We were lucky to catch up with David Schaefer recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, David thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Do you have an agent or someone (or a team) that helps you secure opportunities and compensation for your creative work? How did you meet you, why did you decide to work with them, why do you think they decided to work with you?
Signing with a new agent was always exciting:
I was fortunate and I am very grateful to be represented and still represented and have signed with many top agents in my 15 years entertainment career who helped me on my path reaching my goals and dreams. Without them many things wouldn’t been possible.
I’m not saying it was an easy path for me I had many obstacles but I had great supporters always on my side some have left me some I left but I’m grateful for the help and I always try to see the positive in life.
Naturally I’m very ambitious and sometimes this is not so good because you want things fast which is not happening definitely not in entertainment industry. Things take time.
In the beginning I was young and naive and made many decisions I am not proud of and some decisions I am very proud of. This is life I understood we all live and learn make mistakes that’s the only way to grow as a human being and become hopefully one day the best version of yourself.
As a fashion model , actor or singer I was and I am still gratefully to this day represented by the best agents in the world who deserve my gratitude.
The help I got on my journey made me realised that I try to give as much back to the younger generation and older ones these days to help them on their journey. I share my knowledge and experiences I gained in life or my world travels. I try to always learn from others whenever I can.
David , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
Hey guys I’m David Schaefer Swiss Croatian actor model singer songwriter born in Basel Switzerland. 2008 I started my entertainment journey in a Disney pop band in Germany signed to a major record label in Kooperation with a Disney channel.
Later I was discovered as a model from a top Austrian model agent signed to his company and was since then traveling 10 years around the globe living in countries like china, Malaysia, UK South Africa, USA, Turkey and many more places.
My favorite place is LA and London.
If you asked me what skillset do you need in a entertainment career?
I would say Discipline, patience, humour, a will to succeed. Learning that failure is just part of the path.
A strong believe in yourself . I was many times wanting to give up but somehow I never give up. Maybe it’s because I was sick as a child and this made me stronger as my friend would say David your are a peaceful warrior.
I always laugh and say better be a warrior in a garden than a gardener in a war. I live by this quote.
I think it’s very important to Carpe Diem while still focusing on your goals and dreams. Life is so unpredictable and we must embrace everyday and enjoy also the little things.
What is the difference between me and others?
Naturally I always speak my mind which sometimes can be a problem not everyone like this. I learned in this industry or in life to be authentic which always helped me to never loose ground and stay humble.
I treat every human being the same and with respect no matter what job title you got. I know we are all just human beings and everyone gives their best.
I work extremely hard on my goals and dreams and I learned the only way to be better is to find a way to be yourself as an actor and human being.
I’m some would say a perfectionist that sometimes needs to accept that I can only give my best and everything is not in my hands. I made so many mistakes but today I can laugh about it.
Never give up and keep going that’s what’s important.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
What I learned about myself in life everything I do in life needs to serve a bigger meaning than just myself. I most probably started my modeling acting and music journey because I love to inspire people and trough music acting we can inspire if we are lucky millions of people.
I call my journey a purpose road .
I always asked myself many questions philosophical questions like why are we here? What’s our purpose here? What’s my purpose? . How can I make an impact here on planet earth for this time I have. All those questions are sometimes coming into my mind.
I am a deep thinker when I’m alone in nature on my hikes and I ask myself many questions. I read books Marc Aurel, Seneca, Tagore, and many more.
I believe every human being is special and we all have different talents and a purpose to fulfill . I strongly believe that. Life is beautiful because of all the experience good and bad we are always learning.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
Throughout my career and life I I sometimes laugh and say I believed in unicorns. I trusted unfortunately many people that disappointed me.
I was very naive and not as business minded as today.
Today I’m also more careful who I trust and what I share with people.
I don’t blame anyone and I also
never look back in anger sometimes it’s part of our path to make so many mistakes and learn from them to now be the version we are today. I always say you are not the person today like you were 10 years ago. We all learn and grow wiser.
I know I’m in a very competitive industry and that can be not easy even though I don’t see others as a competition because I see myself as a competition. I want to be better then I was yesterday. If I see someone is better then me or more advanced in any area I try to learn from him but I try to remove toxic things like jealousy out of my life.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/davidschaeferofficial
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/officialdavidschaefer?igshid=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA==
- Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/davidschaeferartist?mibextid=LQQJ4d&wtsid=rdr_0G2dp8S14XoO1tXkL
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidschaeferofficial
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/davidschaefer23
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@davidschaeferactor
- Other: I’m represented by the acting agency www.wgmtalent.com
Image Credits
https://www.krula.co.uk/ Photographer: Maciek Krula
https://nickjamesphotography.co.uk/ Nick James
Maciek Krula