THE “ALMOSTS”
BY TORY SHULMAN
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED @LINEBUDDIES.COM
Pilot season is rough for everyone involved. It’s a lot of “almosts” for everyone. Every time you succeed, there is a new hurdle for you to pass through–like 15 tests for network, producers, the studio and the unicyclist.
How do you deal with the “almosts?” How do you deal with the “getting so close?” I actually don’t have the answer, I’m just asking.
If I had to give advice on this, I would say that going Buddhist is the best thing you can do when you are dealt this frustrating hand. In Buddhism, you train every day for the rest of your life in letting everything go. Groundlessness becomes your motto and you are asked to actually lean in to the uncertainty of life and learn to get very, very comfortable with it.
And uncertainty is the name of the game for actors. And writers. And all artists. Will you make enough money to live off of? Will you ever get to the next level? Will you ever get proper representation? Will you decide that being a dog trainer is a better idea? (That one is just mine).
So for all of us going through the tumultuous storm of pilot season–let’s attempt to make it less grueling by using it as a way to lean in to the grey area and get comfortable with that scary feeling since then it holds no more power over you. Or just do what my brilliant manager suggests: “Feelings matter never ever in Pilot Season.”
Amen to that.