The following Career Dispatches essay was written by Maxwell Acee Donovan, who stars on the Disney Channel hit, “Gabby Duran & The Unsittables.”
While acting on the set of “Gabby Duran & The Unsittables,” I’ve been lucky enough to shadow the other side of the camera (as part of my class credit for the Cinematic Arts program at the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts). Since we have new directors coming in every couple of weeks, I have gained a broad knowledge of what that role entails. I have noticed that, in the best cases, directors come to set with a solid plan: shot list, schedule, a general idea for the scenes. But they are also simultaneously ready to collaborate and evolve the scenes in an entirely different direction.
How To Get Cast on a Disney Channel or Nickelodeon Show That got me thinking about my career as a whole, and made me reflect on past versions of myself. When I was much younger and just starting out, I would take any notes from creatives personally, viewing them as an attack on my craft and, frankly, on myself as a human being. However, as I matured and continued to improve and hone my skills, I began to understand that the notes weren’t critical. They almost always had a positive nature to them, stemming from the shared goal of all creatives: to make the best product possible.
As an actor, it’s my job to come to set with a broken-down script, a developed character, and the scenes down pat. But, when I walk into that room and stand across from my castmates and director, I have to be ready to throw it all away. The same goes for other roles in the industry. Directors, of course, come with incredible ideas but always arrive to set knowing that they might have to change anything and everything at a moment’s notice. And that’s what makes our industry and our jobs so artful and beautiful.
The ability to let it all go and collaborate guarantees we are one step closer to that great final product we’re all after. The whole process, and every role in it, is about compromise and teamwork: from pre-production and casting to the final release.
If there’s one thing that anyone in the industry should understand, it’s that. It takes a lot of perseverance and collaboration to get to where you want to be. You will face more rejection than imaginable, and you will want to take it personally. But you have to remember all the pieces, all the compromises going on behind the scenes, and know that it is not at all a reflection on you or your talent.
Of course, taking this sort of advice from a 16-year-old may seem a little funny, but believe me, it helps. Once I started to reframe rejection and criticism as collaboration, the opportunities began to seem limitless, and even the harshest of days became exciting. I realized that to do great work, you need the notes, the criticism, the rejection. Because without it, there is no collaboration, and the art is lost.
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