There was an aroma that I used to give off. I didn’t even know it existed. I would go to casting director workshops, or an audition, or a meeting and it would fill up the room and repel people away from me. Simply put, it was the overwhelming smell of desperation.
“Selma” director Ava DuVernay talks about it in her 2013 Film Independent Forum keynote speech calling it a smelly “coat of desperation.” While she was talking to filmmakers specifically, there is a lot that we as actors can take from it as well. The reality is that most actors don’t even realize this is something we give off. We think we are just showing our passion so that others can understand our talent and drive, but I promise you as DuVernay so clearly lays out, it’s a full on stench, and it permeates the air.
When does this smell start to become detectable? It could be the moment when we find ourselves wanting a role so badly we can taste it, and that needy desperate feeling follows us into the audition room like a heavy cloud giving off a “Pick me! Pick me! Please!” vibe. This gross smell can also exude from us when we are meeting someone new and shoving our business card in their face because
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