Full Transcript
Stephen Letnes:
I asked for it. I worked for it, and now I’m busier than ever.
Jeff Thompson:
Executive Director and Founder, Stephen Letnes.
Stephen Letnes:
You have to follow where the momentum takes you, and when the momentum starts to slip on one, well, you could focus on it a little bit. You always got to nurture it. It’s your garden, your garden of empowerment. “Dun, dun, dun.”
Jeff Thompson:
Creating opportunities worldwide through Able Artist Foundation, A-B-L-E A-R-T-I-S-T.org. AbelArtist.org.
Stephen Letnes:
Something I learned a long time ago, nobody wants to be first, last or left out.
Jeff Thompson:
An accomplished pianist, musical score composer, director and an advocate for people with disabilities.
Stephen Letnes:
Got to keep getting out there. Keep going out. Keep connecting with people. Keep communicating. Keep sending emails, shaking hands, working on your skills, and diversify your interests, but do your focus on the things that you really want to do. Embrace the day. Make yourself busy. You never know what’ll happen. You’ll never see what’s coming, and that’s the fun of it.
Jeff Thompson:
For more podcasts with the Blindness Perspective, check us out on the web at www.BlindAbilities.com. On Twitter @BlindAbilities. Download the free Blind Abilities app from the App Store and Google Play Store. That’s two words, Blind Abilities. Abilities, Abilities, Abilities.
Jeff Thompson:
Now please welcome, from Able Artist Foundation, Stephen Letnes. All music produced and composed by Stephen Letnes.
Stephen Letnes:
All right. Well, then, let’s do it to it, my friend.
Jeff Thompson:
Welcome to Blind Abilities. I’m Jeff Thompson. It’s exciting today, as Steve Letnes returns to the Blind Abilities studios. He’s the Founder and Executive Director of Able Artist Foundation. How are you doing, Stephen?
Stephen Letnes:
I am fantastic, Jeff. It’s really great to talk with you again and catch up after a while.
Jeff Thompson:
Oh, it’s always great to have you in the studio. I’ve heard you’ve been busy, busy, busy.
Stephen Letnes:
Yeah. A lot’s happened in my life over the last few months, from the Foundation growing, to music stuff, to getting awards, to now I’m producing a feature length documentary, and it just doesn’t stop. Which is awesome, which is awesome. I asked for it, I worked for it, and now I’m busier than ever.
Jeff Thompson:
Stephen, you’ve been working so hard on this Foundation. Let’s fill in the listeners on Able Artist Foundation.
Stephen Letnes:
Able Artist Foundation is a non-profit here in Minneapolis, St. Paul, where we support artists with disabilities, who receive SSI and SSDI. We have three areas. One is advocacy, which means people on my Board as well as myself, we travel and we speak to advocate for the entertainment industry to involve more people with disabilities in front of and behind the camera.
Stephen Letnes:
We have what amounts to a discount program, so members, which is, it’s a free membership, but if you receive SSI or SSDI and you have a disability, you can come to us, register with us, and you can get tons of music software at 50% off.
Stephen Letnes:
We’re looking to stretch people’s dollars. If they don’t have as many resources available, we still want people to have the same tools as other people in the industry have. Or hobbyists, people who want to explore music and see what kind of skills they have, so we have a discount program.
Stephen Letnes:
Then what’s really exciting, and we’ve been working on this for a while, we have, launching on August 12th, we are launching a grant program. Again, you become a member, totally easy, it’s free, it takes five minutes.
Stephen Letnes:
You can apply for music grants. They’re $2,000 grants. If you are a talented musician … We’re focusing on music this time because we’re a small Foundation, so we’re focusing on music. If you’re a musician in the Twin Cities area, eight counties, you can apply for a grant, and tell us what you would do with your 2,000 bucks.
Stephen Letnes:
Would you go into the studio to record a demo? Do you want to record a few songs? Or do you want to record a performance? Or do you want to put on a performance? Do you write music? Do you orchestrate, and so you want to hire a chamber orchestra to perform one of your pieces or a few of your pieces? What do you want to do? Do you want to cover a Celine Dione or Aretha Franklin tunes?
