Show Notes:
Part 1: Actor and entrepreneur David H. Lawrence XVII (NBC’s Heroes, Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H.) shares his journey from radio to screen, the incredible importance of your mindset as an actor, our mental conception of struggle and success, and some helpful best practices!
Part 2: This is Part 2 of my interview with actor and entrepreneur David H. Lawrence XVII (Heroes, Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H.). David talks learning by doing, golden nuggets in the world, having a healthy ego, and doing more of what works!
Resources:
The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
Audition Psych 101 by Michael Kostroff
David Online:
Music:
Loopy by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue)
Cover Art:
Alejandra Reynoso
Run Time:
Part I - 31:25
Part II - 40:14
Notable Quotes:
“Part of it is training yourself, before it’s necessary, as to how to respond when your body and your mind start playing tricks on you.”
“I don’t look like I sound. Number one, I have what they used to call a ‘face for radio,’ and I thought, well how will this work on camera? And it turns out it will work really well if I want to be a creepy, evil villain.”
“Sometimes we want something really bad and we have to be careful about wishing for that because we just might get it, and then we’re stuck, because the goal was to GET it, as opposed to the goal was to KILL it, you know, kill it in a good way.”
“In your slate, you can blow it, and in your slate you can sell it. That ‘slate,’ to me, is one of the most overlooked and valuable pieces of real estate when you send in a voiceover audition or even when you send in a self-tape for on-camera.”
“Sometimes, [actors] take it way too far, and we insist that if we are not struggling, well, we can’t possibly be good enough to be a professional in this business. If we become successful, well, then we’re selling out to the ‘the man.’”
“Some people can’t imagine being successful, because the only ruleset they know, is that ruleset of struggling.”
“Almost everybody I come in contact with has at least one golden nugget...somebody is going to share something that is that quarter twist of the screw in the factory that makes the machines run better, and I’ve learned over time that you never know where that is going to be coming from.”
“I think you have to have a healthy ego about what you do in this business, you can’t be constantly denigrating yourself and being falsely self-effacing, nobody wants that, they want somebody who they can count on. They want somebody that they know can do the work.”
“Do more of what works and less of what doesn’t.”