Rather than writing my own article this week, I’m giving you an article from GQ magazine, interviewing one of our great actors that is not a household name, yet never stops working on his own terms – Edward Norton.
100 years ago the only way to work as an actor was on stage. When films came in, actors had to learn a different approach.
Some succeeded some didn’t.
Then the talkies came, with another paradigm shift.
Then television arrived. Again it changed the market place for actors.
And in the 21st century the digital age put cameras in the actors hands, allowing them to shoot their own videos in their own homes.
This has fundamentally changed the opportunities for actors and changed the way actors get work.
Actors can now create their own work and make their own success.
This is what we at TAT try to inspire you to do. Take control rather than wait for others to take away your control.
Below is just a quote from the article attached from GQ this week.
“Actors are tools, instruments to be played by others. Freelancing within the system of a film set leads only to resentment and failure. You must either submit and work within someone else’s framework, or you must seize control for yourself. “I say to young actors now, if you’re not willing to also be a writer and a director and a producer, you’re fucked” is how he put it to The Guardian in 2003. “So take it on. Take it on quick and take it on now. Take as much control over your own destiny as you possibly can—otherwise you’re just a pawn in someone else’s game.”
