We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Colin A Borden. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Colin A below.
Alright, so we’re so thrilled to have Colin A with us today – welcome and maybe we can jump right into it with a question about one of your qualities that we most admire. How did you develop your work ethic? Where do you think you get it from?
I am a freelance entertainer. I act, I write, I direct; sometimes all three at once. As the old saying goes, love what you do and you’ll never work a day. My work ethic stems from a place of joy. I truly love what I do! While nagging fears of failure and poverty certainly keep me on my toes, it is the love of and joy received from the work itself that keeps me inspired and motivated. I live for the challenges presented by a story that isn’t working or a character I can’t yet understand. There is endless joy in memorizing dialogue and research and scheduling and losing sleep over a deadline. It’s all of it just fun, isn’t it? We should all be so lucky.
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?
As I say, I am, at my heart, an Entertainer. I know that may conjure up images of sequin tuxedos for some, but as an actor, director, or writer, be it comedy, tragedy, or a personal interest interview, my only goal is to give the audience a good, cathartic time. Entertainment is a noble profession, but I’m not too haughty about what I do. I tackle each gig with a workman’s ethic, not an artist’s whims. In my work, I say, “Let’s all have a laugh, see humanity reflected, and get home in time with good things to tell the babysitter,” y’know? “I’m glad we spent all that time and money!”
To that end, I’ve found a great coalescence of craft and intention with The Get Up! Show — a morning variety podcast that helps families go from snooze to shoes with mindfulness, music, and a little mayhem. In short: the aim is in the name. Turn us on first thing in the morning and we’ll get you up! Every episode starts off with a gentle introduction and calming music to help wake you up, followed by a mindfulness and yoga routine… then the mayhem kicks in!
If Pewee and Conan birthed a Muppet, you’d have our show — but, beware: that baby will likely explode. With A-level production value, the Get Up! Show is silly in the old vaudeville sense with just enough intelligence that begs the participation of your brain. Each episode follows a reliable format that helps listeners build a basic morning routine based on the timing of recurring segments. You don’t need a clock today, just us! But we’re not here to tell you how to put yourself together in the morning — whether you eat breakfast before you put your clothes on or brush your teeth after that glass of orange juice (inadvisable, by the way), that’s your business. Your morning is your morning. We’re just here to center and entertain you while it unfolds.
Let’s be honest, the day to day of modern life can be arduous. Kids, especially, spend their days bogged down by a lot of pressure from all angles. Sure, from the jaded perspective of an adult it looks like kids have it real easy, but in all fairness a lot is expected of their focus, intelligence, and maturity throughout the day; the Get Up! Show is the reprieve. Go ahead, kid, have the audio equivalent of Frosted Flakes this morning. There’s a base of good nutrition in it, sure, but we’ve poured just enough sugar on top to make it go down easy.
The Get Up! Show is available to download from all of the finest podcast providers.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
While I’ve recently found myself dolling out advice to young folks interested in a career in the arts, I think the best advice I can give to anyone on any career path is threefold: 1) train like you can’t do anything else 2) set actionable goals like you can’t breathe without it and 3) fuck it, go live a little. A career in the arts is a slog. There are some folks who, by way of family, looks, or right-place-right-time luck, finagle enviable, cushy positions young, but for the vast majority it’s either put up, shut up, or get out of the way. The world moves too fast for you to not be ready when the elevator hits your floor. So it all begins with proper training and a real investment in yourself and your craft. Put in the work with reputable mentors and teachers so you know which foot is your best when finally taking that first step IRL.
When you’ve left the relative safety of the training, you’d do best to know that the real world deals in goals, not dreams. Dreams are too amorphous and whimsical and no one cares about them. Dreamers tend to lay around in bed and complain. But a goal, a tangible point to which you have aligned your intentions, is something else entirely. Now you’re a striker, barreling down the pitch; activated, motivated. “In two weeks time, I’ll have X.” “In three years, I’ll be Y.” Now you have momentum. Without it, you’re sunk.
But, ultimately, while you’re putting nearly every drop of blood, sweat, and tears you have into The Hustle, you have to remember that a creative life can’t be drawn from an empty well. You gotta go to museums and parks and meet people from all walks of life. And, most importantly, no one wants to hang out with single-minded weirdos who only talk about work. So don’t sweat it too much. Have confidence in the grand process. You’re secure in your training, you’re aligned with your goals, fuck it, go live a little.
As we end our chat, is there a book you can leave people with that’s been meaningful to you and your development?
There are two books that I’ve read a few times each that never ceases to educate and entertain me. The first is, “The Writer’s Journey,” by Russell T. Davies, celebrated writer and showrunner of Queer as Folk, It’s a Sin, and the show around which this book is written, Doctor Who. It’s a collection of emails and text messages between the writer and a journalist chronicling Davies’ scripting process, life, and day-to-day business affairs of putting together the fourth season of one of Britain’s biggest, longest-running shows. I’d call it compulsory for anyone looking to take a leadership position in the entertainment business. It’s a frank, enjoyable look at the nexus of creativity and commerce; how to have integrity in a world of shifting power and egos; codifying your voice amongst an ocean of artists and technicians; and the daily grind of writing and running a TV series of any budget. Davies is candid throughout and gives incredible insight. One of my favorite and oft-used nuggets from Davies whilst writing dialogue, or acting in or directing a scene, is to always remember: The opposite of talking is not listening. It’s waiting. The other great read is, “But He Doesn’t Know the Territory,” by Meredith Wilson. I scooped the book from the Village Well on a whim and was instantly sucked in by Wilson’s energetic, folksy writing style. This, too, is the chronicling of a career in entertainment; specifically, that of writing the performed-everywhere Broadway behemoth, The Music Man.
Wilson takes you from soup, past nuts, through the pretzels and dip, and all the way back around to the can opener. If you’re interested at all, again, in the actual ceaseless, mind-numbing, not whimsical work it takes to put on anything of any consequence, I can’t recommend the book enough. I defy you to get through the introduction without sweating to get to the final chapter.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @colinaborden // @thegetupshowpodcast
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@ColinABorden?si=4BsN841TUwjfSvBK
Image Credits
Studio shots by James Thomas Gilbert of Frame76 Photography
