tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-101408212024-03-08T09:16:29.664-08:00Los Angeles Acting blog by David AugustLos Angeles acting information and news; resources that help you to be an actor in LA.David Augusthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17472574936046343447noreply@blogger.comBlogger782125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10140821.post-59951432076367032482023-05-20T17:20:00.000-07:002023-05-20T17:20:23.812-07:00Being Human in the Age of AI<p>being human is big, bigger than we usually think it is</p> <p><img alt="A robot's human-like face looks back at us amidst a chaotic background." width="640" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2304" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeo7kjWgVVTMBVq6IBmQuvvAeAmgKQn8XBcSSj7QboZktkoaBy7k454Z84udFsh_R4PA9qKgVUKGhBBa7suAqef-5TOxM-XIbYdNKutSpqwb7kFlz49vzsjNkMkZc4rt3Ejai0pLeW_glHqtnsPdNjbkc7kXZ5rncjPb95KP7-xflW-ec/s1600/IMG_5727.JPG"/> <br/><a href="https://fineartamerica.com/featured/too-human-david-august.html">Too Human</a> by <a href="https://www.davidaugust.com/">David August</a></p> <p>There is a lot of talk about artificial intelligence (AI) doing as well or better than humans at things. Machines have long out-performed people at a lot of stuff. And this doesn't just apply to complicated machines like cars, but simple machines, like a lever, have long amplified or done better than us. A pry bar is better at prying things than our bare hands. But humans have not, ever since the first person used a rock to make their efforts easier, been made obsolete by the machines we've made.</p> <p>Sure, some things we have machines do that people used to do. But humans haven't stopped existing because of this. If anything, machines have allowed us to grow: machines and technology are part of why there are more humans currently alive than there have been at any other point in history. Humans haven't been made obsolete by tech.</p> <p>So why is AI disrupting things typically done only by humans? Things like writing, art making, film-making and acting are starting to be threatened by systems, artificial intelligence (AI) systems. Why isn't it pry bars and not artists? Life and limb.</p> <p>A self-driving car getting things wrong immediately collapses into the tyranny of atoms: concrete and often irreversible consequences come when a machine driving itself ends a life, or ruins someone's property. While self-driving vehicles may get to the point they are safer than human drivers, they will never be perfect, and this imperfection when matters of <span style="font-style: italic;">life and limb</span> are involved, makes them hard to cheer for or even experiment with out in the real world.</p> <p>Not so with media, entertainment and the arts. Artistic creations made by non-humans don't leave grotesque consequences if they fail: any bad movies, books, music and more made by artificial-intelligence (AI) will fade into the noise floor of un-celebrated human artistic attempts. No life or limb is imperiled if an artificial intelligence (AI) made film falls flat, instead bank accounts and careers get impacted (and disappointed audience).</p> <p>This lack of life and limb involvement can make creative and artistic endeavors feel like the "consequence-free" world of software and web development: as if one can fail quickly and iterate in order to experiment in public and refine as one goes. However, the context of software and any context where life and limb are in play react very differently to things if one tries to fail fast. Experimenting and learning are invaluable, but at scale and in public, the tyranny of atoms makes doing so with self-driving vehicles, autonomous weapons and other life and limb scenarios far more dire than an unpleasing painting or a film that flops at the box office.</p> <p>While many life and limb contexts benefit from the fact automated and artificial intelligence (AI) systems don't suffer from fatigue, emotional compromise or inebriation, some of the same things that drive humans to be tired, emotional, or otherwise not consistent are vital to make good decisions in other ways. Logical decisions with zero emotion can be low quality decisions (there are studies suggesting this is true, but they are beyond the scope of our discussion here).</p> <p>Artificial intelligence (AI) promises the benefits of intelligence with none of the "downsides" like inconsistency or asking for a paycheck. Taking humans out of the loop may be possible, even beneficial in some contexts. But imagining an artificial system will benefit from all the strengths we take for granted in humans (or even see as liabilities) seems a mistake. Human are imperfect <span style="font-style: italic;">according to humans</span>. What we find desirable and what the universe has evolved us into for our survival as a species are not the same. Eugenics makes many errors, this is one among them. Humans are great at a lot, even things <span style="font-style: italic;">we</span> don't think of as great.</p> <p>Being human includes the foibles and messy parts. It's not pre-Copernican to suggest that humans, after millions of years of evolution, are excellent at being human. This includes messing stuff up, hurting ourselves and also creating great things, beauty, connection, grace, mercy, cruelty: all of it. To imagine in the space of a few years or decades one can do what has taken billions of people filtering through millions of years of evolving is the magical thinking here. To fall so I love with human ingenuity and creation as to believe in a few generations time we can out create the forces of evolution over the timeline of geologic epochs, that is feeling to me like the fallacy in this.</p> <p>Yes, AI can do, and maybe even excel at, specific human-like tasks. The question of what is necessary and sufficient for something artistic to be art, what is the essential that makes art in fact art is an entire branch of philosophy. There is little consensus on this, and what makes art human, or what human component is necessary for something to connect and resonate may not have consensus either. That said: I think saying there is an X factor, some amorphous and undefined thing, that is a cop out.</p> <p>The generative AIs, both images and text, are sophisticated mirrors. Highly complex yes, but basically reflecting back their prompt and their training data is all they're actually doing. Often compelling enough for us to forget this, but that is what is happening even if the results feel like more.</p> <p>So here goes:</p> <p>It is the vast and minute combination of human intuition, rationality, emotion, fear, power, weakness, apprehension, insight and ignorance. At the risk of paraphrasing the dignity of man speech in Hamlet, we might sum it up as the human condition.</p> <p>Wikipedia, a source of common meanings, sums the human condition up as "the characteristics and key events of human life, including birth, learning, emotion, aspiration, morality, conflict, and death." Mortality and love (not just romantic love) certainly seem to figure in to what I think the condition of being human includes. And how love and mortality figure into making art, or any creation in a way, is somehow uniquely human. We can probably spend a long time and many words defining, describing and discussing this.</p> <p>For our purposes: knowing we will die perhaps underscores all our actions with a fleeting immediacy, even if that immediacy is an undercurrent and not the focus of what we do moment to moment, day to day. Does a machine have a functional life? Of course. But none of its activities are filtered, really in any way, through a lens of that mechanized mortality. Even in the back of our minds, under our awareness, the fact we may stop existing does inform in both subtle and bold ways how we do what we do.</p> <p>Fictional characters are often revealed by how the do what they do. In many ways, how we do what we do is who we are. How the character says what they say, matters almost as much as what they've said. I leave the studies on non-verbal communication dominating the information exchanged between people for others to detail elsewhere.</p> <p>How someone lifts a coffee cup can speak volumes about them, what they have done, are doing and will do. Does the way they lift it reveal the old injury from their time in a past captivity? Do they lift it in preparation to enjoy a moment's respite from current stress? Are they preparing to go without coffee as they are due too enter a coffee-less meeting? All of these options and a myriad more impact how the simple act of lifting a cup of coffee happens. They can be revealed and communicated in many ways like how quickly, slowly, angrily, happily and a bunch of other details that we all notice, even if not consciously.</p> <p>And this rich, deep, full bodied (pun intended) action and all it communicates (literally, emotionally and maybe even spiritually) happens on some level even from this mundane act of picking up a cup of coffee. It can be filtered (pun intended again) through the whole of the human experience of the person lifting the cup, and also through the whole of the our human experiences as we witness it. With varying levels of awareness and attention, our neurology encounters and interprets what we behold in a rich amalgam of ways that help us understand, cognitively and otherwise, the world and those in it.</p> <p>If all of this can easily become an overwhelming, almost unmeasurable amount of "data" were we to try to digitize it. Both the actor and the viewer are effected by it all and in turn effect the interaction in so many ways.</p> <p>To imagine that we, in a handful of years, will be able to do this with a machine is folly. To replicate or emulate with a machine (let alone innovate) such a deep and complex moment as raising a cup of coffee is a little bit of hubris.</p> <p>What's that you say? An mp3 compresses sound to about a tenth the size (in data) of what CD quality sound takes up by trying too remove what the algorithm imagines (was designed) to think we won't miss. And mp3s still give us the emotional and other impacts of the higher quality sound file? Our music on our phones and streaming services is still music, right? Yes, but if something walks like a duck, quacks like a duck and isn't actually a duck it still matters if it isn't a duck. And some people do consciously hear the difference between an mp3 and CD quality music. The rest of us unconsciously hear the difference (studies of galvanic skin response suggest different audio qualities and film frames rates effect us differently physiologically).</p> <p>Why does that matter? Because there are many things the simulacrum (the simulation or reproduction) of things do not have that the <span style="font-style: italic;">actual</span> things do have. People still flock to see the Mona Lisa despite reproductions, even very high quality and faithful reproductions. Those reproductions may have a "better" viewing experience than traveling to Paris and dealing with crowds. Is that some sort of fame fetish, or placebo effect? Maybe.</p> <p>The fact remains: when we have had whatever day we have had, and crave the comfort of stories, we often yearn to have humans help us make sense, not just of events, but of our own experience, emotions and spirituality from the day. We have done this as long as we have done anything, even if at first it used to only be around the embers of a fire in caves long ago. Now we use tech to send reproductions of people to the far reaches of the globe, but the purpose and our need for it is the same.</p> <p>If people still care about an original painting made centuries ago, can we really assume they won't care about original people on screen made now? Can our creation with only artificial intelligence (AI) really out human our ability to human? No. It can enhance, stand-in-for and supplement humans. Much as shoes do for more the fragile soles of our feet than going barefoot does, so too will artificial intelligence (AI) allow us to do new things. And like shoes, or a pry bar, or any other technology, artificial intelligence (AI) will change things, even in ways we can't yet guess at. But it seems deeply unlikely any artificial intelligence will somehow, inexplicably, transcend the makers of it.</p> <p>What feature could allow any digital or electronic system to suddenly cross the threshold of passing from not human to beyond human? Since we don't agree on what being human is to begin with, we may not even be able to measure or meaningfully discuss when something we have made is more us than we are.</p> <p>Our imagining we already consciously understand the what and why of how we connect with humans and human stories may be the big fallacy of this. Can we make something that imitates human stuff? Probably. We can probably even make imitations that we will believe are the real thing, at least in some contexts. Will this somehow become better at being human, whatever that means to us, than humans are? Probably not. Whatever our weaknesses and strengths, we probably aren't going to buck or defy our own natures enough to make a more human-than-human non-human.</p>David Augusthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17472574936046343447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10140821.post-74467405841918165092023-05-07T14:12:00.004-07:002023-05-07T14:38:47.528-07:00Hollywood Producers on the Brink: Why Making a Deal is Critical<p>Hollywood Producers' negotiating style threatens the industry</p> <p><img alt="a camera device sits in the foreground on a table as an open furnace door bellows fire out into the film set, smoke and ash permeate as the camera singes and catches fire itself" width="640" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2304" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoXaSM4VjTDZdrJvHyTt5lmlZ9f3x-JHstZEEBJyJbPXf97gdltHI7dTPl5OG-wfCXDJhr11ZH-5QnqcK3o_b6rZ3-4ZVnhAmOIv2B390VRjjrVZZK1c08AlQa-_hWH4OWWWWIE_41FBFWACxU_hdFfoXEcq03REz25PznDHrA3-t8BMQ/s1600/IMG_9924.JPG"/> <br/><a href="https://fineartamerica.com/featured/fiery-filmset-david-august.html">Fiery Filmset</a> by <a href="https://www.davidaugust.com/">David August</a></p> <p>Hollywood producers are facing mounting pressure to reach a deal with striking writers, as more recognizable faces in the industry prepare to join picket lines once directors' and actors' contracts run out as well. Producers have only weeks to avoid a potentially disastrous situation, as audience backlash against intransigence could escalate. Economic uncertainty, compounded by a recent interest rate hike, adds to the urgency for producers to resolve the issue and maintain market stability.