If it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it First Thing in the Morning. And if it’s your job to eat two frogs, it’s best to eat the BIGGEST one first.” — Mark Twain
Frogs are not delicious, despite what the French say, but lets "dissect" what Marky is saying here... Psst.. See what I did there?
The idea is that if you have something hard to do, something you don't like, but something that needs to get done, DO IT FIRST THING, DO IT RIGHT AWAY, because once you do this there is no place to go but up. I love this, it makes a lot of sense mentally and also you are at a place mentally were you have the most mental resilience to tackle something most difficult because you have not been exposed to the rest of the day.
LETS PULL THIS APART:
I want you to spend a moment...and I am going to put you in the put you in casting associates shoes.
HERES A LITTLE STORY ALL ABOUT HOW...
A CASTING ASSOCIATE LIVES AN AVERAGE DAY
Beep Beep Beep Beep, Alarm sounds. Shuffle to get breakfast, quick workout, hop in the car or on the train or bus and head to the studio. Coffee. Coffee. Ummm more Coffee please.
Casting Director:
"We need the pulls for the for Garbage Truck Driver."
Let's dig in the submissions, No to green...No to too small...No he's crazy.... YES, phhewww Brent Pope is in the mix, he's perfect!" Let's start sending some C-Mails. Send out 45 cmails, get back 30 response 10 no responses and 5 reschedules to figure out. Start setting the calendar for tomorrow session for "Garbage Truck Driver".
Casting Director:
"session for guest star "Mary Joe" is up, reader cancelled, we need you to read."
Actor....Actor....Actor....Actor......So many actors I could puke, why do they all read it the same? Thank god Sara Coates she is always so fun, I'm so glad she's here!
2pm, LUNCH!
Eating a lunch I packed at my desk as I sift through questions from agents:
"can my client get a name for this one liner?",
"what about Joey Freshoffthebus for this series regular role?" Is he serious?
"The sides code won't work" UGH yes it will you spelled it wrong....Sighhh....
Casting Director
"Time to review tapes for Recurring Guest Star "Mr.Johnson",
150 tapes......Actor....Actor....Actor.....Why do they all say it the same?
OOOOOOooooo Morgan Peter Brown life saver!
Let's pin him and a few other of these guys that stand out. 5 of them.
RING RING RING
"Its me so and so at XYZ agency, can my client get an extentension and send their tape in tomorrow morning they have an emergency."
Sureeeeeeee, but how good could this tape possibly be? I'm still going to send the pins and start moving to set up the file I send to the Casting Director, chances are that tape won't change my life or my mind.
630PM. Can I eat dinner yet?
Car, Train, Bus.
Home....Tired.
Why do they all say it the same?
Lets do it tomorrow.
WHAT DOES ALL THIS MEAN?
Get your tapes in EARLY or on time.
EVERYONE gets tired and fatigued and it can be the difference between being in the mix or not just because people are people, don't make anyone have to be superhuman to watch you act.
Eat the frog first, do the work as soon as you can and be on the front side of the casting teams excitement to watch the tapes they have requested.
HAVE A GREAT WEEK. EAT FROGS. TAKE NAMES. BE BETTER!