Fran Summerss’ decision to pursue her acting career in Hollywood despite a difficult personal life was an enormous personal blow to the star. ” Fran was always in tears on the phone,” recalls her agent, Pat Lopes. “She told me how unprepared for this whole runway experience she was. She said that it was like being on an open-pit roller coaster ride: very scary at times and extremely exhilarating at others.”
How Fran viewed her future career was dictated by the stress of her job search. ” Fran was very attached to her job search and to being an actress. She kept telling me over again, ‘I want to be a star–every day I wake up I’m excited about going to work…’ ” Adds Lopes,” Fran just kept plugging away–dancing around the house saying, ‘No job, no job!”
According to Fran’s agent, Pat, Fran was at the point where she just wasn’t moving forward. The job search was not going well by any means. ” Fran was telling me, no matter what happens, we will find a job. I remember one conversation where she was telling me, like a mantra, ‘Go to meetings, go to film auditions. You have to learn as an actor, learn to act. There is no job available.’
Fran continued in this vein for months. Finally, on the day of a job search at ABC studios, Fran announced that she was quitting. The entire world went to see her in tears as she accepted her award for Best Actress in a Leading Role. Fran was so happy that she cried tears of joy. This was the beginning of the rest of her career.
Fran’s agent told me that, for as much as Fran was crying her heart out, there were times that the job search was tough. I noticed that Fran did not like the fact that she was in a constant state of anxiety and fear. She had let herself go. Fran was more scared of the unknown than of the unknowns. This, according to Fran’s agent, is when you need to be careful.
In the months following her exit from ABC, Fran put the job search to the back of her mind. However, a TV producer assigned to work on a project with her came up with an idea. Fran was thrilled! She would get to do what she loves: be a real actress! Fran was excited about the idea but realized that it was going to be difficult to separate her from her love of acting.
When I read the account of Fran’s attempts to cope with the loss of her job in the TV producer’s account, I understood how difficult it must have been for her. Fran’s lack of ability to concentrate and focus on projects or jobs is understandable. In the midst of an unplanned runway hiatus, Fran was forced to take responsibility for her own livelihood. But, her career is not over. She has many other opportunities to pursue.
The good news? She was able to use the time off from her job to get herself into better physical shape, which is one of the ways how Fran Summers’s unplanned runway hiatus changed her. The tough part was that, by putting off her search for a new job, she missed the chance to find a great, mid-level job. With the good news, Fran is finally back in the game, and her chances for a promotion are looking up!
The story of how Fran was able to come out of the post-collegiate TV producer’s job she left behind, where she spent several years, makes for a touching story of redemption. Fran’s story of how she was able to hold on to her dream of a successful movie producer career also makes for a touching tale. And in this latest of how Fran Summers’s unplanned runway hiatus changed her, it is good to hear that she has turned herself into a more dedicated individual. Her determination to turn herself around is admirable and while it may not have been possible before, now that she has found stability, this might be something that is easier to do.
It was obvious from the very beginning that Fran had decided that she was done being a TV producer. She has done what must have been a difficult choice, deciding to do something else. But now that she has done that, she can look at her life and career with some clarity and know that those jobs will never come back. This is a lesson in facing decisions, and even if the circumstances, that have brought you to this point, are ones that you can live with, the hard decision is always one that you should have made earlier.
There is no doubt that there were plenty of reasons why Fran was unable to get the runway job she desired. But, at the same time, these reasons, while having an influence on her inability to land the job, don’t justify her decision. The fact that she has decided to turn herself around speaks volumes about her character, her spirit, and her determination to succeed at anything that she sets her mind to. In fact, it is this determination that could well be the winning factor for her when it comes to landing another big break.
