The Vs. Studio Blog

They don’t know how many camera tests you did before shooting. How many hundreds of drafts you wrote before you turned in the novel. How long you looked until you found the exact, right, period wallpaper. How hard you worked to get the costumes perfectly tea-stained and distressed. How you obsessed every night to get the correct proportion of taco sauce to dirty dishes on Danny’s extraordinary set. (That last one is an Inside joke for Stef, Ron and Danny.)

They don’t know. But you know. You know you did your best. You gave everything you had to the project.

And it’s because of your passion and your love and your care about every detail that while they don’t know it, they feel it. In their bones. That’s all that matters anyway, right? To get them to feel something. To open up their hearts and minds. To give them an amazing artistic experience that they’ll never forget.

Maybe you weren’t the first choice for the project. Or the second. Or the third.

None of that matters. That’s just ego. Get over it.

Assuming you love the project and the people behind it, all that matters is you’re a part of it now. You get to do meaningful work. Be grateful for the opportunity. Give everything you got. Put your whole heart and soul into it. Be generous and kind towards everyone you encounter.

And go kick some ass.

The firefighter rushes in to danger and the burning building while everyone else rushes out.

The athlete rushes in to discipline, pain and suffering while everyone else rushes out.

The artist rushes in to vulnerability and emotional rawness while everyone else rushes out.

If you wanna do something great, it’s gonna cost. You need to rush in.

“I criticize by creation, not by finding fault.” – Cicero

“The best criticism of the bad is the practice of the better.” – Richard Rohr

Let others judge.

You stay busy creating. And iterating and learning and growing.

That way, all your time is spent making things better.

And making better things.

If content is king (as Bill Gates famously declared in this 1996 essay), then context is the ace. Together you got blackjack.

One without the other though?…Busted.

P.S. – Always double down on eleven.

Don’t you ever wonder
Maybe if things had been slightly different
You could be somebody else?
Don’t you wonder maybe
If you took a left turn
Instead of taking a right
You could be somebody different?

Don’t you ever wonder
Could I have been
Don’t you ever wonder?
Anyone, anyone
Don’t you ever wonder?
Don’t you ever wonder?
Anyone, anyone, anyone

Could I have been a parking lot attendant?
Could I have been a millionaire in Bel Air?
Could I have been lost somewhere at Red Rocks?
Could I have been your little sister?

Could I have been anyone other than me?
Could I have been anyone other than me?
Could I have been anyone other than me?
Could I have been anyone? -Dave Matthews Band, song “Dancing Nancies”

“I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am, let’s face it. It was you, Charley.” -Marlon Brando as Terry Malloy in On The Waterfront

Do you ever wonder if you could be somebody else? Live their life? See what they see? Feel what they feel?

That’s one of the great things about being an actor. Especially if you fully commit and inhabit the character. You get to be somebody else. For a little while anyway. And in the process, you and the audience gain greater insight and empathy for the human condition. That’s a pretty noble calling.

Don’t woulda coulda shoulda. Find the role and go make your art.

P.S. – This song. This scene. This monologue.

“Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” – Arthur Ashe

Stop daydreaming about what you’ll do when you finally get what you want.

Start doing with what you have right now.

“She who is centered in the Tao can go where she wishes, without danger. She perceives the universal harmony, even amid great pain, because she has found peace in her heart.” – Tao Te Ching by Lao-Tzu (Translation by Stephen Mitchell)

“We join spokes together in a wheel, but it is the center hole that makes the wagon move.” – Tao Te Ching by Lao-Tzu (Translation by Stephen Mitchell)

Staying centered or the image of a circle is one of the most recurring themes in the Tao Te Ching. (At least a dozen of the eighty-one verses by my count.). Why is this?

One reason might be that when you’re in the center, you have true perspective. A 360 degree view of everything.

Anyone who’s lived through a hurricane (I have. Hurricane Andrew in South Florida. Won’t ever forget it.) will tell you how eerily calm the eye is when it passes through.

Center yourself in the Tao. Detached. Observant. Tolerant. Be the eye in the storm. For yourself and others. Let the winds of chaos swirl around you but not through you.

“It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not a weakness; that is life.” -Jean-Luc Picard

You can do everything right…

…and still everything goes wrong.

Detach yourself from the outcome.

Focus on the process.

You’ll be content knowing you did your best. You controlled what you could control. Let fortune and fate be what they will be.

If you’re looking for an example of generosity of spirit, look no further than the below email that Anthony Hopkins sent to Bryan Cranston. It’s after he consumed all episodes of “Breaking Bad.” He was so moved by the performance and quality of the show, he felt compelled to reach out. (Hat tip to my friend Jason for sending this to me.)

I’ll bet dollars to doughnuts that one of the reasons Anthony Hopkins is such an incredible actor is his generous spirit. Whenever you find yourself moved by someone’s work, let them know about it. It’s such a cool thing to do and it will mean so much to the artist.

P.S. – Thank you JJ for the beautiful note you typed out on a manual typewriter (same brand Shepard used as I recall) and mailed me after seeing “True West.” I will always treasure that note. You rock my friend.