On Wednesday, May 22^nd I attended a fabulous event titled: “Female Voice in the Film Industry,” which featured  a panel including 5 of Vancouver’s most intelligent, driven, and talented women.

The panel consisted of:

Candice Elzinga – Major casting director for film and TV in Vancouver. Since 1997 she has cast well-over 200 projects. A beacon of positivity, Candice is an advocate for what you can do if you work hard at your craft and strive to be the best (this can actually be said for all of the women on this panel).

Katrin Bowen – Producer and Director. Most recently she has written, directed, and produced the Feature Film Amazon Falls (official selection for TIF)

Pamela Wise – a talent agent with Premiere Talent, specializing in advertising and television commercials. She runs a successful workshop (that runs approximately once a month) titled “Success in Commercials Workshop: Finding your Brand.” I will be taking this workshop on Monday (very excited about this).

Olivia Cheng –actor and on-air correspondent for Entertainment Tonight Canada. She broke into the film scene with a major role in the Golden Globe nominated min-series “Broken Trail.” An incredibly versatile and driven personality.

Kyra Zagorsky – a successful actor born in Colorado, Kyra made her start in the Theatre before transitioning into film with a small role in “Stargate: Atlantis” in 2007. Her career has been on the rise ever since.

The night was hosted by Jane Hancock – an actress and writer born in Victoria BC. One of her short films is currently screening at the Cannes Film Festival.

I would like to use this post to share some of the stories and advice spoken by these 5 incredible women. I certainly left the night feeling inspired, and I hope to capture that feeling in this post.

//Need strong actor// – Olivia Cheng’s Inspiring Paradigm Shift

The evening began with Jane asking each of the individuals on the panel to talk a little bit about them selves. I was very drawn to Olivia’s story in particular.

In the beginnings of her career as an actress, Olivia encountered many scam headshot photographers and agents. Their prevalence discouraged her, and she began pursuing a slightly different path as a broadcast journalist. Even while working on her career in this medium, she continued to pursue her acting ambitions. In 2006 (maybe 2005) she came across an audition for a mini series titled “Broken Trail.” In the breakdown it said that it required 3 (or maybe it was 4) Asian females. One of these characters was a lead in the series, and next to the name it said “///need strong actor////.” Olivia joked that she immediately discounted herself for the role, and instead submitted herself for one of the characters that died shortly after being introduced. She said this with a laugh, but what occurred next would not only shape Olivia’s career, but would also force her to re-examine “her story.” A major paradigm shift was about to occur. Over the next month Olivia was called in for call back after call back, every time the role she went in for was given to someone else until finally she was called in to meet with the director of the mini-series. He offered her the lead role. When she got home that night, Olivia said she was inconsolable. She started punching walls, and her partner struggled to calm her down. She explained how getting that role conflicted with everything that she had previously believed about herself. Her breakdown was a reflection of her inner struggle to understand an outer reality that she couldn’t match with her inner beliefs.

A very high percentage of lottery winners go broke after (I think this is the correct number) 5 years of winning for this precise reason. Olivia, in a sense, had just won the lottery – but, different from the lottery winners who sabotage themselves back to their comfort zones, Olivia managed to adjust to her new reality and thrive in her new role as “leading actor.”

The night was filled with stories as inspirational as this one, with more than one quotable sentiment.

There is a saying that you can learn a lot about someone by looking into their eyes, and when I watched these women speak on the panel (and look at their photographs now) I saw 5 individuals who believed in themselves and their ability to contribute to this industry in a meaningful way. There is strength, resilience, and confidence behind each of their smiles, and while I am sure that there have been many instances in their lives where they doubted themselves, their success is proof of their ability to look at their fears and rise above them.

Well, then I guess I’ll be the 5th

As the evening began, Jane shared some statistics about the role women have played in the film industry up to this point. If you allow these numbers to overwhelm your mind they can be pretty discouraging, but Katrin Bowen said it best when she explained that she preferred to look at these stats as a challenge: “There have only been 4 women to ever be nominated as best director? Well, then I guess I’ll be the 5^th.”

In a more general sense, Olivia spoke about a pact that she has with one of her friends. On those days when her pain body has taken over, and she feels anchored down by self-doubt, her friend has promised to believe in her for the day until she is strong enough to believe in herself again tomorrow.

Kyra similarly spoke about the days where she realizes that she just has to let go and surrender to what “is.” Realizing that perhaps she can’t be “wonder women today,” and being okay with that fact.

Being okay with your imperfections – that was a big take-away from this evening.

Standing out in the Vancouver film industry

The topic of conversation then progressed to how to make a name for yourself in this city. How do you stand out from the many people who look exactly like you.

