Opportunity Missed – A Life Learning Experience

My year at the Studio gave me vast areas of insight/understanding/knowledge regarding the technical side of the film and video industry, and immense respect for all those who do their job efficiently and professionally “behind-the-camera”.  They make those “in-front-of-the-camera”, the actors and extras standing on a constructed set; heard, seen, lighted, costumed, made-up, script supervisor etc.

Then there are those industry specialists in post-production: editing, sound effects, color, music etc.  Watch the credits at the end of any movie or video.  It’s a real “team effort”.

As mentioned in the previous Blog I had three significant things happen in the early days as an acting teacher: students gave me their confidence, I immersed myself in three books by the brilliant acting teacher Stanislavski, and Sarah D. came to Intern.

The forth opportunity came as a real once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

The Provincial Government was supporting new business ventures with Grants and Loans.  It came to me that Cable Channels were looking for new shows.  With surprising confidence, and a more than a little bravado, I came up with a cooking show idea: “I am no Chef . . . but I can Cook”, “Have Pots and Pans . . . will Cook” . . . starring me . . . of course.

I filed the multiple copies of government regulatory paperwork, trying to make my “cooking show idea” sound believable and exciting.  It worked.  I got a second interview.  Then the third and final call came and I was in the room with “The Money” . . . Yahoo!

I gave a well-rehearsed “Pitch”.  They smiled and nodded positively.

Then came the fatal request from the Committee Chair: “Unanimously we like it.  Please leave your sample scripts and script break-downs that you have and we’ll call you in a couple days with our decision.”

I had nothing in my briefcase to offer the Committee but air.  Ideas are air.

I went home empty-handed, but a wiser.  They liked the “Idea”.  I knew what my challenge was.

To own an “idea” it must become a “concept”, a “concept” that one “creates”.

I worked on several cook characters (finally settling on Manfreed), creating scripts, rehearsing etc . . . after years of trial and error it all came together, in an instant, one night while watching a cooking show on TV.