Stephen Letnes:
It’s like, what do you want to do? Because part of this grant is you telling us what you would want to do with this grant, and it’s a hands-on grant. If you win … We’re giving two out because we’re new, starting with two this year. If you receive the grant, it’s a hands-on grant.
Stephen Letnes:
Say you want to go to the studio, well, yes, you have to provide a budget. Yes, you have to provide a plan of what you want to do in the studio, and how you’ll present your performance or present what you do, but if you want to go in the studio, we’re hooked up here so we can find a studio at a better rate.
Stephen Letnes:
We can help you find studio musicians, people to support you, so we are working with you. We don’t just give you the 2000 bucks and say, “All right. Come back in six months and tell us what you got.” No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, We want to empower people and help musicians who apply to take their careers to that next level.
Jeff Thompson:
That’s what Able Artist Foundation is. It’s a partnership that not only with providers of tools, but actually a roadmap across the Twin Cities here for people who are connected.
Stephen Letnes:
Yes, yes. I mean it’s, as you know Jeff, I mean, it’s all about building relationships. Me, working in the entertainment industry, that’s how you get places. Yes, you have to be talented, but you have to be connected and network with people. Just so people know, people can get discounts from all over the world. I mean, we are in 12 countries right now.
Stephen Letnes:
We have people getting discounts on the best music software from Australia, Canada, here, United Kingdom, Hungary, France, Norway, Spain, Italy and I’m missing a few other countries. The discounts are global, but the grant program for this year is local to the Twin Cities area.
Jeff Thompson:
The website is worldwide, and they can find that at …
Stephen Letnes:
AbleArtist.org. It’s singular, 10 letters. A-B-L-E A-R-T-I-S-T.org. You can go there, and you can check it all out.
Jeff Thompson:
Stephen, when you’re talking about music, I just want people to know, not only do you compose musical scores for movies, television, documentaries, you also are quite the accomplished musician.
Stephen Letnes:
Well, my parents seem to think so. Yeah, no, I mean it’s, I’ve had some success. I’ve been doing film scores, writing music or underscore and soundtrack stuff for about eight years.
Stephen Letnes:
I got into it pretty late, but yes, I’ve been working on films, and probably 120 short films and documentaries and features. Last year, a film that I worked on called Beneath the Ink, we qualified for the Academy Awards.
Speaker 3:
My dad was an alcoholic. Mom was an alcoholic. Growing up, that’s all mom and dad did was drink. Dad was very racist. My rest of my family, my uncles and stuff was very racist and negative toward everybody. Then when I was 16 years old, dad, whenever it is, committed suicide.
Speaker 3:
At that point in time of my life, I absolutely hated everyone. I didn’t care who it was, white, black, I hated everybody. I ended up going down a path that most people never go down. It really took a big change to pull me out of that.
Stephen Letnes:
We didn’t get onto the big stage or anything, but that was really exciting to qualify. Then much to our surprise, I got a phone call from the Director just a couple of weeks ago and he said, “Hey, man. You got to go to this website and check it out.” He showed me, and that film, we just got nominated for an Emmy.
Jeff Thompson:
Really?
Stephen Letnes:
Yeah.
Speaker 4:
Welcome back, man. Because of my social media outreach, a lot of people, once I say, “Share,” it spreads like wildfire. Have you come around here for me, on this side of the table. We’ll get the stencil on you, my man, and we’ll go from there.
Speaker 4:
It happens. You see it both sides. You see people that are super stoked for the person and that are really happy that the person’s moving on. Then you have the people that are like, “Well, would they have done it if it wasn’t for free?” kind of thing. I don’t care that it’s for free, or I don’t care why they got it.” I just feel like I have to do something.
Stephen Letnes:
We were so surprised. Like we didn’t promote this in any way. We didn’t do any glad-handing and marketing for this. We looked on the Emmy’s webpage and there it is under Outstanding New Documentary Short, Beneath the Ink. It’s like, “Ahhh!” This is like the highlight of our careers is to get that Emmy nomination.
Jeff Thompson:
Oh, that’s awesome.
Stephen Letnes:
Yeah, yeah. It’s going to open some doors and they’re going to fly Cy Dodson, who’s the Director, they’re going to fly him out for the ceremony. Because I’m the lowly little composer, I’m going to chill out at home with a good bag of Frito-Lays and check it out and hope we win.
