Greetings, friends!
Howdy. Geoff here. Welcome to "The Write Minds" - the official blog of Write Club NYC. Whereas the main pages of our website will serve to - as the kids say - "pimp" our theatre company, this page will be a chance for us to voice our opinions on a wide variety of topics. Of course, us being theatre folk, you can imagine that most of our rantings will have to do with the current state of our chosen profession. Yet we reserve the right to spout off about pretty much anything whenever the mood strikes us.
To kick this party off, I'll begin with a confession: I never wanted to start a theatre company in New York. I moved here from college (Boston Conservatory rules!!) in 1998 with the hopes of building a career as an actor. The whole, "Hey, guys! Let's start a theatre company and do it for ourselves!" thing struck me as a bit naive and - dare I say it - desperate. There's a system already in place. Instead of trying to buck that system, why not concentrate on becoming a part of it and moving up the ladder?
Eight years later, I have the answer to that question. (No, I'm not going to go off on a rant about how biased the system is or how much it sucks or some other bitter thread like that. I got my bitterness out of the way in my twenties.) The truth of the matter is (and this is far more terrifying), there is no system. No system, no logic and certainly no ladder upon which to climb. I've known people who shot to success very quickly with work on Broadway and in television who, after their brief run was over, couldn't get cast as an extra on a reality show. I've known enormously talented people who have spent years on the fringes of success doing work as understudies, bit players on T.V. and in smaller theatre venues who should by all rights be reaping the benefits of that work, only to find that they are still, inexplicably, "paying their dues". I myself have been involved in a couple of high profile projects that I hoped would launch me to the next level, only to see all my hard work and high hopes go up in smoke.
But I don't blame the system. There is no system.
So, while the launching of a company may seem somewhat Quixotic, it also makes a certain amount of sense. If there's no real order to the chaos, why not try to create a little order for ourselves? And with no actual system in place, then there's really nothing to stop us from forming our own company, is there? And even if the venture fails (as most ventures of this nature do), we can still look back one day and say, "Yeah. We made that."
So here's to the start of ... something (I'm raising my mug of coffee right now). On behalf of my fellow Write Club members, I hereby welcome you all to the party.
Cheers!
Return to Write Club NYC homepage
To kick this party off, I'll begin with a confession: I never wanted to start a theatre company in New York. I moved here from college (Boston Conservatory rules!!) in 1998 with the hopes of building a career as an actor. The whole, "Hey, guys! Let's start a theatre company and do it for ourselves!" thing struck me as a bit naive and - dare I say it - desperate. There's a system already in place. Instead of trying to buck that system, why not concentrate on becoming a part of it and moving up the ladder?
Eight years later, I have the answer to that question. (No, I'm not going to go off on a rant about how biased the system is or how much it sucks or some other bitter thread like that. I got my bitterness out of the way in my twenties.) The truth of the matter is (and this is far more terrifying), there is no system. No system, no logic and certainly no ladder upon which to climb. I've known people who shot to success very quickly with work on Broadway and in television who, after their brief run was over, couldn't get cast as an extra on a reality show. I've known enormously talented people who have spent years on the fringes of success doing work as understudies, bit players on T.V. and in smaller theatre venues who should by all rights be reaping the benefits of that work, only to find that they are still, inexplicably, "paying their dues". I myself have been involved in a couple of high profile projects that I hoped would launch me to the next level, only to see all my hard work and high hopes go up in smoke.
But I don't blame the system. There is no system.
So, while the launching of a company may seem somewhat Quixotic, it also makes a certain amount of sense. If there's no real order to the chaos, why not try to create a little order for ourselves? And with no actual system in place, then there's really nothing to stop us from forming our own company, is there? And even if the venture fails (as most ventures of this nature do), we can still look back one day and say, "Yeah. We made that."
So here's to the start of ... something (I'm raising my mug of coffee right now). On behalf of my fellow Write Club members, I hereby welcome you all to the party.
Cheers!
Return to Write Club NYC homepage
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