</p> <p>Industry experts suggest that a deal with writers now on strike is a solvable problem, and could free up valuable resources to handle future economic challenges. With audiences increasingly interested in convenient, on-demand viewing experiences, any further disruption to their preferred entertainment could lead to lasting damage to brand sentiment and subscriber bases, ultimately resulting in a loss of customers.</p> <p>While union-busting consultants may suggest a hard-line approach, the risks of such a strategy outweigh the benefits. As viewing habits shift rapidly, producers cannot afford to alienate their core audience by attempting to underpay workers, leaving them with no material to show. It is clear that producers must prioritize a deal with writers to avoid damaging long-term consequences and to maintain their market position.</p> <p>As Hollywood producers continue to grapple with the ongoing writers' strike, they face the stark reality that long labor strikes can have disastrous effects on their companies. History shows that prolonged strikes can lead to financial losses, damaged relationships with talent, and negative public perception.</p> <p>One of the most infamous examples of a long strike's impact on companies is the 1980 strike by the Screen Actors Guild (<acronym title"Screen Actors Guild">SAG</acronym>) and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (<acronym title"American Federation of Television and Radio Artists">AFTRA</acronym>). The strike lasted for over 3 months, causing delays and cancellations of TV shows and films, and resulted in hundreds of millions in losses for the entertainment industry. The strike also included a boycott of the Emmy Awards ceremony by all but one single Emmy winner.</p> <p>Another example of the potentially devastating effects of labor strikes on a media business is the case of the 1987 strike by the National Football League (<acronym title"National Football League">NFL</acronym>) players. The strike lasted for 24 days, causing the season to be shortened to 15 games per team. The <acronym title"National Football League">NFL</acronym>'s total revenue loss due to the strike was estimated to be over a billion dollars, and it took several years for the league to recover from the effects of the strike.</p> <p>In 2007–2008, the Writers Guild of America (<acronym title"Writers Guild of America">WGA</acronym>) went on strike for about 100 days, demanding higher pay for streaming content. The strike caused delays and cancellations of TV shows and films, and resulted in an estimated $2.5 billion loss for the entertainment industry. It also led to strained relationships between writers and producers, as well as a decline in public perception of the industry.</p> <p>While these strikes were ultimately resolved, the importance of reaching a deal quickly to avoid long-term damage to the industry and to the companies involved is real and present tense. The past strikes highlight the potential risks to producers of a prolonged labor dispute.</p> <p>The current negotiations between Hollywood producers and striking writers are particularly important, given the economic uncertainty caused by wider economic factors and the ongoing shift in viewing habits.</p> <p>Beyond financial losses and damaged relationships, long labor strikes can also lead to negative public perception of the entertainment industry. Audience sentiment towards the industry is already fragile, with growing concerns over diversity and inclusion in Hollywood. Any further disruptions to viewers' preferred entertainment options could result in lasting damage to the industry's reputation and a loss of customers.</p> <p>Finally, with these viewing preference possibly in flux, and fact technological hurdles to building distribution on one's own are lower than ever before, the producers risk making their own possible competitive existential threat a reality: the writers learning to finance, market and distribute their work themselves. Producers in the past could rely on big obstacles like access to movie theatres and broadcast airwaves to keep their position in the entertainment ecosystem secure, even during labor actions. </p> <p>Today, most forms of entertainment can reach their audiences with out any involvement of theatres, broadcast airwaves or other technological bottlenecks. While it would take a lot of change for the writers to cut the producers out of the equation of modern entertainment, the longer the producers refuse to deal and the strike drags on, the higher the incentives for them, and their companies, to be circumvented entirely. Producers delays slowing a quick and stable resolution speeds up the process of their own obsolescence.</p> <p>Ultimately, the success of the negotiations between Hollywood producers and striking writers will have significant consequences for the industry's future and the viability of producers' businesses as profitable, ongoing concerns. It is essential that a deal is offered soon to avoid long-term damage, and to ensure that the industry can continue to thrive in the face of ongoing challenges.</p>David Augusthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17472574936046343447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10140821.post-91513169937536742172022-12-22T13:54:00.010-08:002022-12-28T01:51:34.343-08:00Lights Out<p>ephemeral nature of our work</p> <p><img alt="hazy scene of a cabaret performer wearing a dress performing for patrons in a full venue under shafts of light" width="640" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2304" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxbZ6Zd5iKeRqkvXlxv9Hbtgc5mjvtKc6jjOsC96YwykJm3QEtxLtPwbkUSw3U5MzzS0LphfVzufMfGiniteHBq6kPaMx_9juJJVXytuxv451niEj6J95EBgZ3ip9OE9CGeF-fqBTdLf2q1_TGj2n--GDYeEyAJnKlqsv12Il0ziyjvVw/s1600/progress_image_60_ba4a25bf-5236-46b5-ade3-9e8827c48298.jpg"/> <br/><a href="https://society6.com/art/cabaret7823653?curator=davidaugust">Cabaret</a> by <a href="http://www.davidaugust.com/">David August</a></p> <blockquote cite="Chip Johnson">I imagine these same questions are what the Twitter alums are dealing with right now. It will be difficult for them, too. But this [company closing and turning off all the servers] is a necessary step in the career for anyone who wants to arrange electrons for a living. Because the things we make, the ways we express our creativity, none of it is tangible. It can all go away with the press of a button. And we have to face that part of the bargain with our eyes open. Making something lasting of our lives is difficult, and very few of us will ever do it. But making something lasting with electrons? It might be damn near impossible.</blockquote> <p>(from <cite><a href="https://blog.chipjohnson.net/when-the-lights-go-out.html">When the Lights Go Out</a></cite>).</p> <p>Projects fall apart. We hate it when they do, but they do sometimes. Blue Sky is a movie made in 1991 that spent 3 years in a vault after the production company Orion's bankruptcy. Then, Jessica Lang won an Academy Award for her work in it after it was later released. There is a story I've not been able to confirm that Brad Pitt, before Thelma & Louise, was in a movie that was going to be his star-making turn, and the footage was lost in the scramble to evacuate from Yugoslavia as it descended into war.</p> <p>But less dramatically, sometimes funding falls out. Sometimes people withdraw, sometimes any number of things make a project stop, dead in its tracks. <strong>The lights go out</strong>.</p> <p>What are we to do as actors, how are we to seek any sort of meaning, will our work even be remembered?</p> <p>Even highly established actors may not be widely known in a generation. I once heard a story of a teacher in the 21st Century marveling that their students didn't know who James Cagney, Marlene Dietrich and other major 20th Century stars were. Their students simply hadn't been exposed to work by some titans of the industry, people who helped define what film is.</p> <p>So what are we to do? If every project we are in can go into <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turnaround_(filmmaking)">turnaround</a> or stall out entirely at any time, and if our work can be forgettable in decades (or in the case of most films from the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_film">silent era, lost entirely</a>), how do we cope?</p> <p>How do we handle knowing our work is fleeting? We try to embrace it.</p> <p>Life is fleeting. Don't stop reading worried I'm going into some woo woo jag, or worry I only mean "all we have is now." While life, and our work, does happen in the now, it changes everything. Everything. <strong>Our work changes everything</strong>.</p> <p>The American people have spent more on entertainment than they do on food for over ten years now. More money than being nourished physically is being spent on nourishing our hearts and minds (with some distraction thrown in there too). People are arguing about media and entertainment's role in civilization as before, only now more loudly since the internet lets people's anger and joy find audiences like no generation ever before.</p> <p>From the time when we all lived in caves and told stories around the fire at night, and someone stood up and acted out a sequence, <strong>we have needed entertainment. We have needed storytelling</strong>. We need it like we need air.</p> <p>Not only is a whole hemisphere of our brains seemingly built to make narratives out of our experiences, but <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W79yMcORgeY" title="YouTube video about how Qatar may help establish their country's cohesion partly by hosting the World Cup">whole countries need stories to understand and invent who they are, their identities</a>. A people need to have a story of how they are a group, and a person needs a story of who they are and how they're living.</p> <p>We risk collapsing all of this into solipsism, saying that our mind is all that we can be sure exists. But story, the narratives of our lives, are central to how we do what we do, and how we understand the world. And <strong>actors are assistant storytellers</strong>.</p> <p><blockquote cite="Harrison Ford"> My occupation is assistant storyteller. It is not "icon." <br/>- Harrison Ford</blockquote></p> <p>So maybe it is perfectly fine if in a few decades strangers don't remember us. We still help tell the stories, we still <strong>touch the lives of those we know, meet, work with and love</strong>. If we make some great work, really truly great stuff, and if the world doesn't end up noticing, it hurts. It does.</p> <p>It is not fun to do amazing things and have that stuff go away and seem like it never happened. But that's the thing. Since an early human acted out a story around the fire, an actor's work has been fleeting. For centuries, live performance was all there was. It was gone when the curtain fell, save for the hearts and minds it touched.</p> <p>There could be paintings or sketches of an actor's work, but the performance itself: vanished.</p> <p>Then photographs could capture fractions of a second of our work more accurately. Finally, film could hold the performance over time. Then something interesting started to happen: everyone could think something can be forever.</p> <p>But maybe even then we're missing something, risking solipsism again. The performance never had substance in a tangible way to begin with. <strong>The film is not us, it is a representation of us</strong>. A reflection or sorts. Sure, films made today can be preserved and seen by people not yet born. Time shifting is compelling, but our selves, our bodies and minds aren't on that celluloid or in that binary data stored on a chip.</p> <p>We can go further. The live stage performances didn't put us actually into the audience so much as move their hearts and minds. The early human acting around the fire did the same. We have always been touching the minds and hearts of the audience. That's the work.</p> <p>Commerce and technology make it seem like our lives and the lives of those generations of pre-film actors are fundamentally different. Our need to light things well for a self-tape audition, so we can capture and digitize our image and voice, and then send them off to far places, makes it easy to think we're different than other epoch's actors. It seems like we're different than other epoch's humans.</p> <p>But here's the permanence of it, here's the everlasting part of our work. It's not the disk drives, or the database entries that hold our work, that give our work substance. It's not the reviews and moldering stage costumes in theatres around the world that make our work real and impacting. It is the fact <strong>humans are the only part of the physical universe we know of that are conscious of themselves and we, actors, tell that part of the universe's stories</strong>.</p> <p><blockquote cite="Alan Watts">You are something the whole universe is doing in the same way that a wave is something that the whole ocean is doing. <br/>- Alan Watts</blockquote> <p>If you think being a wave means having no impact, just ask anyone who's experienced an undertow, or been in a city that's faced a storm surge.</p> <p>Actors absolutely have substance and our impact echoes through the ages.</p> <p><blockquote cite="David Mamet">Actors used to be buried at a crossroads with a stake through the heart. Those people's performances so troubled the onlookers that they feared their ghosts. An awesome compliment. <br/>- David Mamet</blockquote></p> <p><strong>Our power and lasting permanence is in our ethereal and unbounded possibilities</strong>.</p> <p>One only needs to read Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley to start to grasp the folly of fixating on permanence:</p> <p><blockquote cite="Percy Shelley">I met a traveller from an antique land, <br/>Who said—"Two vast and trunkless legs of stone <br/>Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand <br/>Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown <br/>And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, <br/>Tell that its sculptor well those passions read <br/>Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, <br/>The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed; <br/>And on the pedestal, these words appear: <br/>My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings; <br/>Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair! <br/>Nothing beside remains. Round the decay <br/>Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare <br/>The lone and level sands stretch far away."