Making It with Danny Barton

And we travel to good ole England for Episode 2, Season 2 to catch up with actor and podcast host of 'Actors Making It', Danny Barton.

In this episode, I turn the tables on Danny, where he normally gets to drill his guest on his podcast (including myself in 2022) and delve into what drives him to be an actor.

We talk about how growing up and how 'performance' can make you feel part of your environment and the people, especially pertinent for people how grew up moving around a lot, where you find yourself not having the opportunity to develop long friendships, and always feeling like the 'new guy'.

Danny has just moved to the UK to further his acting career, and as such, we discuss  the complexities of the Australian acting industry versus the UK industry. Such things as 'appearance' and how it effects your castability. For example, the UK market can be really strong on the 'real life' look of characters/actors, especially in comparison to the US market.

We really delve into the balancing of your day job, the job that pays the bills and how you need to determine when to give up your paid work for unpaid acting work. How to know when that unpaid work will support your acting career for footage and exposure.

In summary, a lot of what we discuss in this episode is so similar to my own journey, and many actors journey's, that it is about gaining experience to further your skill set. 

Danny is a great supporter of actors, so please check him out on his socials as Danny Barton, or check out his podcast 'Actors Making It' on all good podcast platforms.

Castability 
Castability is a new game changing app that is a must have for every actor.

Transcript

David John Clark: 1:45

Welcome back to episode two of season two, folks, and today I'm really excited to reach out to the other side of the world, the united kingdom London, to be interviewing actor, podcast host and dreamer, according to bio, mr Danny barton. Good evening, danny, or uh, it's just hit afternoon for you, really, isn't it?

Danny Barton: 2:04

Well, it's still morning, so I've got. I've got an hour until it's afternoon. So good morning, good evening Hello.

David John Clark: 2:11

It's the joys of Doing over the internet, isn't it? It's just trying to work at the time differences, the hardest thing. so I find that uk time is so much harder than us time because it's it's just completely opposite to us. So yeah, now just confirm for me Are you? are you actually in london or you're outside of london somewhere?

Danny Barton: 2:32

No, i'm in london. I'm in zone one. I'm very close. I'm about a half an hour walk into The city centre. I can see the shard from my bedroom window and st Paul's cathedral, so I'm very close to the city.

David John Clark: 2:44

Awesome and um, and for my listeners, danny's just recently moved to the uk, or moved back to the uk, which we'll shortly discuss to further his acting career. Um, but firstly Some introductions on how we met. Uh, we met through our training and stage milk dot com, if that's correct, isn't it, danny? That?

Danny Barton: 3:04

is correct.

David John Clark: 3:05

As well as being an avna list, i was an avid listener of your podcast actors making it Uh, where I was a fortune to be a guest back in 2022. I'll throw a link in the show notes for that, so anyone that um hasn't had the chance to listen to it can listen to it, and I'm sure we'll be talking about that soon. But Firstly, i don't know a lot about your background, danny, other than what I can find on the intro webs. As I say so, could you give us a brief history of Danny Barton and how how your journey brought you to where you are today?

Danny Barton: 3:38

Sure, um, i think from an old, i'm assuming this question is acting related Uh, yes, my journey of where I am today. I've always been kind of interested in theater and performance since a very young age and I I don't know why, i Don't know why that is I just, i just was I wanted to be an actor. I think maybe once upon a time when I was a kid, i wanted to be famous and Have the name in lights, like many young actors do. Um, but I I kind of Did some theater in my younger years or did some like school production stuff. I had a drama teacher Wendy cannot for the life of me remember her surname, but I did some stuff with her and I moved around this Sorry, i'm not very good at being succinct, so I apologize in advance. Love it. Um, i Moved around a lot as a kid. My mom moved around a lot, so every six months I was like in a new school trying to meet new people, and because I moved so much, i kind of kept to myself and and always felt like the, the person that was not really spoken to or didn't make friends or not seen. And the first time I did some performance I was the kind of the first time I ever felt seen, um, because people were watching me and applauding me. And Then that's kind of how I kind of got into Acting because, yeah, as I say, it was just all of a sudden I was Somebody that people were looking at which wasn't, which was kind of new to me. Um Been, i am from Australia originally. I was born in Brisbane, moved up all up and down the Queensland coast and then moved to Manchester when I was 18 years old. Uh, my family are from there with the dream of kind of acting, um, and. But at the time I didn't really know what it took to become an actor. Um, i, i got a job in a call centre and did some. I got an agent and they kept giving me auditions and I kept declining them because I had work the next day. But, um, uh, because I worked in, i worked for rac Breakdown and if you take a day off, they really lay it on thick that you've, you're letting, you're letting the world down if you take a day off, because it has a massive impact on the people broken down on the side of the road, anyway, so my agent ended up dropping me. After a while, um Started a performing arts degree but, yeah, i tried to do it over there but it really wasn't really successful. I had a um, a friend that I'd made, who Was the right one of the writers for a well-known show over here called Holly oaks um, and then He I asked him what I needed to do become an actor and he basically said you'll never be an actor. You're too big Um to be an actor. You could make good money as an extra being a police officer or Or a bouncer or something like that, but you'll never be an act to give up on the dream. Um, and that kind of Stopped me for quite a while.

