RGG December 2016 - p.20
What are dreams? I had loads growing up; used
to imagine myself doing incredible things but
then I grew up got a job had my heart broken
lots of times landed in debt tried to fit in to
society etc etc and stopped dreaming at night
Most probably because I wanted to stay up late
indulge myself and behave like a responsible
adult I pretty much gave up dreaming or even
thinking about dreams because reality was
hitting me hard in the face on a daily basis and
life was difficult I made no time to think about
impossibilities and that was the real problem; I
gave myself limits Then one day I was lucky
enough to have one more dream and I finally
woke up
The dream happened a few years ago and it was
me in America being creative Now to some
people that might not sound like a big dream
but at the time I was flat broke had never been
to the USA and had no real clue how I could ever
go about doing anything over there It hit me
that the only thing stopping me from really
doing anything was myself and my own doubts
When I was young I dreamt of being in a film in
the USA Reality told me that no one was going
to swoop down and transport me to America to
be in a film but instead of shrugging off the idea
News FlashNews Trash
I decided to actually think how I could make this
happen Well like I said I was broke So I decided
to save money for three months didn't go out
as much and tried to budget I had no contacts
with any filmmakers from the USA so I thought
"Who would?" and then it occurred to me that
I needed to look for one or talk to people and
network Due to searching I struck it lucky as I
came into contact with a Scottish booking agent
called Debbie Stewart who had American
clients When her clients would come to the UK
she would arrange things for them to do here
So I started to use my head and asked her if she
knew anyone from the States who could help
me Now you may be thinking "What is this
going to achieve?" even if she knew anyone of
use then why would they want me in a
production? At one stage I began to realise that
I needed to create a portfolio for acting which
would improve my chances of anyone being
interested in me So I began to chase small parts
in UK film or TV projects Before that point I'd
lost all confidence in doing anything like that
but now I was going for it again because of a
bigger dream I wasn't even sure I wanted to do
any acting but it felt good; like I was a dreaming
teenager again Thankfully I managed to land
TV extra roles on the BBC and Channel
Nick J Townsend is the frontman and
guitarist for British band Weak13
An experienced Underground
musician and music promoter
Supporter of original music
@weak13
@nickjtownsend
This month I'm going to give my best advice to some of you creative people out
there who are stuck in a rut disheartened or uninspired There are a few bands
and songwriters out there who are feeling like they have done everything
possible in order to move forward and now feel like a fly that's splattered on to
the windscreen of a Sony executive's company car So this month I'm going to
suggest you attempt the impossible
r
gg
21
YEARS
1995-2016
