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Notes from Eugene

/Notes from Eugene

Whose acting is it?

In the end, nothing matters more than finding your own path. Stephen Pressfield calls it your authentic swing, even has a book about it. He uses a golf analogy, describing how novice golfers try to hit the ball the way they “think” they should, until a lucky few figure out that the only way to achieve personal greatness is to find your authentic swing. The same is true of acting. You can look for teacher after teacher who might bestow upon you the secret of acting, you can copy a movie star you admire, or you can even try to act [...]

Whose acting is it? 2018-08-01T12:17:13+00:00

10 Things For A Young and Commited Actor To Remember

You will waste your youth doing the thing you love most. You will admire people who are not worth your time. You will accept that the words no and yes can both mean no. You will doubt yourself most of the time. You will see people worse than you succeed and better than you fail. You will quit a thousand times and pick yourself up off the floor a thousand and one times. You will often consider getting a real job but soon come to your senses. You will learn to serve your talent no matter what. You will discover that [...]

10 Things For A Young and Commited Actor To Remember 2017-11-25T14:06:45+00:00

How To Win By Just Showing Up

No project ever gets off the ground, no career ever gets started in Hollywood or anywhere else in the world without the element of faith. Did you ever watch the Oscars? How many acceptance speeches include the words “Thank you for believing in me.”? How many Academy Award winners talk about the years of stumbling in the dark while keeping the faith? As my friend Steve puts it, if acting were easy everybody would be doing it. What’s the hardest part? I would say slogging through the vagueness, rejection, and self-doubt with no one believing in you until someone does. It can [...]

How To Win By Just Showing Up 2016-10-16T11:00:56+00:00

Do you have actor gold inside of you?

So I was watching the Olympics the other day and this ad came on – “Gold, it’s in us all, but some have the courage to dig it out.” Dick’s Sporting Goods Wow. I couldn’t believe it. On national television, in between Olympic events, Dick’s Sporting Goods was telling me that I too have gold in me, I’m just afraid to dig it out. Great, I thought, maybe I WILL finally dig out my gold. But what event would I win? Swimming? Now that there are a couple of spots on the U.S. team? Don’t think so. Archery? Not really. Chess? [...]

Do you have actor gold inside of you? 2016-08-25T11:56:35+00:00

Why Acting Isn’t For Everyone

Here’s an opinion based on experience, lots of it: It’s easy to learn acting if you put in the hard work and you’re ready to learn to act. And by ready I mean psychologically and emotionally ready to accept, embody and embrace the principles of acting. But not everyone is ready. Case in point, did you ever try to paint something? The neophyte will tell you that painting is easy, just give me a brush and some paint and what’s the problem? The professional painter will tell you that the success of your paint job is all in the preparation, and [...]

Why Acting Isn’t For Everyone 2016-04-19T12:57:41+00:00