David John Clark: 6:42

When you say big, what um do you mean? How tall are you?

Danny Barton: 6:46

I'm only 511, but I'm a like I'm a, I'm a stocky guy. So I mean I've never been like a beastly fat or anything like that. No that's what I was thinking. I'm a, i'm a big guy. I mean, when you meet a lot of celebrities, they're all quite small, so I kind of kind of understand it now. Um, but yeah, that stopped me my tracks for a while. Anyway, eventually moved back to sydney Oh sorry, to australia, didn't do anything for a long time And but I went to the theater a lot my ex, but I would always get really excited when I went to see a musical or a play. Um, and not because of necessarily what I was seeing, but because I was imagining myself in that situation. I thought how excited I would be or how great I would be if I was the one on stage and my, my boyfriend at the time. Um, after so many times of getting excited, it's like I don't understand why you're not working in this industry At this is what you love, and that was around about 2017 And how, how old would you have been then?

David John Clark: 7:43

if there's not giving away your age, etc.

Danny Barton: 7:45

I'm happy to give away my age. I'll be 40 in july. So how many years ago was 17? Five, six, five years ago. So I was 35, 35 ish, um, and that was when I was like, yeah, can I swear on your podcast? Of course you can. Of course you can fucking, you're right. Why would? why am I not fucking doing this? Uh took a, and that's when I changed careers out of working permanently in recruitment to working as a contractor, so I had more flexibility, went to did my first short film, went to screen wise part time to do a. Um, screen wise is a. If you've not heard of screen wise, screen wise is a um Is a screen acting school in in sydney um which I Will not talk anymore about.

David John Clark: 8:38

But it's essentially a small uh like like taft or like a Education. So not an either, but you know, just a smaller Educational thing, is it?

Danny Barton: 8:47

but I did that and then, and then I started getting into acting again and put putting a real Kind of pedal to the metal as far as my acting career is concerned. And then, yeah, i've been working part full time for the last five years and managing a podcast and classes and acting um to where I am now. But I kind of reached a point in I feel that I'd reached a point in Australia where I where I don't think I was going to go any further and and I don't know if that is Just because of my own belief of the of Australia as a region as far as acting is concerned Um, i have been a, a bold shade head man for the best part of a decade. I never got any auditions for anything that wasn't a tradee or a laborer from casting directors in Sydney. So for me it was like, well, you're only getting me in for these auditions, they don't come up very often, um, so, uh, i mean, i've always wanted to come back to the UK anyway, but, yeah, i wanted to come back over here where it's a, i guess, more opportunity and there is, i think in the last 12 months in Sydney I had five auditions, um, through casting and Didn't book anything. And I've been in London four months and in the last three months I've had 16 auditions. Book the feature and book the short film.

David John Clark: 10:08

That's interesting, isn't it?

Danny Barton: 10:10

tradee or laborer insight, i might add.

David John Clark: 10:14

I love it and that really brings down a lot of discussion points that I had to to come up about Acting per se because, um, especially you know, from my perspective as a late bloomer and and we discussed on your podcast that you inverted quotes, or I'm a late bloomer as well and it probably fits the profile um, we always tend to think, well, maybe I'm not getting work because I'm just I'm not experiencing. In Australia It's a little bit different, because this it's such a smaller market yet There's such so many good actors out there. And then Covid hit and so a lot of those big actors who were just going for the bigger roles. It started stepping down a bit and taking the 20 worders because I would just for work, so that just made it even harder in that period, don't you think?

Danny Barton: 10:58

Yeah, yeah, well, i mean, definitely I don't think. Yes, there is that and I don't want to sit here and Be negative about the Australian industry because I mean, i've spoken about it plenty of times on my podcast about how I feel about the region, but there, just there isn't enough opportunity in Australia to support Australian talent there. I think there's another podcast which you may listen to don't be so dramatic Um with with Rachel, and she interviewed somebody who made a comment that in Australia There are only 40 feature films made a year 40. That's, that's not a lot. No, i would have thought a bit more than that, but um, and you know a lot of the big films that come over From the us And the uk. you know, i think the Australian government touts all of this great stuff for the arts about how we're attracting all of these big productions to come to Australia and and Produce work, but they all bring their own actors. It's great for the crew side, but from an acting perspective they bring all of the big actors and then it is the well-known Aussie actors that get put into the, the smaller parts that come up.

David John Clark: 12:16

So yeah, Hmm, all right then. well, when they look at the, the positive part, then that you've now moved to the uk. So, um, you've just said before you've done quite a few auditions and and landed a role as well. So just let us know what's? What? do you see the difference in the, the area there? How are you What's the feel like compared to Australia, in a way?

