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“In the end Is my beginning.” -T.S. Eliot For the actor… The intensity (aka “how you’ve got sh*t cooking inside you”) you have at the end of the scene?…Now go back and start the scene with that same intensity. Note: This is especially helpful for auditions. (h/t to my friend Ron for reminding me ofContinue reading “Start At The End”

“Work norishes noble minds.” -Seneca “Depression hates a moving target.” -George Mack Feeling blah? Not sure what to do? Wanting to keep “The Black Dog” (aka Depression) from visiting you? Stop thinking and start working. Especially something physical. How about bricklaying? It worked for Winston Churchill (his daily regimen was “200 bricks and 2000 words”)Continue reading “How To Keep “The Black Dog” Away”

“Until one is committed there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help oneContinue reading “All In?”

The Road goes ever on and onDown from the door where it began.Now far ahead the Road has gone,And I must follow, if I can,Pursuing it with eager feet,Until it joins some larger wayWhere many paths and errands meet.And whither then? I cannot say. -“The Walking Song” in The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien And asContinue reading “No Turning Back”

“People who get an unusual amount of work done are maniacal about removing things from their lives that others tolerate.” -Shane Parrish Artistic work isn’t for everyone. It requires total focus and concentration on the task at hand. You must shut everything out. Eliminate all distraction. Treat this work and time as precious, sacred, consecratedContinue reading “Artistic Work Is Sacred Work”

“The most regretful people on earth are those who felt the call to creative work, who felt their own creative power restive and uprising, and gave to it neither power nor time.” -Mary Oliver If you’re fortunate to receive the call to do creative work, you must answer it. Otherwise it will haunt you theContinue reading “Answer The Call”

“If you speak any lines, or do anything, mechanically, without fully realizing who you are, where you came from, why, what you want, where you are going, and what you will do when you get there, you will be acting without imagination. That time, whether it will be short or long, will be unreal, andContinue reading “Preparation”

“We can never go back. We can go forward. We can find the love our hearts long for, but not until we let go grief about the love we lost long ago.” -bell hooks “Over and over, the hand of memory reaches back, grasps for the bygone moment when life was simpler or brighter orContinue reading “Nostalgia”

“On May 2, 1972, Bruce Springsteen auditioned for the record producer John Hammond. Hammond had signed icons like Bob Dylan and Aretha Franklin—two of Springsteen’s heroes. “I would’ve been in a state of complete panic,” Springsteen writes in Born To Run, “except on the way up in the elevator, I performed a little mental jiu-jitsu on myself.Continue reading “Playing With House Money”

“The first rule of improvisation is AGREE. Always agree and SAY YES. When you’re improvising, this means you are required to agree with whatever your partner has created.” -Tina Fey “Saying ‘yes’ begins things. Saying ‘yes’ is how things grow. Saying ‘yes’ leads to knowledge.” -Stephen Colbert “Our first energy has to be “yes” energy,Continue reading “Start With Yes”