Film Courage: Being your own artist instead of an imitation of what your
teachers might have instilled in you, can we talk about that?
Sheila Houlahan, Actor, Singer, Producer and Writer: Oh yeah we can! I think that is the final
launch to really being able to allow yourself to achieve your dreams. At some point you can't be a
student anymore. You have to just blindly charge at it the way you would want to I actually find
that to be a big trap for folks in our industry people who get too comfortable with the student
mentality people like at least on the after side of things people who stay with the same studio for
like 15 years and I'm like think you learned what they have to teach but I get it I mean it's hard
when you find a community but at some point you need to strike out and do it your way because at
the end of the day when you think of artists that have made an impact across fields whether it be
the visual arts or film or music or what have you they always end up leaving
the herd and doing it their way when you think of like Harrison Ford or Tom Hanks they're just
them I know if I'm going to see something with Harrison Ford in it like I know what's coming
he's going to be Harrison Ford he's never put himself ever in a position where he's not so
when I teach my students or when I mentor folks it's always from from day one it's always about
what do you want to do what speaks to you how about you bring the material in that
you think is interesting and exciting let's go from there hey why don't we
build a project off of that material oh is this your calling that's fun like I want to
find what lights them up and go from there and that's how I also steer my own career is like
if I can't make a choice whether it be something as in front ever behind the camera I can survey
my mentors I can talk to teachers I can coach all day long but at the end of the day I have to make
a decision and that decision is going to be made off of my own gut instincts I might be looking
for reinforcement from other people but at some point you have to have the courage to fail forward
I also just believe that if you're making a decision from a place that isn't ego driven
and that is just your own artistic self it's going to be really hard to fail but if you do fail it's
going to actually be a learning experience where you're going to be able to be more honed in to
what you need to do better next time you have to be willing to make that leap at the end of the day
how do we learn from a teacher without making them a quote unquote guru and
then if we leave the quote unquote Nest then we can bring a little bit of our own Flair to it
yeah I don't know that there is a way to not make somebody a guru in that that's their choice I've
worked with teachers where it's like gather around me my students and it's like well you
you chose that and I can't tell you to not choose that for me it's just like knowing that quite
frankly that is a marketing trick and there are a lot of teachers who are making this town and
in other towns are making money by showing their students I am a guru and you don't know anything
whether it's a conservatory or a private Studio or just like a random online class that is how people
make money so I am aware of that and sensitive to that marketing and I go in and go well what can I
learn and when I feel like I'm starting to butt head that's when I it's funny because one of my
best friends pointed that out to me she was like at some point you start butting heads with them
and that's when you're ready to go and I'm like yeah yeah this is a pretty solid read actually
when my own ethos and ethics like get in the way that's when it's like what I think I actually have
learned what I need and I'm already ready to do this on my own so I'm just going to go do it my
way I think you just for for everybody out there listening you have to be really conscientious
about going in there don't assume that you don't know anything like you're a person who has a
lived experience things whether or not the teacher thinks anything is irrelevant it's ultimately your
decision as to how much of a student versus artist you already are so I think it's just about going
in like being really dispassionate not buying Into The Branding that you're getting shoved at in your
face and being like what can I learn here what's fun then take it home and like try it on yourself
play with it yourself see how it feels and then keep working with them until you're not really
getting anything out of it is what I would say and then move on and very often what it means is that
you've Almost Up leveled where it's like okay I need to find someone who plays at this level now
who plays at this level who's who's going to be able to deliver what I need for where I'm at as
an artist and at some point you're not going to find that anymore that all comes from you
and I think if you go into classes like that you start to develop your own system for self-teaching
and I find it's the people who self-teach that really succeed as you mentioned earlier it's
funny you were mentioning Tom Hanks I was actually thinking around that time of the
Tom Hanks character in Forrest Gump where he's jogging and and all these followers are behind
him yeah and then he stops and they're like hey guys okay wait he's stopping he's stopping he's
going to speak he's going to speak and all he says is I'm tired now and so you're like why were they
following him because some people they we all want someone to follow yeah it's I think it's probably
Human Nature I'm weird and that I don't like I get a little stifled when I feel like there's
something that I have to follow and I think in the past that energy has really triggered some
folks who are not secure with their own state of identity and internal leadership which I'm
like I'm sorry that you feel upset by me existing I'm not going to change anything
but yeah I think I think that there are a lot of folks where it is human nature to be able to want
to follow someone look at social media that's literally what it is is following people but I
mean at the end at the end of the day you only live once and and not trying to Yellow this but
but I mean it's like do you want to live as yourself when when you're old and you're dying
do you want to live as yourself or do you want to be like wow that was a waste of time
I actually side note have legally died before and it completely changed my entire life perspective
and I think that's why I now sound Airy fairy I love that and I'm stealing that airy fairy is my
new favorite phrase but it changed everything for me because it's like well okay that happened like
that is going to happen again at some point so I'm going to make the most of the time that I have
rather than try to delude myself into thinking that I'm an immortal being
and so I want to live as myself I want to live in alignment with my values I think that too many
folks are blinded by the consumerist principles that were taught as kids I mean literally taught
right like indoctrinated into brands from a little kid I sound like a rampant communist I
am just a person who notices things and I I'm very nerdy about branding just going to say
that right now but we really are indoctrinated to things like McDonald's or other brands that
are like household names you're a child this is normal and it's almost like we're taught to Value
those Brands more than we are taught to be still and start to discover what our own value systems
are because I really believe that if who you are what you believe in what you stand for and
you live in accordance with that you're going to live a life filled with purpose that is aligned
with your true calling as it were so that when your time has come and it's time to leave this
planet you can say yeah I'm happy with what I did and sharing only what you want to share about it
you said having yeah it's a weird experience yeah I'm totally comfortable talking about
it so what changed afterwards was it a gradual changing this is pretty immediate well I guess
I knew what happened like I can concretely say cool I know what's going to happen when I die
which took the fear out of it so then it was like okay Paradigm switch it's not about being afraid
of death like I can't stop it it's going to come at some point it's just use use the time that I
have now don't take it for granted with the caveat of like mental health happens and sometimes you
really don't feel great and then it's like be kind to yourself please but in terms of now it's just
I'm going to work really hard every day and if I don't feel good I will take care of myself
and then proceed to work really hard with the time I have did you change any life habits in
terms of maybe being on the fence about a career before and then knowing this is what I meant to do
get that changed it's like all of a sudden I wasn't scared anymore of a lot of stuff
I was just like nothing is altogether alarming and if anything it evened out
the playing field like we all will die every person watching this I'm sorry to report you
will die one day we're all going to die and that means that I am the same as Tom Cruise
we are the same as a houseless person that I have yet the pleasure of meeting we are all the image
the great equalizer and we all have the same gift of being here on this planet we all have the gift
of time we may not all have access or privilege to be able to do what we want I will not deny
that I'm very fortunate in the life that I was randomly born into but that doesn't change that
we have undeniable things like time to be able to work towards what it is that we ultimately want.