ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT with Shane Cortese
Nothing Trivial at All
Most of us, when push comes to shove, can hand-on-heart say we love our jobs. For most it’s what we specialized in post high school and, despite every now and again frustrations, are pretty much satisfied with things.
I have a fantastic job, at times exciting, at times tedious, at times lucrative and at other times a down right struggle.
Such is the life of a professional actor. It’s very much a “real Job” and any actor worth their salt should treat themselves as a company and for want of a better word, a “Brand”.
You market yourself every time you appear in something and believe me work breeds work. This only happens if you act with all the professional business integrity that any other professional person, regardless of trade, does.
There are many wonderful things to my profession. Contrary to what some may think it’s not the recognition or invites, it’s the variation of work! Many people tell me that it must indeed be a struggle and do I worry? My philosophy has always been that accepting work in the variety of forms it manifests itself is the way forward. Therefore I have accepted work doing voice overs, narrating series, doing musical theatre, being a Master of Ceremonies etc., which simply means when I wake up on a Monday morning it’s incredibly exciting to think what could be on offer this week, and more importantly could that phone call that will change your life come!
I have been lucky, in that that phone call has come three times. The latest was in January of this year. I was on the East Coast of the North Island at my Best Friend’s Stag Weekend. No mobile phone service but a landline for emergencies. This was the instruction given to our wives! We were fishing for a couple of days.
I had auditioned earlier for the New TV1 Drama “Nothing Trivial”. I had done quite possibly the worst audition I could have. Wasn’t in the right headspace, hadn’t prepared as well as I should. It was a real wake up call. Who in their right mind would go into an interview situation half prepared!
As I had worked with the writers before I had a conversation with them at the Museum Launch of Outrageous Fortune. They wholeheartedly agreed with my self-evaluation but I pleaded with them to re-audition. We talked about the character, I did my paperwork, my study, my preparation and like any job applicant went in the interview situation with the determination that they should see no one else in that role but me.
Once you have done that, there is nothing else you can or should do. It’s up to them and the networks to agree that you are the right person for them to invest their time and money into.
The phone rang at the Bach on the East Coast about 5.30pm on the Friday afternoon of our big weekend. It was my wife. My agent had told her the news and she was given the task of telling me that all that preparation had paid off and our family was to embark on a new journey that would be anything but trivial.
Enjoy the show, and even get yourself out to any number of pub quizzes on our Shore. In fact go to www.pubevents.co.nz they are all there. It’s going to be huge!
Fisherman or Gardener?
