I was talking with a friend last night, who is a fantastically talented and successful actor. We are both in our 40s, and we can’t seem to get our careers — which were once exploding with work — back where we want them. We’re both having the same frustrations and hitting the same closed doors, even though he is way way way more successful than I am. During our conversation, I said, “I’ve been doing all this stuff for the last few years that is mostly transactional, or informational, instead of creative and artistic. I’ve had some great acting jobs, but none of them have translated into other acting opportunities.
“I love the stuff I’ve done online, and I’m super proud of Tabletop, but it isn’t artistically fulfilling. It isn’t creative like acting and writing is.”
He mentioned some big pictures that he had auditions for recently, and asked me if I’d read for them.
“Nope,” I said. “I couldn’t even get an audition. It’s really frustrating, and if I’m being honest, it’s depressing as fuck.”
We talked about creating projects that we can act in, and I had this epiphany. “I love acting, and I want to continue to be an on-camera actor, even if it’s just one last great job … but my heart is in writing, because I don’t have to ask anyone for permission to be a writer.”
I go back and forth between giving up entirely on having on-camera work, and focusing on writing and voice acting, and working as hard as I can to get back in front of the camera. or just isn’t interested in me, but I keep looking at people who did good work, seemed to disappear for awhile, and then came back to do even more good work. Somehow, I just have to convince the people who can give me permission to work in their movies to give me a chance.
But until that happens, I can keep writing, because nobody can tell me that I can’t do it.
I’m writing every day. I’ve pulled about 4000 words out of my brains this week, split between two different stories. They’ll both go into the short story collection that I’m writing, to be published later this year, and I don’t have to struggle to get permission to do that.
…I really want to do more on-camera acting work, though. I miss it. I wish there was some way to convince Hollywood to give me a chance, because everything I’ve been doing the last several years just isn’t working.
Its hard figuring out what you really want, especially when you start to realize what you’ve wanted for so long may not be what you want anymore. I’ve going back and forth with my own career, and debating scrapping it all completely and starting over. At the end of the day I get no where.
I’m literally just watching Star Trek TNG the episode “The Dauphin” with Salia when you started the episode. It was absolutely amazing. I also really enjoy your appearances on The Big Bang Theory. I can’t wait to read the short story collection you are working on and hope that you convince the people who give permission to be on camera to get you on camera.
Are you saying we need to start #GetWilAGig? 😉
Will,
If Hollywood isn’t working for you, why don’t you try New York or some other film City that might be able to support future Artistic Endeavors? Maybe Broadway or some sort of other on stage acting. I realize you probably want to stay closer to home because of family, butt my wife comma myself, and many of our friends definitely travel to see you if you did things out here on the East Coast. We love your work and will continue to support any project you work on. I hope you keep all of your fans updated on your writing as well. For myself I have actually just started listening to your voice work through Audible. I can empathize with some of what you’re going through as I myself and trying to get back to my dream of opening a restaurant and providing people with a cool place to hang out and have a good time. Trying to put together a viking Mead Hall type setting. Lots of wood, Stone, and firelight. In any event I hope to be able to enjoy your projects for many years to come. Thanks for all that you do. Sorry for any typos I’m doing this through Samsung voice on my way home.
I would totally go to that restaurant! Come open it in Western Australia!
Set up your own acting gig – create a number of kickstarters to get he dream job going – heck that is what I’m trying to do right now with my comic book conversion, and have several more ready just to fire off, and if tis attempt crashes and burns… Heck I’ll just have to try again till it works, you have a massive following, you have an immense potential pu pull of a major run on kickstarter… so get cracking, I’ll sign up for a dollar, heck I’ll sign up for a hundred if that can get you where you want to be.
I’ll just hang out over here and wait for you to write yourself a project to act in. Pretty please? Surely Geek and Sundry has space for some episodic scripted fiction, in addition to what’s already there.
Wil, possibly this is a dumb question, but – WHY do you have ask anyone else for permission to be an actor? Why can’t you write, direct and act in something yourself? Felicia did it with The Guild. You raised nearly $1.5m for Tabletop. Pitch us a good story and I’m sure the funding will be there. Cast yourself, your friend from the post above and anyone else the myopic suits are neglecting. You wouldn’t have the typical Hollywood special effects budget, but you worked on the Video Toaster and look how that enabled Babylon 5. We’ve come a long way since then – hire some Blender talent? Get excited and make something!
