A lot of people wake up and go to jobs they don’t like knowing in order to get paid they have to go put in the time. The alarm goes off, they groan, and then they get up and start getting ready. Day after day. It's not a matter of motivation. At this point, it's sheer willpower. If they didn’t at least put one foot on the floor, they would stay in bed. It’s easy for artists who are “waiting for their big break” to think they would bound out of bed every day if only they were heading to a job they love.
I thought the same thing but it’s not true!
I have found that motivation is an effect, not a cause. What we as artists love is when we get into a “flow” state. We are in rehearsal and the scene is flowing. We are in front of the camera and we lose ourselves. We sit to write a blog post and it feels as if the blog post writes itself. That’s what we artists are in love with and that's what we are talking about when we refer to our passion. People throw around the word passion easily.
“Oh it’s my passion!”
“Do what you love. Find your passion.”
“When you find your passion, it doesn’t feel like work.”
It’s easy to forget about the logistics that usually come with said passion. Before you can have a seamless rehearsal, you have to sit and learn lines. You have to fumble through awkward moments. Before having an amazing film shoot, actor’s have to be scheduled, equipment has to be bought or rented, lights have to be set.
All that said, some less passionate moments have to happen before getting to the good stuff. I have found that there are two ways to get through the less thrilling moments.
Get started! Just like the employee puts both feet on the floor and pushes themselves to the office, sometimes you just have to start. Momentum will catch up.
Even with writing this blog post, I knew kind of what I wanted to say but had no idea where to start, so I just started writing. After ten minutes, I was in flow and the post just came out!
Find team members whose passion lies in the things you find laborious.
I love sculpting a great scene and watching magic happen on camera. It gets me excited about editing, which I find fascinating. Luckily, for most shoots, I have two great friends, Odin Redd and Brian Gustaveson who are a filmmaker and photographer respectively, who operate the cameras and help with lighting. I am then able to watch and create scenes without being hindered by apertures and light balances.
Getting started is the first step in any venture so if you have an idea, get started. RINGER$ began with Rebecca opening a bottle of Chardonnay and pitching me an idea. The next 15 months turned out to be a cycle of starts. Everything from social media updates to editing hours of footage begins with one step. Creators, step up!
ON YOUR MARK. GET SET.... GO!!!