I just had a pretty amazing day. I got a juicy commercial residual check. I booked a Guest Star on a one-hour drama pilot. I got an audition from my new voice over agent. And a casting director friend asked me to read a role at the network table read for a single-camera half-hour comedy pilot. All in one day.
Yesterday? I was commiserating with a bunch of actor friends about how horribly slow it's been.
It reminded me of a 100% true thing that happened to me that helps me keep perspective through the ups and downs of being a working actor. (I say 100% true because it sounds unbelievable. You'll see.) I've gotten in the habit of calling it the safari story, and I want to share it with you in the hope that you might find it helpful too.
In 2011, for our honeymoon, my husband and I went to South Africa. It was the trip of a lifetime. We rented a car and drove across the country, stopping in amazing places like the winelands, the Indian Ocean, and an elephant sanctuary. At the end of the trip, we went on a three-day safari. Twice a day, we'd climb into an open-sided Jeep, and our guide would spend three or four hours driving through the 100-square-mile game reserve looking for wildlife. We saw elephants, giraffe, rhinos, hippos, warthogs, cheetah, monkeys, zebras, and all kinds of antelope. It was incredible.
But our very last drive wasn't going well. It was drizzling and chilly, so most of the animals were out of sight, staying warm and dry. We, on the other hand, were cold, wet, frustrated, and bored. Our guide kept looking around with his binoculars, pointing to a place far in the distance where he thought he saw something, we'd drive over, and there'd be nothing there. Over and over and over and over again for hours. While I was hugely grateful for everything we'd seen so far, the thought of ending the trip in such an anticlimactic way was… disappointing.
Finally he gave up and we started the drive back to camp. Within a few minutes, my husband pointed to something in the distance. It was hard to see through the drizzle, but it was a lion lying in the grass. We drove closer, and discovered it was actually a mother lion with three adolescent cubs lying nearby. And then we realized they were lying there because they'd cornered a warthog against a ravine, and were in a standoff. They'd been waiting for a long time too. They were hunting.
We drove to the other side of the lions, where we had a good view but wouldn't be in the way. Nothing happened for a while, our guide decided we should head back… And then WHAM - the warthog made a break for it, all four lions pounced on him, and all of a sudden we were watching a mother lion teaching her cubs how to take down their prey. The warthog fought hard, but the lions were too powerful, and once he was subdued, the most incredible look of peace come over the mother lion's face. Her cubs had learned to hunt. They were fed and happy. She'd done her job.
It was really hard to watch, and one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. At one point, the mother lion turned and looked right at me. (I happened to take this picture at that exact moment. It still gives me the shivers.) We stayed for about five minutes and then left them to finish their meal. Our guide told us how incredibly rare it is to see what we'd seen. We drove back in humbled silence, having completely forgotten about the three hours of NOTHING that came before… Because now it wasn't nothing, it was just what we needed to get through in order to have that life-altering experience.
See where I'm going?
Once I got home, I realized that last drive was a perfect analogy for being an actor. We study and hustle and network and do everything we can think of to try to make something happen, and spend long stretches of time feeling like it's all for nothing. We think it means we're failing. We wonder why we keep going. We think about turning back. And then WHAM - we get something. An audition, a callback, a booking, a great day of being an actor and doing what we love - and we forget all about the angst and boredom and frustration that led up to it, because suddenly it was all worthwhile.
It's been slow lately. Really slow. And even though I know better, I've caught myself thinking, "Will I ever work again? Maybe not. Maybe that was it." But after the day I had today? I'm right back to knowing it was just a slow stretch, slow stretches are totally normal, and are just what we need to get through in order to have days like today.
Next time you're in that place… Exasperated, stuck, ready to give up… Remember the safari story. The lions are out there. You will find them if you keep going. The waiting is not failure, it's just what comes before the lions. And when you find them, all of those feelings and all of that time will fall into perspective, because that incredible experience will make it all worthwhile.
Did the safari story bring up anything for you? Feelings, questions, etc.? I'd love to hear them. If you don't want to share in a comment, send me a private email.