Today we’d like to introduce you to Adam Gilmore.
Adam, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I truly believe that I am one of the luckiest people on the planet. I was born into a loving and supportive family, I discovered what I wanted to do with my life while I was in middle school, and I have spent almost every day doing exactly that. I almost wish that I had more agency in the decisions that led me to be the person I am today, but nevertheless, I am incredibly happy where I am today.
I was born extremely early from an emergency ‘C’ section, having already survived months of chemotherapy in my mom’s stomach. Even being able to live through every day is a gift for me, because a lot of my family and medical professionals didn’t know if I would hit the one year mark. Being several months early three pound baby, I’m not sure that I would disagree with them, however here I am twenty three years later.
Growing up was lovely. My childhood was filled to the brim with positive memories, wonderful friends, and a perfect foundation on which to build into an adult. As I said earlier, a lot of who I am today came from seemingly random events. Back when we were kids, my brother (Andrew) and I loved playing with our action figures and creating worlds of adventure for these characters to experience. Because of that, we both had a natural inclination for storytelling. When middle school hit Andrew and me, we were asked to choose an elective. Andrew, being the more creative and imaginative type, chose theater. I was a bit more rowdy and energetic, so my parents thought maybe going into music might be a good outlet for me. However, the way our school organized schedules and applications was by the first letter of our first names and our full last name. Andrew and I have the same last name, and first initial (A. Gilmore). When Andrew and I got out schedules, he was put into the band and I was put into the theater. On the first day of classes, I saw that I had a few good friends (one of which became the greatest friend anyone could ever ask for) in that class, so I didn’t drop the class. My expectations for the theater were very low, and I adopted the comedic class clown persona. I tried diligently not to take things too seriously because there was no way I was going to be an actor, but it was great spending time with my buddies.
A few weeks into the class, we had group performances. I wasn’t close to being nervous or concerned since I had a really small part and I didn’t care too much if the performance went well or not. After we performed in front of the class, my teacher pulled our group aside and asked for us to switch up the roles. She wanted me to play the main character. And try. In front of people. My group was surprisingly welcome to the idea, but I was, to put it lightly, petrified to the core. The next few days were spent in a sea of doubt with waves of anxiety. It wasn’t performing in front of the class that gave me a never-ending fear, but the whole class would end up performing these scenes on a full stage in front of all of our parents and friends. Then, we would take these scenes up to Los Angeles to compete with other middle schools. The amount of fear that one middle school student can hold was put to the test. I specifically remember consistently freezing up at rehearsals because “I wasn’t meant for this,” but every day my teacher would talk with me and help me up to the challenge. Sure enough, my group and I ended up winning an award in that competition, and the very next day I missed performing.
I carried that desire to perform and tell stories all through middle school, all through high school, and all through college. And now, for some reason, people pay me to perform. I don’t know why they do, but I’m not gonna ask any questions.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Life will always find new and challenging ways to test your character. There has been an insurmountable amount of challenges I’ve faced with working towards acting, including lots of self doubt. However one of my favorite parts of being an actor is telling someone, and then watching a small glimmer in their eye that says “oh no they won’t be successful.” I’m not sure why the default response to “I’m an actor” is surrounded by a sense of disappointment or an elitist side comment. I’ve even had people retort with “what’s your real job then?” as the assumption is that my being an actor needs to have a second job because acting isn’t ‘real.’ There is a plethora of extremely hard working dedicated people of the arts who do work other jobs to pay bills, but when they tell people what they do, the answer usually isn’t cashier or barista. Because of this odd occurrence with strangers, I do feel odd saying “I am an actor.” With every set I’ve been on, with every time I got to be the one in front of the camera’s lens, I reaffirm myself that, yeah, this is what I do.
Being an actor is unique in terms of the job market as well. For non-actors reading this, essentially, we are not on the ‘job hunt.’ The amount of ‘job interviews’ an actor has to endure is truly mind boggling. Not only that but each time we get a job, we have to fill out all the paperwork that comes with getting a new job. For actors like me, who mostly work commercials or short films, that could be several times a week.
As an actor, you are your own business. You have to sell yourself, market yourself, keep yourself up to date, all the things you would do for normal business. Unfortunately, I’m a bit of an introvert so ‘selling’ myself comes to be a bit of a challenge as well.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
Me, being the hard working lunatic that I am, essentially run two businesses. The first of which would be the acting business. The second, of which I have yet to mention on this platform, is an acting reel production company called Next Step Reels.
At Next Step Reels, we want to elevate the actor’s careers and put them in a position where they can advertise themselves as performers the way they want to. Let me explain, the days of extremely long open casting calls are mostly over. Now what happens is that a casting director will ask for an actor’s reel, which is a compilation of that actor in all of the work they were in. This has helped the industry run smoother and quicker, but there are downsides to this. If an actor is starting, they won’t have any footage to put together a reel. Therefore, they can’t audition and won’t get any work. Additionally, if an actor only has footage of themselves in a character in which they don’t believe shows their true potential, they are stuck. That’s where we come in. Our mission is to work with actors to build them a reel that they are not only happy with but are proud of.
There are a handful of companies that do this type of work, but none of them are as transparent, cheap, and dedicated as we are. We want our actors to succeed and go on to do great things. I am very proud to have created a company that, above all else, is meant to help actors move their careers forward. By massively undercutting our prices, we can work with so many actors that benefit from working with us.
Another thing that separates the next step reels from the competition is who we have behind the camera. All of the creative team behind the company are actors first. For production to revolve solely around showcasing an actor’s ability, we wanted to build a team that understood what an actor needs from a reel.
What were you like growing up?
Ever since I was a kid, I followed the golden rule: Treat others the way you want to be treated. In school, they work tirelessly to get this idea in our heads, but for some reason, it gets lost along the way. It’s such a simple and beautiful rule that makes a lot of the ‘grey area’ decisions a lot easier to make. Growing up, I followed this rule very closely, and I cannot recommend this enough. Often, our lives can get so chaotic and stressful we forget that we are dealing with people who are just like us. Everyone feels the same way we do and goes through all of the same emotions. The golden rule is a beautiful way to remind us of that.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://adamrgilmore.wixsite.com/website
- Phone: 7607074891
- Email: adamRgilmore@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adamrichardgilmore/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/adam.gilmore.98
Image Credit:
“A dream Life” Dr. Tayo Oyekan/DP. Alex Lalangan
“(In)sanity” Dr. Shardin Johnson/DP. Taylor Clemons
“Hotflakes” Dr. Trevor Neuenswander/DP. Kevin Waczek
“The Long Walk” Dr. Trevor Neuenswander/DP. Jakcob DeSio
Suggest a story: SDVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