Is the problem that Hollywood have the traditional distribution channels sewn up? (I’m in the UK and I’ve read that it’s very hard to get an indie film into a cinema here). And does that matter in the age of the Internet?
This is pretty much why I never got into acting–someone has to let me on a stage.
Well, these days there’s YouTube, but given the treatment women get there, I don’t think so.
At least writing you can do on your own, indeed.
Mr. Wheaton,
As was once told to me by a very wise friend, Turn Your fear into feed.
Keep on Writing and knock on as many doors as possible until those who hear your knock are so tired of hearing it they have no choice but to answer it.
L. M. Montgomery had her first novel Anne Of Green Gables rejected more than once before she tried once more and it got published.
Best Wishes,
Tara Kimberley Torme
Vancouver, BC, Canada
I’m eagerly looking forward to seeing more of your fiction. I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve read, particularly ‘Hunter’, and I selfishly hope writing continues to satisfy your creative thirst.
Honestly, I just can’t understand why those casting people can’t see what we see. You are awesome in everything you have ever done!
Just wanted to say, I loved you in Dark Matter last year. I’m trying to be a writer, and it’s fun and interesting, but at the same time I kinda wish it could go somewhere. Doing something I love to support myself would be awesome… I hope things work out for you soon.
Make friends with Tyler Perry
Okay, I have to be honest: I don’t know anything at all about the TV/film industry, or what it takes to be an actor. I have no doubt it is exhausting, frustrating, and immeasurably fulfilling.
But my comment doesn’t have anything to do with any of that and has only to do with The Decemberists.
I’ve been majorly obsessed with Here I Dreamt I Was An Architect for the last 48 – 72 hours, despite Castaways and Cutouts having been released 13 years ago.
I wasn’t aware anybody other than myself had even thought about that record in the last decade.
I’ve felt this before myself, only with feelings of relief, because I’m a writer and have always been a writer and I’m so glad I don’t have to struggle to find scripts, or other musicians to play with, or even large expanses of walls on which to paint murals. No one reads what I write, which kinda sucks, but it’s also really nice that the threshold to enter my own world of art is so low (paper and pen).
I’ve been on something of a writing drought, though (not writer’s block, I just don’t have time, and when I do have time I can’t think of what to say, and I’m horribly out of habit), and you and Scalzi posting your word counts on Twitter has been helpful to get me motivated and just pull some words out of my brain. So thank you for that.
I’d contribute to a crowdfunder for a project written, directed and starring Wil Wheaton. There’s no guarantee it would be good, of course, but it would be a project that was true and made with passion and that would be enough for me.
Well, you and me both. I’m not an actor. I’m a writer but no one will look at my work because I’m not “published enough.” So, I understand about not getting a chance. I have a great pilot script but because big names are flocking to TV (thanks Netflix and Hulu) production companies won’t look at new writers unless their script is “genius.” Well, how would they know if they won’t read the blasted thing?
I get it. I, too, write fiction because I can publish it myself.
I hope Hollywood gives you more opportunities!
Write a thing, something short poinant genre and topical. Then do a Felicia Day and make it on a shoestring. Slap it up on Geek & Sundry with percentage to the other performers. Self publish the script as a short play and sell it on Lulu or as a PDF. Put some character stats and a table or two of stuff, and list it on DriveThruRPG.
Bypass that T.V. studio gatekeeper bullcrap in Hollywood, man, your fans are on THE INTERNET.
(Seriously though, why haven’t you made a short thing for DIY D&D yet!)
Man, you are preaching to the converted right now. I’ve been working on being an actor since I was 12 or so, so that’s over half my life by this point. Writing is a thing I rather stumbled upon, as I wanted to get into the arts high school in my town and didn’t know any musical theatre songs (at that time, by this point I am a Broadway showtunes radio walking around trying not to force Hamilton and She Loves Me upon unsuspecting folks) so I couldn’t audition for the theatre section. But my 7th grade English teacher (who probably is the only reason I survived middle school) had always encouraged my little poems and stories. So I put together a portfolio and was accepted as a Creative Writing major. I spent three years writing bad poetry and some pretty good poetry (one about being a geek that was inspired by you) and disguising fanfiction as short stories by changing the names and not setting them in Hogwarts. Heck, this very morning I was futzing around on the computer when the next chapter of a fanfiction I’m writing poked my brain until I opened Word and got it all (and some of the next chapter) down.