When asked about the recent election and the fate of the BC film industry, Candice Elzinga expressed her belief that there was still plenty of work in the city, and that there always would be. Vancouver, as a location, is simply too good to pass up. Instead of focusing on the bad, what you should be focusing on is your craft. You should be working to be the very best that you can be. With fewer opportunities it is more important than ever that you stand out from the crowd, and the best way to make an impression is, quite simply, to be the best. Cheers to that.

Part of being the best is giving yourself permission to be the best. You need to believe that you’re talented, and believe that you’re unique, and believe that you have something to contribute to this industry.

When Olivia first started auditioning, she said that she was “informed,” by her asian friends,  of how she was going to be seen by casting directors, and the types of roles that she was going to be auditioning for. So when she started going in for roles that did not necessarily fit this stereotype, she would sabotage herself and pigeon-hole herself into a specific category. The director or casting agent didn’t do this – she did this.

But, don’t we all do this? Don’t we create the rules for our lives. “I can’t do this because of this, this, and this.” We write a script that we regurgitate over and over again until it’s true. We place these barriers and these limitations on ourselves. So then the first step towards success must be to ignore the nay-sayers. Acknowledge that what they’re saying to you is coming from their own place of fear and insecurity, and realize that in order to achieve your dreams you will have to rise above that vibration.

So, in the audition room, what makes Candice Elzinga’s ears perk up?

“I remember the people who did their homework. I remember the really strong auditions.”

What’s a strong audition you ask?

Candice stressed that the audition room is really just your opportunity to play and to show her what you’ve got. “What we’re really looking for is an essence.” She became visibly distraught as she spoke about seeing actors sabotage themselves by  having thought a role to death. Her passion overflowed through her words as she then pleaded with the many actors in the room: “All I want is for you to bring yourself.”

The ability to be vulnerable is what makes a strong audition. That vulnerability can only come with a strong understanding of both your craft and yourself. Part of your job as an actor is to have an intense understanding of who you are both as an artist and a human being, and then the courage to share that essence with the world.

What do I do now?

You have to grow into your dreams, says Olivia Cheng. Identify the traits you need to cultivate, and then grow those traits in yourself so that you can achieve the success from your dreams.

This means thinking of yourself as a  fluid individual, rather than as a person who is “stuck.” You are capable of amazing change. This paradigm shift also involves looking at your dreams as a project  with steps to be taken. This is where a planner could come in handy, yes?

“I am allergic to negativity and ego” says Pamela Wise. She joked about being approached by certain actors who could have made her a lot of money, but she had to turn them down because she could not work with their energy. That’a another thing to think about. Standards. What are the rules with which you plan to live your life? Set some boundaries for yourself.

All of this is related to the next topic of conversation:

SOCIAL MEDIA AND DISCOVERING YOUR BRAND

“What really attracts me as an agent is someone who knows their business.” – Pamela Wise.

Understanding your brand is a huge, and it primarily has to do with understanding your voice and appreciating the contribution that you have the ability to make to this industry.

The following is a collaboration of voices from the panel:

When it comes to communicating on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, you want to share who you are in an authentic way that feels genuine to you. Let your persona on social media sites be an extension of your natural expression. Don’t try to be something that you’re not. Authenticity is what’s going to attract people to you.

Outside of social media, you want to reach out and show enthusiasm for what you do.

“Surround yourself with people who say “yes,” says Katrin.

Show some gratitude

Candice recalled a particularly stressful audition day near the beginning of her career with a very important director. She spoke about how nervous she was, and how everything was going wrong, and how she was shaking and a complete mess… and then the director stopped (before letting in the next actor) and said suddenly:

“Aren’t we incredibly fortunate. We get to make movies. We get to be a part of this story telling process.”

That’s what it’s all about at the end of the day, right? To have the opportunity to live your passion – I’d say that this is a lot to be grateful for.

Kyra spoke about this same thing. She remembered feeling a little bit despondent after getting the ‘damsel in distress’ role at a dinner theatre, and had to have some sense slapped into her by her previous director:”You are a working actor.” “Then it hit me” said Kyra. She realized that she had an opportunity to play this role over and over again. To experiment in front of a live audience. To play and to learn and to grow. So much could be gleamed from this experience, and she realized that she was being ungrateful.

How often have you made the same mistake. Perhaps in the past you too have discounted an opportunity, merely because it happened to you.

As this has been a bit of an insanely long post, I’m going to finish with this final indirect quote from Candice:

“Whatever you’re doing commit 100%. You don’t know who’s watching. You don’t know the seed you could be planting.”