We recently connected with Patrick Roper and have shared our conversation below.

Patrick , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about the things you feel your parents did right and how those things have impacted your career and life.

Certainly, a fair number of parents feel some trepidation at hearing that their child wants to become an actor. Anybody who may know anything about this work understands that it’s filled with a fair amount of frustration, hardship, and insecurity. My parents, however, were always extremely supportive of me following an artistic path. Thankfully, I had the kind of parents who would have probably supported me no matter what I decided to do in life. But more than that, they actually seemed quite excited at the prospective of me doing something creative. My mother asked me when I was about five what I wanted to do when I grew up and I pointed at the TV and said “That!”. I had a sense even then that an adult could make a living playing make believe and that sounded like a pretty good gig to me. That said, she wasn’t a stage mom. She didn’t push me into it as much as she observed my interest and fostered it anyway she knew how. I think she wanted me to have a normal childhood to some degree. We’d watched movies together and she would point out actors that she liked, why they were interesting to her, and what she thought I might learn from watching them. She taught me a lot about psychology and humanity. We watched a lot of documentaries about theatre, filmmaking, and film history. She had grown up next to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland and we spent our summers there. She would often take me to plays and expose me to the arts any way she could. My father had an interest in British television and movies, so I was also exposed to a healthy amount of classical British theatre and film actors. I remember a teacher in 5th grade once asked the class who they would most like to meet. When they got around to me I said Laurence Olivier. The teacher was floored and most of the kids had no idea who that was. Mom and Dad also supported my other creative impulses. Drawing, painting, music, photography, sewing, and cooking. I think the greatest thing they ever did was allowing me to explore and never making me feel like I couldn’t possibly do any of these things that I thought about. They allowed me the room to be me and would provide whatever support they knew how, without trying to turn it into some practical enterprise. They allowed me to dream and think big. That support is so important and as I’ve come to find out in my adult life talking to other creatives, it’s quite rare.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’m an actor, filmmaker, photographer, writer, and acting coach. I’ve been doing this really most of my life, but I suppose I started getting serious about it, started really thinking about it as a career path, in my mid teens. Because of that, I’ve seen this industry go through a lot of changes over the years and have had my hand in a number of areas of it. After studying a broad range of theatre disciplines, I started a theatre company right out of school at about 18. I was also picking up acting gigs wherever I could. I did a few years at Shakespeare festivals which got me signed with my first agent. About that time, I also started working on independent films (back when they were still shot on film). The digital world had not come around at that point. I took several years off from acting work and started a fairly successful company making kilts and importing goods from the UK and Ireland. After retiring, I spent a few years traveling and being a bit of an adventurer, I suppose you could call it. I decided I wanted a change in life, so I moved to the other side of the country. Up to this point, I was a Seattle native who, although well travelled, had never really lived anywhere else. So, I came to Savannah, GA on a bit of a whim. It was good timing, because the film industry was in full swing in Georgia, so I got back into the only boat I really knew how to steer. Since then, I’ve had a fair amount of success in the film business here. Because of my rather broad education and experiences throughout the years, I write a lot about acting as well and have been coaching actors now for a few years. It really makes me happy when I see those “Aha!” moments in the people I work with. Especially, when they come to me and tell me that they got a callback or a booking or some agent/manager tells them that they’ve seen a huge improvement in their work. It’s very rewarding knowing that I have contributed to someone else’s experience and knowledge of this thing. I tend to be a bit of an out-of-the-box, unconventional thinker and I have been told that I’m really good at putting actors at ease and giving them a comfortable space to explore themselves with the kind of vulnerability that this work requires. I like to think that my main goal is to empower actors and storytellers. At the same time, I’m always learning about the craft and myself in it. I’m trusted by many, because I’m very open and frank about this work and I’m in the trenches with everyone else. I like to lead from the front as much as I can and if I can look behind me and show anyone a potential path they might take, I’m happy to be that guide.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

