Kevin McCorkle » Blog

ac·count·a·ble  (-kount-bl)adj.1. Liable to being called to account; answerable.  Went to the my first meeting of an ACCOUNTABILITY BUDDY group that I recently joined.  What an empowering and stimulating concept and tool for success.  Just like business managers and board members gather to discuss strategies trends and models for success in business it is vitally important that Artistic entrepreneurs do the same.  If you are not careful with your career you may find yourself floundering allowing yourself to fall prey to the fears, insecurities, paralysis and sense of overwhelm that is part and parcel with any idea or project that is “larger than life”.  What an accountability group and having a “buddy” within that group does is take this unwieldy impossible task and breaks it down into manageable “bite sized” pieces that I am able to commit to and accomplish toward my larger greater goal.  The beauty of the group and buddy concept is that I become more accountable and responsible to my buddy and the group for achieving and reporting the incremental successes.  If I fail in a task or goal the anguish is minimized because there is a confidant, a buddy and a group to help me analyze why it didn’t work and to help guide me into a process that will allow me to be able to succeed with the goal in question or steer me in a direction toward another goal within my reach.  If I succeed with the task then then my success is added to the synergy of the group … the lesson, methodology and formula is incorporated into the mind set making it easier for others to accomplish an identical or similar task.

This GROUP idea and paradigm is the same  method used in a professional paid way with Artists higher up in the food chain.  A feature film is an example of an accountability group.  Every individual involved is responsible to the greater good of achieving a successful outcome.  The idea and story starts out as an individual thought or concept but in order to become a reality on the screen the individual must turn over the execution of the process to hundreds even thousands of people.  We must be willing as Artists to expect and do the very same thing with our careers.  As our capabilities and goals become greater so is the need to enlist and allow others to be an active part of our journey.  Too many Actors and Artistic Entrepreneurs hang on to the premise of “going it alone” or “it’s me against the world” instead of humbly, diligently and consistently seeking help, advice, encouragement and work from others as well as offering the same.  The key is seeking out your best team looking for buddies and artists that you are able to assemble for yourself.  There should be a balance of Mentors and trainees.  Individuals that have strengths you wish to learn and emulate as well as people you can coach and nurture.

This ACCOUNTABILITY GROUP in addition to inspiring me to do more and focus within the group also allows me to more fully examine the other relationships and groups in my life and career.  In being responsible to a Buddy and group on a daily, weekly, monthly basis part of my focus will shift to the other personal and professional groups that I am part of and allow (or force) me to be more responsible to them.  Am I doing everything possible to allow my family, my Agent, my Manager, my Theatre group, my Classes and any other groups I am part of to help me in my journey?  Am I being responsible and contributing the best of what I have to offer them?  Am I finding the balance and joy in the process?  Is my life fueling my career and my career fueling my life?  Seeing the journeys and paths of others in my ACCOUNTABILITY BUDDY GROUP as well as the other “unofficial” accountability groups  will allow me to find the balance.  I will be able to ride that thin line of aspiration and dedication to achieving success in this roller coaster career and finding blissful balance in the process.  Enjoy the journey.

If

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:.
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build’em up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

I have referenced my favorite poem of all time IF by Rudyard Kipling before.  It is a poem that speaks to the very essence of our creative journey.  As an Actor, Artistic Entrepreneur or many other career ventures the practical and magical IF comes into play and the THEN shows up sometimes in a very predictable and expected manner but other times taking us by complete surprise.  The predictable result helps shore up our confidence and reenforce the work we are doing as well as the growth we are experiencing as we move closer to our goals.  It is the unpredictable THEN that fuels our creative soul and keeps us in the game.  The surprise may be positive, inspiring and uplifting moving us further and more quickly toward achievement than we thought possible or hoped for.  The surprise may be negative, discouraging and frustrating pushing us back making us question our methods and hopes.  The good news is that no matter the THEN the ultimate result can be positive depending on your perspective, reaction and subsequent action to it.

How do you take the IF … THEN equation and use it in your career?  By stepping up to the plate.  Apologies to those non-Baseball fans out there but the analogy is obvious.  No one EVER got a hit by sitting on the bench in the dug out.  In order to even have the possibility of the IF … THEN paradigm working in your life you must create the idea, circumstances and actions to support it.  Once that happens then you will begin to see a pattern develop and your conscious approach and execution of the IF …THEN exercise will become easier and more rewarding in both the practical and expected outcome as well as the surprise result.  In fact once you are applying this exercise in a conscious way the rejection and nos simply become part of the exercise.

