Rejection

I used to think I was really good at rejection but I think what's happened is there's just so much rejection in the acting world and there's pretty much nothing you can do to control it, so when I get rejected in other ways where I still have control (or so it seems), I can't let it go and I try to do everything in my power to come out as the winner. 

Rejection may not ever be easy to accept and I'm not saying we shouldn't go after things we want, but I think what I need to learn is to give God control, complete control, even if it's not what I think I want. It's about trusting Him, knowing He knows what's best and is no less good to us because He's not giving us what we supposedly want.

Acting Advise from Mindy Kaling and Friends

So I recently went to this screening / conversations event at SAG with Mindy Kaling and some of her cast members from The Mindy Project. I don't watch the show all the time, but I do think it's super funny, and I really like Mindy Kaling, especially on The Office but also on Mindy, and also she works really hard to create pretty awesome stuff, so I respect her and wanted to be inspired by her, so I went to this.

I think my favorite dialogue between the actors was after we listened to the interviewer ask questions about the show's romantic drama for FOREVER (see: way too long), someone in the audience was asking for practical advise for how to get on a TV show, and Mindy goes, "That's really why we're all here right? That's why we're sitting here in the basement of the SAG building."

It is sort of a homely room they use for these events so I got what she was saying but I was like (in my head), The basement? Then one of the guys from Mindy Project goes, "I think I took an elevator to get here," and she's like, "Oh yeah, that's right." HA ha ha. That just made me laugh so hard for some reason.

But anyways, so they were giving practical advise about acting in general, and now I'd like to share that with you:

• Get on stage however you can. Just BE acting all the time (and not just auditioning). One of the guys (sorry I don't know all the names of the guys from the show) was talking about how he used to do improv shows 5-6 times a week and how a lot of them were so bad it was embarrassing and he was like mad his friends were there and saw him. Ha! 
• Sometimes (with certain types of scripts) you will learn to do less and less with your acting because the lines are so funny on their own. 
• Push yourself no matter what people say. One of the guys was talking about how most of us are here trying to make it because people said we couldn't. (Yep! - well that's not why I'm here, but that's why I didn't come here for so long anyway.) Anyways he said one of the first big agencies he met with talked to him and said, "On looks alone you're not a leading man." And he was like, "Fuck that shit." 
• NEVER improvise at an audition, especially for TV. The writer is usually one of the selectors, and you should not underestimate his ego.
• You are in control of your time at your audition. Don't be indecisive or ask questions about what you should or shouldn't do. Just decide what you are going to do beforehand and then do it, take a big swing. 
• You should be completely off book at your auditions but still hold the sides.
• Do not shake hands in the casting room. (The casting people do not want to shake two million people's hands / get two million diseases.)
• Don't get caught up in people's comments about you (I supposed this applies more for AFTER you get your TV show). Mindy said when she reads bad stuff written about her she reminds herself that she is the artist. She thinks, "My job is to be the artist and be busy and cool, and their job is to... sit there and comment about it?" and it puts things in perspective.

[Oh, sidenote funny store from the one non-Mindy girl on stage - Beth Grant - She said she once read this comment from this guy who said something like, "I HATE BETH GRANT. I hated her in this movie, I hated her in that movie, I hated her on that TV show, I hated her in this movie," and he listed all these things he hated her in, and she said at first she felt really hurt because it was "pretty violent," but then she thought, "Actually I think this is my biggest fan. He's seen EVERY single thing I've been in!" ha ha ha, and then one of the Mindy guys goes, "And then, they got married," and then he was like, "I'm kidding!" 

• When you're working as an ensemble cast, don't just download information to each other, really listen and react. And trust one another. Be of service to the story, and have fun!

Mindy also talked about her journey from being a small-time role on The Office to creating and starring in her own show today. She said most the time she'd have like two lines on The Office but have to be on set / waiting from 6am-7pm. (DUDE that's almost as bad as extras work.)  She said she really likes to write her own stuff because she likes to be interesting characters: "Why play the girlfriend that just listens to the boyfriend, when you can play a big, flawed, interesting character?" She has never had a role she liked that she didn't write herself. Also when she was first starting, NOBODY believed in her. Nobody was giving her advise or sending her on auditions, so she had to create her own stuff and make it happen. She worked really hard when other people were partying (I believe it). Also, Mindy still admits she doesn't really know how you get successful in this industry. She said she was reading Amy Poehler's new book, even though she [Mindy] has her own TV show, she's still reading this book like, "Yeah how DO you make it?" 

So anyways, I appreciated hearing what these guys had to say, and that they (especially Mindy) took time out of their busy schedules to sit in "the basement of the SAG building" to tell us stuff. Thanks guys! See you on the tube..