Hold the Door
A weekly podcast about how underrepresented folks are surviving and thriving in the entertainment industry. Stay connected on Instagram @holdthedoorpod.
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Hold the Door
Rest Part 2 - Monetizing Hobbies with Camille Corbett
One thing that plagues the residents of LA, at least those who are part of the industry, is the pressure to monetize everything, even the things they originally started just for fun. This week, Camille Corbett joins me for the 2nd installation of our rest series to discuss finding that balance between having a hobby that is just for you, and knowing when you should be compensated for your time and skills.
If you want to keep up with Camille Corbett, you can find her on Instagram and LinkedIn.
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Camille Wilson: The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the host and guests alone.
Camille Corbett: And I was just like, no, I'm prioritizing my career. You pay me to write if you want me to be paid, to like act too, there's a different conversation to be had. So sometimes prioritizing your hobby will save you.
Camille Wilson: Hello, welcome to Hold the Door. I’m happy you’re here. One thing that plagues the residents of LA, at least those who are part of the industry, is the pressure to monetize everything, even the things they originally started just for fun. This week, Camille Corbett joins me for the second installation of our rest series to discuss finding that balance between having a hobby that is just for you, and knowing when you should be compensated for your time and skills. Hope you enjoy our conversation.
Camille Corbett is a Fulbright Scholar and a multi-hyphenate Jamaican-American artist from Atlanta, GA. Camille has written on a sitcom for Netflix (DAD STOP EMBARRASSING ME), as well as a sex comedy produced by DreamCrew (BREF) and on an animated show for Disney+ (HEY AJ) that comes out in March 2026. Camille is a proud member of the LA comedy scene through her improv (UCB, GROUNDLINGS, IMPRO STUDIO), stand-up (COMEDY STORE, HOLLYWOOD IMPROV, ICE HOUSE, LAUGH FACTORY), sketch, theatre (MATRIX THEATRE, VICTORY THEATRE), and comedic musical performances. When she’s not plotting on how to become the next great American writer, Camille teaches comedy writing at UCLA Extension.
Camille, welcome to the podcast. Thank you for being here.
Camille Corbett: Thank you for having me.
Camille Wilson: Thanks for sharing my name.
Camille Corbett: Double the trouble.
Camille Wilson: Hey. So really what I wanna talk about is the balance when you are essentially monetizing your hobbies, when to know this needs to stay a hobby and be part of my rest routine and when it's like, no, this is actually something I'm good at and I should profit from it. So, that's kind of the, the vibe that I want to cover here. 'cause I think it's a hard balance to find, especially in LA.
Camille Corbett: Yeah.
Camille Wilson: But before we get to that, we'll start with how you got into the industry. And was entertainment always the plan?
Camille Corbett: Entertainment definitely was not the plan.
Camille Wilson: Okay.
Camille Corbett: That was not my vibe. Yeah. I, all my life have, I've always wanted to be a writer. I've been obsessed with writing. I've been obsessed with books, and so I always knew I was gonna be a writer, but Hollywood seemed like kind of like a joke to me. Not that like.
Being in Hollywood is a joke, but like the things that people seem to be concerned about just don't seem to be problems that I care about, you know? Yeah. Like, I don't care if I'm the prettiest person in the room. I frankly don't, you know, I don't care about like, um, people wanting to be me, you know, stuff like that people dream of when they wanna be like movie stars, you know, like, great, you know, filmmakers, I never had, you know, those sorts of dreams, but I always wanted to be a great writer.
Like I’d read a lot about lives of writers like Fitzgerald, Hemingway, they lived - William Burrows - like all these people, they live such crazy lives and we were able to create amazing art that changed the world, and that's what I wanted to do. Honestly. After reading Harry Potter when I was seven years old.
Like that's the reason I became a writer. I was like, this is what I want to do. I wanna affect people in that way.
Camille Wilson: Yeah, create worlds.
