Curating A Brand

Please do something for me

Write down on a price of paper

The image you’re trying to curate

How you want people in the industry to see you

Then

Go burn that thing.

The image you’re trying to control in people’s minds

The reputation of yourself you’re trying to curate

Is killing your career

And

It’s blocking the real work from happening.

As a younger artist

Recently graduated from drama school

And entering into the biz

I had a very clear idea about the perfect career I was hoping for

I fantasied over having a clean resume

With an artistic film every year or two over the decades ahead

“It will look like this…”

He says as if he’s in a Disney movie

I dreamed a dream of respectable colleagues

Working shoulder to shoulder with the greats

Writers writing parts for me

Even magazines knocking down my door to try get an interview LOL

I thought about how the industry will think of me

Or more accurately

How they would see me:

As a dedicated artist

Someone who takes the work seriously

Who gives everything

Who crushes life

Then

Many years later

I woke up

Walked into the kitchen

And found my two year old trying to grab her poop from her nappy so she could throw it at the fridge

(A smelly wrestling match ensued)

But it got me thinking

About how much time I used to spend

Trying to control how the industry saw me

Let’s get something clear

Trying to control my reputation:

Peoples’ opinions of me

Their thoughts about me

The way they see me

Is incredibly draining

And more importantly

Out of my control (and therefore impossible)

An actor’s reputation is decided by others

And not by the actor.

When looking back at the last 15 years

I can see how countless moments of presence, joy and freedom

Were killed by me

Because I was too busy focussing on the image of how I was working

Rather than the work itself.

Curating an image is killing your career

So please

Burn it

Instead

Let your curiosity lead

And your reputation will build itself

Hope this helps

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