Jeff Thompson:
At least you got something to look forward to watching. I mean, that’s really exciting news. I mean, a lot of things have been coming up here. You’re now producing a new documentary, and you actually are trying to hire people with disabilities to fill the needs that you have.
Stephen Letnes:
Yeah, yeah. Just so listeners who may not know who the heck I am. I’m a composer, but I’m also legally blind. I have retinitis pigmentosa and macular degeneration, cone-rod dystrophy, and a few other in the goody bag. I’ve it my whole life, never been able to drive, all that, but it’s been slowly deteriorating as I’ve grown a little older.
Stephen Letnes:
One of the reasons that I started the Foundation and wanted to get into film was to advocate and to get more people with disabilities in Hollywood, because there aren’t that many. When this documentary came up, my initial intent was to compose. To do my normal job of writing music for the documentary, but because of my experience with building the Foundation and learning what it’s like to coordinate and manage three dozen people, I’m like, “I want to take a stab at this.”
Stephen Letnes:
I reached out and we had a meeting with the Executive Producer who’s funding this whole thing and I said, “I don’t want to just compose. I think I want to produce this thing.” I presented a business plan, I presented a budget, I presented a timeline, and I said, “Nobody’s going to care about this documentary as much as I am. I know I can do this for you. Yes, I haven’t done it before, but that’s why I’ve got all this paperwork in front of you to say, ‘I’ve done the work to do it.'”
Stephen Letnes:
Then he talked about it with other people and they’re like, “You know what? Okey-doke. You’ve got the job. Let’s have you do it.” I said, “One of the stipulations that I am requesting is, as we go through making this documentary, I want to hire other qualified people, who happen to have a disability, to work on this film.”
Stephen Letnes:
Because composers don’t really have any power, composers are in the latter stages of filmmaking, and so a lot of decisions get made early on by the producers. I decided to go after this producer role because I wanted to put myself in a position of power to influence the hiring that we are doing.
Stephen Letnes:
With them saying, “Yes,” and them agreeing to my quote, unquote terms, I have found a camera person over in Norway who has epilepsy. I, of course, I’m legally blind. For post-production, I found a graphic artist who is deaf. I found a sound mixer who is blind.
Stephen Letnes:
My hope is to demonstrate to the entertainment industry, not by wagging my finger or shaking my fist and yelling at them about, “You need to hire more people,” I simply want to show them, “Look how easy it is. Yeah, we made this really cool documentary and half the people on the film happen to have a disability. It’s easy. You can do it too. This isn’t that hard,” and just, let them know, “Look, this is how simple it can be.” That’s what I’m really excited to do with this documentary.
Jeff Thompson:
I’m excited about it because you’ve always been one that is, “Hey, I can do the work. Blindness is not the issue here. It’s you want the work done, I can do it. Let’s go.”
Stephen Letnes:
Yeah, yeah. There are a lot of different ways that people can approach this. Let’s talk about the first part first. Yes, it takes me more time, sometimes, with certain tasks because of my sight challenge. Yes, setting things up might take a little more time, but nobody cares about setting things up, they just, they care about the work.
Stephen Letnes:
We all know, we already know how to figure out what we need to be successful. We’re figuring out, “Well, here’s how I set up my computer. Here’s how I set up JAWS. Here’s how I set up whatever programs I’m using. Here’s how I set up the hot keys. Here’s how I streamline my work.”
Stephen Letnes:
Because a lot of the challenges that I think people have when looking for work, when working in an industry like the entertainment industry, when you talk to people who don’t have too many interactions with people with disabilities, one, they get worried because they might think that you’re a liability and they also think they have to solve all of your problems.
Stephen Letnes:
They’re putting the disability first sometimes and thinking, “Well, this is a disabled person. How is this going to add more work to me?” Because they think they have to solve all your problems, because they think you’re a problem. Now, it’s not everybody, but I’m sure a lot of people can understand what I’m saying right now and have had those experiences.
