How did you first get people to pay attention to your work?
By making a conscious decision to face my fears: fear to fail, fear to embarrass myself in front of my peers, fear to put my shit out there because it may not do well or may be misunderstood. Most importantly, fear to ask for help. I always saw asking people for help as something that made me look desperate. Like, I always had this “if I have talent then things will come to me” attitude, and that’s just not the case. The first time people actually paid attention to me, or took me seriously, was after I performed a sketch with Fred Armisen at a theatre in Los Angeles. I was going to open for a show that night by reading one of my short stories. There was a male part in the story that was going to be read by my boyfriend. Fred Armisen happened to be at that show and I told my boyfriend “it would be my dream if Fred read the male part instead of you” (kind of a dick move on my part, but my boyfriend totally agreed). Ten minutes before going on stage I was like “fuck it, I’m just going to ask him.” He said yes immediately and the performance was so, so great. Sharing the stage with him made people pay more attention. I wish things weren’t like that, but they are, and I’m glad I went for it. It taught me a huge lesson about asking for help.
Another thing that has been super hard for me, but essential to get people to pay attention to my work, has been to not shit on my own work. I used to do it all the time as a defense mechanism. I’d say “Yeah, I’m performing in a one-woman show, but I’m not an actress, and it’s not that good, it’s an amateur production and probably no one will come, you don’t have to come if you don’t want.” Now, thinking back, I cringe when I think of the shit I would say about myself. I’m not saying to go out there and tell people you’re magnificent, but giving myself a little bit of credit has gone a long way.
