Life is suffering

And this is a tough old game.

Resilience is required.

Endurance is required

A sense of where you are going is required.

But to really win big

you must celebrate your wins along the way.

Once you have defined what success looks like to you, you may not arrive at it for a long time.

My definition of success is to have the freedom to do the work I want to do.
If I want to work, I can.
If I want to take a holiday with my family, I can.
If I want to make a movie with my friends and family I can.

These things could be miles away
I believe they are not.

But, I’m not there yet.

And on the road to this goal (which I am glad to have you here with me) - a goal I have been pursuing in one form or another since I left school - there have been a great many challenges and hurt and envy and disappointments and frustrations.

A great many difficulties.

But as we saw last week

And every once in a while

6 of your friends prove that quote to be quite true.

Ultimate Agency

Finding a new agent is one of the toughest and most demoralising tasks we must face in our industry.

The odds against us are overwhelming, the rejection is personal and without one, not only are certain doors harder to open, but we lack a key member of our team, a trusted industry adviser, a collaborator, our team mate.

So when 3 of your pals, within the same amount of weeks, sign with new agents - you can bet your life that’s a cause to celebrate.

From my cursory chats and observations here’s how I think they achieved their wins:

• They made their own work and are proud of it

• After rejection, or worse - silence, they did not give up

• They overcame discomfort and reached out to people who could help them

• They operated for a period of time without relying on anyone else to get work for them - they did what so many actors won’t do - found themselves work.

• They know what they want for themselves and what they expect from their teammates.

• They are all fighters.

all 3 have achieved something monumental.

Empowered from Home

Finding a side hustle that sustains and nourishes us, whilst giving us the freedom to do the work we want, seems impossible.

It leads to a lot of us defaulting back to service industry hell.

I’ve been helping a good mate become an audiobook narrator from home

He’s self motivated

He’s driven

He’s awesome.

And he refuses to go back to hell.

He’s been doing it for 2 weeks

and he’s already landed his first paid narrating gig.

He has empowered himself by creating his own job from home, working his own hours with minimal people making him do things he doesn’t want to do.

He picked himself, stepped into the arena and the crowd went fucking nuts.

Such is the unspoken refrain of an actor when the thought of starting a family comes around.

• Financial insecurity

• Unpredictable schedules

• Needing to self fund Maternity/Paternity leave

• Low paying side hustles with crappy work hours

• Very little helpful early education for actors who want to start families.

All lead to a selftalk cocktail that forces us to feel like we need to wait until we’ve got our break before we can have a kid, or worse, give up on our career because we think it is our only option.

Over the last few weeks, 2 of my good friends (+ their incredible partners) have overcome these hurdles. Two babas were born, two amazing new families were made.

It takes courage, planning, teamwork, communication + a whole array of other incredible actions to bring another life into the world.

And you never feel ready

This week marks 1 year since our little girl joined our team, so this one hits particularly hard.

To be a creative freelancer and start a family is a monumental achievement. One you should be incredibly proud of.

6 incredible people, achieving incredible things.

Life is suffering

yes

our game is hard

yes

but its the wins that we will remember

that is where our true success will be found.

Well fucking done

Celebrate accordingly.

A x

p.s I love to hear from you guys - reply to this email with a gif or words and I’ll send you back a gift of some sort. If you know someone who would like this post here’s the link

p.p.s. If you want to leave your soul destroying side hustle, put your skills to good use and become an audiobook narrator (from your bedroom) - more info here.