Meanwhile the acting that I studied in college and have devoted myself to continues to consist of a series of auditions that I never book and background work (including some regular work on a show set in a 1970s Los Angeles comedy club that I’m actually kinda enjoying, but not enough). I don’t remember the last time I said the words of a script out loud on camera and I miss it like a phantom limb.
Don’t get me wrong, even though it’s currently leaving me coughing in the dust, I LOVE acting. Finding the truth of the words of the script (because, like with a novel, I tend to believe that those words are the words on the page for a reason) and building a character from the foundation up are the happiest I can be. Watching a good play or a good film or a good TV show (Stranger Things gave me all the artistic energy and I’ve had to store it like a chipmunk until I’ll be able to use it) revitalizes my soul in ways that make me believe I have a soul. Even reading a play I’ve read a dozen times (like I’m doing now with A Midsummer Night’s Dream, my favourite Shakespeare play) turns into me playing all the parts in my apartment and making myself laugh. I have had some of the best, most moving and most life-changing moments of my life on sets and stages. I can do take after take or show after show and not get tired because how can you get tired of playing pretend and seeing the world from different eyes? Not to mention the bonding between castmates and finding out, once the show is done, which of those people become friends who join you down the road of life and which become people you make small chat with at the next audition.
Meanwhile, being a writer is solitary. It is staring at the wall until the scene I am writing resolves itself behind my eyes and then describing what I’ve see. It’s throwing down my pen in disgust and telling the damn story to write itself and it’s also writing as fast as I can because the words have broken the levee and I don’t want to miss them as they flow past. It’s the four tabs I currently have on my computer about the meaning of flowers because I have to know exactly WHICH flower can symbolize all the varied things I need it to symbolize (the hyacinth is currently the ruling champ). It, like acting, can frustrate me and delight me. But no one has to cast you, for you to be a writer. You don’t audition. You just do it. But you don’t get any applause at the end.
I miss the applause at the end.
Wow, this got super long. This is what happens when a Southerner talks, we digress and ramble and use words like they’ll be illegal starting tomorrow. Apologies for the giant blocks of text.
Wow, well said Beth! I didn’t get the acting bug but i write and that was great! My current novel has me opening heaps of tabs on South American Megafauna, Old Norse and Anglo-Saxon dictionaries, and how to sail a boat, so I’m hearing you re the flowers. 😀 I love writing for where it takes me!
Wil,
I have to agree with some of the other comments above. I recently watched the 3 episodes of Leverage you were in. They were great!
While I enjoy your written and audio work. I know I am not alone in wanting to see you in a movie or even another tv show. Maybe there is a project that you could help write and act in. Please don’t give up on acting.
Sounds like it’s time to write your own screenplay. I would imagine you’ve got enough credibility and connections to get an indie film of the ground, especially with some good partners.
Wil, I think you accidentally in the paragraph that begins “I go back and forth”.
Having said that, I hope that you find all the success that you seek. You deserve that and more.
Okay, picture this… TableTop: The Musical! Seriously though, Wil, man, you are in with Felicia Day, probably the foremost authority on creator content in the world. If the network pricks and Hollywood executives won’t give you a chance to do what you do, screw ’em. Invite her over to dinner, put your heads together, suck the experience and advice right out of her head, write something great, pull some strings with some of those connections you’ve built up in the actor and content creator communities you’ve been walking in for over 30 years, and make your own stuff. Will it be easy? Aw, hell no.
But it will be YOURS. Want it to go another season? No one can cancel it if you don’t want them to. Want to do something controversial? No one will tell you no. Tired of it? Wrap it up and do something else. When it takes off and everyone is demanding to buy plushies of your character? No marketing goob will step in and take the credit. And if it crashes and bombs? Hey, you’ve had your fair share of back-to-the-drawing-board moments mixed in with your success, so it’s not like you don’t know how to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and keep going even if it’s a new direction. I have faith in you.
Wil, I am sorry this industry you find yourself in can be crap sometimes and frustrating beyond measure. Many people would support projects you create yourself but it sounds like you also want to have projects that people seek you out for, which is totally understandable….I hope everything you want comes true, not only for your satisfaction but for your fans enjoyment as well.