</blockquote> <p>Our work may be fleeting, even if the technology of film and <abbr title="television">TV</abbr> lets it last for decades or centuries. But <strong>the hearts and minds we move, and the way those people then change the world, those things will ripple on through to the end of time</strong>. And that is the un-substantive substance of our work.</p> <p>Like lighting in a bottle, an actors work cannot be held: it is intangible. That's sometimes scary, and hard to get our minds around. Especially when we've bills to pay. That's partly why acting takes more than our minds to do. It's why getting in our heads alone usually doesn't get the scene or the moment the life it really needs. <a href="https://laacting.davidaugust.com/2011/09/actors-commoditized.html">We are the squishy</a>, and that's more than ok, it's good.</p> <p>People talk about <a href="https://laacting.davidaugust.com/2016/10/lets-make-content.html">content</a> often using that word in part to try to put a handle on something that cannot be contained. Sure, cat videos are content too, but at its most moving: our work is meant to be hard to hold in our hands, our minds and hearts.</p> <p>It is part of why accidental behavior caught on film is often so compelling. Which is why having <strong>the illusion of the first time and being in the moment can be so vital</strong>. It is part of why <strong>facing uncertainty with courage</strong> is often something good acting (immediate, authentic, interesting and fun) has as part of it.</p> <p>So between action and cut, or curtain up and curtain down, amid fake danger, courage and life is the order of the day.</p> <p>Let the realm of paying our bills, grocery shopping and other concrete things get our attention when we seek the tangible, purely physical and logistic. But when we're acting, let yourself fly.</p> <p>And if you want help flying, <strong>I'd love to work with you</strong>. I'll use this corpuscle of the physical, tangible and concrete to button up this post: my acting coaching website, that I put together in like five minutes when a friend asked if I had one, is here: <a href="https://about.me/davidaugust">about.me/davidaugust</a></p>David Augusthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17472574936046343447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10140821.post-32752246938663483022022-11-18T12:24:00.004-08:002022-11-18T12:24:42.030-08:00How to Find Your Twitter People on Mastodon<p>people you follow on Twitter may be on Mastodon and you can find them</p> <p><img alt="two robots, one in the foreground and one in the background" width="640" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2304" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpue0ss8FtzAw3Lr0NvU062JZgq_78LF0kSdG3scevEsQgVWLsY6JP4M_07nvsffO1ztiLzS_D11YGkbSW7jEjJ8Lb_esAMX0KOwMUvPeErAqW0TrnUGJSCYa2ICYNQKjSpQeDUNme24uuPtfLMiOQWk9edh_zNwzyVK2jxsnkxpyvW3A/s1600/davidaugust_green_alien_robot_rendered_in_octane_wet_epic_photo_de907ab8-2ec8-4666-976d-52dd576f5317.PNG"/> <br/><a href="https://society6.com/art/assessing?curator=davidaugust">Assessing</a> by <a href="http://www.davidaugust.com/">David August</a></p> <p>Trying to find people you connected with on Twitter <a href="https://mastodon.online/@davidaugust" title="David August's Mastodon profile">here</a> on Mastodon is complex right now.</p> <p>I'm using the three tools to try to get people's handles over here on Mastodon off of Twitter. All of these are a little unstable right now since so many people are using them at once.</p> <ol> <li> <a href="https://twitodon.com/">https://twitodon.com/</a> <br/> You log into both your accounts with it, let it work, and then can download a file you can then upload to Mastodon to follow people. The catch: those people need to have used it too.</li> <li> <a href="https://pruvisto.org/debirdify/">https://pruvisto.org/debirdify/</a> <br/> Lets you basically scan your Twitter folks profiles to see if they've left a Mastodon forwarding address for people. Then you can download a file you can then upload to Mastodon to follow people (or manually look through, which I recommend). The catch: if might get things that aren't actually Mastodon addresses, or their colleagues info scooped up instead.</li> <li> <a href="https://fedifinder.glitch.me/">https://fedifinder.glitch.me/</a> <br/> Like Debirdify (number 2 on this list), it scans your twitter folks profiles over there to try to find their Mastodon handles. It also download a file you can then upload to Mastodon to follow people (or manually look through, which I recommend). The catch: it also might scoop up stuff that isn't actually a Mastodon addresses, or their colleagues info.</li></ol> <p>So far, there is no single, easy way to migrate. That is kinda what happens when a single company with 7,500 employees keeping things working is no longer involved. Disappointing, but Mastodon can be an alternative and stop-gap right now; Mastodon may be able to grow into a more resilient option than Twitter or any other run-by-a-single-company social network ever has been. Right now, much of Mastodon is just struggling to accept the huge number of new people using it. Patience is probably a good plan. Good luck, and let me know if I can help you. I'm <a href="https://mastodon.online/@davidaugust" title="David August's Mastodon profile">@davidaugust@mastodon.online</a> on Mastodon and have other links on <a href="https://linktr.ee/davidaugust" title="David August's Linktree page">my linktree</a>, and should always be findable through <a href="http://www.davidaugust.com/">davidaugust.com</a>.</p>David Augusthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17472574936046343447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10140821.post-17679739368022306742022-11-07T15:14:00.003-08:002022-11-10T08:30:38.018-08:00Posting Tweets to Mastodon<p>automatically have your Twitter post to your Mastodon</p> <p><img alt="image of a rainbow colored mystical mastodon lumbering along" width="640" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2304" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOfFNTSjDFmeeufunrahDSlLWMJU7gIHp1h9GSn3l602tfHsqrQjoCo0mTeFo_ENmV12j149YZ1mFOa1svOUT9SqeF5xygbf8zAVWoeTdQ57JHsfVzqVUMlsjiljQQ_pDk0zqC3B6RjuB75ty7svKaD62ch7CztouPOJxgO5-PvDgjkbQ/s2304/IMG_8851.JPG"/><br/> <a href="https://society6.com/art/mastodon7651676?curator=davidaugust">Mastodon</a> by <a href="http://www.davidaugust.com/">David August</a></p> <p>So maybe like me you're thinking of diversifying your social media presence beyond Twitter and onto Mastodon. I don't want to have to manually post on both right now, and it is too early to focus just on Mastodon since most of the people I connect with not there yet, they're still on Twitter. I want to build for the future now by posting my tweets on Mastodon.</p> <p>One way to build a presence on any new site is to <strong>have what you post on an old site get posted to the new one</strong> automatically. That's where a tool that posts your tweets on Mastodon for you comes in. I was going to try 3 tools to automatically post my Twitter on my Mastodon, and review them all. But the first I tried seems to do the job; I haven't needed to see how the others work. I'll stay with it unless the first one goes offline or stops working. I'll mention the other two here in case when you read this one of them is a better solution.</p> <p>Without getting too technical, <strong>these tools will check your twitter for new tweets, and then post them on Mastodon for you</strong>, automatically. That is what's supposed to happen; unless something breaks or goes offline, it should work as designed once it is set up.</p> <p>Mastodon is not a central company, so everything that runs on Mastodon may not always run as smoothly as a commercial product. Mastodon also does not have a single place to seek answers if you need help or support. Your mileage may vary. So far things often load more slowly with Mastodon than they do with a site/<abbr title="application">app</abbr> like Twitter that is run by one company.</p> <p>Not every Mastodon tool will work with every other Mastodon tool and instance. Instances are what Mastodon calls the servers that run it. They are run by different people, unlike Twitter which is run by a single company. These different servers, instances, can talk with each other. That lets a post (Mastodon calls posts "toots") on one server be read and interacted with by people on other servers. This can delay things. Sometimes if a server is down or out of communication, then the delay can be more than a few minutes.</p> <p>Every Mastodon server being run by different people can also mean their policies can be different. Different Mastodon servers allow different types of content sometimes, and each have their own privacy policies. The good news here is that there isn't a business model of Mastodon gathering and selling personal information. In fact, there is no single business model behind Mastodon. It is more a protocol than a company or product. Mastodon is like a way you to do what you have always done on social networks, except without single central company running it. It is more like software than a single service.</p> <h2>Here's how to post your Twitter posts on Mastodon.</h2> <h2>Mastodon-Twitter Crossposter</h2> <p>The first tool I tried using to send my Twitter feed to Mastodon is the <a href="https://masto.donte.com.br/@crossposter">Mastodon-Twitter Crossposter</a> and I <a href="https://crossposter.masto.donte.com.br/">set it up at https://crossposter.masto.donte.com.br/</a>. It was <a href="https://twitter.com/anjgi/status/1589655610467184645">recommended to me</a> and seems to work well.</p> <p>Upsides:</p> <ul><li>It can post both ways, Twitter to Mastodon and Mastodon to Twitter. I have only tried having it post my tweets to Mastodon, not the other way around.</li> <li>It can post images you post on Twitter on to Mastodon too (not sure if it can do this the other way, but it probably can).</li> <li>The developer seems to be actively connecting with Twitter to make it work well; they mention talking with Twitter support as recently as two days ago.</li></ul> <p>Downsides:</p> <ul><li>None yet.</li></ul> <h2>Moa Party</h2> <p>I have not yet used this tool (at <a href="https://moa.party/">https://moa.party/</a>), but Martin Fowler, whom I do not know personally, <a href="https://martinfowler.com/articles/exploring-mastodon.html#twitter-feed-to-mastodon-is-now-working">does and says</a> his <q cite="Martin Fowler">Mastodon-aware colleagues have used it without problems.</q></p> <h2>Linky</h2> <p>Linky is an iOS app (at <a href="https://pragmaticcode.com/linky/">https://pragmaticcode.com/linky/</a>), that is intended to "Post to Twitter and Mastodon with simplicity." It may or may not automatically post from one to the other. It might be more about posting directly to your Twitter and Mastodon easily from your iPhone of iPad.</p> <h2><acronym title="If This Then That">IFTTT</acronym></h2> <p><a href="https://ifttt.com/"><acronym title="If This Then That">IFTTT</acronym></a> is a service/site/<abbr title="application">app</abbr> that allows many different websites, <abbr title="applications">apps</abbr> and devices to interact and do things automatically. They do not currently have a publicly available applet (what they call the small piece you can configure to do stuff for you) that will post from your Twitter to Mastodon. If you are open to some coding/technical configuration, you can <a href="https://hyperborea.org/journal/2017/12/mastodon-ifttt/">make yourself a <acronym title="If This Then That">IFTTT</acronym> applet to post to Mastodon from Twitter</a> (or anywhere else). If you don't already feel comfortable using webhooks, or know what a webhook is, this may be a bit of a learning curve.</p> <p>Please let me know if you have any thoughts or questions. My current links can probably be found on <a href="https://linktr.ee/davidaugust">my linktree</a> or at <a href="http://www.davidaugust.com/">davidaugust.com</a>. And I’m now on Mastodon at <a href="https://mastodon.online/@davidaugust">@davidaugust@mastodon.online</a> too.</p>David Augusthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17472574936046343447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10140821.post-79308066460403374832021-11-02T12:19:00.006-07:002021-11-02T13:19:52.961-07:00Individuals Investing in Film<p>Back in about 2015, the <acronym title="The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission">SEC</acronym> started to allow small investors to invest in public offerings (regulation crowdfunding), to invest in and own small pieces of things. The possibility for individuals who had not previously invested in films began to change, and now it seems to be getting people's attention more broadly:</p> <blockquote cite="Scott Roxborough">The <strong>Fresh Kills</strong> offering is structured so that Upstream investors will be at the front of the line should the movie make money and receive a 110 percent payout on their investment before other shareholders in the film receive any dividends or returns. After the payout, the investors’ preferred shares will convert to common shares representing 25 percent of the copyright in the company/film. The remaining 75 percent will be owned by Horizon</blockquote> <p>(from <cite><a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/nft-independent-film-afm-2021-1235038434/"><acronym title="American Film Market">AFM</acronym>: Why Indie Filmmakers Are Betting on <acronym title="non-fungible token">NFT</acronym>s</a></cite>).</p> <p><acronym title="non-fungible token">NFT</acronym>s are often lumped in with cryptocurrencies in general, and unlike how some sell them, they are not a panacea or single solution to funding art, including movies. However, as the quote above suggests, crowdfunding equity combined with both traditional and non-traditional funding sources may be a more popular path to getting films funded now than ever before.</p> <p>Film has always been a somewhat atypical investment instrument, and so it makes good sense that new-ish things like regulation crowdfunding, as well as new things like <acronym title="non-fungible token">NFT</acronym>s, have found their way to the film finance world. That said, film finance still by and large falls into certain types:</p> <ol><li>Equity - the investor owns a piece of the film, as intellectual property, and therefore profits as the deal describes if and when the movie makes money. Profit participation of people who are in or made the movie can be seen as falling into this category, they simply brought something (like themselves) to the movie instead of simple cash; they brought capital: the means of production.