Biz: Its Not Fair Nia…But Its Right for Beyonce

I watched the film Obsessed yesterday and I believe to date it was one of the worst films that I have ever seen. Oddly, everyone in the film actually gave good performances, with the exception of the lead actor Beyonce. Its not that Beyonce is the worst actor; yet she simply was not a good choice for the film. I am not going to go into detail about the why’s…but I do want to address a matter that was covered in S2S magazine about Nia Long.

First and foremost…Nia Long is a great actress and Beyonce is talented entertainer and has a great brand.

In response to Nia Long’s comments that singers and other people who are not professional actors should stick to their own craft, I agree with Nia. One bad actor in a great film can ruin a lot, however, in contrast one great star in a film can make a film a lot of money.

My solution for the matter? Actors need to follow Beyonce’s lead and get themselves a good brand. Get exposure in other ways that will transulate into more seats in a movie theater. Different resources work for different actors, yet I see that we all must be responsible for ourselves and our visions. Sure Beyonce is not a good actor—but she is a great business woman. She can get people in seats at the opening of her film and that’s why she was cast for this project.

So its not fair Nia, but it is right for the industry to make moves as they have done. The industry is called Show Business. Talent alone does not pay the bills. However, Talent, plus good PR, plus being well connected—can equal box office sucess. I believe it can be done. I look at Zoe Saldana. I went to her website and not only is she making a lot happen on the big screen, she has other businesses and overall a balanced lofe. She may not be perfect for she is doing something right.

What works for Zoe may not work for us all…but their is a solution to this—talented actors need to step their game up.

I am soooooooooooo inspired by both ladies!!!

Career: Growth In One Area Promotes Growth All Over

Earlier this year I had the then unfortunate opportunity to deal with closing the door to an ex boyfriend. It was one of those situations where there was an open door policy with him. The door was always open. Even if I met new people, little did they know I had an ex boyfriend that was always in my life, so to be totally honest it was like for some time I had two boyfriends. Well until earlier this year that is…Through a sequence of events he was gone by February 2009. So for the first time in my love life I was REALLY single. I felt and feel like I am starting fresh and that I have learned so many lessons along the way and its a good thing. So my love life was brought a new life.

Then on to my weight. I’ve always felt good about myself, yet I have always felt I should loose some weight. Well through hard work so far this year I have lost around 37lbs ( with more to go). I let that old weight go. I am still letting weight go and so I am forming a new me. So now my body is getting a new life in a sense.

Next you have my career. I am a scientist by trade. I have worked in a lab for years ( many times graveyard shift while in Hollywood) just to see where I would “fit” in. I am now in middle management and I love my job as well. For the first time I am doing something I am good at. However, I am also building upon my expertise and now have started a small business, gradually building up my confidence in the arts as well to take that FT and also working very hard to make sure that I am living my career dream now. So I feel like that although I am not 100% where I want to be career wise—I have a new professional life cause I see I am getting closer to where I want to be. I no longer work for free for anything where I know there should be a profit.

Next you have my friendships. I am that ” cheerleader” friend. I cheer everyone on with all that I have, yet many times in the past I have been the last cheerleader standing even when the person I am cheering for has decided to give up or not do anymore. This made me realize that something I was doing was off. In turn I have had to purge some people in my life—to free up room for new people to enter my life. Its been an amazing experience, and rewarding.

Next and last to change has been my ” cool and calm” approach to my new life. I have always been a bold person-yet in spurts. I may make a bold move in Jan of one year and my next bold move may be the next Jan.No more! Now I aim to make a bold move every single day of my life! You know what! When I move boldly—life has responded bold back!

I write all of this because the growth in my life actually started with the loss of an ex-boyfriend. The loss of him allowed me to see my life clearer, and in turn allowed me to loose weight. With my weight loss, I began to see and grow in other areas of my life.

It has all made me realized that growing in one area…promotes growth in all other areas.

I encourage this growth in all of you today.

Life: Be Specific and Get Results

God has provided us every single resource that you and I will need to serve our missions in life. EVERYTHING. The thing is we must know what our mission is and we must be prepared at all times to verbally tell people why we specifically need their help. I believe that God works through many people each day, yet some people get bypassed a lot simply because they do not know what it is that they need help with. This has been my problem for the past nine years or more. This can be attributed to a person being afraid to ask for what they need, or feeling that they are not worthy, or just plain old pride. Well, we should know what we want because that really helps the person that will be helping us in the future. Not knowing what we need to get to a goal wastes everyones time. Just useless energy. Simply stupid if you ask me.

