Lessons from actor Seth Rogen
I just recently saw knocked-up. It is hilarious.
Anyways, I was reading LA Weekly today and they had a story about one of the stars of the film, Seth Rogen. [Note: I am not from LA, however I was there recently and picked up a copy of LA Weekly, which by the way is an excellent alternative weekly.] I had two business takeaways from this article:
1) Be patient, and don’t prostitute yourself, and
2) Work with people you like.
Here’s the set-up for the first takeaway. Seth was unemployed for four years looking for work as an actor. He has great friends, including Knocked-Up director Judd Apatow, who gave him sound advice.
Apatow, however, calls Rogen’s fallow years “the path of a great comic,” in that they taught him patient dedication to seizing the right moment. “The most interesting people don’t fit into the job descriptions out there for actors,” says Apatow. “I just kept saying to him, ‘Don’t do crappy movies. Keep your IMDB page looking good.’ And now people are rooting for him to succeed because he doesn’t have a trail of awful performances that he took to pay the rent. The same reason he was good at being unemployed is why he’ll be good at being successful.”
By being patient and not taking crappy roles to pay the rent, Rogen has a clean slate with movie goers wanting to see his next movies. If he had done those crappy movies during the fallow years, he might not have gotten the role in Knocked-Up. So, even when times are tough, try to be selective in what you do. Make sure it’s right for you and your career.
For the second takeaway, Seth makes movies with friends. He once ridiculed actors that made multiple movies together.
“I gave Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson so much shit behind their backs for constantly doing movies together, and now I’m in movies with the same people all the fucking time! I’m like, ‘I get it now, fuck it, I was an asshole! I take it back!’ Now, I can’t think of enough ideas for us all to do. I want to get everyone together! We should just remake Cannonball Run!”
So, don’t go it alone. Share your journey with friends you know and trust. You’ll have fun, and you’ll probably be more successful.