Camille Corbett: Create worlds. Give people an escape, make people happy. So for me, Hollywood didn't seem to do that to people. It seemed to destroy people a little bit. And for me, I didn't really watch tv.
I watch more like films. So, and like I'd watch films very occasionally. I was very much into books. Like I've read over a thousand books, so. It just, I just didn't care, you know?
Camille Wilson: Yeah.
Camille Corbett: But I will say when I went to the University of Alabama I found out that TV writers, you know, could make a living, you know, as a writer and it's creative.
Like I was looking at all the options of being a writer and how much money you can make and what kind of writing you have to do. And TV writing seemed like the best option for me. And so I just went for it. Especially 'cause TV was booming at that time. Like when I entered tv, I think like Rami was on air, like Mr. Robot, like it was like a different time. Like it seemed like tides were changing and that there were more stories that like I would wanna tell because part of the reason why I became a writer is because I'd read all these books about white people and like they were great. They were beautiful books, but I want to read books about my people and going to the University of Alabama and learning under Trudier Harris. She, uh, was this great African American scholar. She taught me African American literature and I just devoured all of the books that she recommended, every single one. And to this day, I like, I'm a like diehard Octavia butler.
I always confused her and Spencer, like Octavia Spencer. It's so annoying. Insane.
Camille Wilson:No, literally same
Camille Corbett: fans of both. I actually met Octavia Spencer. She's such a nice lady. Like insane. But yeah, Octavia Butler, like, you know, people like that. I would've never discovered her without, you know, her. I would've never read Richard Wright.
You know, I have spent my entire life not reading Richard Wright till I met this lady, you know? Yeah. And so she changed my life and. It made me know that I could make stories only centered around people like me. And I knew that's what I wanted to do. And I actually got my Fulbright doing that too. Like I wanted to make brown stories and black stories, and I talked about how like, you know, interacting with people that are different than me will help that and humanize people in American media.
And so to go into Hollywood was like very different, you know what I mean? It's just, yeah, it was just not like what I was planning on.
Camille Corbett: But yeah, I came from Atlanta, Georgia. My mom, she's Jamaican, my dad, he's super southern, and, um, they both died when I was young. But I also, I was lucky my stepmother adopted me, but like the first time I was published as a writer, I was 15 years old. And it’s something I always wanted to do and I was lucky enough to become like a National Merit scholar, so I got a shit ton of full rides. And at the time I wanted to go into politics.
But yeah, I started out like working. Um, actually for Jared Leto, that was like my first industry job. Actually. My first first industry job was working as a PA on the TV show, The Wall, on the WB lot.
Camille Wilson: Once you got into Hollywood, did you feel like you could push through because you could create the stories you wanted or you were like, actually this is different than I thought it would be?
Camille Corbett: It was different than I thought it would be. 'cause it was like exciting.
Camille Wilson: Okay.
Camille Corbett: You know what I mean? It was like interesting, like my first job was working for Jared Leto and he, first, I worked for him in this weird music festival that he has, it's like a one band music festival.
Camille Wilson: Okay.
It was fun. But after working on that, like they like enjoyed working with me. So then I started working with them on different projects. I worked with them like on a fetish film. They had like these rare cameras, there's only like five in the world. They had three of them and they were using them for a VMAs performance for 30 seconds to Mars and Travis Scott.
So they made a bunch of. Films with them 'cause they had them in their possession. Gotcha. But yeah, I did the VMAs with him and Travis Scott. That was really cool. I got to meet a lot of like, my favorite celebrities, like Miley. I love Miley. It was crazy meeting her. And especially like when you first come to LA I was like, what?
Right. Yeah. It's crazy. But yeah. Yeah, it was like interesting working for someone like that who just like, you know, his name carried everything, but it was like, you know, it's a bubble.
And after that they were like, do you wanna work for their touring company? Because they have an amazing touring company. And yeah, I ended up like declining, but I started floating on the Fox lot. And like I'd work in different departments, like the consumer products. That was my favorite 'cause I got a lot of free shit.