Although you might be consciously putting the IF … THEN exercise into play the synergy and creativity that surrounds it often takes on a life of it’s own leading you into more IF … THEN situations that culminate into the ultimate result you never could have predicted or imagined.  It is interesting to “work backward” with the IF … THEN paradox to see how you arrived at a particular moment in your life and career and see where the choices you made and the actions you took led you to the present.

Try putting the IF …. THEN exercise into your routine.  What will happen IF …..  you call those people you have lost touch with, you take that IMPROV class you have been putting off, you start that blog, you pick up that digital video camera and begin recording yourself, you pull that screenplay you wrote out of the drawer and begin calling Actors up to do a reading, you call your friends who are doing well and ask them to coffee to seek advice, you start working on that monologue that has been haunting you all these years, you send out notes of gratitude to EVERY person who helped your career grow, you find that Mentor and sum up the courage to call them, you start taking that Yoga class, you reach out to that Actor who is struggling and offer help and encouragement, you try that one scarey thing that has been intimidating you?

Each IF has the potential to create change in your career and life but only IF your ACTION pulls the idea out of your head and puts it into play.  Your desire is to create, your desire is to move forward, your desire is to make your dreams a reality in your life. The ONLY way to achieve your desires is IF you act on them THEN the results will appear.

I attended the Graduation of the USC School of Theatre on Friday.  It was an emotionally filled, invigorating and inspiring event.  Watching students taking their last walk on stage in the academic arena as they prepare to take the knowledge gleaned from their structured classes out into the helter-skelter world and make their mark gave me a feeling of hope and renewed desire to achieve my own successes and dreams.  Many of the students had attended my on camera class and I knew their capabilities, talents and goals.  Other students not familiar to me gave me just a glimpse of what their future might hold by the snippet of information read about each one and the hint of personality as they approached the Dean to receive their diploma.  The student speakers were exceptional sharing anecdotes of common experience, stories of early inspiration, examples of how “fight on”, the Trojan slogan will most certainly apply to their pursuits as emerging artists and the compulsory jokes about the early years of struggle.  Gary Ross the director of THE HUNGER GAMES and many other artistically and financially successful films gave a powerful and practical talk on the importance of a foundation steeped in knowledge and application of craft and utilizing that knowledge in building and sustaining a career.  I was so taken with the speeches and the breadth of information that each student and Mr. Ross doled out that it made me think of what I would say given the opportunity to stand at the podium to address a class of graduates or anyone embarking on the Artist’s Journey.

Power  … you have no idea the power you possess.  The key is recognizing, harnessing and focusing your power and combining it with others to realize and achieve your dreams.  Every successful artist has recognized, owned and focused their unique creative capabilities to make their dreams reality.  Each successful individual has their own unique story and journey about how they did it but every one of them found their power and unleashed it to create the life and career they envisioned.  Part of the discovery of your power has been this journey in school reflect back over the years you spent at USC and search for those moments when you had the power, when you were bullet proof, when you were in the zone.  Some of you had many, many moments like these others could count them on one hand.  It is NOT the number of these moments that is important it is the MOMENT itself.  Examine, dissect, analyze, probe and study what led to the moment you knew that every aspect of your goal was achieved and that your creative objective was fulfilled.  You will find common denominators in these moments where you were “in the zone”.  Was it the work you applied to the moment, the choice you made, the risk you took, the unique way you looked at it, the material you chose, the people you worked with, the preparation? … Truly explore as many factors as possible to see what works for you and find the consistencies.  Once you determine what fuels your power then you will be able to fill up the source and begin to string more and more of these moments of power and success together.

Capability … what is your capability at this moment and how do you expand the powers of your capability?  Each and every on of you have proven to yourself and the world that you have the ability to be capable.  That is what your diploma represents, the ability to enter into a situation with others and by individual and collective collaboration solve the challenges of the curriculum gaining knowledge and experience in the process (as well as sharing your knowledge, talent and experience when working collaboratively).  Now is the time to evaluate your capability to achieve right now in this moment and to figure out what you need to explore, learn and apply to increase and improve the scope of your achievements in the future.  Use your ability to be capable that you relied on in your classes to explore all of the areas that you must become capable in to achieve success as an artist.  Seek out those that have become capable and successful in their careers and mirror what you can of their capabilities in your own journey.