Stephen Letnes:
What’s great about having a disability … People just, we already understand, “Well, no. This isn’t a problem. Because I’ve lived with this my entire life, since birth, or since whatever age, I’ve had to problem solve. Guess what I’ve been doing? I’ve been doing it long before I walked into your office.” How do we present that confidence? That assuring, assurity … “Assurity,” is that even a word?
Jeff Thompson:
Now it is.
Stephen Letnes:
Assuring ignorant … I don’t even mean that as a pejorative way of saying it, but assuring an ignorant interviewer, or assuring an ignorant producer to say, “Oh, no, no, no, no, no. I got this. This is how easy it is,” if it even comes up at all. Because, what I call myself and other people, we are reluctant ambassadors. That whether we like it or not, we have a responsibility to advocate for ourselves.
Stephen Letnes:
What advocacy means, it doesn’t mean, again, wagging your finger, shaking your fist at somebody. It’s helping the ignorantly disabled people to understand, “Look, I’ve already figured out what I need to do to be successful. You just need to take the chance, which isn’t a chance.”
Stephen Letnes:
“You’re hiring me like everybody else because, guess what? I’m just like everybody else, but I also have the ability to figure stuff out better than anybody else, so give me the job because I already have the tools. You don’t have to do anything for me. I’m here for you. I’m here to work for you. Don’t you want some of this problem-solving prowess on your team?”
Stephen Letnes:
You got to kind of help the small folk along, as in the people hiring you. They’re the small folk. We already figured how to make things work. We’re just letting them come with us, and they can learn from us, because we know a heck of a lot more than they give us credit for.
Jeff Thompson:
The bottom line is the end product, you can produce.
Stephen Letnes:
Yeah. At the end of the day, it’s the work that matters. You’ve figured out how to solve problems, so you’re there to make a great product, and by making a great product, doing a terrific service, you are demonstrating to them, “See? No sweat. I delivered on time. Actually, I delivered on time, under budget, and you’ve got a great product to use. Let’s work on another project.” Yeah.
Jeff Thompson:
Projects is something you’ve been working on. I mean, I remember when you started Able Artist, I would see these tweets and messages come out, like, “Oh my gosh. This is a lot of work.” Going through all the process, setting up your Board, getting all these meetings done, and moving forward. Then the first time that you were able to offer to two people in the Twin Cities areas that opportunity.
Jeff Thompson:
Then when all the notices went out that, “If you sign-up, five minutes or less, you can get discounts from all them companies.” All that you’ve been doing since then, it’s just been, a workaholic.
Stephen Letnes:
Yeah, yeah. I haven’t seen my girlfriend in quite some time. It’s, it is a lot of work. One of the things that I learned early is to not be afraid if I don’t know something, and so it’s been important for me to identify and work with people who are a lot smarter and more experienced than myself.
Stephen Letnes:
I’ve surrounded myself with a great team. My Vice Chair was the Director of National Sports Center, and he started the USA Cup. Our attorney is someone who really understands entertainment law, and so she helps me understand, “Well, if you’re doing the grant thing, here are the legalities that you have.” I have other Emmy Award winners on our staff, say, “Well, here’s a little information about the industry.”
Stephen Letnes:
I have other advisors out in LA who say, “Well, here’s what you might want to consider when approaching x, y, z association or x, y, z studio about your non-profit.” I’ve surrounded myself with people who are more experienced, who have knowledge in very specific areas, and I’ve … Immersing myself in that information, and it’s been a fire hose, man. But that’s what we want.
Stephen Letnes:
I mean, I love neuroplasticity. It doesn’t matter how young or how old you are. Keep learning something new. It keeps you fresh, keeps you young, keeps you ambitious, keeps your drive going.
Stephen Letnes:
If you start to stagnate, find something else to do. Figure out how to woodwork. Like, Jeff, you work with a saw. I am scared to death to work with a saw, and I have low vision. Like I know I can do it if I ever want to, and I can just get over that fear. Getting over that fear and understanding there are other people in this world other than yourself, so why not connect with them and figure out what you can do together?
Stephen Letnes:
What is everybody’s special skills? How do you grow those skills by putting yourself around other people who have those set of special skills, and what can you do? I mean, we are empowered to do this. We can do anything. It’s just, you don’t have to do everything alone. As a composer, it can be very lonely. Because you’re in your studio, and you’re working on a film, and you may not have too many people that you’re working with.