And then I was like getting frustrated 'cause I came to be a TV writer and before, honestly, I entered entertainment. I was a copywriter.
Mm-hmm.
And like I made like $500 a week and I wrote 4,000 words a day.
And I would like walk around, tell people as a writer. And I thought like eventually someone would just hire me on the show. That's not how it works. So I started being an assistant. Mm-hmm. But working as an assistant, I was like, how do you get into a writers room? Everyone would just tell me. It's really hard.
It was really hard to do, but I like applied to be like a showrunner's assistant for this lady, Angela Robinson, I think. And she was in Time's Up. It was like this new organization at the time, you know, empowering women, talking about Harvey Weinstein, all of that. And it was Me too. Yeah, me too. Is.
Yeah. Tied to Time's Up. Yeah. But it's like a different organization. There's like, but it's like tied to the Me Too movement. Okay. And yeah, it was like all these like powerful women in Hollywood wanting to bring more women into Hollywood through the pipeline. So things like this won't happen 'cause you have like a female executive that's choosing things you're less likely have to deal with like, you know, someone that's like, oh, like being creepy towards you.
But yeah, um, I was very lucky enough to like I. Applied to be showrunners assistant. I didn't get it. Um, but she really liked me. She loved that I was a Fulbright scholar, so it's always important to get education. Even if you want to go into Hollywood, like a lot of people go into Hollywood without like college degrees.
I don't think it matters. I think the few extra years you get is not worth not having a college degree, honestly.
But yeah, so basically she sent my, uh, I wrote like a senior honors thesis at the University of Alabama. Was basically like a lesbian romance novel. And if you know Angela Robinson, she, uh, directed the iconic lesbian movie, D.E.B.S.
Camille Wilson: yes. Oh my gosh. Yes, yes.
Yeah.
Camille Corbett: Yes. So she is that girl and she's like, girl power all the way. So she. Was really fucking with my novel and she sent it to CAA and they loved it, but they were like, what do you wanna do with this? Do you wanna make into a movie? Like, what's going on? And I was just like, I just wanna be in a writer's room.
And they're like, what level? And I was just like, any level. And they got me into a TV's writer's room as a writer's PA, like almost instantaneously. Like the first job I applied to, I got in because, yeah, there was a, I was already working for the NBC writing fellowship, I think at the time. Mm-hmm. Yeah, so I was also, I was the TA for the NBC writing fellowship for like three years as well, and I think I started that before I even got into a writer's room.
So I did it while I was like floating on the Fox lot. I met like Jen Grisante, who was the teacher over that. Yeah.
Camille Wilson: And that's how we met.
Camille Corbett: Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's how we met. Yeah. But I met Jen at the WGA.
And then I met you like, I think my third year doing it or my second year doing it. No, my third year doing it.
Camille Corbett: But yeah, I loved, um, the NBC writing fellowship. Like Karen Horne's amazing.
Camille Wilson: Yeah.
Camille Corbett: Yeah.
Camille Wilson: She's actually gonna be on this season.
Camille Corbett: What? Yeah. I love her. She's amazing.
But yeah, I was very lucky because, uh, there was a, my mentor. Derek Hughes, he's amazing. He's on the WGA board. I had met him through the WGA, or I had met him through NBC, and he was like best friends with the showrunner.
So I was just like he put in a good word for me. I was like, what's the likelihood that this would happen? But yeah, so I instantaneously got the job and it was like my first job in a writer's room. I was like, writer's PA. And then I just worked more assistant jobs, mainly in historical dramas. Okay.
Because of my Fulbright, I had like that research background.
Camille Wilson: Okay. That makes sense.
Camille Corbett: And when I couldn't be in a writer's room, I would also produce true crime shows like female murderer shows mainly.
Camille Wilson: Okay.
Camille Corbett: Um, using the same research skills. Yeah.