Go the Alan Tudyk/Felicia Day route, maybe, and create your own stuff. It doesn’t have to be amazing or lead to lucrative work, but it will be creatively fulfilling.
I wish you all the best and hope to see you on the screen soon. I just want to put an idea out there. Have you looked at going outside Hollywood? Working in the UK (Ireland is an a amazing country, hint) or somewhere for a while, a number of Hollywood actors have used this platform to get the US to notice them. Best of luck!!
Maybe buy Patrick Stewart a beer and pick his brain on the subject. He has been a working actor for a long time and he seems to be a nice man.
Acting is a tough gig. I went after it for about 6 or 7 months in the early 90’s – booked only 3 commercials, and only one of them with residuals; a difficult time…
I’ve been a medium-wig in a large corporation, a big-wig in a few small corporations, and have started/owned a few small businesses. Here’s the reality check. Having a j.o.b. is so much easier than going it on one’s own. Having a boss to tell you what you need to do to be successful is F*ng child’s play compared to charting your own path and persisting in the face of rejection.
You are a fairly amazing dude. I wish I had better advice for you, but you will figure it out. Really. It might not feel like it, but you will.
I am with you. Big changes lie ahead for my professional life and I don’t know where life will take me. Everything’s seems to be in limbo and I am really grateful for my family and my home to provide the tremendously needed security and stability.
A lot of things you write resonate with me and I just want to thank you for that. Your blog posts are inspiring and very often thoughts or sentences from your posts land in my diary. You make me want to write. Thanks.
I’m so sorry you’re frustrated. I wish I could just say”don’t feel that way” and it would all be better. You’re a very creative person, so whether you’re acting or writing it’s all good. Just don’t give up on acting. As you said some people have disappeared for a while and come back to do more and better work. And we won’t let you disappear.
I have to agree with Totally Stoked KuoToa. You have to think outside the box. Acting is a monumentally hard career choice. There is a ton of supply and only so many shows and movies that the studio produce. I totally feel for you, I am a wedding photographer and the competition is likewise ridiculous. Not necessarily is it because the other photographers are great (some are quite bad actually) but people don’t realize how to pick a good photographer. I think your decision to do Tabletop was a good one. You choose to do a video on something that you enjoy. I think using the same formula you could do more acting. Pick a topic, find a set of likewise minded individuals and produce some content. You could send it to all of your fans. Run Kickstarter campaigns to fund it or do it for the joy of doing it.
This may sound cliché, but to me persistence is the key. Just keep trying, you have to weed through a lot of crap to find that perfect gig for you!
I’ve seen enough of your writing to believe that something you scripted (or at least plotted) would be entertaining. Internet/digital release is all that you need. I agree with the others who posted above. Get the idea, enough that you can describe it in a pitch, then go to the crowdfunding masses. I believe in what I’ve seen to buy it in advance. Best of luck with it, and thank you for being so open about describing your life and your creative processes. I’m about your age but with no creative credits and I think you have a lot to offer.
You’re preachy. People hate that. Now you’re being whiny. Care to guess how people feel about that?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoicism -that may help.
Dean: Seriously? What an arsey thing to say.
Wasn’t intended to be arsey… The truth can be arsey sometimes. Embrace reality or live in delusion.
Dean: As Wil would say and also his entire loyal army of nerds would say, “Don’t Be A Dick!”
Lots of advice and opinions from people who either truly care for you or hate you for just being yourself. I’m one of the former. I know you’ll work this out in the end and you may or may not be able to truly fulfill the need to perform in front of a camera the way you need to. Just know that you have an adoring fan base that wishes you the best and will support you in whatever decisions you make.
Cats help keep one sane. I once got locked out of my apartment & when I got back in, the cat was not worried but just looked at me like “did you forget the way home?” & ” why were you peeking in the windows (instead of coming onto the cool inside) when it is 101 out there?” For me it was humbling & en-couraging at the same time. (Kipling’s IF comes to mind)
There is a feeling I am trying to express in words but it is not coming through; brain glitchiness is to blame. Wil, enjoy the good bits of every day, & especially in those discouraging & boring days & on those emotionally traumatic days. I thought you were impactful on Dark Matters.
