The Ear of the Public, and; Being in the Public Eye …
Hello my gorgeous BOXsters!
So, we’re only a few days into the inaugural launch of this killer ‘Zine and, first and foremost, I’ve got to thank our already-followers – which number in the hundreds. (Oh, you’re all in for such treats!! 
)
As we’re in the process of having our Twitters verified and the rest of the corporate red-tape sorted, it seems we were accidentally lumped into a “bot” category and had @boxmag1 temporarily suspended until we could verify the TweetAccount. (Which we have, so we’re up and running and ALLLLL good again now). But it got me to thinking about the dangers of what we do – all of us in this most visible industry. Dangers not only to ourselves for putting ourselves out there in the public eye, but also of our responsibilities as being heard by the public ear.
My husband and I became “personalities” by accident. (Well, he did ) No, seriously, although I spent the first and most significant portion of my life modeling and performing professionally, he’s always been a behind-the-scenes genius (think Wizard, Oz). By the time we met, fell in love, married and decided to form a media conglomerate combining our many years of education, talent and experience, I’d also made the transition to behind-the-camerawork. I was studying screenwriting and film making to my husband’s already-nearly-two-decades of experience in the industry. As we built our home and life together, personally, we also found ourselves magically creating the kind of professional life that – with every conversation, every meeting and every new circumstance – infuses the day with inspiration, excitement and purpose.
We know we’re very lucky.
But, what we didn’t know was that putting the individual talents we possessed together like the pieces of a puzzle, and then putting it out to the world at large, exponentially grew our target factor, too.
Now, I’m not going to on and on about the stalker fans that think they know us personally because they’ve seen some clip on the web, or the “talent” (and I use that word VERY loosely) that submit endless scripts, reels and IMdB links to our production company, or even the crazy callers that hit up our broadcasts for their five minutes – I’m going to instead talk about something meaningful :: What being in the public eye and having the ear of the public actually means.
What it means is that you no longer have the luxury of trying to figure stuff out – because to be shown in the middle of any kind of learning process undermines your credibility – even though you’re still as human as the next guy.
What it means is that you no longer have the luxury of sharing personal milestones via your social media because those above mentioned will use it at will to assuage their boredom in the most ridiculous of ways.
But, the really important thing is that it means you actually DO need to stand for something. You need to walk your talk and do and be who and what you say you are at any given moment, because if not, the world will know and something you said, some opinion you gave, some comment you made or advice you’ve given, could potentially harm someone else.
As innocently or inadvertently as it may be, you’re now …. <gulp> …. a role model.
Someone, somewhere, thinks you’re da bom and their going to use your example to get through the tough time their having in life – however long that takes.
So, what does this really mean? This means that while the perks are great, the responsibility is massive. It means that sometimes (and I”m speaking of the Sheens, Gibsons, and the Travoltas and -I can’t believe it – even the Hiltons, Kardashians and Lohans of the world) a cigar is just a cigar.
While we have yet to bite from the apple of unlimited wealth and position ~and, frankly, that’s a scarier prospect by the day~ we get it.
But what does this all have to do with theBOX?
Well, it’s simple really. As with everything else we do, this is a place for integrity and quality. If we post something or repost something that may otherwise be seen as a gossip ploy or publicity stunt, it will be because we have a social commentary to make, too. Something to say that those of you – however few or many that may be – that consider our lives worth paying attention to can rely on with the best of intentions.
We see the future of the media industries and our shades are most definitely …off.
We’re trying to do something about that. We’re trying to create a place where art, creativity, growth, and truth can live and thrive once again.
Lofty goals, very true. But, we know that together we can bear the weight of what that means. We can bear it, we can wear it and we can share it.
We know that the curse of being in the public eye is graciously tempered by the blessing of having the ear of the public, as well – and we’re not going to waste a minute of it.
We just wouldn’t be us if we did.
kT
2012
About Kate Taylor - BOX Editor
