Off Script: Back To Basics

In this inaugural and 'testing' live stream episode, David John Clark discusses the importance of returning to the basics in both bodybuilding and acting. He emphasizes the need for consistency, simplicity, discipline, embracing setbacks, and staying true to oneself. He shares his personal journey of getting back into competitive shape and how it relates to his acting career. 

David also invites listeners to provide ideas for future episodes focused on the business side of acting.

Takeaways

• Consistency is key in both working out and rehearsing lines.
• Simplicity often leads to success in bodybuilding and acting.
• Discipline and honesty are important in making progress and recognizing areas for improvement.
• Setbacks are part of the journey and should be used as learning opportunities.
• Staying true to oneself and trusting instincts are crucial in delivering genuine performances.
• Exploring the business side of acting can be beneficial for actors.

Chapters

• 3:59 Lessons from Bodybuilding: Going Back to Basics
• 6:54 Applying the Back to Basics Approach to Acting
• 8:45 Five Points for Success in Acting
• 10:34 The Power of Simplicity and Authenticity

Transcript

David John Clark (00:00)
Live from the studio! I don't know if it's going through my Instagram we've got something happening look at this going live on Instagram in a moment

Look at that.

And we're live on YouTube. Look at that. Living the dream and we're live on Facebook. I think I'm going to hit go live somewhere.

Well, if you're watching, we are live and we are trying to make this all work. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome. Welcome. I may be talking to myself. I don't know, but this will be fun for you to watch afterwards. Or if you're live now, it's also fun for you to watch.

And there we go. We are live on Facebook. We're live on YouTube and we're live on Instagram and we should be live in LinkedIn as well.

Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. I did send out a link to see if anyone would be able to come into the Riverside studio itself. So if you wish to click on that link, it's in the Facebook notification for the event and you'll be able to jump on. So.

someone saying hello here already. Let's have a look and see what we've got here. I have my sister saying hello in the Riverside. Welcome Naomi, all the way from Alice Springs. The pressure's on now, the pressure's on. So that's cool, I can see you in the message chat Naomi. So thank you very much for assisting. This is me testing out the ability to live stream through my recording platform as well as then interact with guests and...

and put a different type of show together. So this is going from my Offscript series. So we're going to have a bit of a chat. So please just ride with me for a couple of minutes while I try and see if people are logging in. I've got some stuff I want to talk about, which will be part of the episode going live tonight for The Late Bloomer Actor Offscript. But for those that are watching at the moment, or if you're watching in the replay, firstly, I just want to say thank you very much for...

being on my journey with me and supporting the show and supporting the podcast. So supporting the same, it's the same thing. The joys, this is why I'm not a radio host, I guess. I know all the respect to them to be able to maintain this in a live environment and not have moments where you don't know what you're going to talk about.

Thank you very much. I watch a lot of people who go live streaming and they do go on different platforms. So you have other people listening on Facebook, but no one on Instagram or the other way around. So I can imagine what it's like when you're actually watching your streams and realise that there's no one there. But I'm, fortunately, I've got a couple of people watching. As I said, on my Riverside platform, I can see that...

I've got someone there. I'm just trying to work out whether I'm live on Facebook. I am? There you go. I've got a wonderful supporter in the background, my wonderful wife, Kellie who gets mentioned on most episodes because she's a big supporter of the show. So thank you very much, Kellie and welcome to the show. This is wonderful. Thank you very much again, guys.

I'm going to stop saying thank you and I'm going to get into what we got here to talk about today. But if you are on the show and you want to ask some questions, please feel free to do so. We can talk about that afterwards and we can go from there. So thank you very much. So I'm going to do it a bit formal for what I had planned here. And then when we get to the end, we can go back into chatting and see how we go. So.