</li> <li>Loans - money of borrowed and must be paid back to whomever or what ever loaned the money. Often, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_pickup_deal">negative pickup deals</a> fall into this category because someone, like a bank, loans the production budget knowing the film will be bought at a given price by a distributor or something or the loan is guarenteed by a studio or something like that.</li> <li><abbr title="adventisement">Ad</abbr> Fees - <abbr title="adventisement">ad</abbr> buys or other marketing fees paid to the production don't need to be paid back and give the buyer no ownership of the final film. All that's required is the agreed <abbr title="adventisement">ad</abbr> or product placement happen, and the final film see the light of day. Once the <abbr title="adventisement">ad</abbr> is published as agreed, the contract is satisfied and the producer and <abbr title="adventisement">ad</abbr> buyer can go on about their business happily and without any further obligations to each other.</li></ol> <p>Worth noting that the first 2 are by and large how any business is funded: equity or loans. The third is almost the whole business model of over-the-air <abbr title="television">TV</abbr>. The third also gives the most flexibility to whomever owns the movie to do with it what they want. Selling <abbr title="adventisements">ads</abbr>, structuring a loan and getting investors are also different skills; being good at one may not translate to being good at the others. Having good investment contacts may not mean one also has good loan contacts of advertiser contacts, and so to all around.</p> <p><acronym title="non-fungible token">NFT</acronym>s somewhat unavoidably have to fall into the equity style fundraising: the buyer owns a unique piece of the project. However, perhaps <acronym title="non-fungible token">NFT</acronym>s allow segmentation of a film, or the transaction of its purchase to happen in ways we haven't quite seen exactly before. If an entire film is sold as an <acronym title="non-fungible token">NFT</acronym>, then unlike in previous decades, the transaction can be sort of recorded in the global ledger of the blockchain. Just like previous decades, the ownership of the film changes hands as intellectual property law dictates, especially copyright law. However, the auction process itself could be more efficient.</p> <p><q cite="Scott Roxborough">[Kevin] Smith noted, saying that the <acronym title="non-fungible token">NFT</acronym> auction for <strong>Killroy</strong> was essentially a high-tech version of what he did in 1994 when he took his debut film <strong>Clerks</strong> to Sundance and sold it to Miramax</q> (<cite><a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/nft-independent-film-afm-2021-1235038434/"><acronym title="American Film Market">AFM</acronym>: Why Indie Filmmakers Are Betting on <acronym title="non-fungible token">NFT</acronym>s</a></cite>). So perhaps, in an <acronym title="non-fungible token">NFT</acronym> auction, multiple bidders can efficiently bid and arrive at a better valuation than an older and somewhat more fragmented offer/counter-offer technique that has typically been used before. Selling films as <acronym title="non-fungible token">NFT</acronym>s to their eventual distributors may make the purchase process smoother and one hopes better for both buyer and seller.</p> <p>Regulation crowdfunding the partial or complete equity ownership of the film could open a film to get funding without needing major deep-pocketed investors to be interested. If both there is a big enough pool of small investors and the deal is put together as the law requires (and doesn't overextend those smaller investors who may be less able to safely risk larger sums) then this can be a new avenue to get funded. However, so far, there haven't been prominent successes from this model. While many films have crowdfunded their budgets, I know of none that have given the funders equity ownership and then have also have found their way to wide distribution, yet.</p> <p>Yet is perhaps the key word here. Just because these new instruments and mechanisms do not yet have long track records, doesn't they mean can't or won't be part of successful films and wealth creation. As has often been the case, film finance is a risky situation, and risks both big downsides and tremendous upsides.</p> <p>Creativity both with the creative work and how it's financed has always been, and will continue to be, the path to success.</p> David Augusthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17472574936046343447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10140821.post-34400618765641476682021-02-12T12:51:00.001-08:002021-02-12T12:51:13.280-08:00Progress Made and Needed in Film and Television (guest post)<p>A guest post from my friend and colleague <a href="http://www.metahara.com/">Thomai Hatsios</a>:</p> <p>It was 2015, I was on set and I waited for it. I waited and waited ...and it didn't happen.</p> <p>2015 was the first time I was on set and I did not hear, <q>You're the first woman _____(fill in my position on the job) I've ever worked with!</q></p> <p>I was the only woman in the crew, but I was not their first woman in that position that is more often filled by a man.</p> <p>For the longest time, if you were a woman in the crew, it was assumed you were there to work in makeup, hair, wardrobe, as <abbr title="script supervisor">scripty</abbr>, coordinator, or production office assistant.</p> <p>Thank you <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2306068/">Wendal Scott Reeder</a> for giving me my first opportunity to work on the set of a high-budget job with union crew. We met when a friend hired me, a single mom who was struggling, for a position I was not right for (office <acronym title="production assistant">PA</acronym>) on commercials <acronym title="also known as">aka</acronym> <abbr title="promotions">promos</abbr> for network television shows.</p> <p>Coming from live performance, I didn't know how to use a 3 hole puncher, a printer, I didn't have a laptop. I had not learned how to sit still for more than 15 minutes, yet. (Sorry for ruining the wrap book, Courtney.)</p> <p>When I told Wendal I needed to be on set, I wanted to learn EVERYTHING so I could be an informed director, producer, production company owner, and that I'd been directing experimental films- he responded by moving me to work on set. It was bliss.</p> <p>Over the years, I worked in a variety of productions with budgets ranging from 1<abbr title="million">M</abbr> for one day of shooting to 300<abbr title="thousand">K</abbr> for 25 days of shooting in all but two departments both on and off set.</p> <p>As a single mom of a wild artist, we hired my son who was 14 <abbr title="years">yrs</abbr> old then, to work on set as a production assistant, only for the art department to grab him up, utilize his artistic skills. That grabbing him up that happens when department heads recognize one of their own, didn't happen for women so much back then. I made sure to change that.</p> <p>Every day that I was not working with a more typically woman staffed department, I would hear that line, <q>You're the first woman _____(fill in my position on the job) I've ever worked with!</q> and I knew I was not alone in hearing that.</p> <p>When I met a woman I knew would be a great grip or electric or <acronym title="assitant director">AD</acronym>, <abbr title="etcetera">etc.</abbr> - I made sure to help them into that department. I do the same with men, though when it's a woman and I know she'd be perfect for a <abbr title="department">dept.</abbr> that is less typically staffed by women, it requires allies to step up.</p> <p>Thank you, <a href="https://lyonreese.com/">Lyon Reese</a> for mentoring me and countless others.</p> <p>Thank you Stacy Dean for taking women I knew were grips in the making, under your wing. I bet women grips still hear, <q>Wow, you're the first woman grip I've ever worked with!</q> in 2021.</p> <p>When I was injured from aerial work, I worked as an editor.<br/>Now the pandemic has forced me to develop as a writer.</p> <p>My incredibly creative beau and I have been inspired to create projects I can direct, that are as understaffed and under-budgeted as my experimental films were way back in the day- and it's been saving my soul. It feels so good to exercise the muscle that directing is. It's fun.</p> <p>Thank goodness for the women who came before us, who paved the way. Thank goodness for allies. Thank goodness for women creating opportunities for women directors every day. Thank goodness for the men and women who rise above stereotypes and irrational restrictions. <acronym title="women of color">WOC</acronym>, <acronym title="lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex">LGBTQI+</acronym>, Women with disabilities are creating some of the most appreciated content now. Thank goodness.</p> <p>And for me, I'm using every drop of privilege I have, every day, every breath, to inform my directing and help shift the paradigm to be more inclusive.</p> <p><a href="https://vimeo.com/metahara">Some of Thomai's work on vimeo</a></p>David Augusthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17472574936046343447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10140821.post-11236169115667961012021-01-19T12:26:00.000-08:002021-01-19T12:26:07.052-08:00SAG-AFTRA Disciplinary Hearing for Trump<blockquote cite="sagaftra.org">The board acted on charges initiated by National Executive Director David White at the request of President Gabrielle Carteris. The charges specifically cite Trump's role in inciting the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, and in sustaining a reckless campaign of misinformation aimed at discrediting and ultimately <strong>threatening the safety of journalists, many of whom are <acronym title="Screen Actors Guild">SAG</acronym>-<acronym title="American Federation of Television and Radio Artists">AFTRA</acronym> members</strong>. The charges request the imposition of the most severe penalty available to <acronym title="Screen Actors Guild">SAG</acronym>-<acronym title="American Federation of Television and Radio Artists">AFTRA</acronym>: expulsion from membership.</blockquote> <blockquote cite="sagaftra.org"><q cite="David White">Our most important role as a union is the protection of our members. The unfortunate truth is, this individual's words and actions over the past four years have presented actual harm to our broadcast journalist members,</q> said <acronym title="Screen Actors Guild">SAG</acronym>-<acronym title="American Federation of Television and Radio Artists">AFTRA</acronym> National Executive Director David White. <q cite="David White">The board's resolution addresses this effort to undermine freedom of the press and reaffirms the principles on which our democratic society rests, and which we must all work to protect and preserve.</q></blockquote> <blockquote cite="sagaftra.org"><acronym title="Screen Actors Guild">SAG</acronym>-<acronym title="American Federation of Television and Radio Artists">AFTRA</acronym> represents thousands of broadcast journalists across the country, and reports of intimidation and physical assaults have escalated throughout Trump's presidency.</blockquote> <p>(emphasis added, from <cite><a href="https://www.sagaftra.org/sag-aftra-national-board-orders-disciplinary-hearing-donald-trump"> National Board Orders Disciplinary Hearing for Donald Trump</a></cite>.)</p>David Augusthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17472574936046343447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10140821.post-67570825306400726982020-05-24T23:23:00.003-07:002020-05-26T12:14:19.365-07:00Actors Take Note<p>Take note of who is doing what. On-set safety counts.</p> <p><img src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pEto6Tj8HAs/XstkEI4anyI/AAAAAAAAHCU/C8foS-2MWPQ6GQFdaju7FDqip0n8d9UvQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Actors%2BTake%2BNote%2Bcover.png" style="width: 600px;" alt="picture of a video camera on set with a pink teddy bear wearing a face mask on the view finder screen"/><!-- L N (https://unsplash.com/@younis67), Adi Goldstein(https://unsplash.com/@adigold1)/Unsplash --><p>There are some producers and directors who would rather get you and everyone you come in contact with sick than spend any more time and money to make their projects safe.</p> <p>We all want to work. And we all want to say yes whenever work is offered that makes sense to take. We each have to decide what sort of actor we want to be and what <a href="https://laacting.davidaugust.com/2015/07/objective-good.html">sort of life we want to live</a>. It is not necessary to give up basic safety in order to work, get paid and make things worth making. I know it can feel like it is something we must surrender. We don't have to. Most protective measures are reasonable, relatively low cost and only cause slight delays.</p> <p>Will work that is rushed and cuts corners be good work that can move your career forward? Or is taking some extra time and money to insure the work is good (and those who make it are safe) better? I suggest the latter is the best way forward.</p> <p>Getting paid matters; we all use money to exchange for goods and services. And getting paid does not require recklessness or taking dangerous risks. Nor does doing projects well require easily avoidable risk and facing injury or death. I can't believe I have to say that out loud.</p> <p>Every year films and <abbr title="television">TV</abbr> have ever been made have unfortunately included productions who hurt and killed cast and crew. Case studies of why rushing, cutting corners and ignoring safety are foolish are too many to name here and predate both 2020 and the pandemic by decades. The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twilight_Zone_accident">Twilight Zone movie</a> (which killed and injured many people) and <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/midnight-rider-sarah-jones-autopsy-780791">Midnight Rider</a> (which killed Sarah Jones and injured many others) are 2 well known examples. There are many many others.</p> <p>Film sets are largely construction sites and include risk independent of contagious disease. Preventable death is worth preventing. Working with people who will work to prevent your preventable death leads to career longevity, and for that matter life longevity.