Audience

Without doubt the audience is the most important aspect of any entertainment enterprise. Surprisingly it has two opposite connotations; the first is the most obvious, performers and/or performances must have appeal in order to attract an audience; the second is more subtle, a location will attract performers/ performances in direct proportion to the size of audience made available.

Some would submit that audience translates into gate receipts but this is not always the case. Eventually it is the goal of all performers/ producers to attract a paying audience and get rich and famous as a result but on the way up and on the way down performers will often sacrifice gate receipts for the chance to perform.

Unlike a business enterprise where the leverage of power over business operations is the value determinant, performances are directly affected by the appeal they have in attracting an audience. When one sees the size of the audience Lady Gaga, Madonna, the late Michael Jackson, and a few others of exceptional star quality are able to attract, it is evident that the popularity they have achieved, although incrementally, is not accidental or attributable to luck. It never has been, not for all of the thousands of seekers of stardom. It is, however, the result of a series of organized marketing and production activities that are focused on creating an image that all at the same time entertains, amuses, shocks, and, most of all, allows a large number of people to vicariously participate in the success.

The star becomes the central product of an enterprise comprised of many people in various roles to assure success; much like any other business enterprise. Although it may seem to be an entrourage, it is an organization devoted to the marketing and production of the star performance.

Some attain stardom and lose one or more of the above product attributes and flame out like a comet streaking through the upper atmosphere. Others maintain an appeal for a number of years until finally reaching the end of a product life cycle. That product life cycle may be measured in increments starting at fifteen minutes (everyone’s) of fame and lasting for days, months, years, and even a lifetime. There are durable entertainment stars who remain stars into their eighties, and longer, as did George Burns who lived to be 99 and was booked to do his 100th birthday on stage when he died.

The fact of the matter is that careers have to be managed to produce the results that are desired. These can be measured in terms of fame, riches, acclaim, awards, and perhaps other terms that are important to the careerist. It doesn’t happen by chance.

Who manages a career? The careerist up to a point and then he/she is approached by the next other who sees some possibilities and takes over the management and then another, and another until the big league is reached. Then much of what happens is the result of this management and the success or failure is keyed directly to it. The performer has, by this time, demonstrated some skill and ability in performing and has the potential, desire, and capability to adapt to the demanding requirements of fame.

Acting requires an ability to assume a role so completely that the actor can become that character, saying the lines of the script but living the situation he is in as the character being portrayed. There is no separation between the actor and the character; the actor so completely assumes the role that even his ad lib conversation during the sublimation is as the character and not as the actor.

Is it possible for me, at this late date, to set out on a career path that would approach fame and fortune? "Nothing is impossible," "One cannot make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear," two relevant statements. Often I am too objective in my thinking, too pragmatic for my own good.

I have always had a set of unrealistically high ideals and tried to perform to those ideals. Until now my performances have been in business management and training. I’ve done well but objectively feel that I have performed at the mid level. I O W there are no large audiences following me around paying to see me perform; my business star has faded and become a black hole as far as anyone else is concerned. My training star never made it over the horizon. There is nothing unique, wonderful, different, appealing, or noteworthy about what I think, say, and do in front of an audience. Why is that?

Sometimes I think that G’s mirror is in play, in a way. G’s mirror, as you may recall, is seeing in others what you see in yourself. And when you come across as seeing yourself as having a lack of ability and capability in front of an audience you are discounted, tolerated but dismissed for future consideration.

It could be that if I could see myself as able, capable, engaging, and fully assimilated into the role I am playing; I would attract the attention necessary to create a demand for my performance. It would have to be at the deepest most profound level of my being and not a consciously assumed set of attributes.

As there have been in golf, pool, and riding, moments of euphoric experience when the ball arcs toward the target, the holy grail of pool is achieved—even once, or when the horse and I were as one going over the fences, so too have there been performances that are noteworthy. One for example was a video made at the shipyard to welcome a new IBM executive. I stood in front of the Dorothy and delivered in one exceptional take.

All of these experiences indicate that I have what it takes. What I seem to be missing is repeating the performance consistently and without fail, in other words, professionally. Actually, I have repeated performances on stage more consistently than in any other endeavor. This is what gives me the idea that I can be a stage/film performer.

It is daunting that I have so far to go and I’m starting at such a late date. I was on a roll at Tenneco and it was interrupted in 1988 when the company went into decline. I didn’t have enough self-confidence/ image to reassume a corporate career; in fact, I didn’t know what that was at the time. Then a lack of knowing the business of training caused me to get out of the Executrain franchise. Now I am unsure of what others think of my performances on stage and platform. What to do?