I wanted to write about this topic today because for a few years now I have been running rampant with these great ideas and energy to make these ideas happen. Unfortunately I have wasted a lot of people’s time including my own by having the wrong people do certain jobs, or asking for what I dont need out of being polite. Now when I look back it just does not make sense to not have a plan and simply go to people who can help. Starting with God. I can say I have done some things with being specific—yet they are far more incidents where I was just floating and not knowing. Yet there was one ingredient left out of my plan. I did not know what I needed to make my dreams or vision happen. I was totally all over the place! I had no clue! I thought that as long as I was busy and moving I was making progress WRONG. We should always monitor our goals and progress along the way and see how we are doing and far we have to go. I state this for two reasons. The first reason is if we dont measure how far we have come—we will not know how far we have to go. Secondly, we may be totally clueless about something and not know unless we check up on our progress of our goals, and lastly, when you are creeping up on the completion of a goal—you should be thinking of your next moves. This makes for an easier transition.

Okay back to the knowing what you want before the help arrives. Think of it this way—say you go grocery shopping and you have a budget. So that budget determines what you can purchase, and from that you form a list. So you go in the store and you know exactly what you want. Everything you need is in the grocery store in abundance, but in order for you to benefit from your shopping experience you need to know what you need.

Last week I had a great friend come to me and she had a friend on three-way as well. This friend always does ths without warning! I need to tell her about this—so I can be prepared when I speak to people. I believe I have done it as well. NO I actually just email people ANYWAYS. The person my friend wanted me to speak to said she needed any help that I could provide her with for her new non profit. So here I am a VERY busy but resourceful person that has a lot to give— faced with a person who has no clue as to what exactly I can help her with. I got off the call and emailed the lady some links and I was still confused as to what she needed help with so I went on and handled my goals that week. So here I am this am going over in my mind the fact that I did not get a chance to email the lady back ,then it dawned on me that I have no clue as to what specifically she needs help with! So this is where my post needs to hit home. From where I stand at my laptop—in order for me to help this young lady I need to find my old email, get her org’s website, then Google the site and then look at the org’s mission and then email her what I have to give. I estimate that this will take me 1 hour to do. I will keep my word and do this for this lady, however, it made me realize that we must always know exactly what we need to make our dreams happen. We need to know and we need to tell people OFTEN! I say this because people are very busy living out their lives. Just knowing what you need will help save so much time and effort.

Today if I had a clue what this lady needed help with I could have helped her last week. So likewise for myself—I need to remember the following moving forward with my own life:

1- Know what you want out of my life
2- Do some research, investigation &interviews to see what you need to make it happen
3- From that list of research get a list down—this allow for talking points when you meet people who can help
4- Get BOLDLY in the pathway of people who can help you ( events, meetings, etc)
5- Know what you can help out with as well ( its a two weay street)
6- When you go to approach someone know a little about that persons background ( a Google search will help)

So this week–if you meet someone that may be able to help you, simply ask them for what you need help with. Do not say I need help with anything you can give. Be specific. At least that way if they can not help you—they may have a counterpart that can. If not–move on and do not waste your time.

Acting: What We Can Learn From Actors

The best actors in the world do not always win Oscars. Each year nominees get nominated and one actor wins the award for that year. At the time of the award it’s perceived that the person that won the award is the best. Yes and no. The award means that the actor that won worked very hard, the project timing was right, and the actor was believable in their role. However, that one award also tells us that each person nominated is an expert actor. What’s an expert actor? A person that’s an expert at understanding human emotions on screen or stage and an expert at helping a Screenwriter and Director tell a story. The very best actors become the essence of the characters that they play. They walk like them, talk like them, smell like them, laugh like them, and cry like them—plus much more.

So what can we learn from actors? We can learn to live more authentically. We should appreciate our unique traits. We should deeply understand our “co-stars” in life. They deeply make us who we are and we could not complete our life project without. We should live in the moment and know that at that one moment—we are alive. We should understand that with each second of our lives we are actually living out our lives from a live script. The live script is our life story.

So next time you see an “expert actor” on TV, Film or Stage. They are more than their looks or the gossip that may or may not follow their careers or personal life. The best actors are simply experts at understanding humans.

Acting/Screenwriting: One Script Near Completion and Two Auditions Next Week

Here’s a picture of two of my favorite actors who happen to be screenwriters( on Oscar night )!

