Today we’d like to introduce you to Cameron Darwin Bossert.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
One week in middle school I walked around with a cardboard cutout of a TV screen. The TV network was CDB which was just my initials but changed to mean “Comedy, Drama, Box Office.” I turned the cardboard around and gave my friends TV shows they would perform every day, either going around interviewing people like the news, or making up characters and stories.
I don’t know what was wrong with me.
I guess it was funny enough that I didn’t get beat up for it. The second week, I even made a soda and candy dispenser to go with it, so people could pour themselves a Dr. Pepper and watch their friends improv a sitcom.
But I kept at it, until I knew how to actually write a script and make actual short films (that were about 40 minutes long), and stage plays, including a musical in senior year with 2 acts and a cast of about 30. Our local PBS station even filmed some of the behind-the-scenes as part of a documentary.
And I kept at it, learning, using better equipment than cardboard, and here I am running a streaming service and theater company all in one.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Of course it hasn’t been a smooth road. Doing film and theater equally you have to spend enough time in each one, to learn not only the best way to get things done with very little money, but also learn the differences between what they deliver to an audience.
I launched Thirdwing, my hybrid theater-film company, 4 days before the covid shutdown in NYC. The streaming side was not enough to stay afloat. Our mission was to provide in-person theater at a low cost, because it was a streaming subscription that included your ticket.
So I mourned the loss of in-person activity for a year and a half, and just waited until 2021 when we could do what we set out to do in the first place.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
One of my old employers said “You wear a lot of hats,” like it was a bad thing.
It’s generational. Now people have to do so many different things by themselves. Writing, acting, editing, marketing. There are so many “multi-hyphenates” now it’s not a flex. If it’s in your website bio, it sounds like you’re running around without a place to land. Maybe that’s what my old boss was talking about.
So I spent some time studying business so all the skills had a place to land.
But the one skill that’s made it all actually work is playwriting, and that’s what I’ve gotten the most recognition for. So I’d call myself a playwright. Everything I do supports that. It’s what I’ve put the most time into getting better at.
Are there any books, apps, podcasts or blogs that help you do your best?
They say write what you know. I say that’s great, but try to know more.
It’s never been easier to know more.
YouTube and podcasts: I can watch UN press briefings on YouTube, listen to boring podcasts for tips on becoming an Otolaryngologist, and watch taped depositions and disbarment hearings, and on and on.
Books: a great way to focus deeply on a subject. If I’m researching for a period piece I have rule: if something gets said in 3 different books, you can use it as a more objective fact in the world you’re building.
Movies: watching really good, really boring films (I hate that they’re so often the same thing), your imagination can really open up.
Pricing:
- Monthly membership: $7
- Yearly membership: $59
- Unlimited yearly membership: $125
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.thirdwing.info
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thirdwingltd
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thirdwingltd
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/thirdwingltd
- Other: TikTok: @thirdwing
Image Credits
Onstage photos by Valerie Terranova