</p> <p>Most danger on film and TV sets can avoided by taking simple steps. Many people do not take those simple steps. They will not take cheap and fast steps to make the cast and crew way more safe. There are no good reasons they don't take those steps. Impatience and laziness are not good reasons.</p> <p>Good projects are not good by accident. <strong>Talented people working in unison to realize a good vision has always been the best bet to create good work</strong>. Being needlessly unsafe is not a wise path to creating good work. People who are worried on set will not do good work. People who are calm and feel safe, and are safe, will do better work. Being in danger does not lead people to be calm, nor does danger lead to people doing their best work. This is true of every department. This is true of every set. This is true of every job on earth.</p> <p>Production insurance companies agree with me on this even if their arguments are largely financial. Lack of safety is more expensive than safety. Productions are already gambling whether or not the audience will show up and like the finished product. There is no good reason to gamble with having the production shut down and bankrupted by taking foolish and avoidable risks. There are no good reasons productions gamble foolishly. Ever. Impatience and laziness are not good reasons. Greed is not a good reason.</p> <p>I am surprised to find myself writing this. I have also been surprised to see proposals for restarting production that contain next to no comments on keeping people safe. I am surprised to see people planning productions like it is 2019. Before this year it was stunning to see people take risks they don't need to take. It is still stunning seeing people take risks they don't need to now.</p> <p>We do not want to work with those who rush. There is little upside. We do not want to work with those who cut corners. Cut corners diminish our gains. They ruin work. They break people. We want to work with people who are working to the best of their ability to do good work.</p> <p>Sometime later we can <a href="https://bit.ly/forgivingfaults">forgive</a> those that are reckless now and still remember who they are. People who would be reckless with you and your cast mates' lives are unlikely to do good work. They are unlikely to move your career in a good direction. This may be true of them beyond 2020. This may be true of them beyond 2030. Find the people you want to work with, not only for your career but because your career is your work life. You only get one life and it includes your work life.</p> <p>We can all be positive that good work is more likely being done by people focusing on all details effectively, including safety. Our careers are marathons and not sprints. Working well and doing good work are how we book more work and book better work. We make progress by not merely saying yes, but by saying yes well and wisely.</p> <p>I know we all want to work. And we all have bills to pay. I am extremely eager to book work too. I feel desperation. And there is no good reason to be foolish or reckless pursuing work, pursuing our careers or pursuing our next paychecks. Desperation is not a good reason. Desperation is a feeling, and it is better felt than acted on. Acting out of desperation leads nowhere good.</p> <p>Feel desperation, but try not to act on it. Be well. Work to thrive. Good luck and caveat actor.</p> <p>If you are in an unsafe situation on set, you can contact <a href="https://www.sagaftra.org/contracts-industry-resources/stunt-safety/safety-contact-information"><acronym title="Screen Actors Guild">SAG</acronym>-<acronym title="American Federation of Television and Radio Artists">AFTRA</acronym>'s Emergency Hotline</a> 24 hours, seven days a week at: (844) SAFER SET / (844) 723–3773, and/or leave set.</p>David Augusthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17472574936046343447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10140821.post-69352464311213815352020-05-21T13:05:00.000-07:002020-05-21T14:21:28.475-07:00How We Use Time Now<p>how productive is enough</p> <p><img src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jW-bVQLeKns/XsWNYet84iI/AAAAAAAAHBM/nAuUC_fkCuMIcTJwHiGBxHRuxomI8FYGACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/How%2BWe%2BUse%2BTime%2BNow-cover.jpg" style="width: 600px;" alt="picture of a river through a wooded mountain area tinted blue with the words 'Any time not sick, is time well spent. -Julie Nolke' written on it"/> <br/><a href="https://unsplash.com/@pinewatt">pine watt</a>/Unsplash</p> <p>Let that sink in. Everyday you aren't sick is a good day. In a fairly objective sense we know this is true. I know it hasn't felt like that to me, but I suspect it is still true.</p> <p>How could that not be true during a global catastrophe. Whatever the specifics of our individual situation, we are facing a world that's different than it was in 2019. As you may be acutely aware, our industry, both on camera and on stage, has been largely hollowed out. This isn't new, Shakespeare faced this too when the plague came to London.</p> <p>But what do we do? I mean what do we do and feel we need to do now? I have felt alternately that I should be solving everything all at once, and also be content to do whatever I can each day and be ok with whatever that is.</p> <blockquote cite="David Bowie">Don't forget to be thankful for the time you have, and make use of those low moments. Feeling uncomfortable is great because it shows you all the things you can be, and what you need to be.</blockquote> <p>- David Bowie, as told to me by Joseph Dale Kelly</p> <p>This does not mean you must "be productive." As Bowie says: be what you need to be. Surviving a pandemic is success. Having a pulse at the end of this is success. Have a pulse and then all your dreams can come true.</p> <p>This may sound harsh, or reductionist, but couldn't it really be just that simple? Couldn't surviving a global pandemic be enough, and anything else is bonus? I think this is an uncomfortable and oddly simple truth. Thriving as we may all wish to thrive may be less possible now than at any other time in our collective lives.</p> <p>This angers me, and my rage lands on the virus itself. Unfortunately, it has no face to punch, literally or metaphorically (though washing hands does help kill it). So in my distemper, what should fill my time, occupy my days?</p> <p>There have been good things said about <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snAhsXyO3Ck">how to spend and even structure time</a> during lock-down and quarantine, but what do we do as actors specifically? There are resources for financial relief (donate to the Actors Fund if you can, mail a donation for COVID-19 relief to The Actors Fund Home, 155–175 W Hudson Ave, Englewood NJ 07631 or visit <a href="https://actorsfund.org/">actorsfund.org</a> and click donate), and unemployment is also worth perusing. I am also seeking other options myself.</p> <p>So step one seems to be pursuing financial relief. Step two probably can be seeking other income. This likely means seeking a non-acting job. Like anyone not doing what their career is, we are very allowed to be unhappy about it.</p> <p>And there we land back on Julie Nolke's words: any time not sick is time well spent. As mentioned, having a pulse is now the bar for success and we have the gift of anything else. Seeking work that doesn't require going to set or stage isn't fun, but is worth doing anyway.</p> <p>Maybe step three is to get ourselves creative sustenance. I'm not talking about paying acting work which is likely more scarce now than any other time in the last century. I'm talking about feeding our souls and using our instruments. Creative outlets now, as before, don't always require many others to participate or a hiring to happen first. We can do this without permission from anyone else. No guarantee it will always be satisfying, but it is possible.</p> <p>Now may be a time we can work on a screenplay we have had on our back burner, or a play. But it's ok if we don't. Maybe we can join one of the online script readings by video chat. But we're fine if we don't. Maybe just cold read something. Or don't. There is no playbook for this or plan we have to fit. That doesn't mean we aren't pushing back against our own expectations. And one's own expectations can be oppressive.</p> <p>Our own expectations do get dicey. <a href="https://laacting.davidaugust.com/2013/12/no-judgements.html">Our own judgements</a> often aren't particularly useful or helpful. That doesn't mean we don't have them or shouldn't have them. It does mean we are likely better served by not acting on our judgements or feeding them. Have I done all the things in an ideal world I would love to have gotten done so far during the pandemic? No. Do I gain by beating myself up for that? No. Do I beat myself up a bit anyway? Yes. It is also tempting to beat myself up for beating myself up? Also yes. I am reminded that it is worth <a href="https://laacting.davidaugust.com/2020/03/dont-forget-to-breathe.html">remembering to breathe</a>.</p> <h2>The Crux: the Sabre-Toothed Tiger</h2> <p>And here's the crux of it: many people feel uncreative right now. Many are unmotivated to work on acting things or really anything else as well. You are not alone. A metaphor I hastily came up with early on in this was that we're all trying to do everything we're trying to do with a sabre-toothed tiger in the room with us, looking on and ready to pounce. After all, there is a threat looming. Something that might hurts us and the people we love is, in a way, stalking us. This can't be comfortable. It truly cannot.</p> <p>This can, all by itself, account for not being motivated. It can explain why creativity may be less accessible. And it is awful. Acknowledging the pain at least gives us some sort of handle on it even if it doesn't help it go away. Yes, Shakespeare wrote some great work during epidemics, but almost everyone else didn't. Almost everyone in the history of the world hasn't. Virtually everyone. And that does not make them any less valid of a human. If you have made anything, it's bonus. Our worth is not bound to our output. We do not earn the right to be ourselves through productivity. It is worth saying again. We do not earn the right to be ourselves through productivity.</p> <p>And there's the gain we can have that Bowie name checks: this discomfort can show us all the things we can be. Yes it is awful, and the possibilities for the future are limitless. Still. These feel mutually exclusive but they aren't. It strains the mind to hold the ideas together at once: the difficulties we face now and our dreams coming true. We can survive this, and doing so is enough to achieve greatness when the threat has passed. Having a pulse at the end of this is exactly enough for us to thrive down the road. Yes, we'd like to thrive all day everyday, and often we may have been amazingly lucky to be able to. Right now, that is less possible. And that is the fault of a virus. Place the blame there, where it has been earned.</p> <p>Maybe we can see things more clearly through this, even ourselves and our priorities. And maybe we can't. Either way is ok. Because simply being around tomorrow leaves us with options. So do that, and you're succeeding. Anything else is a bonus. Everything else is a bonus. Talked to a friend? That's bonus. Ate something vaguely healthy? That's bonus. Scrawled something down for a future project? Bonus. Read this paragraph aloud to check in with your cold reading and speaking of text? That's bonus too.</p> <p>No two actors have the same career path. We're not lawyers, accountants or anything with a singular sequence of steps to take that lead to employment or professional development. We also get fewer road signs along the way confirming our progress is in the direction we want or that progress is happening at all. This has long been true.</p> <p>But often our best work is when we, and our characters, face uncertainty with courage. And courage does not mean not being afraid. Courage does not mean knowing the outcome or forcing ourselves into some form of comfort that is known and straightforward. Courage does not mean feeling good about it and courage is not concerned with comfort. Courage is <a href="https://laacting.davidaugust.com/2018/04/when-things-are-broken-act-anyway.html">doing what we do anyway</a>. Sometimes that thing we do is read a line, execute blocking, show up to an audition on time or play a role. Right now the "it" we have to do is have a pulse. Our task is to be. Our success is to look back on this pandemic and tell those unborn now what it was like back then. Back now.</p> <p>We can act in faith or act in fear, but not both. Act in the faith that surviving now lets you thrive later. The thriving will come, as certainly as the sun will rise tomorrow. Right now, just be. And may all the time you spend be not sick and so well spent. And if you do spend time sick, may that time pass as gently as possible and return you to days well. Just be.</p>David Augusthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17472574936046343447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10140821.post-47809080063813323452020-05-15T12:38:00.000-07:002020-05-15T12:38:59.855-07:00How to Feel Miserable As an Actor<p>Thank you for indulging the short stories I posted earlier; I was seeking a creative outlet and hope they entertained.</p> <p>I did not write these (they seem to be least 10 years old and I can't find the original author), but they still feel relevant today:</p> <blockquote>HOW TO FEEL MISERABLE AS AN ARTIST <br/>(OR, WHAT NOT TO DO, UNDERLINE ANY THAT CURRENTLY APPLY) <br/> <ol><li>CONSTANTLY COMPARE YOURSELF TO OTHER ARTISTS.</li> <li>TALK TO YOUR FAMILY ABOUT WHAT YOU DO AND EXPECT THEM TO CHEER YOU ON.</li> <li>BASE THE SUCCESS OF YOUR ENTIRE CAREER ON ONE PROJECT.</li> <li>STICK WITH WHAT YOU KNOW.</li> <li>UNDERVALUE YOUR EXPERTISE.</li> <li>LET MONEY DICTATE WHAT YOU DO.</li> <li>BOW TO SOCIETAL PRESSURES.</li> <li>ONLY DO WORK THAT YOUR FAMILY WOULD LOVE.</li> <li>DO WHATEVER THE CLIENT/CUSTOMER/GALLERY OWNER/PATRON/INVESTOR ASKS.</li> <li>SET UNACHIEVABLE/OVERWHELMING GOALS. TO BE ACCOMPLISHED BY TOMORROW</li></ol></blockquote> <p>Sometimes, <a href="https://laacting.davidaugust.com/2012/10/fear-and-suffering.html">pain may be inevitable, but suffering is optional</a>. I'm finding things stressful, but stressed is the new black. Please feel free to let me know how you're doing: you can @ <a href="https://twitter.com/davidaugust" title="David August on Twitter">me on Twitter</a>.