Well versed in the art of self-belief
- by Nuala Naughton
Making your way in life can be as much about self-belief, self-promotion and determination, not least in sectors where only a talented few will rise to the top.
With only 6% of actors in work at any one time, one man with little more than a dream and a prayer is proving you can beat the odds with a mix of talent, tutoring, confidence and legwork.
Actor and NLP Theatre Company Director Scott Kyle, is proof that determination can overcome an initial lack of key qualifications.
Scott left school without any higher qualifications and took a job as a trainee manager in a local supermarket, where he worked for 6 years, before deciding to take a leap back into education.
"My girlfriend had been studying hair and beauty at the Nautical College" says Scott "and she brought home a prospectus. I was surprised it did so many courses and I took a stab at an NQ basic acting course.
I still had to audition for a place and found it really hard work. I was never good at reading and interpreting passages and didn`t much get the whole Shakespeare gig so I needed a lot of help."
Three years, an NQ, HNC and HND in acting later, Scott is in the middle of a 10-venue theatre tour debuting a play by Des Dillon which will play at the SECC in Glasgow next month.
Scott paid his way through college, often finishing off a night shift and heading off on his moped to college. His hard work was recognised at his final year diploma show when a director of the theatre company, Baldy Bane, gave him his first break - a touring high school education project.
"It was great doing something I loved and being paid for it." says Scott, "and that led to other work with the company. But I knew, if I was going to earn a living at it, I couldn`t just wait for the phone to ring. I had to get my show on stage."
This meant another bout of studies with the business start-up advisory organisation, Business Gateway.
"I learned all about bugets, accounting, tax, marketing and promotion," says Scott. "I got a start up grant and pitched my idea for an anti-sectarian play to The Citizens Theatre. It was a learning curve but the most fantastic feeling in the world."
Marketing the tour on community websites such as Bebo and Facebook as well as asking favours from venues and friends, spending every spare hour posting fliers on walls, shop windows and bus shelters across the Central Belt, as well as rehearsing and organising, only served to fuel Scott`s determination.
"I was never the best actor or student," he admits. "I struggled and saw others who were more talented than me drop out. You`re always faced with that well-worn statistic - only 6% of actors, etc - but I think, instead of trying to squeeze into that elite statistic, why not change the statistic: reduce the 94%. Get out there and do it."
"Self-belief is paramount. Studying is invaluable and tutor support really got me through it. But you have to get out there and learn to take the knocks and get back up again, run it like any other business and focus on the positive. If you only took the negatives, you wouldnt try anything, would you?"