There seems to be a lot about this work that people don’t quite grasp. For starters, there’s no real linear path into it. It’s not like you go to school, take some tests, get a degree, and find a job. Sure, that does happen for some, but those are almost the exception to the rule. It’s not even about talent or even looks either. Yes, those help, but I assure you, somewhere out there right now, is the best actor in the world, who is absolutely mesmerizing, and almost nobody knows about them, because they can’t catch the right break. They haven’t been able to get themselves where they need to. Whether it’s limited resources, limited thinking, or limited opportunity. That is one thing that is brilliant these days in this business is that a lot of it done via self tapes (auditions that you can do remotely and submit online). Self taping has opened up the industry in ways that have had a major impact on careers. But there are also plenty of people in the business that frankly aren’t even that talented or have matinee idol appeal. They have learned the value of persistence, marketing, and being very teachable. That goes a long ways in this business. Another thing is that most people think that actors and movie industry people are making tons of money. Certainly, a lot of money floats around this business on the studio end and a lot of it is used to make everything seem glamorous and, yes, the very top 0.5% or so of film/TV actors are doing pretty well for themselves. But they are the exceptions. Here are some figures, there are around 160k actors who are members of the Screen Actor’s Guild (SAG-AFTRA). Really only about 10% of those are working in any capacity and most of that 10% are making less than $5k a year. Only about 1% of the 160k are what anyone would call recognizable. So, really only a very narrow margin of people actually make a full time living doing this and that’s just the union talent. There are millions of actors outside of the union trying to do this. A big reason those top earners are as wealthy as they are is because they’ve invested in other areas. Producing is certainly big, but many find businesses outside of the industry to invest in. Restaurants, real estate, liquor companies, carpentry, fashion, and a whole host of other things. Like anyone, it pays to diversify. Most actors have day jobs other than acting. Speaking of that, actors have to pay a team of people a large percentage of their income to be working. This team could possibly include the following: 10% for an agent, 10%-20% for a manager, 5% for an attorney, 2%-5% for a publicist, plus taxes, plus union dues (if you are union). By the time you’ve paid everyone, you are usually paying out anywhere from 1/3rd to 3/4ths of your income. Something else that people often don’t quite get is how artists and actors can take so much rejection. An actor gets rejected probably more than any profession out there by a long shot. It’s an incredible emotional rollercoaster. People seem to understand that there is a lot of rejection, but they don’t grasp how we can take it. There is a lot of self help in this business. A lot of reframing the meaning of an outcome. The good ones know how to reframe what many would consider soul crushing defeat into a win. Some more figures for those not in the trenches. It is not unheard of that a simple, one line role in a film may have several thousand actors submit for it. Of that, maybe only 50-100 get actual auditions. That’s typically narrowed down to 5-7 who get callbacks (a second audition). Sometimes this process goes into several auditions, before someone is cast in the part. You could be absolutely perfect for the role in every way and still not get it for reasons that you have no control over. Very few businesses are like that to that degree. It’s really hard work, physically and emotionally, to persevere. It’s why the attrition rate is so high. It takes a certain kind of metal to keep taking the punches and get back up again.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Speaking of personal resilience. I’ve been at this for awhile. Some 35+ years really. I’ve wandered off to do other things in life and have always come back. I guess you can say it’s a calling. Maybe it’s insanity. Probably a bit of both. I’ve had some dark days where I just feel like I’m about to break and throw in the towel. But there’s a thing in me that loves the challenge. The odds are so against you on every audition, that I feels incredible when you book one. It’s like being accepted to some ivy league school, but you can keep doing it over and over again. That, by the way, can sometimes be the terrifying part. We get so buried in the process of getting the part, that sometimes we put on blinders to what it takes to actually do it. But I will tell you a story about a very personal struggle I’ve had to overcome…, twice. I have had cancer two times in my life. The first time it derailed a growing theatre career. As soon as I finished chemo, I was auditioning again. The second time it cropped up, it was threatening my film career. I told my agent to keep me auditioning until I couldn’t anymore. I had no idea what was going to happen to me. In that period, I got an audition for the film Emperor. I went in for the audition and two days later had surgery. After a week in the hospital, I received word that I had a callback. I cannot say this enough. I was in no condition to do that. I still had a surgical drain and staples in my side. The day of the callback, I wrapped a back belt around my abdomen to give me support, tucked in my drain, took my happy pills, and feeling relaxed and no pain whatsoever, did the audition. They loved it. A few days later, I was told I booked it. I had exactly 6 weeks to recover before shooting which is exactly what the doctor ordered for down time. I used that time to prep. It made me realize how tough I could be when I needed to be.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @thepatrickroper
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cateranpicturesstudios/
• Other: My other FB group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/403214143188954/

Image Credits
Patrick Roper, Seth F. Johnson