The Power To Say YES

Last night I went to The Actors Network to hear Joseph Middleton speak. He's an amazing casting director (just did a little movie called Twilight: New Moon. Heard of it?) and I felt so blessed to be able to listen and ask questions.

Given his amazing credits, Joseph might seem really powerful, but one of the most fascinating things he said might surprise some of us: casting directors have the power to say no. They don't usually have the power to say yes. What did he mean by this? Well, CDs work for producers. The producers are the ones hiring, so they can say yes to whatever and whomever they want. CDs make suggestions about who to hire, and producers can either listen or not.

And yet, many of us spend A TON of our time marketing to casting people and worrying that they will not know us and therefore we will not be hired. This is what Kevin is always telling us at the Actors Network, and it couldn't be more true. We can't spend all our time marketing to casting people and forget that producers are the ones with the power to hire us. But let's go a little deeper with the power to say yes...

Some people will say, great, I get that I should market to producers, but what should I say to them? Why should they hire me when they could hire Isla Fisher or Ginnifer Goodwin? This is when we have to go to our core as individuals. Who am I? Why am I an actor? What do I have to offer? Why did I give up everything in my hometown to sit in LA traffic on the way to auditions?

When you do a little personal soul-searching, the answers may surprise you. When I worked as an elementary school teacher on the upper west side of Manhattan, I loved my students, and I knew I was making a difference in their lives. But I felt a profound sense that my purpose was to effect bigger changes in the world. I realized that the way to do this, for me at least, was through media. I watched Will & Grace, and of course I laughed - it was hilarious. Millions of Americans laughed. And through that laughter, gay became more ok. (ha ha, I rhymed) The more I thought about it, the more I realized that movies and tv shows change us, open us up, expand our horizons and bring us together. I knew I wanted to be a part of that.

So the power to say yes is not just about who has the power to greenlight a project. It's about finding your own personal power - your passion - and then sharing that unique flavor of you with the world.

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