Danny Barton: 12:38

No, just sticking with the positive side of things, of course, of course um, look, i think I, to be completely honest I mean I've been here coming up to four months. I probably haven't immersed myself into the industry too heavily yet Um, i've, as I said, i've been working so hard for the last five years I probably suffered from a lot of burnout. So for the last four months I've been relax excuse me, relaxing and not working and just kind of take, taking it easy. I've I finally start a um acting Class tomorrow, like a weekly scene class, which will be good to get back into it. But I did go to a, a Christmas party for like an acting thing here called Mixing Networks at Christmas and met a bunch of actors there And, interestingly, the feelings that we all have as actors of I'm not getting auditions, i'm not getting enough work, it must be something wrong with me, it's universal, it's wherever you go. So I mean, the feeling is, by reading all of the people that I'm connected to on Twitter and all of the actors here and speaking to friends, is I'm not getting auditions, i'm not getting enough work, it's just it's effectively the same as what was in Australia, it's just that there is a bigger pool, there is a bigger pool of opportunity, but there's also a bigger pool of actors here And I think, when it comes to acting, it's a numbers game. You're never going to get every role you audition for, unless, of course, you're a big name where they've written the part for you. But I think, as I said, it's a numbers game and I have more. My options or my opportunity for being cast is higher here just because I'm able to push through more auditions than what I am in Australia.

David John Clark: 14:40

And I suppose you're more open to doing more auditions because you can't go to the beach because it's too damn cold. I do enjoy the cold though. Oh, that's good. I think UK would have. England would have to be my last choice, because I just hate the cold, but that sort of leads a little bit into. So why the UK and not the American path, the LA path that so many people do?

Danny Barton: 15:03

Well, that's a very easy question to answer. I have a British passport.

David John Clark: 15:09

Sold sold.

Danny Barton: 15:10

So I didn't have to worry about any of the visa requirements or any of that to go to the US And, to be honest with you, i know that I have a better look for the UK The like as much as we don't. We probably don't want to admit it. A lot of acting, a lot of the industry comes down to appearance And it's probably changing a little bit as we move on. But I think the UK are very good at casting real looking people in their projects compared to America and Australia. So I think that's so. I think I look better. I think my look is better for a UK market.

David John Clark: 16:03

Oh, that's good. And long term I suppose that if you've got your career aspirations now in the UK market, if you can start climbing that ladder and getting those credits and getting that prestige for one of a bit of a word, then the US market may reach out to you.

Danny Barton: 16:18

Well, exactly, I mean I did. I interviewed somebody on my podcast last year who has been working predominantly in Australia And he had US agents reach out to him And now he's, you know, now he's looking at moving to the, moving to LA, because they've found him and reached out to him.

David John Clark: 16:37

So Awesome, awesome. And you mentioned your podcast a couple of times there, and so I do want to talk about.

Danny Barton: 16:43

This is your podcast.

David John Clark: 16:44

No, no, because we did it on on yours as well, but that's. Podcasts are made especially by actors. They're there for a certain reason. There's certain things that we talk about And there's a reason why we make it And your podcast Actors Making It. You could probably read a lot into the name of that, but I think there's a lot more to just actors making it than than you might see, which is great, which I want to talk about. But it's a show that addresses a lot of your journey around acting and the reason why you put it together, and I was reading an article from Filming Magazine where they discuss the reasons you put the show together. It was to reach out to other actors to discuss their experiences and their struggles and their hurdles of the acting journey. Can you talk about that a little bit? What have you learnt along your journey that you're now sharing and bringing out in your podcast And why and why do you want to do that?

Danny Barton: 17:34

Yeah, i think, if I rewind to what I was saying before about when I first moved to Manchester to be an actor, i didn't understand, or I didn't know at that point in my life, what it took to be an actor. And what I mean by that is you can't just wake up one day and say, oh, i'm going to be an actor. Sure, there's loads of articles about overnight success and blah, blah, blah. I think even Margot Robbie when she first did one of the I quote this story all the time. but I think Margot Robbie, like she, did one, a big film I can't remember what it was. It was either the big short or the one with Leonardo DiCaprio And everything was like overnight sensation. Margot Robbie was like well, she's not fucking overnight sensation. She did all these years on Neighbours. She's been working for the last decade like auditioning, like crazy, eating ramen noodles probably and starving herself to be able to get to where she is, to have that big break, and I don't think a lot of people understand that there's a lot of sacrifice when it comes to trying to make it as an actor. I've spent way more money trying to become an actor than I've made from being an actor.

David John Clark: 18:50

And that's the reality.