</p>David Augusthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17472574936046343447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10140821.post-4049979378705092522020-05-02T16:42:00.000-07:002020-05-02T16:44:58.891-07:00Heartbreak<h1 style="color:black;">Heartbreak</h1> <h2>by David August - horror/sci-fi short story</h2> <p><img src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BjOBUq3zzZE/Xq4F3SkKRNI/AAAAAAAAG7s/zcsniM2HHose3V-8S9ZVp_NiHq3ALGdNwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Heartbreak-cover-image.jpg" style="width:550px;" alt="cover image for the story Heartbreak by David August - a tree in a field surrounded by trees"/></p> <p>"Grandpa?" Tommy asked his grandfather, holding his hand, "why don't you want to go for a walk unless there's some wind?"</p> <p>"Well, back in the first pandemic, the idea was that it could hang in the air from people breathing it out. So if there was some wind, then you could walk a good distance behind them and the wind would blow it away before you stepped through the cloud of their exhalation."</p> <p>The little boy smiled a little, and felt guilty. He knew talking about the first pandemic was hard for his grandfather. But he also knew that his grandpa's eyes would light up with a twinkle he'd never see otherwise, not even when they had birthday cake or went bike riding. He was glad to get his grandfather to speak about those times, even if it sometimes made his grandfather hesitant. And Tommy felt a little bad for bringing it up. But grandpa's twinkle seemed worth it.</p> <p>He'd never met his grandma, but in the stories his grandfather told of how they met, their adventures (as grandpa called them), Tommy felt like he could imagine her, moving and interactive, not just the photos and videos he could watch.</p> <p>"I know it might seem a little silly," his grandfather continued, "but..."</p> <p>Tommy looked back up at him as they got to the end of the driveway.</p> <p>"...nothing was quite the same after that, and so I... I don't know. I guess it feels kind of nice, even if it's nostalgia, to keep some habits from then going."</p> <p>"I think I can understand." Tommy was glad he hasn't seen one of them yet. The shortages, the lockdowns, the way his grandpa and the TV describe it all seems kind of scary even if old fashioned. "Do you miss it? You know, how things were?"</p> <p>His grandfather paused. Tommy would realize years later it was like his grandpa was reliving it. "Yes, I do. I miss the time before. I miss the thousand little things that no one even thinks about now."</p> <p>"Like what?"</p> <p>"Well, there's the architecture for one."</p> <p>"The architecture?"</p> <p>"Yeah. They used to build stadiums and theatres and everything with people way closer together, and no screening corridors at entrances. Don't get me wrong, they are a great way to ease into the space, and they make good use of them. And who doesn't like having more personal space during a game or a show, but..."</p> <p>Tommy waited, hoping he'd continue.</p> <p>"There is not a great way to explain the way it is to be there now, with people just...together. Spontaneous and messy...no planning, it...it let you really enjoy it, get into it and connect with the players."</p> <p>"Uh huh."</p> <p>His grandfather looked him in the eye. "You could really feel it. Like at a ball game there could be a wave started, people standing up and raising their arms in unison, and following the people next to them as this whole, wave I guess, would go all the way around the stadium. You'd feel the people starting to stand near you, so even if you weren't paying attention, like you weren't watching the stands, you were looking at your food or something, you'd feel it. People try to do it now. In stadiums now you can't get that close to feel it the same way. Even at Wrigley, after the renovations it's not the same,"</p> <p>Tommy knew his grandpa loved Wrigley. His grandpa and grandma had their first date there when his grandpa had been given two free tickets. That was before they'd won the last time, and before later when tickets got hard to get for in-person.</p> <p>His grandpa continued, "or at a concert. I remember once on this beach, I wasn't that much older than you, this festival. It was a total free for all. I mean they had the trucks set up with speakers, and vendors and this big dinosaur thing you could just climb up and get your pictures on. And there was this one camper that was converted into a sort of bar and dance club thing, right out in the open. People dancing and trading places with a DJ who was playing the music that you could feel through the speakers, and the ground. I swear you could feel the ground moving because of all the people's feet dancing with the rhythm. Dancers just freely moving among each other."</p> <p>"That's weird." Tommy had never seen that except in an old black and white movie. "People don't do that now."</p> <p>"No...they don't. And for good reason."</p> <p>"I know, my teachers tell us that. Tell us about how it was and can't be. That that's why we can't play with our classmates, just our brothers or sisters."</p> <p>"Yeah..." grandpa fell silent and Tommy could sense it was not necessary to say something, just hold grandpa's hand while they walked.</p> <p>A delivery vehicle passed by and the wind gently moved the branches of the trees.</p> <p>"Grandpa?" Tommy wanted to ask, and it seemed like now was a good moment. "Do you miss grandma?"</p> <p>"Yes...every moment of every day."</p> <p>"How did you, do you...I don't know, how did she...how did you..."</p> <p>"Well..." grandpa stopped walking and looked at Tommy. "Why do you want to know."</p> <p>"Well, daddy says Wilson is getting old, and I can maybe prepare myself for when he goes." His grandpa smiled; losing your dog is hard for anyone, but especially for a little boy.</p> <p>"Well, you probably can't perfectly prepare for that kind of thing. But your dad, he's a planner."</p> <p>"Yeah. But he said you might be able to help me get ‘as ready as you can be.'"</p> <p>"Right." His grandpa took a breath and let it out slowly. "Well, with your grandma we...I didn't have any real warning. It looked like we were out of it. We'd made it through. Vaccine was getting traction, and there was light at the end of the tunnel." Tommy saw his eyes turn wistful, like they always did when he talked about grandma. "And your grandma, she smiled, really smiled again."</p> <p>Tommy tried to egg him on to keep going, "Uh huh."</p> <p>"We went to the beach where we lived, well five or six blocks away, the day they opened them up. One of the last things to open up. First walk since it had started where we didn't feel like we needed to zigzag to keep away from everyone else. The sidewalks allowed two-way walking traffic then."</p> <p>Tommy didn't see why they would have let that happen, it would put people passing too close to each other. "That's weird."</p> <p>"Yes, it is. It was. Your grandma, she smiled when we got to the beach, and I hadn't realized how long it had been since I'd seen her really smile, her relaxed smile. You could light the world with it."</p> <p>Tommy smiled. He'd seen her smile in pictures, but it was easier to see in his grandpa's eyes. "That sounds nice."</p> <p>"It was. People were swimming, together, no lane markers either. And the waves and sand, the sound of kids playing. It was such a good way to celebrate being able to come outside and be with people again."</p> <p>"I'll bet," said Tommy. He could hardly imagine but it all sounded very exciting.</p> <p>"It was there she suggested we have your dad."</p> <p>"Really?"</p> <p>"Yeah. She was putting on sunscreen, and she said, totally frankly, ‘let's start a family.'"</p> <p>Tommy saw his grandpa's face change. It was like storm clouds crashed into it and tears came from both eyes. Tommy had never seen this before. His grandpa's face was hollow suddenly, it was alone.</p> <p>"Grandpa? You ok?" He was quiet. His eyes met Tommy's and they lit up again.</p> <p>"Yes. I'm here with you."</p> <p>Tommy felt good that that made his grandfather smile. "She never met me did she?"</p> <p>"No. You were born a lot after she was gone. So was your dad. I'm so glad we'd frozen-"</p> <p>"Popsicle Kid!" Tommy knew that well. Tommy knew that when his dad had asked his grandpa about where he came from when he was a kid, his grandpa told him and his dad had started calling himself Popsicle Kid. He'd even made his grandpa get him a cape that had PK stitched on the back so he could run around the yard like an old superhero. Tommy's dad now lets him play with it too.</p> <p>"Yeah, your dad was a popsicle kid."</p> <p>"So she never met dad either."</p> <p>"No. She didn't. She would have really liked to."</p> <p>His grandfather was quiet. The wind blew gently.</p> <p>"What happened after the beach?"</p> <p>"I never saw her smile, not really like that. Then..." his grandpa swallowed. "I didn't see it again until your dad was born. You and him have it."</p> <p>That made Tommy feel happy inside. He was sure he would have liked to know his grandma. Could you miss someone you've never met he wondered.</p> <p>"What happened after the beach?"</p> <p>His grandpa paused. Breathed in and then out again.</p> <p>"It mutated."</p> <p>© copyright 2020 David August, all rights reserved. davidaugust.com</p>David Augusthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17472574936046343447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10140821.post-26179062638782695422020-04-26T14:38:00.000-07:002020-04-26T14:40:26.746-07:00Avocado Katz and the Battle for Mars - chapter 1<p>Avocado Katz and the Battle for Mars <br/>by David August</p> <p style="font-size:smaller;"><img src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4Qj8XK7O9KA/XqX9Tsc1eUI/AAAAAAAAG6s/FqzyuTgYMSMRfIH81m-kfmLhzQpa4nWaACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Avocado-Katz-art-4-26-2020.png" alt="cover image for 'Avocado Katz and the Battle for Mars' by David August" style="width:500px;"/> <br/><a href="https://www.uahirise.org/ESP_014153_1430">Gullies at the Edge of Hale Crater</a> - <a href="https://www.uahirise.org/media/usage.php">NASA/JPL/University of Arizona</a>, <a href="https://unsplash.com/@callmefred">Frederick Tubiermont</a>/Unslpash</p> <p>The First Chapter <br/>[this was written years ago, and may or may not end up with more chapters]</p> <p>Avocado Katz took a calming breath as the hiss of atmosphere filling the compartment began to be audible. The airlock light would switch from muted red to muted green in 15 seconds and then the interlocks would release. Then she could go inside and face the others. </p> <p>It wasn't fair. She wanted to be like the others. To really be like them. But she wasn't. They'd been sent to colonize the red planet. She'd been sent to watch them. Of course they all thought she was like them. Just here to scrape out our species' first foothold on another world. And she was. Only it wasn't that simple. </p> <p>"You see, colonization has never been a gentle process," he'd stood looking out the windows of his Palo Alto office with his coffee in his hand, like it was a brandy, eight months ago. And he continued. "The others are in it for the adventure, or the isolation, or maybe the chance to be a 'founding father' or even the money. But you, Dr. Katz, you are there to make sure we don't end up just a footnote with 'Croatoan' carved into some Mars rock."</p> <p>"Croatoan sir?" She shifted uneasily as the young chief executive replied.</p> <p>"Roanoke island, in North Carolina. There was a colony there, in the late 1500s. Then one day there wasn't. There were a lot of theories, DNA research and such, but the upshot is that the lost colony is a footnote. A historical curiosity." He turned to her, with greater purpose, "We're not gonna go that way. We're not going down as the first ones who tried. We're going to be the first ones who did."</p> <p>"Yes sir."</p> <p>"Katz, it's not just for the sake of this company, or this country, but for all of us. Humanity. We can't let this New World have attempts separated by centuries. We have to start a straight line, a timeline of humans touching it and never stepping away."</p> <p>"Yes sir," and then she thought, "sir? If I may ask, why the urgency then, why now?"</p> <p>He let a breath out. "What I'm about to tell you doesn't leave this room."</p> <p>"Alright."</p> <p>"Satellites and human intel on the ground say the Russians are arming their expedition."</p> <p>"Arming?" she almost whispered, the familiar feeling she hadn't had in years, since back before a battle when she was in the Corps, crept into her stomach.</p> <p>"Arming. They're not just going to get there 6 months after us," his eyes connected with her, underscoring the stakes, "they're going to try to wipe us out when they do."</p> <p>The airlock indicator shifted green, and she willed herself to step to the door and release the latch. 2 months, they'd had 2 months on this rock alone, and she'd been sneaking time to get the system online. She was the only one who knew it was there, even if other ex-military had been staffed specifically to use it when the time came. They didn't know the weapon system was there. 4 months. They were 2 months in and in 4 months, if recent history on Earth was any indicator, they would be fighting. </p> <p>The click of the helmet release in her hand took her out of the horrible calm she always felt before an engagement. Today she'd put the targeting system through its paces, and sent the data off to Earth to get it analyzed. She'd know then if they had a prayer.</p> <p>About 23 minutes after she'd sent the communication, after eating and just as she was climbing into her rack to get some sleep, she wasn't sure what sort of reply would be good news. For the system to work would seem like a good thing. But there was a little voice in her chest that wanted it not to. Then maybe they could evacuate. The message indicator gently sounded. Earth had done their work fast, the long message to Earth had been returned with cool concision that made the feeling in her stomach that had started back in that office in Palo Alto grow: "Targeting systems ok."