That way I can edit and make it sounding more professional at the end. So hello everyone and welcome to another Offscript episode of The Late Bloomer Actor podcast. I'm your host, David John Clark. I can't even get my name right. But you knew that already, of course. Today, I want to dive into a topic that's close to my heart and likely relevant to all of us in the acting community. Whether you're an actor.

an athlete or simply someone striving to achieve your goals. I think today the discussion is for you. I want to start by sharing a bit of my personal journey. As some of you may know, I've been a bodybuilder for over 30 years and that's scary in itself. It doesn't say anything about how old I am. I'm been competing in competitions at least every decade, pretty much now. When I first started back when I was 16, I did a few there and then it's been pretty much every decade. So...

But turning 50 last May marked a significant milestone for me. I decided to make a comeback and get back into competitive shape since my last competition was when I hit the big 40. I thought hitting 40 was a bad thing. But no, 50's the new 30s, they say. So I like to say I'm halfway there. Hopefully, I'm halfway there. It hasn't been easy, though. The road's been tough. It's filled with setbacks and moments where I felt like I was taking two steps forward and

one, sometimes three steps back. Most of these setbacks were due to my own issues with maintaining discipline over time. It's a humbling experience to realize that even with decades of experience, this discipline can still be a challenge. Just last week, I was in the gym reflecting on my journey and feeling a bit frustrated with my progress. And that's when I decided it was time to go back to the basics. I needed to focus on what had worked for me in the past, a simple, straightforward approach.

You know, this realization reinvigorated my training and it's boosted my motivation levels again. So time will tell of course, but I'll keep pushing forward. And following on from this, it got me thinking about how this principle could apply to our work as actors. In bodybuilding, simplicity often leads to success. When I first started, I didn't have access to fancy equipment or complex training programs. I relied on the basic exercises, consistent routine and a disciplined mindset.

So over the years, as new trends and techniques emerged and I got older, it was easy to get caught up in the latest fads, you know, switching from technique to technique, diet to diet, and you lose sight of what truly works or worked in the past. So returning to the basics will now allow me to focus on foundational exercises and maintaining a consistent workout schedule and sticking to a simple yet effective diet plan. It also meant being honest with myself about my goals and my progress,

and not getting distracted by quick fixes or shortcuts. And this will hopefully lead to seeing some positive results over time, which will maintain the motivation and not allow me to so easily give in and find an excuse to binge after a negative result, which is what I tend to do. Mine's a little bit different because I've had to lose so much weight and over such a big time frame. So I think you need to find small goals to get through rather than looking at the end result, which could be two years down the road.

down, you need that sort of stepping stone approach. And this back to basics approach reminded me that sometimes less is more. It's about doing the simple things consistently and with dedication. And this got me thinking, could this same principle apply to acting? Not even just acting, but anything in life. But as we're a podcast about late bloomer acting, well, me being the late bloomer actor, that's what we're going to talk about today. As actors, we...

We often seek out complex techniques and advanced workshops and intricate character analysis. We seek out course after course, workshop after workshop, book after book. I don't know if you can see in the background, but I've got quite a few books there. Many still have to read, of course, but timing is one of those wonderful things that we all lack these days. While these can certainly enhance our craft, there's something to be said for simplicity. The basics of acting, which are...

Listening, reacting, being present in the moment, they're fundamental to delivering a genuine performance. So just like in bodybuilding, it's easy to get overwhelmed by all the different methods and theories in acting. But at its core, acting is about connecting with the character and the audience on a human level. It's about stripping away the excess and focusing on the essential audience on a human level. It's about stripping away the excess and focusing on the essential elements that make...

a performance believable and compelling. And this was the essence of training that I recently got with Les Chantery. So again, a huge plug for me, if you get the opportunity, perhaps consider looking into any training with Les, because it really brought me back to the basics of just being real on screen. Returning to the basics in acting means honing your skills through consistent practice, of being disciplined in your approach and staying true to the fundamental principles of the craft.

It's about trusting your instincts, you know, not over -complicating the process. So, what have I learned from my journey back to basics in the gym and how can we apply these lessons to our acting careers? I put together these five points, which I put some thought into it. So, point number one, consistency is key. Whether it's working out or rehearsing lines, showing up consistently is crucial.