Danny Barton: 18:52

Yeah, and I think that's the reality that people don't really understand. On top, of, what do you have to do to become an actor, which is you might have to decide one day oh shit, I've got an audition tomorrow, or I've got a job tomorrow, but I've got a shift at the RAC. What am I going to do? You have to make the decision of OK, is my acting career more important than the job? Is the potential of earning money from an acting gig more important than my actual job that I'm going to be paid for tomorrow to do my job? And those are the sacrifices and the decisions that you have to make as an actor And you need to be prepared to make them And that's hard. So there's that element of it, And I think that's when I said before. My partner was like I don't understand why you're not doing this. And I worked in a permanent job And I know that you're in the same position. You're in a permanent job And I know so many friends that are in permanent jobs and they want to be an actor And they go to all of the acting classes but they don't have the luxury or the time to be able to go to an audition or shoot a student film in the middle of the week because they've got a job and they can't not go to their job. And I made the decision five years ago, six years ago now, to go right. Acting is what my priority is and acting is what I will always put first. So if I got a job or if I got an audition, then I would take the time off work and I would do it And admittedly, I worked as a contractor, which means I don't get paid. If I don't work the day, I don't have to apply for leave. It's I take the time, but I put myself, I looked at what I could do to make that available to me. You know I've worked on and also, in this vein of you know why I made it is you don't, you don't get, you have to. It's such a shit industry and the fact that you have to pay your dues before you get to a point of actually earning money The amount of work that I've done for three Now I get paid really well for my corporate career. I like in Australia, I was earning $900 a day plus super to do my job, but I would not do a day's work and lose effectively $1,000 to go and work on an unpaid film so that I would have some footage and I would do that And that's the. That's the reality of acting, unfortunately. The other reason why I wanted to do the podcast is because We're all very Everybody can say that they're not selfish, and I'm a holistic In a holistic way. You know, people don't mean to be selfish, but it's very natural for people to be insular in their thought process when something happens. So if you audition for something and you don't get it, or if you don't get an audition for something, it's very easy to make that about yourself and be like, oh, it must be me, I must not look good, I must be bold, so they don't want me, or I'm fat, or you know, it's very easy to make it about yourself, But the reality is it's got nothing to fucking do with you. There's so many other things that are involved in the decision-making of a part, whether or not it's. You know, oh, we've actually hired a black girl to play the daughter, so therefore you might not work as the father, But we can internalize that and make it about ourselves and then head down this really destructive, negative self-talk direction and the mental health aspect or the mental health effects of this industry is very high, and that's the other stuff that I want to kind of talk. That's the other stuff that I really like to talk about on my podcast so that people can be like oh, it's not just me, Okay, it's not me, I'm not the reason, Okay, oh, maybe I just need to keep going and I do it. Oh, I mean, I still do it, even though I tout it. I'll be like well, I'm not getting auditions because I'm bald and I just look like a traitor or I didn't believe myself. So therefore I'm a bad actor. Like I still do it now. Like I know, ultimately it's not about me, but I'm still guilty of sometimes internalizing and making it about myself. So I like to kind of talk about people's experiences around that and how they cope and what they do to kind of keep motivated and push themselves through.

David John Clark: 23:46

And I think that's a good thing, because I did the end of season special on my podcast last year and talked about some of the biggest points that came up during the year, and mental health factors was one of the biggest discussion points, which is really interesting. It's great to be able to let actors know that when you're feeling like this, we're all feeling like this and this is why you're feeling it and you actually might be feeling it the wrong way. That's an easier way to say it sort of thing, because I put a post on recently for an audition I did for The Stranger with Joel Edgerton and I posted the picture of myself and the picture of the actor that got it and we could almost be brothers. It was a bit older and a bit more weathered, which is what I expected. they would have gone for the role and they did. Besides the fact that he was a hire on the edge along in actors, i said that's what producers are looking for, so that's what actors need to realise. And there was a young girl that auditioned here in. So here in Atlanta was at a Greg Apps audition. I can't remember. I remember someone telling me the journey that this girl went on. She did a, three or four callbacks and it looked like it was in the bag and then it boiled down to the mum had different. The mum who the actress was playing the mother had. Her eye colour was so different to her. They said we can't, we've got to go with the other actress who's got the same eye colour. So she didn't get the role because of the eye colour and you know it broke her heart and she didn't understand that.

Danny Barton: 25:08

And I suppose a lot of things that could have put contacts on her. But yeah, i get it. Yeah, that's true.

David John Clark: 25:15

And I think the other thing is that a lot of actors don't find out those reasons and they could be just those small reasons.

Danny Barton: 25:23

That's just it. I mean the other. The other part is like if you think about a professional career, if you go for an interview, you get feet. You don't always get great feedback, but you will get feedback saying, hey, we've, we've gone with this person because of this reason, or you've not been selected because you didn't quite meet this criteria in acting. If you've gone for an audition, you just don't fucking hear anything and then you sat there going, well, what do I do wrong? It must have been me, i must be that, i must be whatever, i must be a shit actor. So there's there's no validation that you were good and that they liked what they saw.

David John Clark: 26:02

So you have to be so resilient And you walk out going oh well, I have to go and do another course, or maybe I should go and do a three year degree. Or I can't do a three year degree because of my career, But maybe I'll go into a six month undergrad degree and then that can't work because you can't afford it or you can't make it balance. But these are all the things that go through and you just need to keep pushing on and eventually get there. And I like what you said, that I've heard the story before. A lot of actors have said if you want to be an actor, you've got to do it 100%.

