What Actually Works
“Pros do less, better”
In an ocean of techniques
There are a small handful
Which will work for the majority of people
& in the majority of circumstances
So if you only have so much time and energy
Only so much attention to give to your craft
Those few things are really worth focussing on
Of course
We want to maintain interest, follow curiosities and expand our boundaries of what we think is possible
But at the end of the day
The same old basics are what’s going to be left when working under pressure
So in that call back
Or on that big budget set
When nerves start kicking in
We want to have a strong foundation of things we can rely on
Which actually work
So we can keep playing and giving the work we want to
On demand
Over and over again.
So which few things are actually worth focussing on?
Which few things are most worth getting better at?
I was at the whiteboard the other day
With a class of NIDA students
We wrote as many different things on the board as we could think of
In terms of where we could allocate our time and energy in prepping for a scene
We let rip
Threw it all out there
Everything from Michael Chekov’s psychological gesture
To animal work
To Meisner’s repetition
To objectives & obstacles
Slowly we made our way through the hundreds of possibilities
Distilling what is almost always going to be there when we need it under pressure
You know what was left?
Breathing
Moving (getting out of the head & into the body before a take)
Giving the camera access to your eyes
Learning lines
Yup
That was it
Hundreds of options
But only a teeny weeny few that you can almost always rely on when acting on screen
Take a moment to imagine…
If you employed Pareto’s principle
And spent 80% of your practice time on:
Breathing as yourself in front of the lens
Moving out of your head and into your body before every take
Giving the camera access to your eyes
And finding a joyful process for learning lines
And then multiplied that over time
6 weeks… 6 months… A year…
What the results would be?
Yup
Exponential growth
It almost sounds deceptive doesn’t it
Too easy
Too boring
Too weird and out there
But I beg to differ
If you are someone who does what everyone else is doing and expects a different result
Then this might be for you
Over the next few weeks I am going to dive into these fundamentals
(Including a story about Mel Gibson teaching me how not to be a bad actor)
And explain why investing your time & energy into these delicious “boring basics”
Might be the best use of energy you give to your craft this year
Regardless of your skill level
Hope this helps
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