Episode 279: Nepotism and Grandiosity Acting Business Boot Camp

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I'm going to be talking about something that a listener sent me, and I thought it was a really interesting idea for a podcast, which is about nepotism.
I do think it is yet another one of those areas of the industry where we can get our heads in the clouds and not on our bodies, and really allows us to make excuses for not showing up and taking responsibility.
As a NEPO baby, I am not one.
I do not come from anyone in the industry. You have an advantage in that you have those connections. However, you also have to have the talent, consistency, and persistence to back that up. The other thing is that, oh, you're so and so's daughter or you're so and so's child. Oh. Then you must be fantastic, and then you have to live up to that, or you can never be your own person.
Now, I have a friend of mine who is the child of an incredibly famous actor, but that child chooses to use a different name because they don't want to be known as so and so's child. Now, that is very admirable. 
I may go about it differently.
I would say use every advantage you have. 
But this is the thing, and this is the real key point because most of you listening to this podcast are not; do not have nepotism in your family. What do you do? 
And this is the best advice I can give you. You need to keep your focus. 
So often, I have actors who look at point A and point B, and instead of just drawing a line between point A to point B, they go up, they go down, they go around, they twirl around.
They walk outside, they come back inside, and then maybe eventually get to point B. 
The question, the thing is that things like nepotism and a lot of things that I feel in the industry, try to get your focus from the three points where you need to be putting your focus, which is your acting training, your business skills and the core work, the work on you are the things that distract you from taking real responsibility for the job that you have been given to do on this Earth, because I believe the universe has given you given all of us a gift.
The question is, are we going to nurture that gift and are we going to stay focused on pursuing that gift?
Or are we going to allow our focus to go off into things that we cannot control again? 
My favorite prayer or affirmation is the serenity prayer that reminds us of this. Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change. I cannot change other people, places, times, things, or situations, and whether my competition has nepotism or not, courage to change the things I can.
I can only change myself, my attitudes, my thoughts, and my actions, and keep the focus on myself, my strengths, my career, and wisdom… 
Wisdom, my favorite word in the American language, to know the difference, which is the difference between what I cannot control or change, which is other people, places, things, or situations, or change.
Nepotism and other actors I may be competing against and what I can change, which is myself, my attitudes, my thoughts, and my actions. 
So, that's my response to the first part of that listener's question. I'm going to read the second part to you because I think this is very interesting.
Getting past the “what chance do I have?” misconception, ever having the opportunity to compete with a nepotism child. 
Again, what I would say about that is your job when you go into an audition is to focus on the work. 
It is not to focus on who your competition is. I joke about how I used to go into an audition room, and I'd sit in the audition room and basically pick the actor who I thought was going to get the job.
That is so working against ourselves instead of for ourselves. 
What I think is so crucial here is that when you go into audition, that your focus is again on that courage to change the things you can, which is really, truly freeing. 
Focusing in on your work as the actor and living the life of that character in that space and time, whether that be in a s