In the biographies I have read, few folks get to go straight line ffashion from here to there; most folks succeed on some sort of detour or side trip that turns out to be more that a detour or side trip. Good & bad things are going to happen not within one’s control but within one’s control is a determined attitude & eyes open to opportunities.
This human says ‘ Life takes courage’ & ‘ “It turns out different than you think it will” is true as is “this too shall pass”. My kitten says napping with a friend eases feelings of angst.
Eastlyn
Monticello Mississippi
Wil, I happen to know that you are sometimes regarded as too “politically correct,” to be considered for many projects (I have heard this around). All I can say is that I commend you for your brave stands even when it costs you jobs. Keep the faith my friend, you will win in the end.
Really? I’ve never heard that, and during my 37 years in this industry, I have never experienced or heard of a person losing a job because of their personal politics.
I am all for you on the big screen! I enjoy your audiobook performances….and anyone who says it isn’t a performance has never tried to keep 10 character voices straight and consistent for an 11+ hour performance.
Don’t give up Wil. You have greatness in you!
Wil, I am probably one of your biggest fans and have been for a real long time, but I am saddened how you really are so down on yourself and have no confidence when it comes to acting again. Please don’t take this the wrong way. I care so much about you and admire you so much but I feel I need to try and give back some constructive advice, like you have given so many of us who have also suffered with depression and anxiety. First off, you have to get rid of that negative attitude. They always say negativity will bring negative results. Have you actually tried auditioning for those movies/shows you mentioned you wanted to be on or have you just taken the negative attitude that “Oh, I’m not going to even bother, because they wouldn’t take me anyway.” Wil, I know you’ve been through so much and your depression and anxiety makes it even harder to feel positive about yourself, but realize EVERY actor goes through the rejection process. Do you think other actors didn’t go through rejection many times in their careers? You think they got every role they wanted and tried out for? Of course not! But they didn’t let it discourage them and they didn’t give up. And stop saying you aren’t in the same caliber as other Hollywood actors, because are. You just have to replace that negativity and lack of confidence and show Hollywood what you’ve got. Stop making excuses because you are afraid of rejection and go for it. You keep saying writing is your passion but then you keep saying how much you miss acting. I think you want to play it safe with writing because you won’t get rejected, but Wil, if you’re being truly honest with yourself, your true passion is acting as well or you wouldn’t keep bringing it up. You’re just afraid of rejection and after everything you have been trough, I can understand. Everyone is afraid of rejection but you have to be like other actors who have gone through it and be strong and show them the talent that you so absolutely have and it will work out in the end. You need this to be entirely fulfilled, I just know it so be a tiger and go for it. Show Hollywood what your entire nerd army already knows you are made of. 😉
“They’ll both go into the short story collection that I’m writing, to be published later this year, and I don’t have to struggle to get permission to do that.”
That’s pretty impressive because getting a book published, let alone a volume of short stories, can be exceedingly difficult depending on the type of publisher you’re working with. Short story collections are exponentially more difficult to get published and rarely make the bestseller lists.
I don’t know if trading on your name value helps in regards to publishing or not (not that there’s anything wrong with it), but try getting a manuscript published under a pseudonym (and don’t let your agent tell the publisher who you really are) and see if, in a blind submission, it gets any attention. That would be a real test, imo.
Acting, writing, all the creative arts are really difficult and demanding fields to work in. Being a success in any one of them is a full time job, not to mention trying to be successful in multiple fields. I don’t know whether it’s a better strategy to a) focus on one category (writing or acting?) or b) try the multiple streams approach. But few people are really great at everything. How many great actors are simultaneously great writers, after all?
Why not try to put together a small directing/starring thing?
Man.
I don’t understand this.
I mean, I do understand, of course, in principle. I understand performance anxiety, and just general anxiety. I understand fear, I understand ennui. Perhaps I can’t fully understand what you’ve built up in terms of equity and expectations from dependents and peers. You’ve also mentioned the person who betrayed you in a business and personal capacity. That’s part of the equation too, perhaps.
As open as you are, we can’t know all, nor should we.
But what I really don’t understand is why you don’t just create your own content. Yes, I understand that getting a role is easier in that you instantly plug into an established network which grants you compensation, exposure, and collaboration with world class talent. It’s easy and convenient. But you’ve already crossed the rubicon of creating your own extra-industry fanbase. Further, they’ve already given you crowd based resources, so that’s proven as well.
