Final Five Questions with Steve Harper
Actor and producer who also writes for television and theater.
STEVE HARPER is a writer, producer and actor. He is currently Co-Executive Producer season 3 of the hit CW series Stargirl. Other writing credits include God Friended Me (CBS), Tell Me Your Secrets (Amazon Prime Video) and ABC’s Emmy Award winning drama American Crime (created by John Ridley). Steve spent two seasons writing for the USA Network show Covert Affairs. Steve’s original web series SEND ME, about time-traveling black people (writer, actor and Executive Producer) was nominated for a 2016 Emmy. As a playwright he has written more than 20 works that have been produced across the country.
Through Your Creative Life, Steve has been working with artists of all kinds since 2008, helping them achieve clarity and focus in their creative careers. His specialty is working with artists as they write dramatic scripts. Steve recently appeared on Why I’ll Never Make It to talk about his writings and the coaching he does as well as his beginnings as a actor and how he’s balanced the many facets of his creative life. Here he answers five final questions about the lessons he’s learned and what making it really means to him.
1. What job within the arts do you feel is the most undervalued and why is it so important?
There’s a lot of undervaluing in the public view of our business. Acting can be SO HARD and many (most) people don’t know that. Writing also can be SO HARD. Stage managing, for sure. Lots of undervaluing — so I can’t pick one. But in so many spaces in the entertainment industry — you can make a killing (and become famous) but it’s hard to make a living. It’s tough to show up day by day and keep going. It’s can be difficult to be persistent in the creation of art, when the larger world is so busy celebrating the famous folks. The truth is, the industry doesn’t run without the people doing little by little, day by day.
2. What does success or “making it” mean to you? And how has it (or has it not) manifested in your life?
Overall, it means balance. I want to create work that provides new material for diverse actors, and makes the way for more diverse creators: directors, designers etc.. I want to write and act and produce stuff and keep creating new jobs and developing new audiences. I think in some ways, I’m doing this — and I want to keep at it — coaching writers, making work. I have been fortunate enough to do that in TV and want to do more of that in theater as well. But the big triumph is that I’ve found a way to be productive and calm, joyful. I’m grateful for all of it and want to keep going. And want to pass it on.
3. What frustrates you most about how the business has changed since you started?
One challenge is that the industry seems to prioritize and celebrate non-actors. You often hear huge praise from reviewers about films that use people who have never acted before. So often, especially for roles for black actors and other diverse folks — a role will go to a musician or a comedian over a trained actor. That doesn’t happen so much for white folks, but it happens all the time for non-white folks. To me, that’s a problem, because it means fewer roles for trained actors. There are so many trained actors who are struggling to work and to make a living. I want to see more of them succeed.
4. Describe a personal lesson that took you awhile to learn or one that you are still working on to this day?
I learned to find my peeps. Not everyone is going to like me or what I do. Not everyone is going to appreciate my acting, my writing — or even the answers I’m giving now to this question. I’m working on maintaining a calm center that allows me move through my day doing my work and being happy with the effort. It’s the only way for me to stay joyful — to recognize that my job is not to win over everyone, but to do my best work and to trust that there are people who will dig what I’m bringing.
5. What’s the most useful advice you’ve received AND how have you applied it to your life or career?
I had the crazy good fortune to meet James Baldwin when I was in college. (Only for a matter of minutes.) He told me to “Go the distance.” in my career. I heard a similar thing from David Mamet when he visited an acting class in grad school: “Don’t go home.” (Wow, I’m really name dropping here.) Essentially, the upshot is to KEEP GOING. Persistence is key. Neither one was saying I have to be WORLD CHANGING-LY FAMOUS, but they were advising me to keep at it. That’s been huge for me. Whether I was living in NY or L.A. or Baltimore, or somewhere else, I could — I can always find a way to show up in my art. I can find a way to persist in my creativity. That’s been so helpful to me. Such a guiding principle. There’s always something to do. Not in a desperate sense, but in a simple and joyful sense.
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