4 Tips For Actors to Avoid Becoming the Target of a Frustrated Movie Director"s Voodoo Pin Cushion
1.
Memorize Your Lines to Ward Off Bad Acting This seems like a no-brainer, but about 30% of actors I've worked with didn't know their stuff before they arrived on-set.
Memorize 'em and you'll not only come off as a pro, but also have the added benefit of taking out all of those fakey dramatic pauses that actors do when trying remember their cues.
2.
Practice the Golden Rule & Sidestep Infection From Toxic People Beware of toxic people that belittle & taint everyone they come into contact with.
Unfortunately, when this poisonous attitude isn't remedied quickly, it bewitches an entire production; turning everyone to backbiting drama.
When you find yourself in the midst of this nightmarish ordeal, take a deep breath, and choose not to take everything personally.
Remind yourself that many of the brilliant individuals around you weren't hugged enough as children, and that you shouldn't become their psychologist to fix them, or to get them to like you.
Instead do your job, learn as much as you can, and take it all in stride.
It's a business after all, and treating everyone with respect and dignity will be noted by rewarded.
Besides, working with temperamental directors has the added benefit of making for good veteran actor stories later on.
3.
Don't Pretend to Be Psychic, Require That Someone Show You How To Perform a Stunt Before You Do It If a director or stunt coordinator won't perform a stunt for you to physically see how it's done, then don't do it.
You don't need to wind up with breaking bones, scarring your face, or worse yet...
dead from a stunt gone wrong.
I've handed a director a baseball bat and said "No, before I hit the other actor with this bat, you show me how to do what you are telling me" that stopped the director cold, he realized that the direction he was giving to me could potentially break someone's back.
He realized that he wouldn't do the stunt either.
I gained his respect.
4.
Cut Through Director's Mumbo-Jumbo with Action Verbs Confused by the direction that director gave you? "In this scene your character is transcending childhood failures through seeking another level of physical height.
" Say what? When a director gets overly weird in his directions, this is an opportunity to pull out your acting-chops and look at what is actually being physically done in the scene for clues and translate that mumbo-jumbo direction to verb driven guidance.
The above mentioned direction is brought into clarity when once you see that your running up a flight of stairs in the scene.
It would be translated into this verb directive: "Run up the stairs to get away from all the bad memories from your character's bad childhood.
" This is great direction as it's basic, something I can actively pursue, and strive to achieve.
Memorize Your Lines to Ward Off Bad Acting This seems like a no-brainer, but about 30% of actors I've worked with didn't know their stuff before they arrived on-set.
Memorize 'em and you'll not only come off as a pro, but also have the added benefit of taking out all of those fakey dramatic pauses that actors do when trying remember their cues.
2.
Practice the Golden Rule & Sidestep Infection From Toxic People Beware of toxic people that belittle & taint everyone they come into contact with.
Unfortunately, when this poisonous attitude isn't remedied quickly, it bewitches an entire production; turning everyone to backbiting drama.
When you find yourself in the midst of this nightmarish ordeal, take a deep breath, and choose not to take everything personally.
Remind yourself that many of the brilliant individuals around you weren't hugged enough as children, and that you shouldn't become their psychologist to fix them, or to get them to like you.
Instead do your job, learn as much as you can, and take it all in stride.
It's a business after all, and treating everyone with respect and dignity will be noted by rewarded.
Besides, working with temperamental directors has the added benefit of making for good veteran actor stories later on.
3.
Don't Pretend to Be Psychic, Require That Someone Show You How To Perform a Stunt Before You Do It If a director or stunt coordinator won't perform a stunt for you to physically see how it's done, then don't do it.
You don't need to wind up with breaking bones, scarring your face, or worse yet...
dead from a stunt gone wrong.
I've handed a director a baseball bat and said "No, before I hit the other actor with this bat, you show me how to do what you are telling me" that stopped the director cold, he realized that the direction he was giving to me could potentially break someone's back.
He realized that he wouldn't do the stunt either.
I gained his respect.
4.
Cut Through Director's Mumbo-Jumbo with Action Verbs Confused by the direction that director gave you? "In this scene your character is transcending childhood failures through seeking another level of physical height.
" Say what? When a director gets overly weird in his directions, this is an opportunity to pull out your acting-chops and look at what is actually being physically done in the scene for clues and translate that mumbo-jumbo direction to verb driven guidance.
The above mentioned direction is brought into clarity when once you see that your running up a flight of stairs in the scene.
It would be translated into this verb directive: "Run up the stairs to get away from all the bad memories from your character's bad childhood.
" This is great direction as it's basic, something I can actively pursue, and strive to achieve.
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