Camille Wilson: That's awesome. Okay, I'm gonna come back to your career, but I want to get a little bit into your philosophy, so what does your approach to rest look like? Like your personal approach at this stage in life?
Camille Corbett: For me, it's not doing anything. I love laying in bed, but I even work in bed. Like I write in bed. So for me, like I love like doing things that like don't stack up to anything. You know, like I like to paint.
I like to sleep, I like to go swimming, you know, things that just like, you know, bring me joy, pure inhibit. Yeah. Just for you. Yeah, just for me.
Camille Wilson: And then before we get to the monetization part, 'cause I definitely wanna talk about that, especially the not stacking up to something.
Camille Wilson: Just to give folks a reference who have maybe only worked a nine to five, what does a typical work week look like?
Camille Corbett: Oh God.
Camille Wilson: With like your current schedule,
Camille Corbett: you guys are gonna hate me. Oh man. So right now, because. Hollywood is dumpster fire. I'm basically like a full-time influencer right now. Okay. Like that's the vibe. And I'm a comedian, so, and I model. So those are my main forms of income and comedy is like the least paying one out of all of them.
But yeah, so I mainly make my money through social media. So when I wake up in the morning, I'm generally like responding to emails from people all over the world asking me to handle their products or whatever. Okay. And then,
Camille Wilson: so they're
mostly like, they're mostly like, Hey, can we have this new skincare?
Like can you promote our lotion or something like that?
Camille Corbett: Yeah. How much does it cost for you to promote whatever? And then we try and negotiate. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't. And then like, I also am like responding to like castings, you know, like, and I also self submit myself for things.
Camille Wilson: Just for folks who don't know, self submitting means
Camille Corbett: you submit to like casting networks, like your profile for auditions and castings, like for like commercials, you know, films, whatever.
And anyone can do it. You just have to pay like about like $120 expensive Anyone can do it. Just pay $120. But it's worth it. It's worth it. I think you can do like it monthly too, but it's way cheaper if you do it all at once. But yeah, just it's definitely worth that. Definitely made more than my money back.
But yeah, and then like sometimes in the morning I'll like go to an open mic after I do that or. What I'll do is like, I'll have like a meeting, like a Zoom or something like that, and like on Mondays I might do the Comedy store mic. Because it's like an audition mic you're trying to get into.
That's what I'm doing next this Monday, honestly, trying to get passed on the wall. Which basically means you're like, your name is on the comedy store wall and you can like be a paid regular.
Camille Wilson: Okay.
Camille Corbett: There, but yeah, I generally do that or like, I'll film a couple videos. I'll write during the day. And then at night I'll have a show.
Or I'll have some sort of event I need to go to or like, if I have nothing going on, I'll live stream on Twitch or YouTube or TikTok or something and I'll like be showing people things, you know. But yeah, I tend to not like, have dead space in my schedule. But yeah, throughout the week, like, it'll basically be like different versions of that.
Generally, I'll have like a shoot once a week. Like last week I was in a music video for a rock band. That was kind of fun. That's cool. My outfit was crazy. It was really cool. Yeah. I was like, yes, rock music, that's awesome.
But yeah. And then like, I also do musical comedy, so I might like be in the studio like making music like one day outta the week. But it's generally like, I work work. And I will like, it's kind of bad because I am an influencer. Like when I am resting, I sometimes will record it.
Camille Wilson: Mm. Yeah,
Camille Corbett: because it's like, it's showing me at my happiest, you know?
So it's like even when I'm like resting, I'm lowkey still working, which is bad.
Camille Wilson: Yeah. You're like constantly marketing
Camille Corbett: yourself on Yeah. Yeah. Marketing myself.
Camille Wilson: Yeah. So actually this is good because on our earlier call we spoke about how rest often looks like having hobbies, like you mentioned earlier, like painting, swimming, but when you're freelance and obviously just living in LA to be honest, it's everyone is always looking to monetize everything and capitalize on it.
Camille Corbett: Every moment counts. Yeah, every moment's a dollar.
