"The label you give yourself cannot impact external forces that are not motivated by your own psychology or influenced by a third party's pre-existing consciousness of you. We are all presented with reasons to struggle which come from completely external forces; to pretend that one is not struggling is either arrogance or an admission of defeat. To admit that one is struggling is a sign and a source of strength." - Evan A. Baker

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Here, Here's Your Ass

What can I say? I just did not spend enough time trying to understand the material, cause the material was just HARD, and I didn't understand it, couldn't find the jokes, didn't think it was funny, and honestly, setting up a wedding website seemed waaaay easier than trying to understand my class homework.

So I got my ass handed to me.

When the other girls got to class, I asked them if our material was supposed to be funny and they said, yes. I admitted to just not getting it, to me must not being funny, and then class started.

We received sides from a show called "Outnumbered". It's a British series that Hollywood has tried making into a series already a few years ago. They're at it again. This is the second pilot they're doing for it. A husband and wife are outnumbered by their three kids and highjinks ensue.

There's a new style of sitcom hybrid that's been developed. Have you noticed? The Office, Modern Family; they're both documentary styled sitcoms with talking heads and confessionals. They're hugely successful. And Hollywood is trying to find the next big sticom hybrid series, so when you get the material for a pilot that's kinda funny, kinda not, it's hard. When a character has to cry in a drama, they're really crying. In a sitcom, it's fake tears, and in a hybrid....uh. You don't know how real to make it. This new style is hard. No one's cracked it just yet.

So I'm going to share some tidbits with you guys.
 I missed ALL the jokes. ALL of them. Cause I just didn't prepare enough and blamed the script for my not understanding it.

What did I learn? "9 times out of 10, it's not the script, it's you." AND, "The script already has a job - it's already been hired. You haven't." I need to keep that in my head whenever I start blaming the script for not being funny enough.

I mean, this script is SO funny, it got an entire network behind it to see if it'll be a hit.

I do not have an entire network behind me. I have restaurant experience behind me.

I need to stop thinking I'm the shit and know more than I do.

I don't.

I'm still struggling out here for a reason, ya'll.

7 comments:

  1. Ouch. That hurt. There is a reason they call them lessons. You know what, though? You don't learn from the other stuff. You will never forget this and you won't make this mistake again. Harder. Faster. Stronger. You need to hit my blog from Saturday for a pick-me-up. ((hugs)) Here it is: http://yourdailydose-robin.blogspot.com/2010/10/need-you-stronger-dont-change.html

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  2. <3 <3 <3. Be tough on yourself and be gentle with yourself - and be smart enough to know when each should apply. ;)

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  3. Oh Phoenix - it was a healthy ego check I really needed. ;)

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  4. Um, so what wedding website service did you decided on? :)

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  5. @See, I'm using Blogger - it's free, I can link the heck out of it, upload tons of pictures, and make it our own. I was also able to add my fiance as a contributor, so he can post too!

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  6. Okay, first of all, don't be so hard on yourself! You have a network behind you - we just don't have the power to hire you, per se. Hehe! :)

    Second of all, it's a lesson and you seem to have gotten a lot out of the experience. In a way, it's good that it happened in class and not in an audition, right?

    Third of all (do you even say that?), I totally understand and stand behind everything you said in this post. In this career, we will sometimes simply not "get" the script. AT ALL. It could be bad writing, sure, it could be the fact that we just don't get it, but whatever it is, we just have to make it work. It's not our job to critique the script or blame the script - we just have to make it work and get hired. I just recently worked on a project where my interpretation of the script was very different from that of the writers. When we did the read-through, I noticed that there were quite a few lines that they cracked up at; lines that I interpreted as "less than stellar". I did my best to adjust my performance and make it work so that their vision could come alive. It felt a bit fake, but in the end isn't that a part our job? I suppose when you have a season as part of the main cast on a show, you can challenge the script and mold it more to you and your style, but when you're auditioning for a pilot, you have to make it work and make their vision come alive despite your feelings about it. Maybe I'm totally missing my mark here, but that's the way I see it at this point in my career.

    Either way, ("fourth of all"), don't be so hard on yourself. You're awesome! :)

    xoxox!

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  7. Gee, a show about "A husband and wife are outnumbered by their three kids and highjinks"

    How did the writers come up with that one??

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Play nice.