Stephen Letnes:
Funny enough, when I started having success as a composer and I really wanted to put more effort into setting up Able Artist Foundation, it gave me the opportunity and forced me to do the outreach and reach out to people and say, “Hello. I’m Steve. I live in Minnesota, and I have this idea of starting a Foundation for artists with disabilities. Do you want to join?”
Stephen Letnes:
All I had was an email with an idea. I’d thought it out, but it was just an email with an idea that I explained to them. It took a while to get that first, “Yes,” but once I did, that started things going down this amazing path that it’s on.
Stephen Letnes:
The point is, is it forced me to connect with people, get out of my studio, get out of my apartment, and begin working on networking chops. It’s not networking, because it sounds so cold, but it’s you’re building relationships. Through the Foundation, that I’ve only been doing for like 18 months, I have made more connections in the industry and in the local area in those 18 months than the last eight years of doing just film composing.
Stephen Letnes:
It also behooves us to have different things that we want to try to do, because everything that you do will have peaks and valleys of success, of business, of things you need to do, and so you have to follow where the momentum takes you. When the momentum starts to slip on one, well, you could focus on it a little bit.
Stephen Letnes:
You always got to nurture it. It’s your garden, your garden of empowerment, “dun, dun, dun.” When momentum in one area starts to fall a little bit, well, you have these other areas too that you can tend to and see where that momentum takes you. You’re still managing it. I mean, you’re not just holding on with dear life as things are taking control of you, but you are setting different areas of things you’re interested, in motion.
Stephen Letnes:
Each thing will have its own area of momentum. You just have to know when to identify, “All right. I got to focus on this for a while,” and then move to different areas. It’s good to diversify, especially in the entertainment industry, but in whatever industry you’re in, diversify what you’re interested.
Jeff Thompson:
You bring up a lot of great points here. When we first met, you taught me about awareness, and I’ve taken that to heart. Like getting awareness out there, connecting with people. It’s not just awareness. It’s the relationships, the collaboration, the nurturing of the relationships. Realizing your set of skills and other people’s set of skills, so you can work together.
Jeff Thompson:
You always seem to push forward, when in you’re in a lull, you always seem to push it higher and come through, so I applaud that.
Stephen Letnes:
Thank you, Jeff.
Jeff Thompson:
Another point that you made is, it’s a podcast I’m editing right now. It’s about working from home and how you can isolate yourself and not get out there. You make a great point of outreaching and connecting with people, which keeps you in-tune with the vibe of things that’s happening. Otherwise, you get locked up in your studio too long, you’re in for trouble.
Stephen Letnes:
Yes, yes. We can always be our own worst enemy. We need that connection. We need humanity, get off social media. Just going to the pharmacy, going to the gym, getting some groceries. Doing something to connect with another human being helps tremendously. It’s a natural SSRI for you to get out there and connect with humanity, and to build those relationships, to build that awareness.
Stephen Letnes:
One thing that, actually, you just said that, let me touch on, is sometimes, we get hung-up that if we have a bad experience in one thing, we’re like, “Well, I should stop.” That first, “No,” really cuts deep. It’s something that in the industries, well, multiple industries now. Because now, I mean, not only am I doing the entertainment industry, but now I’m understanding what the non-profit sector’s like.
Stephen Letnes:
Holy crap. I thought the entertainment industry was tough, non-profit industry can be tough too. How do you make sure those cuts don’t go so deep? You got to get cut a lot, and you need to cut your teeth on all these experiences of people telling you, “No.” Or people being polite in the way they tell you, “No.” Because sometimes, the Minnesota people don’t say, “No.” They just say nice things and hope you’ll go away.
Stephen Letnes:
Because nobody wants to be that direct, and it’s picking up on those cues, and people with sight challenges, well, we can hear, sometimes, we can pay a little more attention to the subtleties that others don’t pick up on. We actually capitalize on having poorer vision, and so we pick up on the other things in the area.
Jeff Thompson:
You’re so busy with everything else. What triggered you to take on another challenge of directing the documentary?
