Meet Nolan Pugh

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Nolan Pugh. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Nolan below.

Hi Nolan, thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from?

Honestly, hard work is the only thing I ever thought I had any talent in, but the habit started as early as elementary school. I didn’t have the strictest parents growing up, but one thing they did expect of me was good grades. I always tried to spend as little time as possible during my childhood being grounded, so becoming a self-motivator with my homework and paying attention in class was the best way to make sure I did that. The flip side of that, of course, was that my primary motivation to do well was just to avoid negative consequences. Which can only make someone work so hard.
Eventually, I wound up in middle school, and I got to try out the drama class for the first time. All of a sudden, there was something in school that I actually enjoyed doing, and I was able to direct that practiced work ethic into this new skill that soon turned into a passion. That real-time positive feedback is something that every performer craves, and right away, I associated that feeling with the hard work I had to do in rehearsal leading up to the show. I was fortunate enough to grow up in an area that values the arts, especially theatre. High school and youth theatre could be pretty competitive, and if I wanted to be a part of that, I had to double down on the work ethic.
The competition, of course, only got tougher as I advanced into college and the professional world. So I responded to that the way I knew best, trying to work harder and learn more. I burned myself out a few times in college, and I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve done it in my professional career since then.
Now that I’m older and allegedly wiser, I understand that a good work ethic requires taking care of yourself, physically, mentally, and emotionally, so that you can keep showing up every day as your best self and make the most of that grind. I’m still trying to figure out what that perfect balance is, and I’ll probably be figuring it out the rest of my life.
And it can be hard to maintain. Maybe you’ve been dealing with a lot of rejections, or your personal life is a mess. But whatever the reason, no matter how good your work ethic is, you’re going to have days or a string of days where it feels like you just need a break. Sometimes we have to push through that feeling, but other times, you really do need to listen to that voice in your head. Ignoring it is what leads to burnout.
But try as hard as you might, you’re probably going to burn out eventually. I mentioned earlier how avoiding negative consequences can only make you work so hard. It’s the same with being able to get back to your work after burning out. If you’re a big self-motivator, having trouble getting back into your work can make you feel really bad. But ultimately, what’s going to get you back on track is passion. Without passion, we’re just toiling. So when you hit that wall and you need a way to push through, dig deep and remember that you love the process. That passion is where the work ethic really comes from.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

I started college as a musical theater major, but after a while, my focus shifted to film and comedy. Now my day-to-day work is primarily spent on filmmaking and screenwriting, since it’s something for which I can create my own opportunities. Stand-up comedy was also a regular part of my life before Covid, and it’s past time I’ve gotten back to that. Most of my projects are comedy-focused, but I’ve written for almost every genre at this point. I’m also a really big improv guy, so something I’ve really enjoyed doing the last few years is semi-scripted comedy, particularly mockumentaries. It’s such a fun format to work in, because you get to really embrace collaboration and bring out the best in your actors.
My filmmaking partner, J.G. Murphy, and I actually made a feature mockumentary (Garthwaite: A Film by Ben Kurns) while our cast was all stuck inside homes for Covid. Making a movie while social distancing was a fun and unique challenge that I absolutely never want to do again. Some people have asked me if mockumentaries are my brand. If I have to pick a brand, then I’m going to go with “awesome movies”.

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?

Curiosity, self-motivation, and self-scrutiny were and continue to be the most important qualities in keeping my career going. There’s nothing about what I do that I don’t want to know everything about, and getting another chance to do it again is what gets me out of bed in the morning. I’m also my own biggest critic, which I think most people see as a bad thing, but I don’t. It’s important to be as objective as you can about your own work. The easiest people you have access to for feedback and support on your art are the people closest to you, and unfortunately, these can be some of the most difficult people to get objectivity out of. But remember to be objective, being too hard on yourself does just as little for your development as people just stroking your ego. Self-motivation is only going to come out of passion, so keep following what inspires you most. Curiosity goes hand in hand with that. The more you learn the more the better off you’ll be in any passion you’re pursuing. So again, follow what inspires you.

How would you spend the next decade if you somehow knew that it was your last?

If I only had ten years left to live, I would do the same thing as if I only had ten days left: make more movies. That’s what I was put on this Earth to do. And I already know that my biggest regret will be that I’ll have a great idea for a movie right before I croak.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm8496838/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/possiblynolanpugh/?hl=en
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@tmkpictures3750

Image Credits

Julie Ramona Tjalas

Christine Lozano