So, last week, I issued a challenge to readers of The Actors Voice to declare what it is that you *can* do, as we close out this delicious year! The responses are coming in and I hope you’ll add yours to the bunch. Sometimes just putting the words into an email can be a push toward getting moving toward your goals.
First up, let’s celebrate Bobby Reed, whose declaration is a hell yes, in so many ways! 🙂
Bobby Reed Declares:
I can do anything. This is not a new opinion of my own technical capabilities, just an attitude. Since I was a wee lad in Middletown, New York. I have found that, after 50 years in show business, it usually pays off.
I’m not the best actor or director or producer or person in the world, but looking back at my track record, I can usually get the job done. Besides acting (with some years very lucrative and others less so, *ahem*), I coach other performers and musicians on how to better market themselves. I wrote a book about it at the behest of the education head at AFTRA when she suggested I turn my class into a printed guide and give it away for free. I did, and do.
This coaching side career began in the ’80s in New York, and continues here in Los Angeles since 1999. That led to designing websites, graphics, printed matter, logos, editing, scoring, color correcting, and more. A whole host of actor-related services that I now earn money at (or barter for) that help to keep me away from (in my not-so-humble opinion) an actor’s most dreaded words: THE DAY JOB!
I had plenty of them, mostly in law firms, and I’m certainly grateful for the cash and lavish insurance policies. But those jobs were not me. One temp job as a paste-up artist at Redbook Magazine in 1982 led to my skills today as a professional graphic designer. Others led to equally valuable tidbits. It’s a long, lovely journey.
I am what is known as a “lifer” in show business. I will die in the trunk I was born in, with my boots on (like Irene Ryan in Pippin). Remember what Ruth Gordon said: “If you hang around long enough, they’re bound to put you in something.”
So, my can-do declaration is: I am an actor and an artist, and can live my life fully as those things, each and every day. My secondary declaration is to tell others they, too, can do it. Just like Bonnie’s 850,000 past columns. Just read them. Every word. They will tell you how to do it. The bounty of the universe is all around. Just look. And decide.
I love love love fellow “lifers,” Bobby. Thank you for sharing all that you are with so many others. That’s a passion for us, isn’t it? How wonderful!
I’m motivated by Bobby’s words. Are you? Who’s next? Hit me up with your declaration! I can’t wait to hear from you.
Bonnie Gillespie is living her dreams by helping others figure out how to live theirs. Wanna work with Bon? Start here. Thanks!
Originally published by Actors Access at http://more.showfax.com/columns/avoice/archives/001584.html. Please support the many wonderful resources provided by the Breakdown Services family. This posting is the author’s personal archive.