In the current cycle of my Temp-Odyssey, I am the Admin at the NELA Center, a nonprofit that mentors low-income, minority, and first-generation college students through the college application process. It can be really cool to witness caring, stable mentors help confused teenagers navigate this unfamiliar territory, but I really find my ears perking up when a kid comes through the center with dreams of being an actor or a filmmaker or some kind of artist. I tend to squirm during the "That's a bad idea" and "Maybe you should do something more practical" talk until I have the opportunity to jump in and try to be the voice of un-reason in encouraging kids that yes, that is something you can do with your life.
Why do I feel the need to butt in? Well, I am admittedly biased because I'm in the arts. But there seems to be an impression, mostly amongst people who don't consider themselves to be in the arts, that becoming an artist is like knocking on the door of a castle and saying you'd like to be a Princess, please.** As if it's like a divine ordination that you are either born with or not. Because of this weirdly universal idea, poor, nervous parents everywhere have visions of their emaciated children knocking on doors of snotty agents with knees knocking and trembling outstretched headshot, saying, "Ec-ec-excuse me sir I wanna be an ac-ac-actor" before doors get slammed in their faces. They then wander aimlessly through the gutters doing drugs with Bohemian characters until they wake up as a 40-year-old busboy or heroin addict, still insistent that they are an "actor." These poor hopeless souls flock to big cities by the hundreds with the vain hope of meeting Johnny Depp's agent and instantly making millions of dollars and that is the only path possible when your kid says he wants to be an "actor." What parent wouldn't be worried? Especially if the whole point of pursuing higher education is to improve your chances at a successful future.
Rest easy, worried parents. I would like to hereby state that this image is false. I am like, obnoxiously practical, and yet I am an artist and I don't starve. In fact, there are literally infinite ways of supporting yourself and living your life as an artist. Personally, I use my B.A. (read as Bachelor of Arts or Bad-Assery) to land various office jobs--an acting challenge in and of itself. One of my mentors once told me that a key to being an actor is having the self-respect and confidence to say "I'm an actor," no matter what your job is that you are doing to pay the bills for now. It's acknowledging what you can do to survive within society (Data entry, Teaching preschool, Accounting) while keeping your creativity and sense of self intact--empowering yourself to inhabit your own unique perspective. This not only forces you to find a creative outlet, it opens you up to discover like-minded people and infinite potential projects. When you start doing truly creative, adventurous, awesome work, people will come see it, and you might just wake up one morning and see that, bit by bit, you have turned the statement "I am an artist" into a 24/7 gig. The first step is to stay alive and engage yourself creatively. You don't have to make $10 million a year to be an "actor."
So am I making feature films and making out with Brad Pitt? Incidentally, no, and I'm cool with that. Angelina and the pack of children would probably dismember me anyway. Do I spend way more time typing things into Excel spreadsheets than Brad Pitt does? Yes, and it kind of sucks. But it's just for right now, and I'm not worried about getting stuck here. I also do a ton of projects with the rest of my time, I have an agent who sends me out for stuff, and I occasionally get paid for artistic things, too. On a practical level, I would like to state for the record that there is an entire Arts industry in this country, made up of a wide array of artistic work. Hollywood stars are not the only people making money as actors. Every commercial you see, every instructional film you've watched at work, and every print ad you've ever seen paid countless of creative professionals.
One last thing. A career in the arts is not an easy path, and I don't encourage every hormonal 16-year-old who comes in to NELA to go full bore down this path like it's a straight and simple. Everyone finds something different that works for them--that delicate balance between being financially soluble and not wanting to strangle yourself with your keyboard cord. I know actors who are also chiropractors, accountants, managers, teachers, professors, musicians, and....full-time actors. I know artists who work gig to gig and ones with year-round contracts. I think that's the thing that scares people off from a bold-faced pursuit of being an artist: The career
path is not clear, it's not laid out in front of you, and it takes perseverance. It's also totally possible.
**Of course, there are those that were born Princesses.... Sammi.
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