Every actor wants to be a working actor but it can be frustrating to be in limbo waiting for the next gig to come along. I think it is important to stay creative and try to do as much for yourself as you can. An actor’s career always seems to be in the hands of someone else but why not choose to create your own projects and opportunities!

Every film starts out as an idea in someone’s head and it just takes a bit of hard work to have that idea materialize. There is no shortage of people wanting to work on an independent film project, from film school students to aspiring actors and directors of photography. You can even start with a crew of your friends if you feel so inclined. By creating your own project you can learn so much about yourself and about the industry even if it is on a small scale with a tiny budget. It is about quality of work and one project will lead to another and to another. By taking creative control you can even decide what characters you would like to play.


I recently had a wonderful experience working with my dear friend Mike Villiani on his short film Dear John that he wrote, produced, directed and starred in. He has always been very proactive and I am so proud of the fact that he doesn’t just hope and dream, he just does it. Mike is brilliant when it comes to writing. He will write himself into every film because he can. He has the ability to cast himself or he can hold auditions until he finds an actor perfect for the role he has in mind. He can choose the crew he feels he will work best with. He finds the editor and chooses the soundtrack. He also has to raise the money in order to be able to pay for the production costs. He makes every decision so in the end the film is his baby. He will look back on it, probably with slight disgust because he is always trying to improve on what he has done. He can investigate his performance as an actor and decide how to grow for future projects. If I had the ability to wear all of Mike’s hats I would but I am not quite that talented. I was just lucky he cast me in the film to play opposite him.

I cannot tell you how easy it was to act with a friend. We had so many laughs and we could decide which lines were working and which weren’t. There was no rush so we learnt constantly along the way. The entire project went swimmingly but I had no idea how the movie would turn out. I have faith in Mike so I know whatever he creates will be interesting to say the least. He is going to enter Dear John into as many festivals as he can, cross his fingers and hope for the best! It was an amazing experience not to mention a ridiculous amount of work but in the end it feels so good to say I just did it! So don’t be scared, get off the couch, call up your industry friends and decide to own your career. JUST DO IT!!!

Posted by Jennifer Dolynchuk on Wednesday, October 29th, 2008 at 9:10 pm.