This Life Chose Me: Filmmaking, Acting and the Reality Behind the Glamour

This Life Chose Me: Filmmaking, Acting and the Reality Behind the Glamour

Something happened recently within one of my filmmaking circles that made me want to speak on something a little bigger than one bit of drama.

Scare actors are not movie actors. That doesn’t mean scare acting isn’t valid, because it absolutely is. It takes confidence, timing, physicality, presence, improvisation and the ability to create an immediate reaction. But screen acting is a different discipline.

Playing an actual character with history, flaws, emotions, relationships, motivations and a completely different personality is not as easy as good actors make it look. And good actors really do make it look easy. It isn’t. You can be filming one emotional scene in the morning, something completely different later, then return to that first emotional state from another angle and have to match the same performance all over again.

Some scare actors can absolutely cross over and be brilliant screen actors too, but not all can. Being experienced in one type of performance does not automatically mean somebody understands another.

Recently, that became very obvious.

In a filmmaking collaboration group, a young woman brought unnecessary drama into a situation involving someone who is genuinely working hard to build a production brand. She repeatedly used the fact she was a scare actor to belittle others and even bragged about convincing people to leave a production.

The original issue was that somebody had apparently personally asked about her relationship status, and to be clear, she was valid in feeling offended or uncomfortable by that. People working together professionally need boundaries. Business and personal should be kept separate, and nobody should feel as though they have to entertain romantic interest when they are there to work.

But there is also a difference between addressing inappropriate behaviour and publicly attacking somebody who wasn’t even aware it had happened. There is a difference between setting a boundary and bragging about damaging somebody else’s project.

And honestly, I’ve seen some wild things happen in some groups. 😂 Grown adults absolutely losing it over assumptions, misunderstandings, bruised egos and situations that could probably have been solved with one normal conversation.

That’s why professionalism matters. Not because creative people have to become robotic or emotionless. Far from it. A lot of us create precisely because we feel deeply. But if everybody brings every insecurity, resentment and personal disagreement into the work, nothing gets made, and that's the point. 

Teamwork makes the dream work.

Both Film and music industries are already difficult enough.

These industries are not for the faint-hearted. They are HARD work. Long hours, rehearsals, retakes, editing, travel, networking, lots of rejection before success, funding, promotion, scheduling, paperwork, equipment, organising people with different availability and solving problems the audience will never even know existed.

Sometimes after all of that, the only thing you have to show for it is the thing you created. Maybe you make a profit. Maybe you break even. Maybe you lose money. Maybe it leads to something else later, but those who invest in these projects, are mainly creatives with a calling to help create art.

There is glamour, obviously. I’m not going to lie. 😂 Premières, photoshoots, costumes, sets, events, press and seeing your name in credits can be incredible. But they are a tiny percentage of the work. Most of it is hard graft and periodically wondering why the hell you are doing this to yourself.

Then you see the finished film. You hear the finished track. You watch a character come alive. Somebody tells you something you created made them laugh, cry, think, feel understood or escape reality for a while.

And suddenly it makes sense again.

For a lot of creatives, this life chose us.

We didn’t necessarily choose it. There is just something inside us that keeps pulling us towards creating: stories, music, film, art, photography, characters, writing and ideas.

Creative people are naturally drawn towards making things, and that is one of the most beautiful things about art. It brings people together. It creates communities. It gives people somewhere to put pain, joy, anger, grief, humour and experiences they sometimes cannot explain any other way.

It can also tear people apart when ego, insecurity, competitiveness and poor communication get involved.

I also don’t believe an artist’s job is simply to be liked. It is not our job to correct every assumption people make about us, pander to everybody or make everyone comfortable.

Artists reflect the world around them. That is our job and the truth is often a hard pill to swallow.

Sometimes we entertain. Sometimes we document. Sometimes we disturb. Sometimes we disappoint. Sometimes we hold up a mirror and say:

This is what the world looks like. This is what hurts. This is what we are doing to one another. This is what needs to change.

And if somebody sees that and thinks, yeah, I see it too, then maybe they speak up. Maybe they create something. Maybe they challenge something. Maybe they change something.

Maybe they fix something.

That, to me, is part of what art is for.

Not just decoration. Not just glamour. Not just applause.

Expression. Reflection. Connection. And sometimes a very uncomfortable mirror.

So yes, filmmaking can be ridiculous, exhausting and stressful. It can involve drama nobody asked for, and every so often you might genuinely wonder why you ever started.

But when you manage to put something creative into the world that did not exist before you made it?

That feeling is difficult to beat.

And somehow, despite all the nonsense, struggles and long hours...

It is always worth it, but you have to be brave enough to become best friends with rejection, fear, determination, hard work and failing, and still have the drive to keep going. 

Keep creating.

So I dedicate this blog to whoever needed to hear that today. Keep creating. Keep reflecting. Keep going.

Sarah Wingfield

Actress • Author • Advocate

KawaiiDollDecora.uk 🎬✨

#SarahWingfield #KawaiiDollDecora #Filmmaking #IndependentFilm #IndieFilm #ActorLife #ScreenActing #ScareActing #CreativeIndustry #FilmmakerLife #WomenInFilm #CreativeLife #BehindTheScenes #Artists #Storytelling #FilmCommunity #Professionalism #CreativeExpression #SupportIndieFilm #ThisLifeChoseMe

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Black promotional graphic featuring Sarah Wingfield on the left, wearing glasses and a black blazer with long dark hair. At the upper right is a glowing pink handwritten-style “Sarah Wingfield” logo with “Actress | Author | Advocate” underneath. Large white script across the bottom reads, “This life chose me: Filmmaking:” with “KawaiiDollDecora.uk” beneath it.