Well my hitting the pavement with writing everyday on a schedule and submitting every morning has gotten me two auditions next week and one script that is almost complete and ready to be edited and sent to WGA-E. I feel good!

Biz: Finding Financial Support for My Acting/Writing Career

I totally understand now that my desire to become a professional actor and screenwriter is a desire and not a want. Ive accepted the fact that my desire and need is not going anywhere! So everyday I submit for acting jobs, I schedule time to write my scripts and rewrites. I have wanted this forever, however for the first time in my life I now take my dreams seriously. I am very sure this has something to do with the fact that I have now entered my 30’s. I am very sure of that fact.

With that stated—I am in my dream life now. Well sort of I deeply enjoy film, acting education, daily submitting for acting jobs, taking acting classes, writing, and watching up to 5-8 films a week. For me watching films is like being a student getting their Phd. I do this all from Raleigh, NC. Although I know that if I desire to be a professional—I need to go where I can obtain a steady income. I understand that—however, right now I am at a place where I need to figure out how to financially support my long term dream career. I am constantly thinking how can I make this ultimate career transition as a scientist to a actor/screenwriter? I’ve been thinking about this matter since 2005. Truthfully, its been four years almost and I still dont have a complete answer…however, I finally have a plan. My plan is to take my current career—find my biggest pet peeve with that job or a way in which I could better serve my current industry…and create a small business out of that “problem”. My goal is to gradually transition into a full-time entreprenuer, retire as a full time scientist, and transition full time to becoming a full time actor/screenwriter.

I know that this will be a balancing act…and for around nine/eight long years I have been in the sciences full-time. I currently have a wonderful job. Great people and challenging work. However, I dont feel that I am serving the best that I can through my current employment. I am serving—just not my best. I aim to give my best.

So my question is…have you had to make a career transition that called for some careful planning? If so how did you handle it? Any advice for me? I have a plan—however, I am open to hearing all advice and opinions. If you dont have any suggestions…please keep me in your prayers! Maybe I could learn something new from you???

One thing I know for sure…if I had a timeline of my progress…I am right in the middle. I am not at the beginning, but I’m not at my goal. My goal this year to to hit my goal…even if it means at the lowest level there is…

Acting: Actor Role Models

For a while I have beem looking for an acting role model. Specifically, an actor that made a name for themselves by writing a screenplay that they starred in themselves. I knew about Slyvester Stallone with “Rocky”, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck with ” Good Will Hunting”, and Tyler Perry and all of his films…and some others…but I was looking for a female actor/screenwriter.

Oddly, its like if I saw evidence that a female actor/screenwriter has ” made it” then there is no reason why I should not…Then the other night I saw an interview with Nia Vardalos, who wrote ” My Big Fat Greek Wedding”. I was totally inspired. It feels good to know she wrote the play…then the film and then starred in the project. This is my exact goal…I want to play a in front of the camera and behind the camera role in all of my projects.

Thanks Nia!

Biz: Decisions Are Just As Important As Taking Action

I am a firm believer in learning from your past. I dont believe that any mistakes happen in life ever, however, I believe that making a decision is just as important or more important than taking action with a goal. I have a story to share and hopefully it will help you see ( its already helped me see) how when we make decisions its not only for today—but for the future as well.

Last year about this time I moved to Raleigh, NC. I had gone through a pretty hard time a few years prior with my life ( direction and moving a lot), and in a nutshell, when I moved to Raleigh I had just gotten a wonderful new job where on the side I had time to write and act, and etc…well last year I had to make a decision that seemed rather simple. I had one goal last year—to become more agressive with my acting submissions and to get at least one credit on imdb. Well, I was given two great opportunities last year. One was to be cast in a local film where I could get imdb credit, and then another opportunity where I could go to LA and work a film festival. I am not really sure what I was thinking but I quickly turned down the role and I went to LA to volunteer for the festival.

So last night I was on imdb and I looked up the film (its now completed) and I saw that the role that I was cast for was not complete. It was a weird feeling. I guess I must have felt how it must feel when a person does not get cast for a part and they look and see who does get cast for a part ( I did that today too about a librarian role that I auditioned for Long story short, what I have learned from this situation is that when you have a goal—forget about the flashy lights or other things that get in your way. Take the unglamourous route and get your goal accomplished. I am still seeking that first imdb credit…a goal that could have been completed last August…

Please understand from my short story that making a decision—the right decision is just as important as taking action on any goal. I have learned…hopefully this short story can help you with your career as well.

