Last week’s column and Your Turn both generated quite a bit of email. Here’s a sampling.
Bonnie,
Your columns this week were so fun to read, and your response to Sandra was so right on. I hope she will indeed have a turn-around and bloom and grow. And hope she’ll write and let you know about her successes.
The column about confidence really resonated with me. For the last year I’ve been dreaming about wanting to work with a certain voiceover coach who is maybe the best in the business. She coaches celebrities and other experienced voice actors and you need a referral to work with her or you need guts to get in touch with her on your own. Finally the stars aligned and I started private coaching with her this week. She was wonderfully encouraging and I feel like anything is possible. Although we’ve just started our work, I already hear the change in my reads for auditions and gigs, both because of suggestions she made and because I am finally accepting that I’m good at what I do. So when I step up to the mic, I know something is going to happen that is worth listening to.
It’s pretty darn cool.
Thank you as always for your columns, which I’m sure benefit countless people every week.
Hi Mary,
I really hope we’ll hear from Sandra Rivera again too! It’s hard to know whether any advice I dole out or thoughts I share “lands” the way I intend it will and whether the folks on the receiving end of these words will be ready to hear it, take it in, make an adjustment, experience things in a new way.
As for your example of confidence in action, I love it! Thank you so much for sharing it. I’d venture a guess that it’s less about the stars aligning and more about you finally making that step of reaching out to this coach you so wanted to study with, or her finally hearing from your references that you’d be a great student for her. And there’s no surprise that that took place when you were able to “accept that you are good at what you do.” I bet that came first, and then the reinforcement followed.
And yes, it’s pretty darn cool. You betcha!
Hope you continue to enjoy the process and that you’ll share more about it when you’re so moved. Thank you for writing!
I just wanted to tell you that was a beautiful response. Sandra Rivera is not alone in her feelings and thoughts. Her post is essentially about what a lot of actors are going through. As I was reading your response, I thought many of the same things, but I could not have said it as beautifully as you did. Bonnie, you are always good, to the point, and always strike a balance between being delicate and firm. You must know that, as I see people writing this stuff in their posts. But this time was different. It was special. You went beyond the excellent job you always do. Delicate, yet to the point. It was touching and wonderful to read, and I thought you should know that. I wish more casting directors were like you.
Thank you for your response.
Thank you, Arthur. I was so moved by Sandra’s email. I remember being an actor who was uncomfortable in her own skin and I know that there is no greater repellent to being cast than that vibe, that feeling.
And, I can tell from the response this particular Your Turn got that even if Sandra didn’t embrace the advice, certainly quite a few readers did. And that’s pretty awesome. It’s a big part of why this column is here! Hopefully more than a few of the tens of thousands of actors who hit this website each week to see what’s up with The Actors Voice are finding little bits and pieces of something they can use in their lives and in their pursuits of acting, wherever they live, whatever their look or type, whatever their current level or level of aspiration.
So, everyone, thank you for showing up here each week to see what’s going on. And thank you for writing in — either with questions or comments. I do read all of your email even if only a few dozen get shared here at the Your Turn section over the course of the year. THANK YOU for your sharing. It’s what helps me do this job! Wouldn’t be here without you!
Have a great week, everyone. Happy summertime!
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/000886.html. Please support the many wonderful resources provided by the Breakdown Services family. This posting is the author’s personal archive.