Progress is made through regular, dedicated practice. We all know that. I saw this for myself in the Self Tape May Challenge, which I've done each year for the last three years now, where the consistent completion of a self tape was amazing in the improvements that I got and that everyone else had participated and got in only one month. Point number two, simplicity works. Don't get lost in the complexity. Focus on fundamental skills and techniques that have stood the test of time.

Point number three, discipline and honesty. Be disciplined in your approach and honest with yourself about your progress and areas for improvement. Number four, this is big for me, embrace the setbacks. Understand that setbacks are part of the journey. Use them as a learning opportunities and keep moving forward, but don't use them as an excuse to binge in a diet or training context or give up or temporarily throwing the towel if we're looking at an acting context.

And the last point of which there'd be more, but for the five that I wanted to focus on, stay true to yourself, trust your instincts and stay true to who you are as an actor. Being you on screen resonates more than any technique. It's what I've been finding and what I get taught a lot through my mentors and trainers that I have.

As I continue my journey to get back into competitive shape, I'm reminded that the simple approach is often the most effective. And I encourage all of you to consider how this approach could benefit you and your acting careers. So there you go, guys. That's what I wanted to talk about. Thank you for joining me with this Off Script episode of The Late Bloomer Actor Podcast. I hope my thoughts here will inspire you to simplify your approach and focus on what truly matters in your craft.

And remember that sometimes the simplest path leads to the most awesome success. And that's what I'm hoping for both in my bodybuilding and my acting as it continues. So before I have a quick chat with anyone online, before I sign off, I just want to throw out a call to action for everyone. I'd like to do a few Off Script episodes in the next few months talking about the business side of acting. You know, like agents, IMDB, headshots, whatever else you think

I might be able to provide some insight in. I've never, I've actually, I have been asked whether I would teach acting, but I don't think I can be a teacher in the craft of acting. I'm still learning so much myself and I would never even dare to contemplate to think that I could be a teacher in it, even though many people have asked. And I thank you very much for that. I've still got so much more to learn myself, but...

On the business side of that, I've really, really done a lot of research into it and I take it very professionally and have done from day one. And I think it's a big part that a lot of actors are not even aware of. So I'm happy to pass on what I know and what my insights are on there because I feel confident in my knowledge in those areas. So if you'd like to drop me a text message via the link in the show notes for the podcast with any ideas you have, don't forget to include your name in that text message if you use the text link.

Or email me at thelatebloomeractor That's all one word, thelatebloomeractor @ gmail .com. If you're keen, maybe we could even just us bringing you onto the show to put your questions to me directly, open up some live discussions live on the show. So guys, that's what I wanted to say today. I thank you very much for those listening to the podcast later on. This has been recorded live and I'm going to wind it up, but...

just check to see if we've got any questions online from anyone.

Everyone's just listening and taking it all in. So thank you very much. It's the joys of trying to get the timing right. I know it's just going on 4 .30pm here on a Monday afternoon in Adelaide, South Australia. So it's not quite midnight in the States. So it's the joys of trying to reach the world. But this was more of a test to see how the live streaming functionality worked and whether people thought it was a good thing. So, and at the same time, it also records

for me and I can release it as a podcast later on. Ladies and gentlemen, that's a nice 15 minutes. I thank you for joining me if you've been here live. I thank you for watching or listening if you're listening to the catch up later on or listening to the podcast itself. Remember to check out the Late Bloomer Actor on all your favourite podcast hosts, wherever you listen to or on YouTube or you can get the direct link from

all my links on Buzzsprout, you can watch it there as well. So I'm recording on Riverside FM. Thank you very much, team. They've made some wonderful improvements to the recording software and loving the journey. So thank you very much. It's a Monday afternoon. I'll let you all get back to whatever you're doing. And as I like to say, I'll see you on set.