get older, I started auditioning for plays. I was an extra in "The Jackal", starring Bruce Willis and Richard Gere, and the way non-SAG extras were treated kind of disillusioned me away from the screen. I turned to the stage more than doing extra work on films that were shooting in Richmond - I was so close to being a background character in Hannibal, but my face was too round for the fish market shootout.
I started auditioning for plays in high school, and found out very quickly that no matter how much I practiced at home, I wasn't as good as I thought I was. There were - GASP - people out there that were better than I was. And something else dawned on me. There were politics at work. Seniors were more likely to be cast, non-talented people tended to get smaller roles if they could bring in crowds - and this too was a rude awakening.
I did get cast in my fair share of shows (Richard III - I played Richard, and damn well, thank you very much, Big River where I played the Young Fool, although I was considered for Pap Finn, Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing - a comic turn for Shakespeare. This part was damn hard compared to Richard) so I couldn't really complain too much.
After I graduated, though, shows became harder and harder to come by. I did a youth play, The 12 Dancing Princesses, when I was 18 - I was the oldest cast member, and my physique and allergic shiners lent me well to being a villainous type. I did very well. The children who would come to see the show would not talk to me when it was over, because they were afraid.
And that was 2 1/2 years ago. I've auditioned for exactly 1 play since then - The Wizard of Oz, but I didn't make it because my dancing audition blew.
I think it's odd how my priorities changed. I still get e-mails about auditions, and I tell myself I'll go, but I never do. I don't want to put myself out there, knowing that there are people out there that could be better than me - better than me, forever and ever until I die homeless and penniless.
Everyone tells me the job I have right now is a great job for a 20 year old who never went to college, and that I should focus on that, not do plays, because they would sap so much energy, and I should spend my time writing, because it doesn't take a lot out of me and I'm always thinking.
And I am always thinking. What if I'm wrong? I don't have job security here.
When I was 7, I knew I was going to be an actor. Hitting the stage - there's no better feeling. Getting a standing ovation when your character is a villain and he ****ing gets stabbed, but the audience loves you anyway - that's a feeling.
That's my dream job.
What about you, FFR users? What is your dream job? Have you had it wrenched away from you by the cold, unflattering reality that is reality? Are you taking any steps to realizing your dream job?
Spill it. Here is the place, now is the time.
Mal.
But there was never for 1 second a doubt in my mind that I would act when I got older. But as luck would have it, as I did get older, I started auditioning for plays. I was an extra in "The Jackal", starring Bruce Willis and Richard Gere, and the way non-SAG extras were treated kind of disillusioned me away from the screen. I turned to the stage more than doing extra work on films that were shooting in Richmond - I was so close to being a background character in Hannibal, but my face was too round for the fish market shootout.
I started auditioning for plays in high school, and found out very quickly that no matter how much I practiced at home, I wasn't as good as I thought I was. There were - GASP - people out there that were better than I was. And something else dawned on me. There were politics at work. Seniors were more likely to be cast, non-talented people tended to get smaller roles if they could bring in crowds - and this too was a rude awakening.
I did get cast in my fair share of shows (Richard III - I played Richard, and damn well, thank you very much, Big River where I played the Young Fool, although I was considered for Pap Finn, Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing - a comic turn for Shakespeare. This part was damn hard compared to Richard) so I couldn't really complain too much.
After I graduated, though, shows became harder and harder to come by. I did a youth play, The 12 Dancing Princesses, when I was 18 - I was the oldest cast member, and my physique and allergic shiners lent me well to being a villainous type. I did very well. The children who would come to see the show would not talk to me when it was over, because they were afraid.
And that was 2 1/2 years ago. I've auditioned for exactly 1 play since then - The Wizard of Oz, but I didn't make it because my dancing audition blew.
I think it's odd how my priorities changed. I still get e-mails about auditions, and I tell myself I'll go, but I never do. I don't want to put myself out there, knowing that there are people out there that could be better than me - better than me, forever and ever until I die homeless and penniless.
Everyone tells me the job I have right now is a great job for a 20 year old who never went to college, and that I should focus on that, not do plays, because they would sap so much energy, and I should spend my time writing, because it doesn't take a lot out of me and I'm always thinking.
And I am always thinking. What if I'm wrong? I don't have job security here.
When I was 7, I knew I was going to be an actor. Hitting the stage - there's no better feeling. Getting a standing ovation when your character is a villain and he ****ing gets stabbed, but the audience loves you anyway - that's a feeling.
That's my dream job.
What about you, FFR users? What is your dream job? Have you had it wrenched away from you by the cold, unflattering reality that is reality? Are you taking any steps to realizing your dream job?
Spill it. Here is the place, now is the time.
Mal.
. I also want to get an MBA, but that's just random; I've no idea what I would do with it.
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