Danny Barton: 26:34

So I don't believe that I do not subscribe to that And I know that I think Andrew at Stage Milkers would be a advocate for that particular statement And I do not believe that at all, because the reality is you're not making enough money to fucking live Unless you have a family that are prepared to support you, you've run a lottery or you've saved for a decade to be able to take time off and do it. It is impossible to just make acting your only thing, because if you're not, then you're working in a bar or in a restaurant at minimum wage to do to be able to follow your dream. I do not subscribe to that at all. I mean, sure, i'm not like Matt Damon or anything yet, but I managed to work full time and take time off and do gigs and whatever, and I started full time job in a week here And I fully intend to do the same To make it work. So the reality is, if you want something bad enough, no matter what your situation is, you will make it work.

David John Clark: 27:46

You'll find a way. Exactly, that's the Jurassic Park Natural find a way And I do that. I've been told a lot but oh, david, you can't commit. You can't commit. You've got a full time job But I'm very fortunate because I work shifts And in the seven years that I've been doing this full on focused, i've always found a way and I've never turned down on audition. I've requested a couple to be changed in times, but I pretty much met it. I've done my student films. I've done the film. So I think it comes down to. Greg. Apps said when I interviewed him, you've got to have a plan B and make that plan B work. So then you're still doing your acting and find something that works for you So you can do it. You don't have to be 100%. Now my son's just about to. He's doing year 12 and he wants to go down the acting path. So he's got that small window now. Well, okay, he's going to go and do the university and we'll support him and he's got that freedom there. But I'm already putting in his head. I said you need to start planning your plan B. What do you want to do to feed yourself and pay your bills until you get that big role, which will hopefully happen sooner than later. So it can be done no matter what time frame in life You're running this journey at, can't you?

Danny Barton: 28:54

Exactly, exactly.

David John Clark: 28:57

Now that sort of leads to training. What training have you had? Have you had that formal training or a bit like me, where you've just done the? I know you said you started at university, So how much did you get there?

Danny Barton: 29:12

I started a performing arts degree, a Bachelor of Performing Arts, at Salford University in Manchester in 2006. I got a year and a half into it. I hated every moment of it, but I think that's because it was the wrong degree. It wasn't an acting degree, it was performing arts degree. And I'm not really a great studier. I don't like studying. I hate all of the theory stuff. Like I mean I couldn't give a flying fuck why Brett wrote what he wrote 20 million years ago. Like I just I don't care, i just enjoy making something my own and creating from the page. So all of that I just it wasn't for me. I've not had formal training I, but I have been doing some kind of acting in some way since I was a kid. So you know, you learn.

David John Clark: 30:14

I can't on the job, on the job training.

Danny Barton: 30:17

I've learned on the job. Yeah, i think I can't remember. I think it was some Greek person. I don't want to misquote the name, but there's a quote that I love, which is experiences the teacher of all things. And that's kind of how I live my life, even my professional career. I've never had formal training. I kept on certifications, but I've never had formal training in what I do for a professional career. I didn't go to university for that, but I'm earning plenty of money doing it and managing fine And I'm good at it because I've got the experience now. But, yeah, i've done bits and pieces. I think I've done as I said. I did screen wise for two years. It was a show real. Course, it was a waste of $10,000, to be completely honest with you. I got a show real out of it. That got me an agent And then he said, okay, do some self tapes because this isn't good enough.

David John Clark: 31:14

I hear a lot about the show real courses. It's not just one company. There's a lot of companies that offer them and a lot of the casting directors say don't do it, Don't waste your money.

Danny Barton: 31:24

It's a waste of money. It is a waste of money.

David John Clark: 31:27

Go and do your self tapes. Do stage milk or do Greg apps course. Get some experience behind the camera and then just film something. Yeah And you're done. Show your acting ability.

Danny Barton: 31:38

I think the so I've done lots of different. I've done different things. I've done Anthony Mindal courses, classes, but the thing that I've found the most helpful really is just doing a weekly scene jam with. I've done seen on screen with Marha Wilson and I've done Sydney Actors Association with Sam Haft and Sydney And those are the things that I recommend that me as an actor have helped me. It's like it's like acting gym. It's just keeping the muscle warm and working on it. I think you know what I learned the main thing, that screen wise tutors, who are all actors that are making who are you basically teaching it screen-wise to make some cash between acting gigs. They all basically just taught us their way of breaking down a script. There are so many different methods. There are so many different tools. I think it's about. I think, when it comes to acting, some people can just do it naturally and interpret something and that just comes across, but I think a lot of with acting, it's just finding the things, that, finding the different tools for your toolbox that work for you and some scripts, some jobs. You won't need to access the tools. You'll just read it like I know who this is, i know what this is, i can do it. And then there are other parts where you like okay, i really need to fucking spend the time preparing this, preparing for this. I think a lot of actors put so much pressure on themselves in the preparation, whether it's for an audition or for a scene, and then when they're sitting in these classes like, oh, i need to make sure I'm doing it perfect and that they believe everything that I'm doing, and we put so much pressure on ourselves. But you know there's no right or wrong way to act. All acting is is just do I believe what you're telling me?