Tenacity … the Artist’s life is not based on timidity.  It is all about being unique, bold, daring and fearless.  Not only are these traits contrary to the way most people live their lives the Artist must embody these traits constantly and consistently.  The result is the “thick skin” that Artists develop after years of rejection, nos, mockery and at times ridicule.  You must ignore the naysayers or use them as inspiration to continue your journey.  Thick skin is an armor, a shield.  Be careful not to confuse your armor with resentment and bitterness.  Don’t use your shield as a shell to remove yourself from the process and hide in your own Artistic struggle against the world.  There will be times when you are tempted to retreat into a safe creative place hiding away from others who are crafting successful and robust journeys.  Don’t allow jealousy, envy or lack to stifle what you have to offer.  Surround yourself with others who have or are moving toward success, make sure you are constantly learning from those who are just ahead of you and constantly sharing and teaching those who are just behind you.  Create your own collaborative family where tenacity and strength of purpose is celebrated and practiced in a sustained and continuous manner.

Go forth boldly on your journey.  Keep learning, evolving and growing.  Never forget the passion that started this journey, fueled this journey and will sustain this journey.  As hard as you will work, you must work … find the joy and fun in every aspect of what you do and explore.  Be kind to yourself and others as you move through the stages and levels of achievement.  Don’t get too excited by your triumphs and don’t let the disasters destroy you.  Know that you are enough just as you are right now to accomplish SOMETHING don’t be ashamed, afraid or too timid to accomplish it … it will surely lead to more, bigger and better accomplishments.  Share your unique talent and voice with the world…..the world will be a better place as a result.

I had lunch with a dear old friend of mine James DuMont this past week.  He and I have been friends for decades popping in and out of each others lives the way this business tends to move people.  The lunch was great, catching up and sharing a few war stories, comparing strategies and planning for future endeavors.  The thing that really stuck in my mind and continues to roll around in my thoughts after we hugged it out in the parking lot and went our separate ways is the power in numbers.  As Actors we go through the process alone … the honing and practice of the art, the quest for representation, being on the spot after walking in the room for an audition, standing on stage as the lights come up or in front of the  camera before Action is exclaimed.  It is a natural part of the process every artist endures and part of the thrill of the artistic experience.

Just as valuable as individual achievement and often overlooked is the collaborative experience leading up to the moments of solitary expression.  The image of Sisyphus kept coming up in our conversation. How many Actors out there are like Sisyphus rolling the rock of their career up the same hill every day only to have it tumble to the bottom?  They repeat the process over and over until frustration and resentment sets in destroying their creative spirit.  The antidote to this individual conundrum is a collaborate reach out to other Artists. Regularly checking in with others and allowing them to get into your creative sphere is key to moving your career ahead.

One of the growing trends in the creative process (and a natural progression of social networking) is the formation of accountability groups where actors or Artistic Entrepreneurs are paired up with others to encourage, support and measure artistic and career growth.  Responsibility and discipline are integral parts of career and artistic growth but when left to our own designs it is easy to drop the ball or procrastinate.  Another advantage of working and sharing in a creative partnership or group is the ability to shift and expand your own individual comfort zone making bolder choices and moving further than possible with individual effort.  The amount of creative expressive capability available to us is constantly expanding and readily available to generate content and tangible examples of our group and individual efforts.

Trying to accomplish too much on your own is an impossible task … however there is a time, place and necessity for individual work.  The key is finding the appropriate balance between reaching out with clear purposeful communication to others allowing them to take on their task in your creative process and finding your moments of individual struggle, enlightenment and diligent work process.  It can be as easy as having lunch with an old friend to stir up new creative possibilities to blowing the dust off of that script in your closet and  beginning the pre-production process by calling up potential cast and crew members.  Reach out to the creative people in your world; compare notes, help them out, ask them for help. If your list of creative cohorts is short do what you can to lengthen the list.  You will be amazed at the synergy, energy and creative flow that will follow your efforts.  Enjoy the Journey