The Vs. Studio Blog

Come together, right now, over me -song, “Come Together” by The Beatles

In chemistry, a covalent bond is a link between two atoms who share a pair of electrons. The best example of this?

Water.

Hydrogen and oxygen come together, or bond, to provide us and the world with the most basic necessity of life.

But why share electrons in the first place?

Ah, here’s where it gets interesting…

Per the website chemistrytalk.org, this happens “because the atoms are trying to fill their outermost energy level, or valence shell, with a full complement of electrons. When the atoms share electrons in this way, they become more stable and less likely to react with other substances. This is why covalent bonds are often found in molecules, which are groups of atoms held together by covalent bonds.”

Put another way, they (the atoms) can’t do it on their own. To “fill their outermost energy level” they need each other. That decision to bond, to come together, is what allows them to reach their full potential.

You and me. Me and you. We’re better together. Let’s take care of ourselves and others. Cuz we’re all we got.

If someone brings you in to pitch an idea, some pointers…

One. Be grateful for the opportunity. Someone took time out of their busy schedule to listen to you.

Two. Work hard on it. Do your research. Know your subject cold. Think through every detail and try to anticipate questions the person may ask.

Three. Let go. Just like an actor leaving their homework at the door, do the same with your pitch. Don’t hold on to anything. It’s a conversation. Be open to wherever it goes. Trust your work beforehand to let go and be in the moment.

Four. Don’t pitch what you think they want to hear or what you think will sell. Pitch what you’re passionate about.  What lights you up. Authentically convey your enthusiasm and confidence in YOUR idea. 

If you do it right, chances are they’ll either love your idea and want to back it. Or they might not love the idea, but they’ll love you and want to work with you on something else.

Either way, you made a great impression. You made a winning pitch.

P.S. – Speaking of winning pitching, check out the stats from Dwight Gooden (aka “Dr. K”) pictured above. One of my favorite pitchers of all time. As a 19 year-old rookie, he won 17 games with a 2.60 E.R.A. His second year, age 20, he went 24-4 with a 1.53 ERA and won the Cy Young Award (best pitcher in the league). Crazy good!

“Maybe you are. But I don’t want to be talked to like some incurably sick patient you have to comfort. Oh, I suppose I am sick, one of those weak and divided people who slip like shadows among you solid strong ones. But sometimes, out of necessity, we shadowy people take on a strength of our own. I have that now. You needn’t try to deceive me. You needn’t try to comfort me. I haven’t come here on any but equal terms. You said, let’s talk truthfully. Well, let’s do! Unsparingly, truthfully, even shamelessly, then! It’s no longer a secret that I love you. It never was. I loved you as long ago as the time I asked you to read the stone angel’s name with your fingers. Yes, I remember the long afternoons of our childhood, when I had to stay indoors to practice my music — and heard your playmates calling you, “Johnny, Johnny!” How it went through me, just to hear your name called! And how I — rushed to the window to watch you jump the porch railing! I stood at a distance, halfway down the block, only to keep in sight of your torn red sweater, racing about the vacant lot you played in. Yes, it had begun that early, this affliction of love, and has never let go of me since, but kept on growing. I’ve lived next door to you all the days of my life, a weak and divided person who stood in adoring awe of your singleness, of your strength. And that is my story! Now I wish you would tell me — why didn’t it happen between us? Why did I fail? Why did you come almost close enough — and no closer?” -Alma in the play, Summer And Smoke by Tennessee Williams

For the actor (or the director working with actors)…

If you find yourself in rehearsals or performance “just saying lines”, ask yourself if what you’re saying is easy.

Put another way…If you said these same words to another person in real life, particularly someone you care deeply about, would it be easy to do so? If it wouldn’t be, make the lines hard to say.

That struggle or obstacle will be fun to play and riveting to watch.

P.S. – Hat tip to Seth Barrish for inspiring this post.

There are many great acting theory and technique books out there. Far too many to list here.

Below are three practical ones. They’re all short, yet pack a punch. They’re filled with strategies you can use for your auditions, rehearsal or performance.

(1) “A Practical Handbook For The Actor” by Melissa Bruder, Lee Michael Cohn, Madeleine Olnek, Nathaniel Pollack, Robert Previtio, and Scott Zigler. All members or worked with The Atlantic Theatre Company in New York.

My first acting teacher and mentor Kurt Naebig introduced me to this one in Chicago. Even though his class and the school relied heavily on “Audition” by Michael Shurtleff (another amazing book!), Kurt was great about pulling material from all kinds of different texts and sources. Chapter Two on Actions is worth the price of the book alone.

Side note: When I moved to Los Angeles I sought out The Atlantic Theatre (they just started a West Coast conservatory program). I had the privilege of studying with Lee Cohn (a great teacher) and one of the authors of the book! It’s also where Vs. Theatre Company was born (another blog post for another time).

(2) “Tips: Ideas For Actors” by Jon Jory. One great tip I remember and have used…If you don’t know what to do with your hands or are self conscious, put a toothpick in your pocket. It’ll give you some behavior and something to play with, which in turn, gets you out of your head.

