Your Friday Question: Metrics
Posted on | November 9, 2007 | 4 Comments
How do you measure success?
Now it can be told: some reviews for Chalk have not been so positive. A couple have been much more flattering. Even with a background as a reviewer, even having sat in on market research sessions that tell me the two groups who put the most stock in reviews are reviewers and the people putting on the reviewed show, I can’t deny that I’ve been affected for better and for ill by what’s being said in print, and by the favorable and unfavorable things close friends have said.
Yet I continue to have a blast doing this show. What am I getting out of it that is so satisfying? Will it always be so satisfying? And what do I do then?
I look back at a year chock-full of projects, most a lot of fun to do, and I wonder if I’m working hard enough to move forward. Then I wonder what “forward” is. Is it working all the time in non-equity theatre, having a blast? Is it becoming equity and leaving my day job? Am I really interested in the major life adjustments that come with that sort of shift? Would I be willing to move to NYC or LA to make money at this?
How about you? What are the goals? And how will you know when you reach them?
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4 Responses to “Your Friday Question: Metrics”
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November 12th, 2007 @ 4:09 pm
This is something I struggle with usually at the very beginning or very end of a project.
I don’t know the answer. But, until I do I just want to spend as much time with people whose company I enjoy and who enrich my life with their being a part of it. The rest is gravy, at least that is how I see it right now.
November 15th, 2007 @ 4:28 pm
hey dan, did you get that thing I sent ya?
-Bob aka dv
November 15th, 2007 @ 4:51 pm
Bob – no, I did not … dangranata at the google mail.
November 16th, 2007 @ 10:33 am
I measure my success by the number of scalps I have acquired from my enemies. When I have enough to make a coat, I have succeeded.
Seriously, that’s a tough question. The problem we all run into is that we rarely are aware of when we’ve “made it.” Sure, we may set goals and we may reach them, but we’re always striving for something beyond. It’s the proverbial carrot that is being dangled in front of us. But truth be told, once we get that carrot, we will continue to run around the track trying to chase the next carrot, which is bound to be tastier, right? And to what end?
Part of me thinks that I’ll know I’ve “made it” when I live in a large loft apartment, roll out of bed every morning at 10am, walk to the coffee shop where the cute barista and I flirt shamelessly, read the paper, write in my notebook, and then head off to rehearsal from noon to 5pm (it’s a socially significant work that will be seen by the public – not just industry professionals. I then get dinner with friends and then go and see a show, followed by drinks and then I go to bed at 1am ready to do it all over again.
But I know that will never be enough either…