So, here I am, sitting in a dressing room trailer for an independent film shoot, reflecting on the fact that I have been here many times before. And it’s always the same.

The day arrives, you have booked the job, you’re prepared and ready to go. You arrive on the set, meet the production person who tells you where you are to live on this short visit to someone else’s universe, you park yourself in your trailer and you wait.

And wait.

And wait.

And in these moments, you need to remember that this is the life you chose, and that THIS is the point of all of it, the opportunity to perform, to execute.

So much of an actor’s life, as in any professional’s life, is made up of waiting around to do the thing he or she was hired to do. Often that action is less than a minute, or will take up less than 30 seconds of screen time, though it might take hours to accomplish. Unlike acting on stage, the time expended in a film or TV performance is never commensurate with the finished performance.

And waiting is of…

Okay, that’s crazy.

I was writing, as you just saw, right up to the ellipses, the dot-dot-dot…

And then they called me in to shoot my scene. We did it very A to B, and I was done in about two hours, maybe two and a half. That’s incredible. Virtually NO waiting.

Of course, that’s how independent film HAS to work. You don’t have time to do more than one take very often. If they could do half a take, they would. It’s a cost thing.

Anyway, the waiting will have to wait.

Until next time!

Ciao!