Camille Wilson: And so you spoke about on our call, like how standup used to be like just a hobby and like something you would do for fun and then now it's become another form of income and you're like developing it and intentionally working on it. So do you remember how that transition happened? Where it went from, "oh, this is just something I do for fun, for me" to "now this is like one of my streams of income."
Camille Corbett: Honestly. It happened pretty quickly that I started taking standup seriously. 'cause I started doing it because I felt like in TV writers' rooms there were times where like my jokes were valued 'cause I'm a joke machine, but I wasn't able to tell the jokes I wanted to tell 'cause I do like family friendly content. You know? Like I'm writing for like on a multicam and I'm writing for Disney. So it's like very different.
And all the shows that I've worked in development that like have been edgy, haven't went.
So I was like sad about that. So I was like, you know, if I'm gonna tell stories I wanna tell.
Camille Wilson: So you're already naturally doing it in the room, but then you're like, yeah.
Camille Corbett: Yeah, I was naturally doing it because like it was my job. Like, and I didn't even know that was a skillset that I had. I didn't even understand the concept of a joke until I got a job in a writer's room. Like, I understood that I was doing three jokes per pages in my script in order to get a job.
Mm-hmm. But, um, I didn't understand like what fully a joke structure was. I knew it was like, you say something, it's a surprise, but I didn't really understand. Everything about it. But then like my first writer's room experience, like being the first day, like I knew how to make a joke before lunch because people were just rattling them off and you see people rattle off that form so much, you're just like, oh, okay, let me hop in.
And it just became like second nature to me. And like I started out as a writer, you know, like thinking, considering myself very, very seriously a writer. Then I realized I had this whole other skill, which is like just joke telling. Which I didn't know I had. So. It was nice, but then like it got to a point where like, you know, it makes you kind of different if you're constantly pitching on people's scripts. So like, oh, you can do this to make it funnier, and like if you're trying to make the best show possible, you will allow it. Mm-hmm. And I was like, you know what? I need to stop like trying to get my jokes off on people's scripts. And I would also go viral on Twitter telling jokes too. So I was like, instead of just going viral on Twitter constantly.
And, you know, just getting in on people's scripts and adding jokes to them, which I'm sure was hella obnoxious. Because it was like, yeah, I was, I would be so ready. Like in the days, like in a writer's room where it's like, okay, we got someone script, we're ready to punch it up. I have like 20 jokes ready on an 11 page script.
They'd be like, fuck this girl. So I was like, okay, I can do standup and like tell like the gross girl comedy that I wanna tell. Yeah. So I started doing that. I started like hosting an open mic first. And like I, people started coming to it. I started developing an audience. 'cause it was like, you know, like I had like a large following, but, and people wanted to see me, but I didn't really like, you know, yeah.
I didn't have a show. I, I was posting a mic
Camille Wilson: at this point. It's still just kind of like an outlet for fun. Like, yeah, okay, I don't really get to do this in my day to day and so here's my space.
Camille Corbett: But what happened is I was like working on a show that was really hard. And like it started being like almost like a crutch.
Like whenever, like it wasn't like that the doing the work was hard. It was like the people around that were making it harder. Yeah. So then I was just like, well, I need this outlet real bad. And then there would be times where they asked me to do extra stuff.
Like it would be, it was an animated show, so they'd be like, oh, can you. Record stuff for us and stuff, and I'm like, well, I'm a writer. You don't really need to do that. Like, it's not part of like your job, like you don't get paid for it and stuff. So I would like do it, but I'd be like, well I have a show, so can we like hurry up and do it.
And they'd be like, well, you need to prioritize this. And I was just like, no, I'm prioritizing my career. You pay me to write if you want me to be paid, to like act too, there's a different conversation to be had. Mm-hmm. But like putting my foot down and being like, no, this is important is to me, when I took it.
