I wasn’t sure what all the buzz surrounding “Florida” and “UConn” was about yesterday, but I do know that I tried to make a joke about it. While waiting for Clay to pull up our van outside the North Clubhouse, Tristan mentioned something about the tenseness of the match* and I immediately commented something like “Yukon in Canada, right?” and laughed alone. I didn’t realize I was the only one taking joy in my comment until a fellow classmate responded, “I almost made that reference. Maybe it’s better you beat me to it.” Whatever, fellow classmate. If we’ve learned anything from the countless Q&As, speakers and readings, it’s that failing is a part of success in the Media and Entertainment industry.
Most of the professionals we’ve met have discussed the ceaseless rejection they encountered at the beginning of their careers. They spoke of being fired, ignored, laughed at and feeling regret. At this point, it would seem that the most important factor playing into success is not talent or ambition, but a tough skin. Difficult experiences are a chance to learn and develop a balance between confidence in your vision and what others’ reactions to your vision might tell you about what needs improvement.
A fear of failure accompanies most grand successes. There was an underlying sense of vulnerability present in all of the success stories that many of the people we’ve met with shared. Sound mixer John Cook spent many sleepless nights familiarizing himself with the technology he was given a job to work with. Dee Baker had to explore multiple professions before he found the one he had a knack for and writes on his voice-acting site, “You are allowed failures—over and over—so long as you learn from them! You are allowed mistakes – just do your best to make it okay and remedy. Fretting over what you have no real say in is a waste of mind-space and life.”* I’m personally terrified of failure and need to work on embracing vulnerability if I am ever going to learn productively from mistakes and difficult experiences, rather than waste my mind-space and life. I think, if anything, pursuing a career in the Media and Entertainment industry is inextricable from developing a relationship with uncertainty. And if I’m right, if that really is the case, I can handle it. I’m nervous, but that’s just a part of the package.
*Ah, it was a basketball game. Thank you, google.
*http://iwanttobeavoiceactor.com/begin-here/
