If you didn’t get put on a Harold/Lloyd team today, go ahead and despair. Give yourself a day to be really mad, get drunk, second-guess yourself, and play the “Why did ____ get on a team? I’m funnier than _____” game. Overreact. Self-indulge for the rest of the day. Text bitchy shit to your friends.
But just today.
Tomorrow the sun will rise and the wicked paddlewheel of life will churn on, ever unabated.
I guarantee you — FUCKING GUARANTEE YOU — that there were dozens of people good enough to be put on a team who weren’t, for space reasons. If you had a good audition you were probably one of them. Being good enough to be on a house team is ONE criterion. Being lucky is another.
If you want to be on a UCB house team, etc. then you probably will. Just not today. But if you love this thing like I think you do, take comfort that it’s resilience and durability that are going to put you on a team. Not one good audition. Plenty of people on teams now had to audition five or more times. There was a three-year stretch where I couldn’t get on a team, after having been on teams for years. I just “wasn’t a good fit.” And look at me now, motherfuckers.
Tomorrow, start an indie team. Start a practice group. Book some shows. If you think you had a quality audition this time around, think about how you’ll be next time after doing two shows a week for six months. And yeah, do two shows a week for six months. I don’t care where. Just do them.
Because there are other great people besides you who didn’t get cast. And they’re gonna be doing two shows a week.
Keep the faith. Love this thing and it’ll eventually love you back. Final piece of advice? Don’t say any dumb/mean shit on the internet. That stuff has a way of being forever.
Don’t Think.