Stephen Letnes:
Oh, yeah. Doing … I mean, that’s one more added thing.
Jeff Thompson:
Like you needed another thing on your plate.
Stephen Letnes:
Yeah. I mean, I was busy enough. I mean, I was working on …
Jeff Thompson:
Nominated for Emmys.
Stephen Letnes:
Yeah. Working on the Emmy nomination. Well, not working on it, but getting the Emmy nomination. I got to tell you what Jeff, I love to make my life harder. What I found was, it was an opportunity that came to me in a way, nobody asked me to do it, but it’s like, okay, Steven Spielberg once said, “Great ideas or big ideas don’t scream at you. They start with a whisper.”
Stephen Letnes:
It’s learning to pay attention to those little voices inside of you that, they will never be loud. The ideas that you might want to travel with never start out loud. They are soft, they are subtle. You have to know yourself to understand, “Well, okay. This idea, I’m hearing this idea in my head. Should I go for that?” You pick up on that, and that’s what happened. Because I thought I was just going to compose music for this, and we are going to look for a producer, which is going to manage the entire film, the entire budget.
Stephen Letnes:
I just had a thought, “Well, I’ve been doing this organization stuff, like I’ve been pulling people together with the foundation. I think maybe I could do this.” It was small. It was just a small thought, “Well, maybe I could do this too.” Then I simply explored it a little more, talked with a few people. Then I ran with it because the projects that I’m on, again, they have peaks and valleys and I’m like, “Well, I don’t know when I would get another chance like this, so let me just try. Let me just present things so they feel comfortable.”
Stephen Letnes:
Like, I’ve done the research already. I’m not just going in cold just with me sitting in a chair saying, “Well, I think I could do this.” No. I got my resume, I got my business plan, I’ve gotten my timeline for shooting. I’ve got not one budget, but two budgets. Depends on how big they want this thing to go. I gave them things to hold onto, literally hold onto, than just myself. They were not overwhelmed, but they were comforted with something that they understood, i.e., paperwork.
Stephen Letnes:
By handing them that, that got to be an additional piece of me that they got to keep in their hand while I spoke with them. It’s the subtle little nuances of encouraging people to be comfortable with you. You have to provide things that others are comfortable with as they’re getting to know you.
Stephen Letnes:
Yeah, so this’ll have momentum for a few months, and then I know the grant stuff with the Foundation will happen for a few months. Then I’ll get another music project to work on for a few months. Again, it’s just following the momentum to see where things go. I am not afraid of taking on more stuff, and if I do take on too much stuff, that’s why you have built a network of others around you that you can help, to carry the burden, to lighten the load.
Stephen Letnes:
Again, you don’t have to do any of this alone. Keep nurturing relationships and never be afraid to ask for help, because you won’t know what other people are capable of if you don’t.
Jeff Thompson:
Steve, you always got great words of wisdom and when I’m editing this, it gets pounded into my brain all the time that I listen to you and edit and stuff like that, but this is pretty clear-cut. This is good information for anybody out there.
Jeff Thompson:
Things happen for people who show up, and you took the initiative to go out and get it, and you got it. Congratulations on all the success coming and all the success that’s ahead of you too.
Stephen Letnes:
Thank you very much, Jeff. This is, it is overwhelming, but it is blissfully overwhelming. You put yourself in a position to win, and relationships take a while. I mean, even with this Emmy nomination, with this Director, I was building a friendship with him. I know you want to bring this to an end, but like just real quick.
Jeff Thompson:
Oh, no, no. You’re a busy guy. This is good stuff. You go right ahead.
Stephen Letnes:
Because sometimes, I can over-talk. Like I get on my soapbox and I just go, go, go.
Stephen Letnes:
I met this Director through a mutual friend like five years ago. We would see each other from time-to-time, and I would see the projects that he was doing, and I would just say, “Hey, how you doing, Cy?” Like, “Let’s just connect. If you ever need music,” blah, blah, blah.
Stephen Letnes:
He got to a point, about a year and a half ago, he was like, “Well, I’m not thrilled with the music that I’m using in this. Hey, can you write some music for me?” I’m like, “Well, yeah.” Then I worked my tuchus off to … “Can I?” Yeah. I mean, I worked really hard to provide music for this film because he just decided he wasn’t satisfied with the stuff that he was using.