TableTop is a success, though perhaps you have different metrics than I. Why would you not create something similar except around traditional narrative content? Are you worried it will be viewed as a vanity project? A joke? It will. I absolutely guarantee it will. But writing is the vainest project of all. “I have something to say, now read my thoughts for the next five hundred pages.”
I don’t know if you recall, but I wrote you an email some fifteen or so years ago when you were starting WWDN. I talked about the past, and how it does not exist. Mostly, it’s in our own minds, and people generally forget or don’t care. That’s a curse, and a gift. I won’t rehash those sentiments, but it’s a battle you’ve long since won. You didn’t know if you “should” be an author, but then you just did it. Why is this any different? It’s all of the same risks, all of the same rewards.
Maybe all 3,000,000+ of your Twitter army are not actual humans, or paying humans, or engaged or interested in your work. Some percentage is, and it’s not trivial by any means. I do not understand how you can sit atop that wealth and decry lack of opportunity. It’s opportunity, but it’s just not in the form you are used to.
Maybe it just comes down to cold, hard cash. And that’s fine. You need X number of dollars to meet your requirements and self publishing video content online is just not lucrative enough. We talk about Felicia, but who knows how that’s actually paid out for her and those she collaborates with.
I will say that I am very sad that much of the truly, truly superior content that gets released, then lost, online is mostly just a calling card to get the attention of suits who channel these brilliant people into insurance commercials, bit parts on crap sitcoms, and other forgettable dead ends. It really bothers me because I get so much of my entertainment from online content. Most of the stuff on the periphery.
But am I just a fool? Your time in acting must have placed you in contact with many people in similar circumstances. Am I naive to imagine there is any sort of mechanism to collaborate, create compelling, enduring work, AND get paid? Someone will crack that nut. Won’t they? Why not you?
I’m saying it’s time to bring Bizarro Hollywood into this universe, Wil.
Gather the misfits and build your army.
In times like these, in times of self doubt, really, in all times, the prophets of Rammstein will show us the way forward.
Or maybe they’ll just warble a catchy tune. Either way, it’s good.
1) Never whine in public. There’s nothing worse, Will.
2) Change your agent
3) Work on your network
4) Do it yourself. It’s 2016 and you don’t need the big fish to get your ball rolling.
Sorry, WIL. Autocorrect hit your forename in my post.
Good Guy Wil Wheaton: Has famous friends, doesn’t name drop them in his blog.
If it is any consolation your reading and narration voice work is beyond astounding, genuine, and immersive to the listeners. I’m was genuinely sad when I was done listening to Redshirts.
I’m was…jeez, get it together.
And I am nothing of a builder
But here I dream I was an architect
And I built this balustrade
To keep you home, to keep you safe
From the outside world
But the angles and the corners
Even though my work is unparalelled
They never seemed to meet
This structure fell about our feet
And we were free to go
Interesting choice of titles. A love loss in three verses. Sounds like you’re experiencing your own.
You’re doing good things, WW. I hope you find fulfillment.
Hi Wil! Since your blog has buoyed my creative side (keeping me writing and drawing for my own benefit…) I feel like, when you are at this crossroads…I should offer some (unsolicited) advice.
First “what I’ve been doing over the the last few years is just not working out” seems like a constrained viewpoint making you think it is worse that it is. You’ve championed great causes, you’ve shown – as a leader of the movement – that a web channel can be viable and produce creative offspring that keep people employed. You’ve appeared in solid character roles in great TV shows, that, even if pigeon holed to a genre, ran many seasons and had plenty of fans. Even the Wil Wheaton project’s short run shows you’re still in consideration. You’ve written and performed your own words. All of that while getting paid. And that is all a grind. But it is working. It is doing. It is staying relevant. Since I know you know poker and beer, let me put it this way: In the tournament of life, you have to keep yourself long enough to get lucky enough to make the final table. That is where skill and perseverance and dedication are the most important. When brewing, bad batches happen. To the best of them. Once of the best commercial brewers I know had a 80 bbl fermenter blow its top this week thanks to a small error on his part that let let too much yeast and a possible infection in.
Second, it does not sounds like you are in “darkest before the dawn” territory yet, but as a long time reader/follower and someone that has a shared mental experience, it feels like you’re building a comfortable platform from which you could jump…if you choose…and who would blame you…and you are choosing to jump so, that’s important…now you’ve thought about it so long it seems silly not too…
That is “the voice.” That is the lie. That is the lie masquerading in the pretense that giving up is the noble thing.
