Lessons From the Beach

I have a great actor friend out in LA who’s been at it for a while. I met her in New York, and she kind of showed me the ropes and how it’s possible to live this life while staying moderately sane. Moderately. No one can do it without going at least a little bit crazy – or usually starting out a little crazy. She facebook chatted with me today, said she was going to the beach just because

            Why don’t I do that? Go to the beach, or the park, or the wherever, just because? You know why? Because I have this ridiculous notion that I should be working on my career constantly without a break; that if I sacrifice my personal time to develop a pilot and write a screenplay and produce a webshow, then I will somehow be more apt to succeed as an actor.        

    That’s the big gamble – no one knows! My screenplay could be brilliant! It could be a total waste of my time! I don’t really know! But I do know that it’s something I want to challenge myself to do.

            If I had just been cast in a broadway show, would I still be working on it? Probably. If I was suddenly given 100 million dollars, would I still do it? Probably.  That’s just how I am, all work and no play. And it’s making me a little dull. I really do think that – my conversational skills have been declining ever so slightly.

            Basically I need to take my slight two month break a lot more seriously. I need to relax in a serious way. In a focused way. In a PRODUCTIVE way. Wait a second.

            Maybe I just need to spend more time in the poconos like I did this past Sunday, swimming in a lake and BBQ’ing against a view like this:

Yeah. That’s the ticket. Summertime. It’s here.

--  Shawn Dempewolff

Comments

[Nick Coleman]

For any artist, your life OUTSIDE of your art is what makes your interesting and gives you fuel for the creative fires.

Writers say "write what you know"... if all they did was write, we'd only have plays about... well... writers.

I think acting works in a similar way. So technically, that "break" is actually part of the job!

[wiL]

I sympathize with you on the declining conversational skills part. I've been out here in LA for almost a year and all I've been doing is focussing on surviving and not acting. I've taken a commercial class but the pressure to live, JUST LIVE, is much heavier.

I sense so much creativity in me but it hasn't been burning-I have no light. I'm thinking of taking a break from LA to get my fuel, something I didn't do before I came here.