(3) “An Actor’s Companion: Tools For The Working Actor” by Seth Barrish (Thank you Paul Stein for recommending this one.). Culled from Mr. Barrish’s lifelong experience as an actor, director, and teacher, the book is chock full of great ideas to experiment with. It offers solutions to common problems that occur in rehearsal or performance.

Give them a read. Let me know what you think. And if you have any other great acting books to recommend, please put in the comments or email me!

The things just started changing with your touch
Yesterday, tomorrow just didn’t mean as much
And I’ll be all the finest man can be before I stop
And if you’ll just hold the ladder, baby, I’ll climb to the top – song “If You’ll Hold The Ladder” from the film Tender Mercies

“Mercy is the love we deserve the least, yet the love we need the most.” -Fr. Mike Schmitz

And the mercy seat is waiting
And I think my head is burning
And in a way I’m yearning
To be done with all this measuring of truth.” -Nick Cave, lyrics from the song “The Mercy Seat”

Woah, ah, mercy, mercy me
Ah, things ain’t what they used to be – lyrics from the song, “Mercy, Mercy Me” by Marvin Gaye

“Look you can’t stay here. Uh-uh. I’m not gonna rat you out, whatever you decide, I won’t do that. I’ll show you some mercy…more than you’ve shown me anyway.” – Abby to Ben in the play, The Mercy Seat by Neil LaBute

If you gave someone mercy, thank you. We need more of it.

If you were the recipient of someone’s mercy, be grateful. Then, go and do likewise for someone else.

P.S. – This song/scene. And this song. And this song. And this song.

P.P.S. – This clip. Ah, good times.

“First do what is necessary. Then do what is possible. And before you know it, you are doing the impossible.” – Saint Francis Of Assisi

“Progress equals happiness.” – Tony Robbins

For anything you want to accomplish, first get out a pen and paper and write down all the possible steps from start to finish. Don’t worry about having enough skills, time, money, or resources to accomplish the steps. Assume you have everything you need This is more brainstorming than anything else. When done, call this your “perfect plan.”

Next, go back through all the steps and put an asterisk next to the ones you deem integral to just getting the job done. Not a great job mind you, but just finishing. Maybe like a C or D on a test or term paper. Call this your “acceptable plan.” (Or inspired by Seth…your M.V.P. Your Minimum Viable Plan.)

Then, start working on the asterisks. Whatever they are…Make that phone call. Send that email. Do the research. Etc.

Pretty soon, you’ll start to gain momentum and energy as you knock out the asterisks. You might find that things weren’t as hard or took as long as you originally thought. If that’s the case, then add back some of the other steps.

When all is said and done, what you’ll most likely end up with is a cross between the perfect plan and the acceptable plan. Call it, the “perfectly acceptable plan.”

Most important, it represents progress. Which is a whole heck of a lot better than doing nothing at all.

”You get a feeling of electricity. Sparks seem to shoot from him.” -Sportswriter Jack Zimmerman writing about Walter Payton (aka “Sweetness”), legendary Chicago Bears running back

You will get nothing and go nowhere by half-assing it.

Instead, as my good friend Tony Ciccone used to advise when we were kids…

“Johnny….Explode into it.”

Don’t play it safe. Be aggressive. Make the first move, attack, and when you do… EXPLODE!!!!

Yes this applies to sports. Think of Walter Payton punishing his would be tacklers.

But I believe it applies to all of life.

Go all out. Whatever you decide to do, give it everything you got.

Explode into it.

You owe it to yourself and everyone around you.

You do that, you explode into it…you can live with any result.

In addition to the both us being super famous movie stars, Matthew McConaughey and I have one other thing in common…(Okay. He’s the movie star. I was just testing to see if you’re paying attention.)

We both have dads who believed in us.

In his excellent and engaging book/memoir Greenlights (I highly recommend the audio version), Mr. McConaughey tells the story about the first time he told his dad he wanted to be an actor. I lit up at the passage. Because his dad’s response was almost exactly what my dad said to me when I first broke the unfortunate news that I wanted to devote my life to acting.

(Long ass pause. Then…)

“Well son, don’t half-ass it.”

Whatever you’re gonna do, give it everything you got. You owe that to yourself and everyone else around you.

Don’t half-ass it.

Don’t half-ass anything.

P.S. – For extra motivation.

Inspired by a prior post from James Clear’s weekly newsletter (terrific, by the way):

A great question to ask yourself when working on habits:

“What am I optimizing for?”

Or put another way, “Why am I doing this?”

If you can’t answer cogently, then why optimize.

It’s also a great question to ask yourself repeatedly throughout the day. It immediately focuses you on the larger task at hand.

“No.”

“Nope.”

“Not interested.”

“Not for me at this time.”

“No, thank you.”

If you’re truly passionate about something, then you won’t be able to take “No” for an answer. You’ll either (a) get them to “Yes”, (b) realize it’s not for them, (c) do it on your own.

Two core principles that might help with mindset…

One. “No” is just the first word in any negotiation. It’s like the opening in chess. How you respond, what you do from there, matters far more than the initial move.

Two. “No” is a gift. It forces a decision. Forces you to check your idea and yourself. How passionate are you really about it? If you are, then you’ll either iterate or double down on your intensity and enthusiasm.

P.S. – “So you’re here to sell me some land?”