David John Clark: 33:44

I love that. You know you look for something when you do an interview with someone about just one thing that just resonates so much and that's brilliant. Just if actors can take away one thing from this interview, that would probably be it. I think You sort of leaned a little bit in there about getting doing your showreels or doing extra work, and you've recently moved to the other side of the camera to make your own work and stuck with the lead role, i believe, but also directed your own short film.

Danny Barton: 34:13

I wasn't getting on any audition, so I wrote something for myself.

David John Clark: 34:17

And that's what they said to do, And so the short film's called Ghosted. Is that correct? Correct?

Danny Barton: 34:22

And I believe it's.

David John Clark: 34:23

It's all completed and doing the round of the festivals at the moment. So can you let us know how did that develop and why? obviously to make your own work and did it come from, from something in your life or you've written it yourself? What's the background behind that and where's it going at the moment?

Danny Barton: 34:42

This is a really interesting story actually. But I think it's an interesting story, sure it is, so I'm good. It will be a long story, so I apologize. We're on half an hour so we'll see how long it goes. Okay, so I'm gonna take some steps back. I am, if you didn't already guess, given some things that I've said, i'm a gay man who for a very long time believed that I needed to show straight characters and not be out in the acting world and show through my work that I can believably play a heterosexual man, so that I will get cast and make it quote unquote as an actor. So I'll put that, give that statement. For a while I wrote when I was at screen-wise. There was a beautiful actress in the class who was Indian, and one of the things that they say when you're doing screen-wise when we get to the end of the show reel, they're like okay, we need you to find a scene. It has to be Australian work, because you know you're auditioning in Australia, so we need to see Australian stuff. It's just better for you. Anyway, she's an Indian girl. She couldn't find anything for her because you know there wasn't at the time a lot of diversity on screen, especially for Indian characters. So I wrote her a scene which was about it was a little scene, basically about she was at a speed date and she was having a date with this guy and she he had remembered her and he was asking her why she didn't remember, why she never called. She basically ghosted him and, as it goes on, this is going to spoil the ending of my short film, but it doesn't matter. As it goes on, she basically goes along with it, going oh, i clearly don't remember this guy, but I don't want to make him feel bad, so I'll just try and change the situation. Anyway, turns out he had a date with her twin sister, not with her, and that was kind of the ending. Anyway, after that, she never used it for her show reel. After that I thought, okay, i want to write a. I'm going to turn this into a short film. And I wanted to turn it into a short film but as obviously playing the guy that mixed, that went on a date with the girl and I was going to write it as a standard heterosexual story. But it took. This is back in 2018 and I just couldn't. I knew what I wanted to do, but I couldn't write anything and it just wouldn't come to an end. In 2020, i think it was, or 2021,. I had a conversation with a great guy, george Conston, i think his surname is, and he does a lot of work around around playing for your type, and he had a conversation with me and he's like are you, are you gay? And I'm like, yeah, and he goes I didn't see any of that in your show reels. Like your show reels good, but I just don't see any authenticity about who you are, because all the characters in your show reel, because of the way people see me as a big bald head man, we're all quite not aggressive, but, like you know, the abuser type, right, so that's the sort of stuff that I was getting hired for in short films with students, etc. Anyway, he was like you need to do this type of work and I was like, okay, great. And then I was like, fuck it, i'm gonna turn my short film into an LGBT story, which I did. So there's a very long-winded story. I love it. And then so I wrote it. The words finally flooded, flooded to me and I was able to write something which I'm, which I'm really, really proud of, and I'm also really proud of the fact that out of a cast and crew of 28 people, all bar two were part of the LGBT community. So from the cast and crew, but yeah, it was a really. It was a really it was really rewarding experience, that's awesome. Yeah, i loved it. It was. It was frustrating and it was what's the word? exhausting and stressful, but one of the most rewarding things I've ever done. I enjoy directing and bringing something to life I don't know, just seeing something. It's such a different ball game because when you're an actor, you get your script and you turn up on set and you sit in the back room and you go over your lines and you're freaking out about how I'm gonna do this line, how I'm gonna deal with this word, and then you go in and then they're all right, we're ready for you. And then you come out and then you do your thing and then everybody claps because you can't, because you're done and you go home. But to be involved in something from concept, concept all the way through to editing and trying to fucking figure out sound design I don't even know. Sound design was a thing I just thought like you chose some music and put it in, and and the director of the SF3 film festival, which is what I created it for in the first I've sat. So if you've got a sound designer and a composer lined up, i'm like what the fuck are they?

David John Clark: 40:28

Oh geez.

Danny Barton: 40:30

Oh, that's fantastic.

David John Clark: 40:31

I mean, i had the same. I've did the 48 hour film festival with my son, conor, like she's almost two years ago going down. You think, oh yes, there's so many other people make films and you just realize there's so much more involved. But you're right that that feeling at the end, when you've made something and you're part of it, it's, it's a double bonus, isn't it?

