We recently connected with Cassie Keet and have shared our conversation below.
Cassie, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?
There’s something very emboldening about not being the person who gets picked.
I was typically cast in small roles or as side characters — I was playing old ladies when I was a middle school. I didn’t mind it — the bitter sting of not getting one of the main roles in a play was usually soothed by the fun I had playing a random six line role that let me go completely insane for a short period of time. I was having a blast. By not getting what I wanted, I found out how much I enjoyed the process of acting (and later writing) itself. I stopped focusing on being a star, and instead leaned into the joy of making art with my friends. I didn’t expect anything, so when I DID get cast, I was just happy to be there. And when I didn’t get what I wanted, I figured out a way to still surround myself with community in different ways (painting sets, helping with quick changes, etc.)
This has, ultimately, saved my sanity.
When I moved to LA, I found myself surrounded by the most talented people I had ever met. Many of them had be cast as the leads of their school/community theatre productions since childhood. So when the inevitable wave of “no” after “no” hit them, I watched as they began to shrink. They weren’t used to not being picked. By contrast, I was so used to being told no that every rejection just felt like another way for me to work on something new. Didn’t book that pilot? Cool, I’ve got more auditions! Didn’t get into that film festival? No worries, I’ll just write something else.
My resilience has come from not getting what I asked for, because I know I’m always going to get something else instead. And that something else has always given me opportunities to work on things that I love with people that I love.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
You know how people warn you that you’ll want to get a hundred tattoos after you get your first one?
That’s how I feel about writing, directing, and producing my own work.
I started writing when I was twelve years old, studied playwriting in college, and then moved to LA in 2012 to pursue screenwriting. I’ve written countless pilots, features, sketches, one act plays, and short films in that time. The cycle was simple: I would come up with an idea, write a script, send it around, get great feedback, and then … nothing. I’d take meetings with managers and producers and eventually show runners and network heads, and still! Nothing!
It wasn’t until the pandemic that I decided to direct my own projects. To be honest, it never really occurred to me to try. I didn’t go to film school. Directors were people with fancy degrees who knew what a light meter was. I was definitely not that. But with encouragement from friends, family and family, I stepped behind the camera as a director for the first time. BAM. I tested the waters with a short film, He Knows. But I fell in love for life when directing my feature film Scream Therapy. Set was a dream. I was watching, in real time, as the images that had been previously confined to my brain became real right before my eyes. Every moment in pre- and post-production was a joy. For the first time, I was getting to call the shots! Every decision was filtered through me. There’s no headier a drug for a creative than artistic freedom and (most importantly) final cut.
I can’t wait to make my next project.
And the one after that.
And the one after that.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
1) Have a sense of humor. If I couldn’t laugh at the utter ridiculousness of my life, I would be a miserable old crone. 2) Cultivate a community of artists. I surround myself with creative, driven, wildly talented people. We make each other better.
3) Give yourself a break. Binge a TV show! Sit on the couch and drink wine and eat cheese with friends! Go to shows! Get an AMC A-List Stubs Pass! Not everything can be work, work, work. Just be nice to yourself.
What has been your biggest area of growth or improvement in the past 12 months?
I am not a great decision maker. If you ask me what I want to eat, I will inevitably demure to whatever you’re hungry for. I hate confrontation. I will sidestep a topic to avoid any dustups. I will usually let people take the lead when it comes to action items. I’m a great team player but don’t volunteer for leadership positions.
Unless I’m working on one of my projects. As it turns out, I’m more than capable of making decisions, having hard conversations, and being a leader. I have leaned into these new skills in the past two years, taking my feature Scream Therapy from conception, through filming, and into post-production. I learned not to second guess myself. I figured out how to communicate what I wanted to people whose work and opinions I respected — and I also learned how to ignore a note if I didn’t agree with it (something I don’t think I could have done before this).
I’m proud of the person I have become. Just don’t ask me to pick a restaurant for dinner.
Contact Info:
- Website: cassiekeet.com
- Instagram: @kissmycassiek
Image Credits
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