We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Robin McWilliams a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Robin, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

As long as i can remember, i have always loved the arts and being part of it as a career. Starting as an actress and hair stylist for film and television. While doing both those aspects I found myself helping actors in our industry. Which then developed into opening my own Management Company.

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.

Starting as an actress and hair stylist for film and television. While doing both those aspects I found myself helping actors in our industry. Which then developed into opening my own Management Company. I was part of a Theatre Company with brilliant actors and no representation. When you have a theater background and no film and tv experience on your resume, Agents are hard to come by. I develop their skills, resumes and careers to get to that next level so they can soar to success. The part that makes me feel proud of what i do is to see those successes. Starting with an actor fresh out of university or just moving to Los Angeles, non union, and unsure. Seeing them get their first audition, to their first show or film, all the way to getting their first red carpet. They call me Mama MadCatch. I protect and nurture their careers. I help build their team. Getting that new Agent. Their PR team. Their Brand. And anything else we find we need to create their journey.
Developing someone’s career takes full communication with the talent to meet their needs. This is their career. How do they see it and what will we have to do to make that happen? Some setbacks do happen along the way, Reassuring them of the process and listening and discussing what could happen with those choices. Your Manager is your personal relationship. Full honesty has to happen and be willing to hear the truth even when you don’t want to hear it. Success doe not happen overnight. It’s not all the glitz and glamour all the time like you see in the magazines and awards shows. That’s a moment of celebration for that one event. When the glitter comes off they get back to work to keep their careers going. My job is to stay focused on them and keep them focused on their future.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

So many outside our industry do not know what an actor goes through to get where they are. To get “a real job” as they say. This is a real job. If being a creative wasn’t a real job, you would not have the media to enjoy. Actors work everyday on their careers and working 3 and 4 jobs at one time to help pay their rents, gas and electric bills. Not to mention eat. So they can do those auditions when they finally come in. To stand strong when all they hear is “No, thanks for coming, we’ve gone in a different direction, you’re not what we’re looking for.” But get up every morning and start all over again, because they can’t think of doing anything else. It’s the oxygen in your body and blood.
You have to have that Thick Skin as we call it to take that constant rejection. Imagine if what you wanted to do was just at your reach and then pulled out from under you. Every single day. Sometimes a few times a day. Over and over.
You have to turn down or turn off those voices that tell you to get that “real job” because being a barista or working a mall kiosk is more of a job than being an actor.
The thing i remind my actors every day, those auditions come far apart so when you do get one we celebrate it. No matter what happens, we celebrate. Casting sees thousands of faces for that one role and they asked to see what you can do with it. That’s huge. And with that we celebrate.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

That resilience and determination is also needed from your representation. We stay afloat by the actor working. We only ask for a percentage of your work when you work. So let’s say 10% for example. Well 10% of nothing is nothing. And 10% can be $4 to $40 dollars. We find ways like an actor, to keep our doors open and our bills paid until those bookings happen.
We find ways to survive and stay open during Strikes where None of our actors can work, and pandemics where the world shuts down. And watching fellow companies closing down. So we fight.
We live in our world of artists. We don’t see anything else. We think outside the box and try and break down walls and create art in the backs of bars and churches and streets and theaters. To help us breathe.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.madcatch.com/
• Instagram: @MadCatchent
• Facebook: MadCatch Ent.

Image Credits
Created by Leslie Hinton.