Make Me Good, Fast

“Hey mike. What if I only had 3 months to get good at screen acting? What would your advice be?” - David

LOL

Alright

Challenge accepted

You have three months

13 Weeks

90 days

And you wanna get good?

Okay

Let’s define “good”

How about:

Having moments of human connection in front of the lens becomes your new normal

I reckon that would be pretty “good” for screen acting

Fair?

Let’s talk technique first

Then we can discuss how to build it into a process which allows you to fly!

Technical proficiency

If we go down the black or white path

We can find ourselves heading in two opposite directions

One is obsessively trying to make things as real as possible

The other

Trying to make it as technically repeatable as possible

“Real” vs “Pretend”

“Method” vs “Just acting”

However

Why don’t we steal the pros of both?

So we can stretch ourselves in either direction regardless of who we are working with

Or how the director might be steering things on the day

That would make us pretty anti fragile right?

Let’s break this into two parts

So we can start making smarter practice

Order and chaos

Structure and freedom

You get the point

One part to make sure you’re providing work that serves the story and tribe

(Without this your work might just be self serving - Interesting but useless)

And the other part which makes sure you’re providing something human, alive

(Without this your work might come across mundane - useful but boring)

First

Order / Structure

Drumroll

Script analysis

No way around it

We gotta get good at this

We have to make the script make sense

Scroll through three acting books

Find the same script analysis questions that come up over and over again

And choose the 3-5 that you think offer the biggest bang for buck

Such as

What is the point of the scene? Why is it included in the film or show?

What is happening in the moment before the scene starts for your character?

Environment - how does the time & place affect the scene or your character?

Relationships - what is your secretly ruthless opinion of the other characters? What do you wish the other characters would say or how do you believe they should treat you?

Expectations - How does your character think the this scene should go?

Need - What is the hole in your character’s heart that no matter how hard they try to fill, it will never be filled? (If you’re stuck on this one just use yours in order to amalgamate the character and yourself)

Bla bla bla

Etc, etc

Find 3-5 questions that really work for you

Remember

Amateurs will try do lots

Pros do less, that’s why they do it better

In regards to skill development…

Smarter for you to get really great at just a few things rather than flailing around trying to do lots of things :)

Second

Chaos / Freedom

Time to make it human

Time to make it yours

What do we need in order for this work to become human?

We need vulnerability and presence

Both byproducts of processes

Vulnerability is being honest when it’s difficult to do so

And for presense?

Breathing

So our two areas of focus become honesty and breathing

Alright

Let’s make it all doable now

3 Months

90 days

13 weeks

1 weekly routine

To help you get better

To help your new normal be that of having moments of human connection in front of the lens

Firstly

You need help

No human being exists outside of relationship to others

And certainly no actor can survive or thrive without other artists

So it becomes essential you find energising readers, coaches and environments

People and places that make it easier to sustainably show up to practice each week

And please

Be so bloody careful with who you ask for guidance

Are they getting results you seek?

Are they giving advice which makes your body feel at home?

Are you leaving those taping sessions feeling hopeful & energised?

Or is it feeling pushed, forceful, “shouldie”, resultie?

To be clear

Find the people & environments that make your body feel alive, awake, energised etc

Next

Let’s be realistic

If you’re wanting to make change

But you don’t practice at all

I’m not sure it’s reasonable to ask you to show up to 2-3 practice sessions per week

So let’s do the least we think we can handle

One easy morning exercise each day

And one practice session per week

For the morning exercise each day

We need something short & sweet to cultivate vulnerability & presence

Se need an exercise that incorporates honesty & breath…

Two well established acting coaches

Eric Morris & Roy London

Both had a similar exercise

Let’s steal from them.

A 90 seconds personal inventory exercise in front of the lens

“I feel X, that makes me feel Y”

Repeated for 90 seconds

Yep - just that.

Just something to remind your body each day that vulnerability and presence are normal

If the two most powerful tools you possess as an actor become normal

Or dare I say “easy”

Golly

Look out

Also - Doesn’t matter if you skip a day

Remembering you forgot the work and doing it the next day without beating yourself up is a way more important muscle to cultivate over doing it right every single day like a robot

Now

What about for the one practice session each week?

Combine chaos & order with a coach or reader you enjoy hanging out with

30 minutes to Prep: script analysis, vulnerability & presence

30 minutes to Play: 3-5 takes

30 minutes to Debrief: What did you do well? & what small change can you make over the next week to be slightly better?

That’s it

3 months

13 weeks

90 days

ONE daily exercise

& ONE practice session per week with an energising reader or coach

Done

One last thing

Please

Take this all with a big, fat grain of salt.

What you specifically need

For whatever chapter you are currently in

Is utterly unique to you

So be careful with whatever story you’re telling yourself in regards to craft

I find many performers can slip into telling themselves the story that they need to push themselves & get better

When in fact

What their body is yearning for is to simply give up on chasing results

Or just having a break from for a few weeks and just start enjoying their lives again

Just be careful when grinding becomes romantic please

There ain’t nothing more sustainable & dangerous than an actor who is having fun

Hope this helps

x

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