Stephen Letnes:
He was like, “Well, yeah, I kind of met Steve before. I’m not too sure of his music but let me just give him a shot because I don’t like what I have.” It took three and a half years of just being nice, being available, being around. Letting him see that I’m working on stuff. Okay. Because nobody wants to hire somebody who’s out of work.
Jeff Thompson:
Mm-hmm (negative).
Stephen Letnes:
I mean, that’s just something that you got to think of. People who are good at what they do, they’re usually not out of work for very long. Now, the entertainment industry is a little different. This isn’t like doing a traditional 9:00 to 5:00 job. That’s not what I mean.
Stephen Letnes:
When you’re looking in different areas where your work is on a different timeline, like woodworking, like carpentry, like the entertainment industry. Even the best actors aren’t necessarily always working. There’s downtime, so that’s what I mean.
Stephen Letnes:
I would never go to him and say, “Hey, do you have some work for me?” No one wants to hear that stuff in this industry, but you say, “Hey, what have you been working on? Hey, that’s really cool. I’ve been working on this.” If people see that other people are trusting you, people they may not even know, with their work, they’ll say, “Well, if other people are trusting him, well, maybe I should too.”
Stephen Letnes:
Because something I learned a long time ago, nobody wants to be first, last or left out. When you’re talking with a Director, they don’t want their project to be the first one you’re working on. They also don’t want you to be at the end of your career and like, “Well, yeah, I’m just doing this. I’m done after this.” Nobody loves that lack of enthusiasm, but the middle one. Nobody wants to be left out.
Stephen Letnes:
If you’re on the way up, and you’re working hard, and other people are endorsing you, when you talk to other people that you haven’t worked with, but you’d like to, they’ll say, “Oh, well, they have been working on stuff. Huh. Well, what am I missing out on?”
Stephen Letnes:
It’s trying to be busy. It’s, it is, or that’s not trying, it’s actively being busy in different areas because that’s your resume as far as they know. “What have you been working on lately? What have you got cooking?” Because nobody’s going to want to hire somebody who doesn’t have ambitions to do more. That’s what’s important for the industry. Yeah, but it took three and a half years to get this guy to give me a shot.
Stephen Letnes:
It wasn’t because he was thinking about me in the first place. He was just dissatisfied with the music he was getting in other areas, and he happened to remember who I was and just sent me an email saying, “Hey, man. I’m not thrilled with the music. You want to take a stab at this?” “Boy, can I,” and look where we are now, so relationships can certainly take a while.
Jeff Thompson:
I want to start making Steve Letnes t-shirts. Put on there, “Awareness, relationships. Don’t be left out.”
Stephen Letnes:
That’s funny. That’s good. I might need a stand-in because I like working in the background, man. I don’t like, necessarily, being on film, but audio stuff, I love.
Jeff Thompson:
You’re putting yourself out front now. That’s, you’re out of the background with your soundtracks. Great stuff that you’ve been doing. Yeah.
Stephen Letnes:
Yeah, yeah.
Jeff Thompson:
I said “soundtracks,” didn’t I?
Stephen Letnes:
Yeah, no. That’s fine, that’s fine.
Jeff Thompson:
Musical scores.
Stephen Letnes:
Musical scores. Yeah. Well, it was funny. One last thing. When I was talking to a buddy who is on the … He’s a publicist. I was talking to him about how, the best way to publicize the organization, AbleArtist.org. He’s like, “Well, you’re going to have to get in front of the camera, Steve. Because now, you’re a public figure.” It was the first time somebody told me that. I was like, “What? What do you mean?”
Stephen Letnes:
He’s like, “Well, you’re going to be on camera. You’re going to be interviewed because you are running a non-profit. You’re doing all this advocacy work in Hollywood. You’re a composer doing all this. You’re now a public figure, so get used to it.”
