The laugh is what trumps everything.
You shouldn't eat red meat, but you shouldn't make resolutions you can't keep.
You say you're going to be the pope, become the pope.
When you're 20 you can put a ton of old-age prosthetics on and be an old guy, but when you're 70 you can't play a 20-year-old.
If you're committed enough, you can make any story work. I once told a woman I was Kevin Costner, and it worked because I believed it.
It's nice that the independent scene is taken seriously, and has been.