Ten years ago when I started out I was kind of told I was insane for trying to pursue multiple fields at once because in five years everyone who just did one would have five times the resume I would if I was lucky, but I took that gamble because I just my gut told me it was the right thing to do and you know as an actor there is so much downtime you want to fill it with something else and as a writer you know sometimes you're doing a passion project, sometimes it's a paid gig, sometimes there is nothing, so you can do a journalistic piece.
John Buffalo MailerThat was my dad's sense of, you know, laughing at himself, laughing at existence, the universe, all of it and not being too serious about what we do with because at the end of the day if you're here it's a blessing. It's you know life is hard. Life is hard for everybody at some point, but it's those who are able to laugh at it and laugh with it and roll with it that ultimately I think live the fulfilling lives that we're all trying to do. You know, and big step there is to not take yourself too seriously from the start.
John Buffalo MailerI'm probably most proud of the plays that I've written just because as the playwright, you know, you're God. You get to do everything. You don't make any money hardly at all, but you really get to kind of control the scene.
John Buffalo MailerI grew up in an artistic family where everyone was doing something in one field of the arts or another. I was I think 12 years old when I did my first acting at the Actor's Studio and James Dean once said that the only reason to become and actor is because you have to. I think that you know from a young age if that is a certain rush that you're going to need to satisfy you and to make you feel fulfilled - and if you don't then you shouldn't do it. It's just too brutal of a business most of the time.
John Buffalo MailerReally there's different scales of stories. Sometimes you want to tell one that 20, 30, 40, 50 million people will want to see and hear. Sometimes you do one that you know 150 will want to see on one night. As long as you're telling the right story for the right audience and they're getting something out of it it's essentially the same feeling to me.
John Buffalo Mailer