by Mary Mcgloin
I am first and foremost an actor. I became a filmmaker out of necessity—my need to communicate stories through my art: the craft of acting. You need to be able to wear many hats as an actor. On top of training and talent, you must decide who you are and stay on top of how you are presenting yourself to the industry and the world. If you want to be successful, don't wait for work to come to you: make work for yourself.
Of course, that is quite daunting. What does that mean? Where do I begin? I had those same questions. Throughout my career, I have produced both theatre and film to put my work, along with the work of my peers, out there. It has been overwhelming, intimidating, and the process repeats with every new project. But, in the end, there’s only one place to begin. Start with where you are. Who you are, where you are, and where you’ve been hold the keys to what comes next. A wise teacher once said, “you have to turn yourself inside out for your art.”
I never thought I would find a way to fuse my acting career with my tech career until the talkback with Mike Judge after the premiere of Silicon Valley at SXSW. I said, “I’m an actress, a QA Engineer and I used to work in Silicon Valley. I have a question for you, and I don’t mean it to be challenging but—‘do you have any plans to have female characters who are engineers because we exist?’" The audience went nuts, saying, "yeah, where are the women?" After some jokes from the actors, Mike had a more thoughtful answer, “Yes, I was an engineer, my ex-wife was an engineer, and I know there are female engineers. I just haven’t written that yet.”
Back at work, a co-worker said, "I just read about that exchange in IndieWire. That woman was you?" And sure enough, it was. When I relayed the story to my friend, Amanda, she said, “why don’t you write about your day job at the tech start up and I’ll help you.” And, so, at a bar in Brooklyn, Tech Bettys was born.
Start asking yourself some questions. Who are you and what stories do you want to tell? What stories move you? Each of us—whether we’re an actor, writer, director, or filmmaker—we’re all storytellers at heart. We just have different vehicles to tap into in order to share them. Decide on your goals. Why do you want to make a film/TV/web show? What do you want the process to be like? Who's on your team? What do you want to communicate? Make a list of your strengths and weaknesses. Make a list of your friends’ and colleagues’ talents. Create a list of your assets like equipment you have access to or locations to help make your own work. Where you fall short is where you want to focus on finding people to fill in those gaps. This is your community. You will nurture this throughout your career: you will help them and they will help you.
While most of us have talents in one or more areas, remember that it takes a village to make a film, television series, or theater production. No one does it alone, and there is no shame in asking anyone and everyone in your network for help. So, the only way to fail is not to try. Just do it.
Once you know who your support system is, it’s time to work. Start with the story. Another wise teacher taught me, “what’s personal is universal.” That goes back to my first point. Begin with who you are. Then, mine those answers for stories and conflicts. Brainstorm the ideas, take a look at what you’ve come up with, and see what grows out of that. More than likely, you’ll find multiple story ideas. Start with the one that keeps you up at night. The one that calls you to do it. You’re going to need that drive to finish it.
The next step is to put pen to paper and write. It’s not going to be great at first, but just start writing. Try to remove the editor in your head while you’re writing and allow yourself to just write. The theme here, if you couldn’t tell, is just to begin. It’s the hardest part.
Tech Bettys trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVTX6dSnFbo&t=1s
BIO:
Mary McGloin is a SAG-AFTRA and AEA actor, writer, producer, director, creator. She also works in tech as a Quality Assurance Engineer at a television network. Mary co-created a web series, Tech Bettys, the first few webisodes have been around the world to 36 festivals, nominated for 30 awards, and won 21 awards, including Best of Fest (Miami Web Fest) and several Best Web Series awards. You can view the webisodes on www.youtube.com/techbettys—though they are now a proof of concept for a half-hour comedy version she is developing.
Acting: www.marymcgloin.com
Production: www.goodlyrottenappleproductions.com
Tech Bettys Official Website: www.techbettys.com