Today we’d like to introduce you to Byron Lane.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Sometimes I feel like one of the luckiest guys in Los Angeles. I wrote a play called TILDA SWINTON ANSWERS AN AD ON CRAIGSLIST and it has been a hit with critics and audiences and I get to perform it all over the world with my friends. The concept was a silly idea inspired by my dog, actually. My boyfriend and I have a scrappy, blonde, beautiful-in-a-high-fashion-way rescue terrier mix who we lovingly named, of course, Tilda Swinton.
One day, I wondered what it would be like to live with the real Tilda Swinton, and suddenly I had the bones of a script. I reached out to my friends to play the parts, we found a theatre, we memorized our lines, and we’ve been going strong ever since with sold-out performances in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, London, and Edinburgh Fringe.
The road here started with me growing up in enchanting New Orleans. I was always a writer-type and remember my second-grade teacher flipping out when I basically wrote an episode of He-Man for a school project. But Louisiana didn’t provide me with real access to a life in the arts, and I decided to pursue a more traditional career.
I studied journalism in college. I was an on-air TV news reporter in Las Vegas for a few years on the grueling overnight shift. I wanted a change, so I moved to Los Angeles to finally get into writing and acting. It’s been a gloriously slow and rejection-filled adventure ever since!
But I say it with love because the truth is that those rejections fueled me. I didn’t get cast in a big web series, so I started my own called HERPES BOY which was discovered on YouTube by a producer and went on to become an indie feature film starring Academy Award winner Octavia Spencer and won Best Comedy at Comic-Con. A few years later, I was diagnosed with testicular cancer and turned that into a web series called LAST WILL & TESTICLE which was called “Fearless” by Cosmopolitan Magazine.
And most recently, exhausted from trying and failing to get my original scripts produced, I decided to write a play so I could produce it myself, and that was the birth of TILDA SWINTON ANSWERS AN AD ON CRAIGSLIST. As with almost all of my other projects, not everyone thought the play was a great idea, not everyone loved the script, but I believed in moving this and other pursuits forward, not necessarily because I believed in myself – I admit I often don’t– but more than that I was determined to do it despite the fear, to take a healthy risk, so at least on my deathbed I won’t regret not trying. And I’m grateful and lucky that such a philosophy has been kinda working for me so far.
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?
Don’t let Los Angeles fool you. When I moved here in 2005, I was wide-eyed and ready to claim my passion, as if the trees here were filled with dreams just ripe for the picking. But I’ve learned Hollywood is less a success-filled field of dreams and sometimes more like a huge parking lot–you have to break through the pavement, till the ground, plant your seeds, and then work the soil until it’s your time to bloom. No one hands anything to you. You have to work for it.
The good news is, if you like what you’re doing, if you like the art you’re making, it’s not really work. But it also might not really pay the bills. But you’re not alone. This is a town of brilliant artists all trying to make it happen, and there’s a beautiful comfort in that sometimes. The themes of my play–don’t give up, don’t take life too seriously, and embrace what makes you unique–are all mantras I try to keep running on a ticker in my mind, on a constant loop to encourage me to keep going, that working hard for your dreams isn’t a waste, and that there’s great joy in the journey.
Now, look, I admit, I don’t always feel that optimistic. Another theme in my play is that happiness isn’t always our default setting, we have to work at it. But I’m finding there’s less and less downtime between rejection and picking myself up again, and I’m grateful and excited about that.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
TILDA SWINTON ANSWERS AN AD ON CRAIGSLIST stars Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Instagram sensation Tom Lenk as iconic actress Tilda Swinton, a modern-day Mary Poppins who finds a depressed gay man on Craigslist (played by me) and insists on dissecting his life as part of a character study for her next big movie role.
Genius talents Jayne Entwistle and Mark Jude Sullivan round out the cast with acclaimed direction by Tom DeTrinis. Critics rave: “Gripping, visceral and hysterical… this is the queer Mary Poppins that LGBTQ people deserve. A modern masterpiece.” -Gay Times; “Clear why it has become such a cult hit Hilarious, unforgettable performance by Tom Lenk. Quirky comedy tour de force that keeps the audience in fits of laughter.” -British Theatre; “Snort-worthily funny… its not hard to understand why this show has become a cult hit in the US.” -The Guardian.
TILDA SWINTON ANSWERS AN AD ON CRAIGSLIST was originally directed by Tom DeTrinis and presented at Celebration Theatre in Los Angeles in 2017 produced by Jay Marcus, Nathan Frizzell, Tom Lenk, and Tom DeTrinis. For showtimes and more visit TildaPlay.com.
What role has luck (good luck or bad luck) played in your life and business?
Yeah, luck. I don’t know. I wish there was a better way to characterize ingredients of success because there really are so many factors at play behind everything, every work of art, every business.
When it comes to TILDA SWINTON ANSWERS AN AD ON CRAIGSLIST, I guess I was lucky that no one produced my original scripts, thereby providing me time and motivation to write the play and produce it myself. I guess I was lucky that my friends liked the script and agreed to perform with me.
I was definitely lucky that Celebration Theatre had a cancellation and the theatre was available for rent that summer. I’m lucky audiences are liking the show. I don’t know. The best I can come up with about luck is what Oprah says about it: “I believe luck is preparation meeting opportunity.
If you hadn’t been prepared when the opportunity came along, you wouldn’t have been lucky.” Not bad, right? I probably should have just said that at the beginning.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.TildaPlay.com
- Instagram: www.Instagram.com/byronlanedotcom
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/byronlane
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/byronlane
Image Credit:
Greg Macvean, Andrew Downie, Kyle Cummings, Tom Lenk, Mark Jude Sullivan, Jayne Entwistle, Byron Lane, Tom DeTrinis
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