Seriously. Like even though I was just doing mics, you know? Mm-hmm. Because I was like, no, this is important to me, and I'm so glad that I prioritized that. Yeah. Because it's been two years since I did that show. It hasn't come out yet. You know what I mean? Yeah. If I hadn't prioritized it, if I had just been like, oh no, let me prioritize.
Camille Corbett: So sometimes prioritizing your hobby will save you. You know, like sometimes it seems crazy to prioritize your hobby, but there's so many people that I know that have similar stories where it's like they prioritize their hobby and it became their career. And I was just like, no, I never had the opportunity to tell my own jokes like this.
People are coming to see me. Like allowing me to see my value as an artist in a way that you don't get as a writer. You're constantly like beaten as a writer, told you're not good enough. And then like what I realized, 'cause I'm a performer too, is like when I do my job as a performer, people are like, oh my God, you did amazing.
Whatever. Like, you know? Mm-hmm. As a writer, you do your job and they’re like, here's your money. Like that's it. Yeah. Don't ask for more. Like that's it. Be a good job, whatever. We might hire you again. Yeah. That's what it's like being a writer. It's not like people don't laud you like that? There's very few people there.
Who's that one dude that wrote The West Wing?
Camille Wilson: Oh
Camille Corbett: Yeah, that dude. He's the only dude that ever gets celebrated for being a writer. Him and
Camille Wilson: Aaron Sorkin.
Camille Corbett: Yeah, Aaron Sorkin. He's the only person, him, Shonda Rhimes.
Camille Wilson: Like Mike Schur,
Camille Corbett: yeah. Those people, those are the very few people that get, like everyone else gets treated like dog shit, literally.
So yeah, I, because of that I needed that validation, you know, that my writing was good, like externally, so I feel like if you are doing something that you're passionate about and it's the way you make money, you should also find a way to still be playful in it. Mm. Like even in comedy, like right now I'm gonna take clown classes, you know?
Because I just wanna be more playful. I wanna explore more. You always have to like be researching and building on your craft in order for it to stay playful. If you treat it like it's your job and you're like, okay, I've done everything I needed to do. So then you're never gonna grow, you know?
Camille Wilson: Yeah. So really that moment in that job inspired a whole mindset shift.
Camille Corbett: Yeah. It shifted because I was like, no, I'm gonna bet on me. If you're not gonna bet on me, I'm gonna bet on me. 100% betting on myself because. Last time I, because also like social media is incredibly validating.
That's why I say like, if you're an artist, constantly put,
Camille Wilson: I'm like, I don't know how many people would say that, but
Camille Corbett: it's validating if you put your art out there and you put your art first. If you're not trying to market yourself and not, like, if you're actually talented and you love what you do and you're posting consistently, people will find you.
You will get fans. It might take like a year, whatever it's gonna happen. 'cause you have this niche, and even if you have like 3000 followers and they're all following you from your art, that's crazy. Like if you're a painter and you have 3000 followers following you from your art, you're gonna make bank.
You know? So it's just like, you gotta think of it that way. It's like all these people are fighting from your art and they're validating you. They're coming to your shows, you know? That's gonna change your mindset when people talk down to you.
Camille Wilson: So have you noticed since that moment, that, your other hobbies, when you think about them, you're like, you know what, like for painting for example, have you ever been like. You know what? Here's another space that I could maybe start capitalizing selling this. Like it's part of my art, it's part of my skills.
Or have you been able to really like maintain boundaries around No. This is the thing, like you said earlier, that. I don't want it to amount to anything. I do it just to replenish.
Camille Corbett: I'm gonna be real with you. Because I am like a model and like a actor, you have to exploit your hobbies. There's literally a section, so like special skills, hobbies, right?
Camille Wilson: Mm.
Camille Corbett: So I love roller skating. Roller skating is something I love.
Camille Wilson: Mm-hmm.
Camille Corbett: And I didn't know like. When you roller skate, like there's a whole genre of models that are just like skaters that people just hire, you know?
Camille Wilson: Mm-hmm.
Camille Corbett: Because they skate.
