Film Courage: We learn by example, we change by decision, we move forward with intention.”
Jocelyn Jones, Acting Teacher/Author: That pretty much covers it. sometimes read things from my own
book and I don't remember them at all because a lot of it is it just comes in it just was very,
very fluid experience but we certainly learn by example we're set up that way as beings we
grow up we learn to walk we see our parents walk and we see them eating a certain way
we we learn everything by those around us as an example for quite a long time
the thing is the next one is trickier we change by decision right
that's a little trickier because you have to be conscious to make a decision but we have moments
where life sometimes pushes there's something happens in life and we go oh we make this decision
we we get this impulse it's very strong impulse that we have to make a decision and those are
and we can all find those periods of time in our life that where we made really important decisions
my husband is a filmmaker he was a director and he was a teacher at USC and this is one of the
first things he would ask his class to identify a decision that they made in their life that was
life-changing that moved them in a new direction so we all and and they love it and they come up
with these things and then he shows them how this is a great seed for a film is because these are
and they're important they happen from your heart I need to make a decision here
they're big they're conscious we move forward the intention is the practice
we are all really worried spend a lot waste a lot of time on worrying what other people think of us
did anyway and if you're an actor actress or like there do they like me do they not like me what do
I have to do to get this job how do I have to act to get this job that's the problem that they kind
of hear the part in their head and then they go into the audition they deliver this part
that they hear in their head that came from the words on the page and having been on both
sides of that experience I can tell you that 90 of the actors who come in they don't even
come in anymore they have to film it but ninety percent of the actors who came in for an audition
I would give the same audition it all sounded the same way it came off the page and hit their ear in
the same way so intention is everything when you move forward then tension an actor moves forward
like I don't I hear that, I hear The Call of the Wild I hear the words I hear how it seems like it
wants to be played but I'm going to intentionally ask some questions here what could this be what
could be going on what could he be thinking what could he be responding to what could he want what
could is the question and then you repeat those questions that's the intentionality in art in
acting that's intentionally what could it be I want to discover something that Rings true in my
own heart so that I can make a discovery because without discovery it's not yours but I made this
discovery now I want to play this now I have something to offer that comes from me and nobody
else doesn't come from my thinking of what I heard when I read the words it comes from a discovery
I asked some questions I discovered this thing oh I can give it that I can give myself to that
so intentionality I intend to live a life where I'm connected to myself I intend to live a life
with a certain amount of stillness in it so I can listen to the environment and to what's outside
of myself I intend to be kind so I'm going to practice that I intend to help others so I'm going
to make a list of things that I can contribute to I intend to contribute I tell actors and others in
the book because we're now taking that to other people who want to live a more intentional life
what what are your intentions you have to look at your intentions when you make a decision
ask yourself how does this contribute if your intention is to contribute as a human being to
help lift the planet up a little bit then with your decisions you ask yourself how does this
contribute does this contribute does this thing that I'm doing contribute to my health to my
family to my community to the world at large does a contribute that's a great great intention is to
walk forward with asking yourself I want to contribute how do I contribute how do I make
the right decisions how do I become the best person I can be it's that simple imagine if
we were taught as little children your job is to become the best person you can be not your
job is to learn what date the war of two savages happened I can't even think of the wars what I
mean I it doesn't stick doesn't stick who needs that nobody needs that what we need are people
there's there's something magic about autonomy autonomy is being able to move forward with self
and that happens because you have gotten to a place in your life where you say I trust my
intentions I've been intentional enough to know that I trust my intentions so I can't
really spend I'm not going to spend time worrying about whether somebody likes me
or not because my intentions are correct I intend as a teacher to see the best in every student I
in life could I say I like this one better than that one maybe but as a teacher no there's no I
like him I don't like him he's in the room he's come to me for help I intend to listen I intend
to help as best as I can I intend to help them be as good as they can be so this intentionality is
is really the way to move forward in life but you have to know in what direction you have to
have the questions before that which is what do I want to do and then does it contribute
and then I'm going to intend to live a life and now my choices is does this intention
help that along or does this intention not help that a lot I mean I always choose the
path that helps along my desire to to be the best human being I can be if I had another life
I would have a school I would have a school I would have I would teach people from a very young
age to like what is it you want to do and and how to become the best people that they can be isn't
that was it's pretty simple isn't that what it should be all about I think that's pretty simple
so many things I want to talk about here but I know you think you've said in the book that you
loved acting but you didn't like the the job of acting and and the the auditions and and maybe the
rejection but you knew you wanted to help people you felt you did have a calling as a teacher
what if you have students that come in and they say what my intention is pretty pure and clear and
I want to make projects or be part of projects that expose the greater good or enable people
to see things in a new light but they're hitting like a roadblock and they don't know why so their
intention seems pretty pure it's not just to have a certain amount of followers or whatever that'd
be nice but but they're they're hitting this roadblock what do you tell them they're maybe
they're not booking roles maybe the cast that they got together it fell apart yeah there's
no real one answer to that because there's so many different ways it could be blocked what
you're talking about is I have an intention I think the intention is a valuable intention
I've lined certain things up behind it and it's not I'm blocked it's not working so in
that case you have to look at a holistically at the actor how is their thinking are they really
entertaining a lot of negative thinking a lot of self-judgment do they have a perfectionism
syndrome there's a lot of different ways to even though your intention is pure you have to clear up
some bad personal habits of presentation it could be that what I mean but the the basis is to give
them the tools to examine things very clearly and they want help so if you ask things like are you
being are you judgmental are you hard on you oh yeah I'm really hard on myself or and I say are
you hard on others no I'm not I'm not so hard on others I'm just hard on myself it makes me better
they think it makes them better it doesn't make you any better it's just judgment and by the way I
always tell them hard on self hard on others hand in hand so you may recognize one more than the
other but I'm sorry to tell you you're judgment judging yourself you're judging others and exactly
nothing will come of that except some false slightly stomach turning sense of false security.