
For those of you who remember my first ever post to this site, I was adamant not to rely on social media and self-promotion to further my career. I’ve casually tried Snapchat, Facebook, and Instagram, but generally felt they just weren’t for me. I’ve known for a long time that I needed some online presence to stay relevant in the digital age, but I’m definitely not “influencer” material. Despite my aspirations of being a song-and-dance man, I would rather eat my desk than look into a camera and say, “Welcome back to the channel.”
My showbiz idols — Steve Martin, Robert Preston, Jimmy Stewart, Russell Nype — didn’t tweet three times a day or make weekly YouTube shorts to become household names: they were just good. My sense of self-righteousness made me think that I could follow in their footsteps by keeping my nose to the grindstone and quietly working hard. I’d establish a name for myself by simply auditioning and booking, eventually get discovered by Tilden Producerman, and get a pass to do everything I ever wanted.
However, I’m a big boy, and I do need to face reality: I am an artist living in 2024, not 1954.
Some of my fellow actors on this tour have told me how people behind the table will ask for your Instagram in the room so they can see more of you. Broadway veterans are passed over for roles all the time because they have fewer followers than last season’s Emmy-winner. Imagine having to cite your Facebook page to apply as a line cook at Chipotle: that’s what we’re talking about here. The world of entertainment has its own rules, and I have to abide.
But Brutus is an honorable man: I now have an Instagram, @mychalleverage, and TikTok, @mychal-with-a-y. Both accounts are in early, early stages, and both will be used in a professional context. The hope is that instead of preparing a full meal in a long-form blog post to the site, I can make bite-size Instagram posts more frequently that will get the same point across. Engaging in this way will, hopefully, feel more intimate and immediate.
In general, I need to reevaluate who I am and what I want out of all of this. There are a ton of playwriting festivals happening in May immediately after the tour wraps, but I haven’t been motivated enough to write this past week. I’ve been wrestling with the general stress of managing the site, on top of navigating our fluctuating travel, plus exercising, plus sleeping and eating well, plus general social obligations. I’m definitely not abandoning the site, but be prepared that the apparatus and function will have to change drastically. Thank you everyone who’s been reading my posts and following my journey for the last four months; this is the beginning of something, not the end.
And scene.
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