Camille Wilson: Yeah.
Camille Corbett: And so for me, that's something that like, is I love doing it.
I've been doing it since I've been like five years old. It's very freeing. It's great. And I'm really good at it. I'm from Atlanta. Like everyone's skating. Yeah. It's like every, like everyone hate
Camille Wilson: It's in your blood.
Camille Corbett: Yeah, it’s in my blood. So. Getting paid to skate was awesome. Like getting commercials. Yeah. To skate is awesome.
I just was an Experian commercial skating like that was cool. Yeah. It's cool to get a bag doing your hobbies.
Camille Wilson: Yeah. Well actually I think what. I think when I came into this conversation, I'm like, okay, if you monetize your hobbies, it is immediately not a form of rest. It's not fulfilling you anymore. Like now it becomes work and I think you've been able to like, keep that
Camille Corbett: you don't always well, you don't constantly monetize it.
So it's like some people will like. Get a gig doing one thing and then be like, oh, I need to go hard doing this. Like, it's like if I get one roller skating gig, I'm not like, okay, I'm gonna post hella skate videos.
Camille Wilson: Yeah now every day i'm skating.
Camille Corbett: You don't ever see me post skate videos online. Like, it's like if people ask for it, I can give it to them, you know?
Yeah. But for me, like I find if you occasionally make money off of your hobby, it's not that bad.
Camille Wilson: Mm-hmm.
You know?
Camille Wilson: Yeah. Yeah. No, I feel like, I feel like what I'm hearing is you are just, your activities and your hobbies are grounded in just who you are and what you like. And then every now and then it happens to bring in some money and that's great, but it doesn't ruin the thing for you.
Camille Corbett: I just think that's like sort of like what being a performer is, to be honest. Mm-hmm. You're gonna offer up some skills eventually. It's like if a actor has been boxing for fun for like five years and then they do a fight movie, you know, like a boxing movie. It's like, oh my hobbies happen to like align in this moment, but they're not gonna just continue to do Rocky, you know, or whatever.
Yeah, right. Only, yeah. Maybe if you're Michael B. Jordan, but like normal people, they quit after one.
Camille Wilson: Okay. I'm curious, so you are a true multihyphenate, so which talent of yours are you most passionate about and why?
Or is it like, depends on the day
Camille Corbett: writing.
Camille Wilson: Okay.
Camille Corbett: Hands down.
Camille Wilson: You did say that. Honestly.
Camille Corbett: Yeah. I always define myself as a writer, but for my mental health I cannot because like writing goes, that's goes up and down. That's fair. I have to be a multi hyphenate 'cause I'm someone that always has to be doing something.
Yeah. And like, 'cause writing is up and down. And I am artistic in so many other ways when my writing is down that I have to like, give homage to it. I can't, like before, I would like be embarrassed. I wouldn't like. When I was like an assistant, I started modeling and I wouldn't tell people, like, I'd be in like all these like rap music videos.
I wouldn't tell people, like, people like see me like randomly, like in clips on Complex and be like, what, like, is this you, are you shaking your ass next to Freddy Gibbs right now? Like, I'm like, I what you're talking about,
Camille Wilson: You're like, it does look like me. But it's not
Camille Corbett: literally. But yeah, I would like always, you know, downplay those things.
Like, yeah, I can act, but whatever, you know, like. But it's like at a certain point when I'm on my like third play in LA yeah. You start to be like, okay, maybe I might be an actor, actually, you know? Yeah. Or like, yeah, it, it's really interesting stuff like that.
But yeah, for me, I define myself as a writer. My goal in life is to have a noble prize for literature.
Mm. I'm actually working on publishing my first novel right now.
Camille Wilson: Okay.
Camille Corbett: It's yeah. So congrats. Yeah. And I have like a second one already, in the works, but yeah.
Camille Wilson: Sequel or unrelated?
Camille Corbett: It's unrelated. It's an anthology about love.
Camille Wilson: Oh, okay. You'll have to drop the link when it's ready.
