Life & Work with Josie Eli Herman

Today, we’d like to introduce you to Josie Eli Herman.

Hi Josie, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I graduated from my theatre arts program at Eastern Michigan University with a lot of knowledge and some awesome college theatre experience under my belt… but like a lot of millennials in their early twenties, I had absolutely no idea of what to do with my life.

I knew that the majority of people who graduated in theatre would not work in theatre after college… that was just the stone cold fact. So when I sat down for the first day of work at my new 9 to 5 office job post-graduation, I couldn’t help but feel like I was on track to quitting life as a creative.

I owe a lot of my hold on art to a friend I met in college. A friend that started as my number one academic and artistic rival. Throughout school, Michael and I worked together often, always trying to playfully “one-up” each other whenever we could.

He moved out to Los Angeles after graduation, but we kept in touch over the phone and encouraged each other to keep at our own artistic endeavors. Eventually, we started collaborating on photoshoots, writing projects, and even plays and films. It was around then that we realized: a) we worked really well together as artistic partners, and b) we were madly in love. So… years later, Michael and I are still best friends, married, and growing artistically together all the time in our happy little home in Pinckney, MI.

Today, I work as a freelance independent artist. That can mean a lot of different things, of course. And for me, it can mean a lot of different things in even one afternoon. In a single day, I might be studying my lines for a professional theatre show, then switching over to planning for another show I’m slated to direct later in the year.

Then, I might sit down for a few hours to edit photos for the latest wedding I photographed, pull a costume together for tomorrow’s painting class I’m modeling for, then finally I might get some time to work on the scripts for the next audio drama podcast Michael and I are producing. There are many hats to wear, and always things to learn. And while, admittedly, I don’t make a fortune, I’m proud to live a life working on things that satisfy my creative spirit.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I don’t think the artist’s road is ever smooth for very long before things get interesting. You might have to deal regularly with financial struggles, feeling an artistic block when a deadline is approaching, a bad review from a rude internet troll, or just feeling overwhelmed with the juggling act.

But even a stable career that isn’t someone’s dream job can crash and burn with sudden downsizing, or life can get turned upside-down with an unexpected emergency. So, why spend your life working for something that isn’t your dream when there are risks both ways? What you learn as a freelance artist is to ride all kinds of little waves, and to keep getting back in the boat when you fall out.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I like to categorize my work into the two streams of “fine art” and “entertainment art”. Fine art includes the work I do in photography, graphic design, painting, drawing, and modeling for other artists. Entertainment art includes the work I do in theatre, film, and audio drama podcasting.

The work that I’m most proud of is definitely our show, The Call of the Void. This is a three season science-fiction audio-drama podcast written and produced by me and my husband. We cast many of our local actor friends in the show and played two of the lead characters ourselves. The show is kind of like “Stranger Things” meets the Cthulhu mythos, set in modern-day New Orleans.

The characters and the story of this project grew to mean so much to me. It was definitely the sort of thing that I’d wake up thinking about, work on for 12 hours a day, and daydream about when I’m not actively working on it. In the meantime, the show grew astronomically larger than we expected it to, with listeners all over the world and over a million downloads to date. (We were expecting like….100 when we started out and honestly just hoped our friends and family would give it a listen).

The show was honored for Best Fiction Podcast at the Webby Awards and won several other podcasting awards as well, but the response from our listeners was the thing that really meant the most to me. People reaching out and telling us things like, “this show got me through a really hard time in my life,” “I cried so much at this part,” or even “I ship these characters so hard!” Being able to share the characters we love so much, with people around the world that love them too… that has truly been one of the best experiences of my life so far.

Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
Sure! I love talking about this story to artists starting out: when the first season of Call of the Void had been put together, but before we released it, I felt very artistically shy about it. I was afraid it wasn’t good enough, that people might give it bad reviews, that my own performance in it might be cringy… I knew the show wasn’t perfect and I almost let my perfectionism sink the project.

Thankfully, Michael was the driving force in that moment. He was much braver of an artist than I was at that point, and he knew the show had potential. So….we released it. The best version that we could at that point, with all its imperfections. And…it got some great reviews and some bad reviews. Some people really resonated with the characters and loved the story, and some people wrote scathingly nasty things trashing the show, like 4th grade bullies at recess.

Those things hurt. It’s super hard to read criticism when you spend a year putting everything you have into a project. And especially when you’re just starting out, it can feel like a sign saying, “Go back. You don’t belong here.” But Michael and I were really growing to love the project we were making. We believed in the story and the characters, and decided we wanted to continue with a season 2 and 3. Some of the criticism was even helpful, so we took it to heart and did a “remaster” of season 1, fixing some of the issues.

So…when you start out in your career, you’re going to make mistakes. And maybe people are going to point out those mistakes, and maybe that’s going to feel awful. But if you keep going at it, you’re going to learn more and more about your craft, how to improve your work, and how to deal with criticism. If your work means a whole lot to you, you deserve to share it. And chances are, someone like you is going to love it just like you do.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.acornartsandentertainment.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecallofthevoidpodcast/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CalloftheVoidPodcast
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/CallOfTheVoidP

Image Credits
Josie Eli Herman & Michael Alan Herman