I was on set with an actor. I won’t mention their name but, take it from me, they are very well known. Think house hold name level.

I was a fan so I'd often sneak up to the monitor and watch their takes. It’s always interesting to watch the performance through the camera because you can see how the shot composition, lighting, art direction, etc all comes together to make the performance and the story shine.

The actor was doing a take and it was fantastic. Everything you’d expect from a star. Interesting and alive – I felt very privileged to be able to see it happening on the monitor. Then... they thought they’d made a mistake. So they stopped the take. Camera was cut and take 2 began.

Here’s the thing – there was nothing wrong with the first take. I was watching it, remember. It looked alive, it felt real, it was interesting until the actor thought they’d made a mistake and stopped.

I talked to the actor afterwards and told them this – said how brilliant that take was and that, to me, there seemed to be nothing wrong - no mistake. They said “maybe I should just keep going then.”

Two things I took from this:

1. DON’T STOP. You, in the performance, DO NOT KNOW if something is wrong. Trust me, if this generational talent did not know they hadn’t made a mistake, we, the actors on the ground definitely do not know. Don’t stop until director calls cut – you keep going. Stumble over your words? – keep going, you cough mid-way through a speech? – keep going, you sneeze? – you keep going. Why? Because of the anecdote above, obviously, but also because that's what people do in real life. We can’t cut our lives. We keep going.

2. Even the GREATS think they make mistakes. That can make us feel better and level everything for us. We’re all just trying to get through the take.

So Keep Going.