Stephen Letnes:
Yeah, so I’ve been losing weight for the last few months, just trying to get camera-ready if I’m ever on camera. Now that I’m producing this documentary, even though producers are in the background because it’s a documentary, there will be times where I am on camera. I’m also trying to put myself in the best light and present myself as good as possible. Because, I don’t know, I don’t know. We want to look as good as we can. I mean that’s-
Jeff Thompson:
You’ve always been hitting the gym. I mean, I remember when your locker lock came up about being accessible locks. I mean …
Stephen Letnes:
Oh, yeah.
Jeff Thompson:
You probably, just trying to get rid of that studio 20 pounds.
Stephen Letnes:
Yeah. Hey, and I’m most of the way there. Actually, I’m 20% away from my goal as of this morning.
Jeff Thompson:
There you go.
Stephen Letnes:
Actually, it reminds me, that whole … Check this out. Be careful what you ask for. Because when I was figuring out the whole locker thing, my gym didn’t have accessible lockers and so I petitioned them to get accessible lockers, and now I’m on their Board.
Stephen Letnes:
Like, “Well, you want to help this place become more accessible, come on our Board and show us how to do it.” Yeah, so now I’m on the Board and that’s taking up more time, so careful what you wish for.
Jeff Thompson:
There you go. Your resume’s growing all the time.
Stephen Letnes:
It is, it is. You never know, but you just got to keep getting out there. Keep going out. Keep connecting with people. Keep communicating. Keep sending emails, shaking hands, working on your skills and diversify your interests, but do your focus on the things that you really want to do.
Stephen Letnes:
Keep getting out there and engaging, embracing … No, I’m not going to say, “Seize the day.” Embrace the day. Every day is a new day, and I’m thrilled. Make yourself busy. You never know what’ll happen. You’ll never see what’s coming, and that’s the fun of it.
Jeff Thompson:
Great words from Stephen Letnes. You can check him out on AbleArtist.org. Go on there, join-up, and get your discounts, and pay attention to what’s happening. A lot of stuff always happening with Stephen Letnes. Steve, is there anything else you want to share with the listeners?
Stephen Letnes:
Just how thankful I am to know you, Jeff, and to have this opportunity to talk about the Foundation and to speak to people out there. It’s always good to connect with people this way.
Stephen Letnes:
Yeah, if you have questions, shoot an email, Info@AbleArtist.org. I’m always happy to speak with people, listen with people. Maybe I can share some bits, or if you have some questions, maybe something I can help with.
Stephen Letnes:
You give people, like Roy Samuelson and others, the opportunity to share what they know and to share, “Hey, look. We’re not alone.” There are a lot of people out there with the same struggles that you have, and a lot of advocates out there who are looking to make this world a more inclusive place for everyone.
Stephen Letnes:
Your show does that, and it lets people know we are not alone. Jeff, thank you for doing everything with Blind Abilities and all the work that you do. It’s really great to have you as a friend.
Jeff Thompson:
Oh, thanks, Stephen. You, yourself, from the days when you were at Blind Incorporated, visiting them and playing that baseball game with them.
Stephen Letnes:
Oh, yeah.
Jeff Thompson:
Just, you’ve given yourself, and now for you to start a Foundation to help others possibly reach their potential or have opportunities, you’re doing a lot for everybody, and to make some of those tools affordable. You’re doing a great thing around the world now. Around the world, Steve. Great job.
Stephen Letnes:
That’s crazy. I know. Isn’t that crazy? Thanks, Jeff.
Jeff Thompson:
It’s always a great time with Steve Letnes in the studio. Remember, that’s AbleArtist.org. Check him out, and don’t forget to enable the Blind Abilities skill on your Amazon device just by saying, “Enable Blind Abilities.”
Jeff Thompson:
Most of all, I want to thank you, the listener. I want to thank you for listening. I hope you enjoyed and until next time, bye bye.
Music] [Transition noise] -When we share
-What we see
-Through each other’s eyes…
[Multiple voices overlapping, in unison, to form a single sentence]
…We can then begin to bridge the gap between the limited expectations, and the realities of Blind Abilities.
Jeff Thompson:
For more podcasts with the blindness perspective:
Check us out on the web at www.BlindAbilities.com On Twitter @BlindAbilities
Download our app from the App store:
‘Blind Abilities’; that’s two words.
Or send us an e-mail at:
info@blindabilities.com Thanks for listening.
*****
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