Meet Caleb Scott | Actor, writer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Caleb Scott and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Caleb, what role has risk played in your life or career?
I am, like most of the artists I know, a freelance worker. I depend on temporary engagements to make a living, working on my own projects in-between paid gigs. I moved to Miami in late 2016, just before the birth of my first and only child. It has been a tumultuous few years, to say the least. We jumped from Zika to Irma and then to COVID. I saw opportunities in all artistic fields contract, many never to be replenished. I spent much of my time applying for relief and scrambling for work. Despite these challenges, I was able to gather together a community of artists in Miami, and my work continued, through collaborations, performances and the frequent exchange of critiques and ideas.

I define “risk” as voluntary adaptation. The ability to shift perspective and alter the trajectory of your artistic journey is fundamental to surviving as an artist and to finding your unique voice as a storyteller, no matter the medium in which you work. There is no growth without risk.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I am a writer and actor originally from Boston, Massachusetts. After spending my early professional years writing and producing plays and performance pieces for the scrappy downtown stages of NYC, I relocated to Los Angeles to try my hand at writing for the silver screen. Many pitch meetings later, I found myself frustrated by pressures from agents and managers to craft what they labeled as “marketable” stories: action, crime thriller, horror; and so I relocated once again, this time to Miami, and began generating my own material with the intention of writing plays and films of all sizes that I would rather make than try to sell. After one of my screenplays was named a Finalist for an Academy of Motion Pictures Nicholl Fellowship, I partnered with some like-minded Florida artists to begin the collaborative process of bringing my new stories to life. One of these projects, a self-financed short produced alongside filmmaker Stefan Rollins called Bottle, Treasure, Tree, premiered as a Staff Pick on Film Shortage. Another short film, Point and Shoot, which I wrote and starred in opposite Donald Sutherland, screened at TIFF, Raindance, Cinequest, and Aesthetica, among many other festivals around the world. In 2020, I was commissioned with my creative partner Jessica Farr by Gable Stage and the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami to create micro-budget films in response to the lockdowns, shutdowns and quarantines of the pandemic year. One of these films, A Florida Story, was screened at festivals in New York and Los Angeles and was nominated as Best Experimental Film at the Independent Shorts Awards and the IndieX Film Festival.

Artistic exchange has always operated at the core of my process as an artist. Although writing is, essentially, a solitary practice, I have envisioned the telling of stories as a much more holistic and social exercise; I have sought through my many collaborations and creative partnerships to discover not only a distinctive voice in my writing but also a greater sensitivity to the complexities of human experience, perspective and expression.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Wow. This is a hard question to answer. I love the old-Florida vibe of Monty’s Sunset in South Beach, where you can sip your tiki drink while dipping in the pool and listening to a live cover band’s rendition of Cheeseburger in Paradise. Similarly, eating an actual cheeseburger at the bar at Le Tub in Hollywood is, to my mind, one of the essential Miami experiences (even though Le Tub is not technically in Miami). Taking a kayak out on Biscayne Bay and pulling up on the beach on Monument Island with a cooler on-board is a must. Seeing a band play at the Miami Beach Bandshell and then cooling off with a sunset dip in the ocean makes for a pretty perfect evening. A daytime activity might include smuggling some drinks into the Venetian Pool for a very cool wet picnic. Catching a performance at Miami New Drama’s Colony Theater on Lincoln Road is an experience not to be missed; and sweating on the dance floor at ZeyZey in Little Haiti is a great way to work off the sins of a great day. One of my guilty pleasures involves bellying up to the bar at Mango’s for a front-row view of the tropical dance revue. It’s an Only-in-Miami kind of thing.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
This is a tough question, as my artistic journey in Miami has been wrapped up in many collaborations and joint-ventures with like-minded artists. I would say my creative partnership with playwright/actor and Miami native Jessica Farr has led to the greatest output of creative content, including our ongoing storytelling podcast, Worst Place on Earth, which we are currently developing into a television series. I have continually found inspiration from actor/filmmaker Stefan Rollins, with whom I made the short film Bottle, Treasure, Tree (available on Film Shortage). And I would be remiss if I did not mention my work with Michel Hausmann and Miami New Drama, with whom I have had the pleasure of creating many new theatrical pieces over the years.

Website: https://www.calebscott.tv

Instagram: @calebjscott

Other: PODCAST: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/wpoe

VIMEO: https://vimeo.com/user4458719

Image Credits
James DePietro

Thomas Leisten Schneider from the film Point and Shoot

Mario Garza from the film Güero & Prieto

From Miami New Drama’s production of 7 Deadly Sins

Chris Messineo from the film The Strange Dark

Isaac Mead-Long from the film Backfire