LIFE: Go A Little Deeper

Never get comfortable with just being average, or just giving all you know with anything in life.Try and go a little deeper, try to work a little harder, try to love a little harder, try to understand a little more, just try…

Story behind the opening of this post:

I was in Bikram the other day, and truth be told I attended the class that I thought would be the easiest. Before I attended the class I thought to myself…let me run to this class…sure it will be hot but its an easier class—so it will be a breeze. Well my thoughts became my reality I had the hang of the poses and all, and I felt proud that for once I was “getting it” with Bikram. Then a thought occured to me…why am I just doing average? Then I said to myself, what would happen if I tried to dig a little deeper with the workout? My mind kept on getting tons of “What if’s”. I call that Whatifitis:)

Well after looking around at the class and giving just my average ability…I stepped it up. For each pose that the instructor gave us to do…I tried it, even if I could not perform it all the way. If she instructed us to do the Triangle Pose…typically I would do it half way…and stop cold turkey…but this time I at least tried. When the instructor says okay let’s do the Balancing Stick Pose…typically I’d do it a little, but not really give it my all. Well this class I gave it my all.

So what happened when I gave my all?

I had the best work out ever. 1. I challenged myself 2. I felt good giving my all–really giving it 3. After all the hard work and pain ( yes)…it felt so good just to ride in the car afterwards with no music watching the sun set.

So what’s the lesson from this? Kick butt with everything in your life…love, helping, praying, keeping fit, going after dreams, etc…do it hard…very hard. Then when you have those “down” times…it will be so peaceful and rewarding.

LIFE: Calmness During Turbulent Times

Hey Net world,

I told myself that I wanted this blog to just focus on my career—but for me many things I learn in my life actually work to help my life as well. Here’s my testimony from yesterday: I fly a lot for work and my personal life, however, my flight yesterday from Detroit to Raleigh was the worst flight that I have ever been on. I did not have a very good visit to Detroit, but that’s another story. The story that I want to focus on today is my very turbulent flight.

I checked in like I always do—early at all airports that are not small or so like my home airport in Raleigh. The line for screening was EXTRA short—yada yada…So we all board the flight as we should and the pilot annnounces that our flight will probley a little choppy because of several storms in the area. I heard him over the speaker and proceeded to write in my journal about my life and things that I was going to do when I got back to Raleigh. Well we took off and the take off was very smooth and steady, we elevated perfectly, and then I started to feel little air pockets. It was nothing major. I then saw that everyone else on the plane was calm and collected so I was like what am I nervous for?

Within the next few mins I saw the flight attendants come down the isle and ask everyone what type of drink or snack they wanted , so I was like well so long for a bumpy ride. Well I was very wrong. The pilot came over the speaker and he said I would like for the flight attendants to please go and have a seat, we are all in for a very rocky ride. He said no one should be standing at all. So as soon as he said that we hit several bumps and the plane was going everywhere—people’s drinks were flying around, and etc. I was sitting on my row solo, so I had no one to talk with at all. In my head crazy thoughts were going on…I was like gosh how am I going to take this bumpy ride? I wanted to know why I was riding a NW flight? I thought what if I flew earlier? I wanted to know why I did this and that and why this flight? I prayed that God would calm the air and calm the flight. It just did not happen—it actually got worst. So the whole flight was one short wild ride. We would drop some feet in the air, then go fast, then run right into very bad turnulence.The flight actually was smooth when we were about to touch down.

I told you this story to say that in life—a lot of times things will seem unbelievable and just scary. You pray and you want God to stop it and you dont understand why you are involved in the matter. You will begin to think of why you are even involved in the mess, or what you could have done to prevent the matter. Well—I dont believe that mistakes happen. Faith is born when you have no other choices. Faith becomes bold when you dont know what else to do but pray. You have no control whatsoever. You may get afraid and uneasy and all during the rough times you may cry and you may worry and you may panic.

Well, worrying did not help make my flight yesterday stop going through turbulence. My nerves were shot all during the flight, I was shaking because I had never been through turbulence like that EVER. What I learned though is that when you go through turbulence in life—dont worry–do pray.

Calmness during hectic times is so much better than worry. Calmness is a definite state of being. Yesterday during my worst flight ever, I learned exactly what it means to be still.

I feel like this Bible verse goes well with this story…

Psalm 23
A psalm of David.
The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
he restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.