{"id":254,"date":"2020-10-23T10:35:30","date_gmt":"2020-10-23T14:35:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/performingartslegacy.org\/sesmathom\/?p=254"},"modified":"2020-11-19T08:25:57","modified_gmt":"2020-11-19T13:25:57","slug":"advice-advice-advice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/performingartslegacy.org\/sesmathom\/advice-advice-advice\/","title":{"rendered":"Advice Advice Advice\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><em>A few years ago I was asked to write a short essay for one of the most popular trade papers, about advice I\u2019d give to a young person just starting out in show business. The following is a first and very rough draft of what I came up with.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>I am a working actor. It\u2019s what I do, and it\u2019s what I\u2019ve been for close to four decades. And a day doesn\u2019t go by that I don\u2019t ask the question: O<i>h my gosh, how in the heck did that happen<\/i>?<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">I\u2019m not wallowing in false modesty here. Hard work, passion, commitment, persistence and low rent have all played vital parts in making up my career, and I think I\u2019ve always acknowledged those fact (even if there were a couple long periods marked by some pretty self-destructive habits and a crippling sense of entitlement). But most days, even now, I\u2019m reminded of something said by the great Ruth Gordon: \u201cTo get it right, be born with luck. Or make it. A little money helps, but what really gets it right is to never face the facts.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">That\u2019s probably pretty clear to people who\u2019ve been around the block a few times, but for those of you who haven\u2019t yet taken that walk, let me paraphrase:<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cIt takes luck to get ahead. If you\u2019re not lucky \u2013 <i>get<\/i> lucky.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">So my question, \u201chow in the heck did that happen?\u201d is even more applicable here. How does one make <i>luck<\/i> happen \u2013 especially in this crazy, contradictory, wonderful, I-wouldn\u2019t-trade-it-for-anything business?<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">My big answer is: I don\u2019t know. What I <i>do <\/i>know (and it took a long time to learn this) is that I\u2019m grateful for all of it. Not just the good things, the green years of promise, but the fallow times of failure as well; the successes and the hard knocks, the occasional triumphs (artistic and personal) as well as the abject humiliations (artistic and personal). Being able to put things in perspective and balance is naturally something that comes with time, and I\u2019m not sure I would\u2019ve done anything different if someone had told me this when I was starting out \u2014 but I\u2019m going to say it anyway:<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Get a life.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Now I know we\u2019ve all heard this often said as a dismissive punchline. It\u2019s so easy to minimize because it\u2019s so simple that it\u2019s<i> simple-minded<\/i>. But it\u2019s real and it\u2019s true.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cLuck\u201d comes from the life you create. Get one.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">I\u2019m not saying make your personal life weigh more against your commitment to craft and career. Nine out of ten people reading this, even if they tried, would never be able to give up their passion for excellence, their dedication, their devout belief in persistence and hard work. Trust me \u2013 these things will never go away. All of that is a part of the DNA of a person who accepts being an actor as a vocation they\u2019re called to more than as \u201cjust\u201d a career. All of this \u2014 like well-honed technique \u2013 will take care of you. Yes, keep studying, working, auditioning, <i>trudging forward<\/i>. It\u2019s not in your nature to give up. But \u2014<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Get a life. Cultivate friendships<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp; <\/span>instead of opportunities; take vacations \u2013 if you can\u2019t afford one, take regular weekends; paint your apartment; learn to cook; go to church, temple, mosque, meditate alone or with others \u2014 examine yourself regularly; take care of your body, not for the sake of your career but for the sake of how <i>you<\/i> feel. Most important \u2013 mend or heal things that are broken.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Your career, and the business, will take care of itself. For most of you, you\u2019ll know what to do when an opportunity or disappointment arises. Make sure the same thing applies to your life.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Another thing I ask every morning: how can I be a better person today than I was yesterday? Once upon a time it was \u201chow can I be a better actor\u2026?\u201d. These days that\u2019s a question I only now allow myself to ask or answer. It may have taken awhile to learn, but if there\u2019s one sure thing I found out, it\u2019s that the answer to the first made the answer to the second so much easier.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Get a life.&nbsp; &nbsp;<em style=\"font-size: 17px;\">To read the final version of these thoughts, visit \u2013&nbsp;https:\/\/www.backstage.com\/magazine\/article\/working-actors-life-might-missing-3155\/<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">(c) Thomas Sesma 2020 &#8211; all rights reserved<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A few years ago I was asked to write a short essay for one of the most popular trade papers, about advice I\u2019d give to a young person just starting out in show business. The following is a first and very rough draft of what I came up with. I am a working actor. It\u2019s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":225,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-highlight"],"metadata":{"_edit_last":["1"],"_wpac_members_redirect_to":[""],"_wpac_show_in_search":["0"],"_wpac_show_excerpt_in_search":["0"],"_wpac_nonmembers_redirect_to":[""],"ase_chapter_enable_timeline":["off"],"ase_map_component_start_point":["a:2:{s:3:\"lat\";d:29.76;s:3:\"lng\";d:-95.38;}"]},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Advice Advice Advice\u2026 - Thom Sesma<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/performingartslegacy.org\/sesmathom\/advice-advice-advice\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Advice Advice Advice\u2026 - Thom Sesma\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A few years ago I was asked to write a short essay for one of the most popular trade papers, about advice I\u2019d give to a young person just starting out in show business. 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