Don't Relinquish Your Power: Bryan Cranston's Epiphany

Hard as it might be to believe, especially in the wake of Breaking Bad, actor Bryan Cranston faced years of rejections as he auditioned for commercials and guest-starring roles.

That changed, he says, when a mentor gave him advice that shifted his frame of mind: Focus on process rather than outcome.

“As an actor, I used to think that an audition was a job interview, but I realized I was giving up my power because I was going into an office wanting something from them.

“Whenever you want something from anyone, you have relinquished your power … You have to be able to do exactly what you want because that’s what’s required of you to impress someone with your uniqueness and what you could bring….”

Aware that I’m in the querying stage of A Storyboard Life, my close friend Stephen from film days and beyond, sent me a link to the article with these words.

Good advice for a writer, too, he said.

I like the idea of focusing on process – and it’s a bonus to have Cranston’s encouragement to do just that. I actually love the process. Even though my manuscript is 75% finished, I enjoy going back through it, chapter by chapter, making sure each one can stand alone as a storyframe before sharing it with you.

I love waking up each morning and seeing what new comments and what new subscribers have come in overnight – people I never dreamed might have an interest in my documentary film career and how it all came about.

Here are just a few recent examples:

• A Senior Physical Scientist at the RAND Corporation who loves rare tea, cooperative board games, and strange music

• The author of The Melancholy MBA

• A self-professed ‘hopeless romantic’ who recently migrated to Portugal and writes about the paradoxes of nostalgia set where western history claims the Age of Discovery began

• An Englishman living in Poland whose books include Guns Of Brixton and Gumshoe Blues; whose writings have been translated into Spanish, Portuguese, Finnish, Polish, and Slovene, and published in anthologies alongside the likes of Lee Child, Neil Gaiman, and Sir Ian Rankin.

• A writer in Greece, and so many more….

Thank you all for being here. I love hearing from you. I love that so many of you are writers. (And I really love that you’re recommending me to your own friends and followers!)

Most of all, I love the feeling that we’re all in this together 🥰

So, the task ahead… focus on process & don’t relinquish your power.

And in closing, here’s a little spoiler alert for you – Bryan Cranston will make a brief (and haggard) appearance (along with Vince Gilligan) in a future story frame. So stay with me!

https://castingfrontier.com/blog/bryan-cranstons-epiphany-that-changed-his-career/?lid=51d57f6fl8tf

Above image from: http://www.clker.com/clipart-484419.html