But, step back, examine your game, don’t be results oriented, know when you were doing your best and it failed and where you could improve. Correct course and hit it again. If there is no course correction, keep sailing till you hit the opportunity.
“Every fat woodpecker has a headache.” is a line I use to describe how when you are doing well, you might still not feel like you are doing your best.
Success is hard to judge, especially from the trenches. Thanks to the modern stage of entertainment, so many great actors that might not have found work again are getting solid shots. Think, “Stranger Things”, for example. Our favorite genres are still on the rise. You bring a huge army of fans/eyes to any project. Apparently, you are pretty easy to work with and respectful to your team. It will happen, but time does not wear a watch, so it won’t give you an appointment, you just need to be there and still trying when it pops by with an opportunity.
You have it in you to do whatever you want to pursue – just make sure you are being realistic and doing it for the right reasons.
Feel free to read up on my life and write mini-essays that might be viewed as judgmental (which is what I feel like I’m doing here), but know that myself and millions of others (seriously…millions…think about that! Even just a million!) know you are solid, viable and good for the role of a lifetime soon.
You could must do what Mike Birbigilalia…birbigllgli…birigigifib, Louis CK and others are doing and just write stuff for yourself to act in. Like your short stories.
d
They say Albert Einstein considered himself a failure because he thought of himself as a violinist. Sometimes we cannot see our own genius because we judge ourselves differently than the world around us. You are a brilliant person. So say we all.
Do you want a critical opinion? You have boyish looks. So do I. I know. Have you thought about losing the beard?
m.j. makes a good point, Wil. You do have boyish looks. That is why so many people tell you that you don’t look your age. I have read so many comments whenever you write about having grown sons that moved out of the house, people write “OMG! I didn’t know Wil was old enough to have kids, let alone fully grown ones!” My point is, unfortunately Hollywood pays more attention to that “IT” factor in a celebrity, meaning one with good looks who is fresh-faced. It is more than just talent where Hollywood is concerned, unfortunately. So you already have the boyish looks and whether you believe it or not, you are just as handsome as any of those other male Hollywood celebs. Like m.j. suggested. maybe clean up by losing the beard and even ditch the printed tshirts when you go in for an audition. Wear a suit to an audition. I know that may kill you…lol….but that is what they look for. Just like with actresses, the more elegant, the more exposure. You have the height, the killer smile, the puppydog eyes, the boyish good looks and the tremendous talent. Now all you need is the confidence and the next movie you are interested in, use all that and go for it. Or like others have said, you have the brains to create your own acting project. Either way, you need to adopt a positive attitude and the confidence to make it work. I and millions of other believe you definitely belong in front of the camera and you have to show the acting industry that too.
Some how I found this blog while searching for information about Chug puppies. I think this means that anything can happen. I read the blog too becuase there is an honesty in your words that pulls me in. It made me want you to have this dream of yours when frankly, what I started out wanting was a Chug puppy. That is the power of honestly and vulnerablility, my friend. Best wishes to you. I will add my voice to the chorus #GetWilaGig
Wil, I feel for your frustration. I too found and still find my work-world far too filled with closed doors, for no good reason. It’s maddening. But three words come to my mind. Wil Wheaton Productions. I’m only giving the advice I took myself when I was 40 something and frustrated as hell. I had no job, no opportunities, no cash and faced a wall of closed doors, all with a family to support and a creative backlog that was only growing. I finally felt something shift inside. What was I waiting for? I write, I edit, I shoot, I create 3d graphics, I create games, I produce, I publish, and I’m no longer waiting for anyone. I truly wish you all the best in finding satisfying and rewarding work with the existing producers you seek, but I also suggest you consider your own production potential. TableTop doesn’t rock for no reason. Shows and movies by WW … why not? There are folks making their own books, shows and Indy flicks with a fraction of the talent, experience, passion, support, connections and resources you have. I have NO doubt you could produce kick-butt fiction shows and flicks. Again, I know how maddening it is to face this wall of disinterest from “the powers that be” … it hurts and it sucks and it’s wrong. But let’s not wait for the PTB’s to wake up. Let’s become the new powers that just get things done.