Danny Barton: 40:52

Yeah, it was. It was great, it was really good. I think I don't know if you move not to move on as such, but I just kind of want to. If there are actors listening, obviously that's right. If there are actors listening, for the actors listening. I want to touch on a little bit around my conversation with George about type, even though I have said all I was getting was auditions for tradies and laborers. Obviously that was my type and what people saw me as in in Australia. If I was getting cast in those regularly and making money from it and able to show that I could act, it would have been a different story, but I wasn't actually being cast. He said something and he spoke about something which I thought was really interesting, which was basically around the fact that we make we make judgments on who people are based on what they look like and the type of roles that they might be believable in. And for those single people out there that scroll through Tinder or Hinge or dating apps, we do it. We look at someone's profile picture and go nah, nah, nah, because we make an immediate assumption of the type of person that they are, and there's so much I think there's so much negativity around being typecast, especially when we're starting out as actors which is what I was concerned about originally is like I don't want to be typecast in the gay role. Like fuck it if I kept being cast in gay roles and getting constant work. I would not give a flying fuck if I was typecast. And I think that actors need to not be afraid of being typecast. I think we need to like lean into who we are and what casting or what people see us as, and prove ourself in that, and then eventually you'll have worked for long enough for being in enough roles that you'll be able to show or be trusted to be like look, i can do this serious role or I can do this thing. So I think I don't know. I just wanted to kind of touch on that a little bit.

David John Clark: 43:04

No, i like it. I mean, as I say, work is work too. But Damon Herriman once said he was getting the same roles. He was cast over and cast over. And then he said one day no, i'm not doing that one, i want to go complete opposite. But he can when he's at his level. So you're right, I can't say what I was getting cast in, because it alludes to what my real job is And I don't put that on. I'm not allowed to talk about it, unfortunately. But I was always getting cast in those roles and again I thought I got into acting so I could do something different. Not what I did every day but you can't knock back a paid job, so it's correct. I just want to quickly go to one thing there. When you're talking about the gay community acting and stuff like that, what's your thoughts on now that diversity is so much better in TV, so we've got so much more coverage of different races and sexualities and gender types and everything like that, do you think those roles can still be played by actors? So can heterosexual males still play the gay man, and what should we be leaning towards? having those actors do those roles? This?

Danny Barton: 44:19

is such a controversial topic And I'm going to I do and I don't know where I stand on this. So ultimately, acting is acting Like we're there to play a part, the When it comes to race, obviously there should be that race playing the particular race that is required for that part. I don't want to delve too much into what the state of the world is now with diversity. It's interesting because I interviewed a guy, an Aussie guy who lives in LA now Lee Shorten a few last year and he made a really interesting comment. He's like the diversity casting is actually being bad for me Because before I was being offered auditions for anything that was Asian, but now I will only get auditions for the specific race that I am Okay. So that's some of the downside of it, but it comes to I don't want to go all the way down to the diversity, but I will talk about No, it's cool. I will talk about the gay and straight thing And I'm going to contradict myself a little bit As a gay man. I don't want someone to say that I can't play a straight man, a straight role. I want to have that opportunity As a gay actor when it comes to gay parts. There are so few gay parts written that I don't think it's fair that those parts go to heterosexual actors Because they're not. There just isn't that many opportunities for gay actors Fair enough, there aren't that many gay roles, so there's a part of me that feels like they should be offered to homosexual actors As long as I don't know. It's hard.

David John Clark: 46:58

I just watched. I didn't mean to throw. No, you did not throw me. I didn't mean to throw it. It's such a big question.

Danny Barton: 47:04

Because it's a conversation that I purposely stay out of on social media because there are so many people that That have opinion on it. Because, on one hand, i am of the opinion like acting is acting, you should be able to play any role And it shouldn't really matter. I just watched a beautiful film this weekend Supernova with Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci, which is about a gay couple who've been together for like 30 years, and they were phenomenal. They were absolutely outstanding performances And I don't know that anybody else could have done as wonderful a job as them. It's just a hard one because there's just so little gay films or stories out there. Like even when I was doing mine because it's an LGBT one like I put some casting notices out in Facebook groups and some guy commented saying I don't know why you're wasting your time making a gay film. No one's going to buy it. There's like nobody buys gay films. It's someone like well, i'm not making it for it to sell it, but that's the reality. And I think this is the hard part, right, because even though we, as actors, we're in it for the passion of acting, but after that, movie making, tv making, plays It's a business. Everybody else is out there to make money and the reality is, you know, certain things do not sell. But that's why it's like, well, if there's gonna be, there's so limited gay opportunity, gay stories that I feel like gay people should be Given the opportunity to play those parts over heterosexual period people, because the number of heterosexual stories that are out there are, you know diamond doesn't fold, hmm, and that being said, i know you used the word said it was a gay story.

David John Clark: 49:10

I'll go movie, but the end of the day, your movie was a story. Well, yeah, sorry that's isn't it, and then that's yeah. What I like to see is that, the end of the day, every movie is a story, and it doesn't matter who's in that story, it's still a story about one person, two persons, a group of people who go from journey from start to the end of the story.

