Preparation

So!! This week I finished up my first Audition Arts class, and boy was it a sharp reality check for me. First off, it was a really great feeling to be in a room surrounded by fellow artists who are just as hungry and dedicated as I was. I got to witness and experience the work of people from a variety of different backgrounds, and training. There were some who seemed to have the entire game ON LOCK, and others who were just getting their feet wet for the first time. Now I know I said in my earlier posts, you shouldn’t compare yourself or your process to those of others, but damn was it friggin’ hard not to! I didn’t find myself really comparing in the sense of who’s better or who’s worse, but instead I picked apart the work and isolated exactly why I liked a piece of work a little more, than I liked another. After doing all of that, I would think about how I planned to add that to my own work and growth as an artist. The class brought into perspective the level in which we all needed to operate in order to progress in the field, and grow role by role. The key lesson that tied all of the weekly classes together was preparation. Oh.. Preparation.

You know.. It’s funny when you think you might have all your -iish together, and you’re good at a specific thing, then you’re put in a situation you’ve never faced before and all that sense of bravado, and confidence goes right out the window. Yeah.. That was me during the last week. So in addition to a whole new world of terminology, and industry talk I was exposed to, the CD of the class gave us sides to learn and prepare for our next meeting. Throughout that entire week, I waited and waited, and kept checking my email to see if the sides were sent. They never were. At this point I’m thinking to myself, “Did this dude forget to send out the assignments?” Fast forward to a day or two before the next meeting, I finally got an email with the sides, and it was 3 different scenes w/ 7 pages worth of lines !! Bruh ! So I try my damnedest to learn the sides in the way that I normally learn my lines, while also balancing a 9-5 AM job. Sleep wasn’t an option at this point. The day comes, and its my turn to present my work, and boy.. did I present something alright… Despite, the encouragement of those in my class, I knew very well that I did not present the best work. I’m not gonna say I’m trash or anything like that, I was just a bit taken back by how ill-prepared I felt in that moment. EVEN THOUGH, I thought I put in the necessary prep time the individual pieces required. That’s when my personal lesson arrived at my feet.

All I actually did was spend the normal prep time I had been comfortable using all my life when it came to roles and crafting my work. I was trying to apply middle school, high school, and college type energy to a game made for only the hungriest lions in the jungle. The bulk of lines we were given, coupled with the limited amount of time to learn them, was reflective of the the amount of work and responsibility expected of a TV series regular. In that moment, the competition became real. It was the moment when I realized what this game actually had in store for me, and I was shaking on the inside with excitement, and fear. In order to reach where I want to be, I have to change my approach of preparation completely. Fine tuning my process of preparation will be the first integral step towards achieving my goals