A negative audition experience yesterday got me thinking about a major and unfortunate societal trend that I strongly believe interferes with many folks in the early developmental years of their acting careers: entitlement.
Last week I booked a small role on a primetime television show. The next day I received the bad news that the script had been re-written and my character didn’t make it into the new draft. Curses! Foiled again! My agents assured me that in cases like this the producers are usually very gracious about finding another opportunity, and sure enough I shortly afterwards received an invitation to audition for another similarly-sized role for the same show.
My agents and colleagues all assured me that it was “in the bag,” and when I walked in the room the casting director turned to the producer and director and reminded them of my earlier bad luck. Their response? A shoulder shrug.
I had a good audition, but I didn’t get the part.
Nobody owes you anything. I think this is a hard message to hear but nonetheless critically important. I let myself believe that the part was mine and as a result I did not prepare as thoroguhly and carefully as I had the first time. I still had a good audition, but I didn’t give my best effort, and in this highly competitive industry your best effort is the only one that will get you anywhere. Now I have to endure the self-reproach that comes with knowing that had I worked as hard the second time as I did the first I might be writing a very different post!
Your best effort is hardly limited to audition preparation. Are you giving your best possible effort in finding auditions? Are you doing everything within your power to improve your craft through classes so you will be ready to deliver when your big opportunity finall comes? Are you making wise investments of your time and energy and money so that your career will grow towards the things you most want to do?
You are free to sulk about how hard this industry is. You can sit around your apartment with the satisfaction of knowing that you are too good to put up with all the crap. But if you do understand that somewhere somebody else is truly giving it their all in every possible sense of the word, and that person is enjoying the opportunities that you can only dream about.
That person might as well be you.
Make it happen.