Danny Barton: 49:30

Yeah, I will say my film is What I'm saying is a gay story. It is not a gay story, it's a Universal Story. It is about someone who had a date with someone and was ghosted and never heard from them again. Everybody has had that happen to them Yes, sorry, every. Every person that is not in there In a very long-term committed relationship and whatever most people have experienced being ghosted. I think that was the other thing that was really important to me when I was making a film is as much as I'm talking about. There's not enough gay stories. Majority of the a Lot of the gay stories or LGBT stories that are made Are about the struggle of being gay, whether it's me was so difficult for me coming out, or the HIV epidemic or whatever. So many gay stories that actually do make it into the world are So focused on being gay that most heterosexual people can't Relate to it and they can't see themselves in that situation because it's very specific to a homosexual lifestyle. So it was really important for me to make a story that is Not about being gay. It just is a story that happens to have Gay people as the protagonists.

David John Clark: 50:53

Awesome, i love it and as soon as it's available, i'll certainly try and catch it. So you're still in the festivals, is that correct?

Danny Barton: 51:01

I am Yeah. Yeah, I think I'm. I'm gonna have a look very quickly. I'm gonna click around. I think I made it into an Adelaide Festival.

David John Clark: 51:15

Well, there you go, but. I think that's showing my research skills didn't go.

Danny Barton: 51:20

I think. I think it's done now, though, okay, i'm just, i'm just trying to remember. Is it this one? Yeah, it made it into the launch film festival, which was in November.

David John Clark: 51:36

Oh, there you go. I must have missed that one, my bad. How did it go in the launch festival?

Danny Barton: 51:45

I. It was just. I just got a. It was selected, so I haven't won any award. I haven't won any awards for ghosted I have Made. I've been a finalist and a semi-finalist. I got a Honorable mention in one festival for best original story and I was a Finalist as best performer for best performance, for my performance in it and that's why you do it.

David John Clark: 52:13

That's fantastic, i do it. It's fantastic. Well, congratulations on that, danny. So I'm mindful of the time, so I've got just one last question to throw at you before we sign off And bring it right back to acting. So what three things would you consider to be pivotal for an actor in becoming successful or improving in their career? To making it, to pitch the name of your podcast?

Danny Barton: 52:37

Yeah, sure, resilience. I Think resilience is super important in this industry. So many people give up because they haven't quote-unquote made it within a particular time That they might have given themselves. I mean, you can look at some of our wonderful Australian late-loomer actors out there Who, if they hadn't have persisted, would probably actually not even just Australian. So many actors would not have made it to In the way that we know them if they hadn't been persistent Sorry, if they hadn't been resilient to the nose. Yes, throughout the industry. I think Keeping the muscle warm, you know, just do weekly seeing classes or do self tapes. It doesn't cost anything to Sit in front of a camp in front of your phone and learn a script and just film it. You don't have to go to a class, you don't have to go and work with other people. You can just work on your craft on your own. I think you know I don't, as I said before, i don't believe that you have to Not have anything else in your life that only do acting. But you can. You can work on your craft on your own in your room with a script and I think in the other. The other thing would be to Be kind to yourself to take breaks, to Not put pressure on yourself, that you have to be achieving certain things by certain times And that kind of leads into obviously say that Works in with all of the mental health stuff. I think we live in a world where we're indoctrinated to do I think we might have talked about this on my podcast. We live in a world where we're indoctrinated to have achieved things In a certain period of our life. Or you know, we watch American, a lot of Definitely American programs. We love it. Watch a lot of programs where it's like you have to work really, really fucking hard if you want to achieve something. Like you can't take your foot off the gas. Like This is a marathon, not a sprint, take the foot off the gas. If you need to take six months or a year away from acting to get your Head in the game and to just take a break and be kind to yourself, take the brakes. You don't have to be going a bullet, a gate, a hundred percent of the time, because you'll burn out, you'll hate it and then you've just lost the joy.

David John Clark: 55:06

Hmm, and that's the perfect way to end the podcast. I love that The acting's always going to be there for you, unless, according to one podcast I listened to yesterday, ai takes over and actors are out of jobs. But hopefully we don't go down that path, that daddy.

Danny Barton: 55:21

Thank you very much.

David John Clark: 55:24

Thank you very much. It's great to see you again on the screen and Congratulations on everything that's happened since you moved back to the UK. I wish you all the best with everything that's going on.

Danny Barton: 55:34

Thank you, do you have?

David John Clark: 55:36

do you have any final word you'd like to say to everyone before we sign off?

Danny Barton: 55:42

Just keep out it, guys. It's as I said, it's a marathon, not a sprint. It's if you love it and it brings you joy. It will all you know. Just keep going.

David John Clark: 55:52

Awesome. Thank you very much. Nice to see you, danny, and we'll talk to you soon.

Danny Barton: 55:57

You will have a lovely afternoon. No night sleep.

David John Clark: 56:02

I'm thank you very much. See you later. Thank you, bye, bye.