In the past, I had a tradition of writing out the history of my year. I would go through enough that such a piece of writing would take multiple posts. I am going to attempt a version of that here.
I began the year with the realization that I had been slacking at the gym. Specifically, I did not have abs. Being without a six-pack is worrisome to me, and made me fret about how time is aging me. So something approaching an unofficial New Years resolution was to do sit-ups every day. Though I have slacked here and there, I can say that I have regained and retained those abs for the most part. The odd thing is that when I was studying, I was far more consistent with the workouts, because it helped me focus. This is despite the fact that when I am buried in studying, I have no reason to have abs. Now that it is useful, it has become more of a chore. And possession of abs truly was useful, particularly when filming the short horror film with my contortionist skills. It was a workout, and if the director's follow up emails of praise were anything to go by, it did the trick.
I went to Scotland to fulfill a bucket list item, visiting Scotch distilleries. I was processing a great many things. My relationship with my father, what if any jobs in medicine were realistic, whether I could get back into show business... And by the end of the trip, I had spent most of the pennies I had pushed together, so I tried for the medical jobs first. One would think that those would be the most realistic, but it turned out that it is tough for unlicensed medical doctors to get good work, except perhaps if I went into sales.
Since the show business questions remained in my mind, I reached out to my old agents and manager. The agents did not respond, but my old manager eventually did, and they told me that with the recent push for diversity, they likely could not get me much work. This was disheartening, and I moped about for a week. Now my prospects in both medicine and acting, the two industries in which I was trained, seemed to be dwindling. But after the sulking period ended, I decided that I would have to make my own way. I would put together some kind of an undeniably good live performance. And as I researched where I would be able to showcase such a thing, I ran across a nationwide casting call for a sketch comedy show. I applied and by whatever chance, a friend of mine was on the casting team. She vouched for me and I was a part of what turned out to be a pilot pitch. At this point, I am pretty sure that it was not picked up, but that situation made me realize that if I were cast, I would want to have a stash of sketches ready. And I learned that on SNL, some of the performers warmed up the crowd with some standup before the show started. All of these factors made me think that I needed to have some material ready, so I began work on that. I also had a night of drunken inspiration in which I wrote a pitch for a show. So on a given free day, I am writing either standup or sketches or that pilot in between auditions.
The most significant turning point came when that same comedian friend helped me get a role as an unpaid featured extra in a comedy show. This was the test that I needed to find out whether I missed the work or just the childhood nostalgia of living in Hollywood. And after around eleven hours of euphoria on set, I was once again hooked on the work, the craft. After thanking everyone who contributed, I spent the next few days posting my info on various casting websites. And shockingly, I booked jobs within a few weeks! This switch was in late October and in these couple months, I have dubbed over three foreign films, played the lead role in one comedic ad, portrayed a cult leader in a British documentary, used my contortionist skills as the bad guy in a short horror film, and played a corrupt chief of police in what might be a big deal of a production. Not to mention the part in a comedy that I have booked in late January.
What do I want to do in the new year? Well, I would like to maintain fitness, but that should be a given. I never make concrete plans, but I also have not felt quite this much freedom to be myself in years. So real goals... I want this pilot I am writing, which bends genres to a degree that feels impossible to do well, to be finished with a draft that I do not hate seeing. I want to like what I have written. With regard to showbiz, well, you cannot predict anything, but I want to have reached out to every connection I made twenty years ago, provided that I have some memory to bring up when I re-introduce myself. This is similarly outside of my power, but I would like to make enough money to be living financially independently. But in terms of what is within my control, I want to try harder at social media. It matters, and the best way to do it is to keep making content. So I just need to be more consistent in doing that.
This is the happiest and most hopeful I have felt in so long. I was so hesitant at first, but I keep getting positive feedback, so I am becoming convinced that I am not kidding myself. I was on a friend's podcast last night and he floated the idea of using his new branding company on me to get a testimonial as they launch. Could be something!
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