Camille Corbett: Yeah. I'm very excited because like, being a comedian, you're always like trying to bring people into seats and like to be a successful author, you just have to sell 500 books. That's crazy to think about, right? Yeah. So when people are like, oh, we like got outta print for the first edition, it's like 500 books.
Wow. Is that even that many?
Camille Wilson: Yeah. That's a very low number. Yeah. Well. Feels low.
Camille Corbett: Well, when it, well, I mean, like, to be like super successful, obviously you gotta sell way more. Yeah. And that's like, you know,
Camille Wilson: but yeah, that's it. That feels very doable. Yeah. Is what I'm saying. So, okay. Keep us posted.
You shared a few tips like throughout this, but do you have any tips for folks?
Specifically in that stage, who are trying to make the decision between, I'm on the borderline and I could monetize, or I could keep it as it is, you know,
Camille Corbett: if you're monetizing your skills,
Camille Wilson: Like when it's a good idea and when it might not be a good idea.
Camille Corbett: Okay. If you're monetizing your skills, then you have to think.
Have I put any money into this? Mm. You know, like, have I taken classes? You know, am I paying for the best version of software? You know, all of that stuff. For me, that's what I think of. Like, I didn't really take myself seriously as a screenwriter until I bought Final Draft when I was using Celtex.
It's like you didn't even wanna invest in your writing. Like, sure. $150 is a lot of money, but $150 to your craft? And like a staff writer, like your first job you make like $5,000 a week and you're saying that it's too much to pay $150 for software that you're gonna use for years. So yeah, you gotta put things into perspective. Or like even like acting, people tell me they wanna be actors, like what classes have you taken?
If I've taken more classes than you then that I'm not about to take you seriously. You know, 'cause I've taken a lot, you know, just as like a filmmaker, it's fun to. Mm-hmm. But yeah. But yeah, I, I also act too, so it's like, I take classes, you know, and it's like, I don't think I'd have been able to like, audition properly and get cast or be good if I didn't take classes.
You know? I don't even know how you do that.
Camille Wilson: Yeah.
Camille Corbett: Um,
Camille Wilson: so it's kind of like, take a minute and evaluate how much you're actually, how much have investing in this on all levels. Like how seriously are you taking it? And that can kind of help you determine
Camille Corbett: Yeah. And if you haven't invested anything, then yeah, but also don't be afraid to define yourself as something, if that's what you wanna be.
If you wanna be something so badly, define yourself as that before it happens. Like, I've always been concerned myself, a writer my entire life from like 10 years old. I was like, I'm a writer. And like, I had no proof, I had no investment, you know? But investing and believing in yourself is an investment too.
So if you believe in yourself wholeheartedly. Then that is an investment too, if you want it badly enough, if you know you'll do anything for it, then that is an equal investment, but you also got to do everything for it as well.
Camille Wilson: That's actually great advice, so thank you.
Kindergarten Show & Tell
Okay, closing question that I'm asking at the end of all the interviews this season.
If you were currently in kindergarten, what would you bring for show and tell?
Camille Corbett: If I was currently in kindergarten, I was such a demon child, I would probably have like 20 Labubus that I'd be showing people in different designer outfits. 'cause I was a demon spoiled child.
Camille Wilson: That's a good, that's a actually a great answer because it's like realistic.
It's like bringing it back to that age, but also making it current. I love that. Okay. Well Camille, thank you so much for being here, for sharing your story with us and some gems.
Camille Corbett: Thank you for having me.
Camille Wilson:Yeah.
Camille Corbett:This is fun.
Camille Wilson: Yes, and definitely I'll keep the listeners updated on your, your new projects.
Camille Corbett: Yay. Thank you.
Camille Wilson: Thanks for listening to my conversation with Camille.
If you want to keep up with her, you can find her social media accounts in the show notes.
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I'll be back next week with an episode exploring boundaries. You definitely won’t want to miss that one. See you then.