</p> <p>———</p> <p>"Incoming ordinance," the stern concern of the computer voice startled Avocado, "cover cover cover." Then the concussion and sound were more felt than heard. The computer was speaking again, and her heads-up overlay was highlighting in red before the dust settled and she could make out the figures it indicated, they were coming closer. "Recommend fire, recommend fire..." she almost felt the rhythm of the words before her ears adjusted and could hear the threat identification system's repeating suggestion that she shoot the people coming to kill her before they did kill her. She squeezed the trigger, rounds flew away, figures fell. Then her thigh screamed. "Auto-tourniquet engaged, seek medical help immediately." She'd only ever heard it say that phrase before failing one of the simulated missions in drills on Earth. But the dust was red. Like it was already soaked with blood. This was Mars.</p> <p>She tried to feel for her leg, to assess the damage herself, with her non-gun hand. She couldn't find it. The system repeated, "urgent, get medical help now!" Then an all too human voice cut through on the coms, "my god, they're-" and a thud then a crackle. Her heads-up overlay filled with red and she made out the Russian flag on the faceless figure's gear. Then the muzzle flash blinded.</p> <p>———</p> <p>She jerked out of sleep, and tried to throttle the ceiling above her rack. Realizing she woke up, she smiled a hollow smile. That might have been the first nightmare on Mars. She could have done without being the one who did that first.</p> <p>© 2014 David August, all rights reserved. davidaugust.com</p>David Augusthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17472574936046343447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10140821.post-33101102905125700192020-03-30T13:03:00.001-07:002020-03-30T13:03:40.249-07:00SAG-AFTRA Dues Relief<blockquote cite="sagaftra.org"><acronym title="Screen Actors Guild">SAG</acronym>-<acronym title="American Federation of Television and Radio Artists">AFTRA</acronym> today announced that it has developed a program to provide dues relief for <acronym title="Screen Actors Guild">SAG</acronym>-<acronym title="American Federation of Television and Radio Artists">AFTRA</acronym> members during the COVID-19 global pandemic.</blockquote> <blockquote cite="sagaftra.org">Under the program, <acronym title="Screen Actors Guild">SAG</acronym>-<acronym title="American Federation of Television and Radio Artists">AFTRA</acronym> members who are in a position to pay their dues in full are urged to do so upon receipt of their May semi-annual dues bill. <strong>Members experiencing financial hardship resulting from work stoppages related to COVID-19 will be granted a due date extension and an installment plan for those payments</strong>. As part of that relief, no late fees will be assessed and there will be no adverse impact on members’ work eligibility during this time.</blockquote> <p>(emphasis added by me, from <cite><a href="https://www.sagaftra.org/sag-aftra-adopt-dues-extension-program-members-impacted-covid-19-work-loss">SAG-AFTRA To Adopt Dues Extension Program for Members Impacted By COVID-19 Work Loss</a></cite>).</p>David Augusthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17472574936046343447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10140821.post-53434041029728227172020-03-20T18:52:00.001-07:002020-03-20T18:52:55.728-07:00Netflix Support for Their Employees<p>Netflix is putting $100 million dollars toward helping their employees present and future through the difficulties of the Coronavirus pandemic.</p> <blockquote cite=“Ted Sarandos”>Beyond helping workers on our own productions, we also want to support the broader film and television industry. So $15 million of the fund will go to third parties and non-profits providing emergency relief to out-of-work crew and cast in the countries where we have a large production base.</blockquote> <blockquote cite=“Ted Sarandos”>In the United States and Canada non-profits already exist to do this work. We will be donating $1 million each to the SAG-AFTRA Foundation Covid-19 Disaster Fund, the Motion Picture and Television Fund and the Actors Fund Emergency Assistance in the US, and $1 million between the AFCand Fondation des Artistes. In other regions, including Europe, Latin America and Asia where we have a big production presence, we are working with existing industry organizations to create similar creative community emergency relief efforts. We will announce the details of donations to groups in other countries next week</blockquote> <p>(from <cite><a href=“https://media.netflix.com/en/company-blog/emergency-support-for-workers-in-the-creative-community”>Emergency Support for Workers in the Creative Community</a></cite>).</p>David Augusthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17472574936046343447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10140821.post-28567790722903235012020-03-15T17:15:00.000-07:002020-05-20T14:28:57.945-07:00Don’t Forget to Breathe<p>I wrote this on March 13th, posted it to Facebook and <a href="https://medium.com/@davaug/dont-forget-to-breathe-ff04a20c4c24?source=friends_link&sk=91f5e4d2784963ba2ef9c33a165c718c">Medium</a>; now I’m reposting it here:</p> <p>Don’t forget to breathe. </p> <p>The long haul truck driver who is about to drive the food/medicine/sanitizer to your local store just had to scramble to get daycare for their child because the schools closed. </p> <p>The cashier at the store had to do the same, and also keeps interacting with hundreds or thousands of strangers so they will still be able to afford to pay their rent, lest they and their elderly family members end up homeless during a pandemic that preys on our elders. </p> <p>The pharmacist who has dedicated their professional life to trying to get people healthy worries the shipments might not come quickly and the prescriptions might not get filled so they won’t be able to help how they’ve been trained to. </p> <p>The doctor is also worried, worried that a force of nature, something so small it can’t be seen with the naked eye, something that humanity didn’t know existed 5 months ago (and may not have) may hurt their patients, take their breaths away. They can only hope science and supply chains and luck hold out long enough that triage medicine isn’t all they get to practice in the face of it in the months to come. </p> <p>We are all connected. We are all charged with helping everyone around us, because we can. And we will thrive. It is what we do, even as we worry, are afraid, are surrounded by unknowns. </p> <p>For thousands of years our ancestors fought against the tiny enemies that stole their children, their friends, their parents. But they fought without understanding what was inflicting harm, what took their people away. We know, and we have the lessons they learned. We are armed with so much more. We have made cousins of this scourge extinct. We will again. </p> <p>We have decoded its blueprint, and right now in labs around the world, without fanfare and without rest, people you have never met and never will meet are fighting with test-tubes, and computers and sheer will. It is the will that has tamed fire, that has walked on the moon and split the atom. It is the will that snatches life from the jaws of nature’s brutality and unifies all of humanity to deny death its harvest. These people are imbued with this will inherited from a hundred millennia of our forbearers, and are working to help you, and me, and the people we love. So dear and so great is our ability to care for one another, to cherish our fellow human, to help both stranger and friend. </p> <p>Wash your hands, muster your patience, find the kindness to help. </p> <p>Don’t forget to breathe. </p>David Augusthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17472574936046343447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10140821.post-51190445774830354042020-03-14T08:08:00.000-07:002020-03-14T08:08:54.614-07:00Why the News Is Scary<p>Sometimes, our interconnected-ness, all by itself, can distort the world.</p> <blockquote cite="Richard Brodie">Now let's get a handle on what it really means to have a 1-in-6,500 or a 1-in-13,000 chance of dying. It's as if you lived on an island in the South Pacific with a population of 650. You make your living by swimming around in the azure waters around your idyllic paradise and spearing fish for dinner. Yum, yum. About once every ten years, a stray shark happens by and eats a swimmer. That's a 1-in-6,500 chance of any one person being eaten by a shark, just the same as the odds of dying in an automobile accident in the U.S. in 1992.</blockquote> <blockquote cite="Richard Brodie">Also, about once every 20 years, two men get into an overheated argument over a fish or a woman and one of them kills the other with his spear. That's a 1-in-13,000 chance of being killed in an argument, just the same as the odds of being killed by someone else with a gun in the U.S. in 1992.</blockquote> <blockquote cite="Richard Brodie">These are very sad events, and probably dinner-table conversation for quite a few days, but not the be-all and end-all of life. Fortunately, since you live on an isolated island, these events come and go, and life goes on.</blockquote> <blockquote cite="Richard Brodie">But now imagine there are 392,000 of these islands all linked by television and INN (Island News Network). This brings the total population to about 254 million, less than the U.S. today. Every night, INN reports on the goriest of the 107 shark attacks and 54 spear deaths that day. Suddenly people's picture of the world is quite different. From a peaceful existence disrupted only by a tragedy every few years, you go to a fear-ridden hell filled with crime and terror.</blockquote> <blockquote cite="Richard Brodie">Isn't this interesting? Nothing has changed except the addition of television. Yet now it feels like you're living in a dangerous world, not an idyllic paradise. Same number of shark attacks, same number of spear deaths. What happened?</blockquote> <p>(from about page 247 of <cite><a href="https://amzn.to/2QiLTqG">Virus of the Mind: The New Science of the Meme by Richard Brodie</a></cite>).</p>David Augusthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17472574936046343447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10140821.post-88234664786246517972020-01-29T10:56:00.001-08:002020-01-29T10:56:48.164-08:00Industry Standards for Intimacy Coordinator Use Unveiled by SAG-AFTRA<p>Today, <acronym title="Screen Actors Guild">SAG</acronym>-<acronym title="American Federation of Television and Radio Artists">AFTRA</acronym> released <a href="https://www.sagaftra.org/files/sa_documents/SAG-AFTRA_IntimacyCoord_full.pdf">a PDF</a> and <a href="https://vimeo.com/387843233/80ce4a6030">a video package</a> of "Standards and Protocols for the Use of Intimacy Coordinators." This should make it even easier for producers to <q cite="https://www.sagaftra.org/sag-aftra-unveils-landmark-industry-standards-and-protocols-use-intimacy-coordinators">help performers and productions navigate highly sensitive scenes that feature nudity and simulated sex -throughout the entire production process.</q> Along with <a href="https://www.sagaftra.org/contracts-industry-resources/workplace-harassment/anti-harassment-timeline" title="a timeline of SAG-AFTRA anti-harassment work">other anti-harassment efforts by <acronym title="Screen Actors Guild">SAG</acronym>-<acronym title="American Federation of Television and Radio Artists">AFTRA</acronym></a> and things like their <a href="https://laacting.davidaugust.com/2014/03/sag-aftras-new-code-of-ethics-for.html">Code of Ethics for Personal Managers</a>, on and off set we will be better off.</p>David Augusthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17472574936046343447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10140821.post-17544732325283737952019-04-16T10:01:00.000-07:002019-04-16T12:35:00.541-07:00Being Afraid<blockquote cite="Michal Sinnott">I've read, and I believe, that we develop emotionally before we develop intellectually. We cry before we ever learn to speak. When painful things happened to us when we are children, we likely didn’t have a way of explaining the event, but we could certainly feel the emotion of fear that came with whatever messed up thing that was happening and, that was out of our control to stop. That feeling that came with that unexplained event, because we had no intellectual structure for it, might have stayed with us. It might have stayed in our body. It might have created a cycle that we will repeat until we learn to release that feeling and know that that fear has no real power over us</blockquote> <p>(from <cite><a href="http://michalsinnott.com/blog/22-march-boldly-towards-your-fears/">March Boldly Towards Your Fears</a></cite>).</p>David Augusthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17472574936046343447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10140821.post-46511781888510984292019-04-05T04:56:00.000-07:002019-04-05T04:56:11.825-07:00Work on Your Life<blockquote cite="Anton Chekhov">If you want to work on your art, work on your life.</blockquote> <p>- <cite>Anton Chekhov</cite></p>David Augusthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17472574936046343447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10140821.post-64950798155653237412018-06-14T01:22:00.000-07:002018-06-14T01:22:06.311-07:00Holding Sides in an Audition<p>Some 1 in the morning thoughts about whether or not to hold your sides during a self-taped audition, or really any audition.</p> <p>Worth remembering an audition is not a memorization test, and yes, it is good to be off book so the character can flow and develop. Holding sides in some people’s opinions reminds everyone that it is not a final fixed performance, and can be changed. These opinions often hold that with no sides you will be un-re-directable, and you may also be compared to a final polished performance in a finished product. <strong>Holding the sides gently instantly reminds the viewer it is an audition, even if you never look down at them</strong>.</p> <p>Whatever you do, have fun: the part is yours during your audition no matter what happens later.