Week 428: Ta Hell With Luck, Give Me Skill

Weekly Written Review 

I'm probably a hypocrite for saying this but I'm actually really excited for my upcoming auditions. The reason for that is because it's all starting to make sense. It's as if something suddenly just clicked. Don't get me wrong, I'm still not fond of the audition process and it needs to be revolutionized but something recently clicked. It's as if a light switch got turned on and I'm no longer in darkness. I had an NCAA audition on Tuesday and I didn't give my best performance. There were some cool moments but something was missing. I didn't beat myself up about it, instead, I allowed myself to realize what I'm doing wrong. For starts, I'm not warming up. I'm just showing up to the audition cold. There was no script, so I just showed up with ideas in my head. I've been doing that for years and it's the wrong way to approach an audition. My lungs need vocal exercise.

In sports and music, the artist has warm-up exercises, stretches and loosens up before their performance. This type of approach has been absent from my process simply because I don't have a proper system in place. Realizing this became another turning point in my quest. In all my 8 plus years of auditioning, I've never really had a strong system in place to prep. I might have tried a few things here and there, but I never had a concrete system. An audition is like applying for a job. Most jobs provide an application for you to fill out. There's no application in the acting world, as a result, we got to create our own application. Well, there's no better time than now to create one. Hours after my audition on Tuesday, I planted my butt on the computer and began creating unique audition prep sheets. My sheets include a couple of songs that are known for hyping me up. There's nothing like that good old fashion Soul Food. Sweet Sweet Fantasy Baby. I also started typing out the notes from the brilliant SAG workshops I've been attending. I even dug up old notes I've saved from previous workshops and added them to my sheets. Those notes are over 5 years old and they all make much more sense now.

The interesting thing about walking into the light is the mental flash I've been getting. All week long my mind would randomly flash recounts of my past auditions that missed out on. It's easy to call these moments as errors or mistakes but let's just say I'm a lot wiser now. With this epiphany of wisdom, I've never been more excited for my next audition. One step at a time I'm breaking the Hollywood code and I'm gaining the skills I need to advance my quest to the next level.

Pre-See The Light Motown, I would blog and rant about my disgust for the audition process. Then I would summon the need to be lucky to succeed. I'm not going to deny luck it if wants to contribute but meanwhile, I'm acquiring skills. I finally figured out how to systematically develop a specialized format unique to me, that will lead to big bookings. In the past, I also ranted about breaking through the industry as a stereotyped horror comedy B-list actor.  As fun as becoming a success B-list may be, my newly widened eyes are currently on the prize. I'm a leading man with A-list possibilities.

All I have to do now is prove it. In due time my friends, in due time. For now, I'll leave you with a quote that Joseph Pearlman stated in his acting class I audited, "It's hard before it gets so easy."


Sunday, November 25, 2018

* Background work: On My Block. It was a surprisingly short day. 8:00am to 12:30pm. That's super short compared to the first time I worked this show. I'm glad I accepted it.

* Blogging...

* Catching up on How To Get Away with Murder


Monday, November 26, 2018

* Background work: On My Block. I was one out of the only 3 students chosen for this scene. Cool!

* Picking the top photos from my recent photo shoot

* Late night audition notice


Tuesday, November 27, 2018

* NCAA Basketball audition

* Audition prep sheet creation

* Blogging


Wednesday, November 28, 2018

* Improv for the Actor and Stand Up Comedy (SAG-AFTRA workshop) 1pm - 3:30pm

* The art of Specificity: How to Make Your Audition Standout (SAG-AFTRA workshop) 6pm -8pm


Thursday, November 29, 2018

* Basketball...

* Joseph's Master Class Audit (7pm-10:30pm)

* It's raining...


Friday, November 30, 2018

* Games Girls Play interview. We played basketball to appear on the pilot episode. I never heard back from them.

* Audition notice


Saturday, December 1, 2018

* Basketball/YMCA with She

* Just Dance workout session for my guest

* Was supposed to do an audition video today but due to a late information reveal I decided to do it tomorrow with another reader.


As the quest continues...

The future of Late Night

Motown Maurice