</p>David Augusthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17472574936046343447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10140821.post-79380828069634663532018-05-14T08:01:00.000-07:002018-05-14T08:01:12.410-07:00More Employees Fewer Contractors<p>A lot of people have been considered contractors instead of employees on sets and stages (and shops and offices too), and now that is changing, maybe. This could impact non-union acting, many crew positions in production and post, live <abbr title="promotional">promo</abbr> work and even rideshare driving. <strong>The line between employee and contractor has moved</strong>:</p> <blockquote cite="Schuyler Moore in Forbes on May 13, 2018">In order to make the line clearer, the California Supreme Court just adopted a very expansive definition of employee in a recent case, <strong>Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court</strong>. Under this new test, a worker is considered to be an independent contractor only if <strong>all three</strong> of the following factors are present:</blockquote> <blockquote cite="Schuyler Moore in Forbes on May 13, 2018">(A) The worker must be free from the control and direction of the payor in connection with the performance of the work, both under the contract and in fact;</blockquote> <blockquote cite="Schuyler Moore in Forbes on May 13, 2018">(B) The worker must perform work that is outside the usual course of the payor's business; and</blockquote> <blockquote cite="Schuyler Moore in Forbes on May 13, 2018">(C) The worker must be customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, or business of the same nature as the work performed by the worker for the payor.</blockquote> <blockquote cite="Schuyler Moore in Forbes on May 13, 2018">Applying this test, the court held that truck drivers were employees of the company they worked for. This new test casts a wide net that will result in many "independent contractors" in the entertainment industry being reclassified as employees. In particular, the second factor listed above could be used to argue that almost everyone in the entertainment industry is an employee.</blockquote> <p>(from <cite><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/schuylermoore/2018/05/13/dynamex-a-new-test-for-employee-status/#351542a41461">Dynamex: A New Test for Employee Status</a></cite>, emphasis in original; thanks to <cite><a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2282094/">James McMann</a></cite> for putting me onto the article). The fallout remains to be seen fully, but may be transforming how employment is across the industry. It could mean more workers compensation coverage (good in case someone gets hurt), and the rights of an employee to get paid in full and on time (the law tends to make it harder not to pay an employee than it does to not pay a contractor).</p> <p>If you're an actor-producer, it has always made sense to <strong>use a payroll company to handle paying your cast and crew</strong>. Now it may make more sense than ever. I can get into why in another post perhaps.</p> <p>I am optimistic this could be a good thing, for everyone, even for employers. Employers sometimes forget that <strong>treating people well is the easiest way to significantly, immediately and fundamentally improve the work itself, while it also avoids expensive things like fines, back taxes and jail time</strong> too. Yes, misclassifying employees as independent contractors can actually land an employer in jail.</p>David Augusthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17472574936046343447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10140821.post-61821853145397926232018-04-27T00:28:00.003-07:002021-02-28T11:44:23.629-08:00It Is Not a Thing It Is a Process<p>Your relationship, your job, your career, the roles you book: none of these are static, fixed, set things like a book, a chair or a mountain are. Nor are those strictly permanent unchanging things either. They are all processes. Or if you prefer another word for them: a journey, a path, a story. <strong>Life is a process. Ongoing</strong>. </p> <p>A romantic relationship may feel like a thing, and it can be tempting to think it's set-it-and-forget-it, that somehow it can reach a state of being exactly what it is now forever without modification. This is not the case. If you don't believe me, try it and you'll see how quickly <strong>stagnation will propel something to give</strong>.</p> <p>So to with almost any task: you can make something fixed, unchanging, like:</p> <ul><li>a meal worth of food,</li> <li>a presentation in an office,</li> <li>or a movie.</li></ul> <p>Once these things are made, once they cross the threshold of complete (a threshold likely placed where people find convenient or useful) they aren't the same as they were. Once</p> <ul><li>the food is prepared to eat,</li> <li>the presentation ends,</li> <li>the movie is ready to distribute</li></ul> <p> it is different and we judge it differently; <strong>we use things and see them differently once they've "done," but they all still change</strong>. The</p> <ul><li>food spoils or is eaten and integrated into us,</li> <li>the presentation either succeeds or fails to have the desired effect (or at least becomes less relevant as time passes),</li> <li>and the movie gets distributed or not</li></ul> <p>If a movie does get distributed, it either succeeds commercially or not in the various markets/platforms/ways it is released. A distributed movie likely evolves at some point into whether or not it will get sequels, re-releases or re-masterings and even novelizations, theme park rides and other possibilities. If a movie is not distributed relatively quickly, it may molder in a vault (physical or digital) waiting to either be forgotten, or for something outside of it to change, like the cultural currents, a performer's career arc, or something else. Then it is released and follows a new trajectory.</p> <p>The point is, even though we think in the moment, we live in the now and think of stuff as fixed. It's very useful to think of them as things, they aren't: <strong>everything is changing, always</strong>.</p> <p>(Note: yes, eventually the universe may even change its innate tendency toward change by going through a heat death, heat a proxy for movement/change here. This heat death sounds grim but is really just change itself changing into something else sort of [I'm wildly oversimplifying the current thinking on the cosmology of the universe which is a bit beyond what I want to focus on today]).</p> <p>What does this mean for us as actors? What does this possibly too abstract and maybe rambling mean for us? <strong>Our roles, our work and our whole careers are not things, they are a process, or a bunch of processes</strong>; we are on a journey. We are following a path. Our path as actors, our character's journeys are not a thing while we are on them. Only looking back will we be able to sum them up in any way. We make sense and tell ourselves a story of what happened once it has happened, once it is "done." It might be cliché, but <strong>all we do as actors is more a path than a place</strong>.</p> <p>Tempting to simply end this post with the glib "life is a journey not a destination," but there are two problems with that. One: it is boring, which is usually not a great choice for an actor. Two: it is passive. We are not simply along for a ride. We are actors. We act. Our very job title is entirely focused on us doing stuff, taking action. Whether or not the universe cooperates and complies with our desires, or gratifies our intentions with our chosen outcome, our task is about acting. Whether or not we get what we want after we do what we do, is not our responsibility.</p> <p>You could think of it as above our pay grade as humans to decide entirely the outcome of anything. <strong>Results are not our problem</strong>. Results are more like things. The path leads to the results, the story leads to its end, and the journey, the process is our world. It's our focus, and where our roles, careers and lives actually happen.</p> <p>We don't watch a film for just the last two seconds and the credits; <strong>when we focus on our process, or role in things, then we can make a difference</strong>. It is as I have said before: <a href="https://laacting.davidaugust.com/2017/02/bryan-cranstons-advice-on-auditioning.html">it is not our job to book, it is our job to do what we do</a>. Focus on your process. Focus on what you can do.</p>David Augusthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17472574936046343447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10140821.post-35782720415735471252018-04-13T13:53:00.003-07:002018-04-13T14:03:41.153-07:00No More Auditions in Hotel Rooms or Residences<p>Years ago, a film invited me to audition and a casting director I shall not name here said, <q cite="unprofessional casting director">to make everyone more comfortable we're having the auditions at the producer's house, in their living room.</q> When I thanked them for the invitation and said I would not be able to attend because it was in the producer's home, I was yelled at for being somehow foolish and unprofessional. I told myself then I should simply have declined and given no reason, which would likely have avoided the yelling. It is good now to see that none of us were the ones being unprofessional to expect a job interview to happen in a place business is conducted.</p> <blockquote cite="sagaftra.org">To help protect members from potential harassment and exploitation, <acronym title="Screen Actors Guild‐American Federation of Television and Radio Artists">SAG-AFTRA</acronym> released today a Guideline that calls for an end to the practice of holding professional meetings in private hotel rooms or residences.</blockquote>
<p>(from <cite><a href="https://www.sagaftra.org/node/166093"><acronym title="Screen Actors Guild‐American Federation of Television and Radio Artists">SAG-AFTRA</acronym> 's Code of Conduct, Guideline No. 1</a></cite>).</p>David Augusthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17472574936046343447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10140821.post-1875572837364993272018-04-03T10:01:00.000-07:002019-04-05T05:06:15.789-07:00When Things Are Broken, Act Anyway<div style="margin-right: 10%; margin-left: 10%;"><div style="position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; /* 16:9 */ padding-top: 25px; height: 0; text-align:center;"><iframe style="position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%;" width="853" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SFVrID0zeeo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></div> <p>The text of what I say in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFVrID0zeeo">this video</a>, in case you would rather read instead of watch and listen: <br/>Sometimes things don't seem to be working the way that we imagined they would be if things were ideal. See, as an actor, it's very easy to use one's imagination to picture how things could be if only. And so, you can find yourself on a set that doesn't have the ability or the time to get the shot they wanted to get: so they have to make some sort of compromise. Or you can find yourself in your own life working on something and you have to compromise something, or for some other reason something's not working right. But the key is: we have to lives anyway.</p> <p>See, this isn't something that just applies to acting this is something that can apply to everything you're doing. Like right now, there's the sound of a highway sort of in the background. I'm using this partly to, hopefully, make it not as easy to hear. But the point is: you're never going to actually have the ideal situation but you still have to <a href="http://laacting.davidaugust.com/2016/04/have-fun-fighting-for-it.html">try to do the best you can</a>, (whether it's acting, or living, or whatever), even though things aren't going precisely the way you would have them if it were 100 percent in your control (which it never is going to be).</p> <p>So basically... I'm reminded of a friend at a party. I saw this friend hearing another friend (really more of an acquaintance) sharing one of those pieces of Hollywood "conventional wisdom" that's more conventional than actually wise. And my friend, I noticed, immediately almost built a blind spot over what that person was saying. Just completely didn't give it another moment's attention. It was actually kind of inspiring, because they were hearing nonsense, something that was not useful, not constructive to hear, and they pretty much decided not to hear it. And it's made me think that sometimes:</p> <ul><li>you may be in an audition and maybe one of the people in the audition's answering the phone (that's happened to me),</li> <li>or they're taking a lunch order,</li> <li>or eating their lunch during the audition,</li> <li>they don't seem like they're paying attention (which if you're doing a TV or film audition, they may actually watch the footage later and figure seeing it live, since they're not casting you to do a live performance isn't as important),</li></ul> <p>but whatever the case: you still need to do your work as best you can because you want to book the job. And <strong>it's not about booking the job in the audition, it's about showing them what you can do</strong>. Because if you end up on set who knows what other kind of chaos, ridiculousness, or highway noise there's going to be.</p> <p>You still need to do the work that is your work to do, even if the world isn't entirely cooperating. You can even have an agent put tremendous pressure on you to book something, maybe because they're having trouble paying their bills, and <a href="http://laacting.davidaugust.com/2017/02/bryan-cranstons-advice-on-auditioning.html">your job is to go into that audition and show the people in the audition room what you do</a>, not to actually book the work even if that's something your agent is all but insisting you do, and sometimes doing in the most unconstructive, unsupportive terms. (I mention this because many years ago I had an agent who had a habit of not insulating their talent from pressure.)</p> <p>So yes, in a perfect world people configure things such that between action and cut, or between curtain up and curtain down, an actor can do their best work. <strong>But we aren't in a perfect world. So we have to try to make sure we do our best work even if the world's not cooperating</strong>. And this applies to life too: you have to try to be the best friend, the best parent, the best child, the best sibling, the best significant other, and so forth, whether or not the world is cooperating.</p> <p> Because you're never gonna get this moment, this day, this year, back. The time is gonna pass anyway, and as an old mentor once said, <q cite="Bob Fraser">your time is the sum total of all of your wealth.</q> So that is my vaguely deep insights on a Monday. And if anyone would like some acting coaching: <a href="http://www.davidaugust.com/contact/">let me know</a> I'm taking new clients. Thanks for watching.</p>David Augusthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17472574936046343447noreply@blogger.com0