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Acting

what do I do with beats?

Doing your beats justice

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How familiar are you with breaking down beats?  It’s a fantastic tool.  Sometimes the text will literally tell you to take a beat, meaning a pause, but much of the time it’s up to you to figure out where the beats are.

So what is a beat in acting?

A beat is, in its simplest form, a moment of transition — or a shift to a new idea.  And it’s not just something to mark in your script (though you should write it down!), it’s a place where something happens.

Is there a new obstacle?  Are you trying a new action or tactic?  Is the other character giving you something totally new?  Have you learned new information?

CLASS CLIP TRANSCRIPTION

Sarah: What is a beat in acting?

Ashley: Maybe like a pause in the rhythm of the way that they’re speaking?

Sarah: Yeah, that’s kind of part of it. How would you find it in the script?

Ashley: It could depend on the character. Cuz Gwen is very fast and she’s very responsive whereas other characters could be more slow-paced like responding, so it depends.

Sarah: Yeah, so I know what you mean. For these, for your scene work, what you want to look for…sometimes like I said it’ll just tell you when to take a pause, it’ll either say “pause” or “beat” or, you know, “she thinks.” And it’s good sometimes for your visual, like as you’re working, to  like draw a big line across the page right there. To be like: there is a change.

Cuz it’s not just simply about- I need to pause.  It’s a clue to you that you have to do something in that pause. Because we don’t just pause for pausing sake, we pause for a reason.  Just like in any acting scene, we don’t move our bodies or cross—like if you’re in a play and you have to cross the stage, never cross the stage unless you know why you’re crossing the stage. Same thing goes with when you’re singing.  Destination on the stage is for emotional reasons.  If I’m singing about something where I feel like I’m trying to get closer to someone, I might take a step forward, right?  In a play, I may need to get away. It may feel too dangerous to be that close to that person right there if you’re working in a play or you’re working on set and the director tells you you have to go do a certain thing, you need to justify it always.  And the same thing is true for the beats.

Beats happen because there is a transition. That’s really what a beat is. A beat is a transition where it’s a new idea, a new section.  So the beats are where the transitions happen, and it’s really important to know where they happen, because there’s acting moments on all the transitions.  There’s acting moments and opportunities, and casting directors and directors and even audiences love, we don’t know it consciously, but we love watching actors make transitions. It’s very exciting to watch when it’s done well.

So that’ll really help you with those acting moments of the transitions, but also, it’s where you’re in a new idea, where everything is…your actions will all support each other in those beats, right, depending on what beat you’re in. Is that kind of making sense? Do you feel more clear about what a beat is?

Ashley: Yeah.

Sarah: Yeah, it’s good for you to figure those out, where they are in your scenes, and mark them very clearly, so you can transition, transition, transition, transition.

card reads are you working too hard to play emotion?

Fighting against emotion to find emotion

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When you have an emotional scene to prep for, are you working FOR the emotion?

It’s super common to work to find emotion because emotional scenes can produce a lot of anxiety — but sometimes the fear of not getting there drives you to push for the feeling which ultimately stands in your way of discovery.

So how do you get there??

CLASS CLIP TRANSCRIPTION

[in scene]

Hugues: I wasn’t expecting…after everything, I just put it in my mind that he was…

Sarah: Yeah, and that can probably just be left alone that line, a little bit more.

[in scene]

Hugues: I’m sorry.

Reader: That’s alright. You don’t owe me anything.

Sarah: It just feels a little bit in that section, and this is a slight adjustment, cuz it’s not bad work, we’re just talking, you know, we’re always talking the next level, right, we’re always talking the next level. It feels a little bit in this section like working for emotion rather than allowing it and fighting it to get that idea out, to get the thing out that he needs to say next.

Hugues: Right.

Sarah: He’s not trying to feel it, he’s trying to get through the moment and not break down. How does it feel to work against the emotion, to push it down, to try not to be overwhelmed by it?

Hugues: It feels, um…it feels like you’re actually moving as opposed to, you know, you just thinking you’re moving.

Sarah: What I notice is that it started to feel like, the emotional circumstances actually affected you more the more you worked against it.

Hugues: Yeah, yeah, yes, I did feel that, too.

Sarah: So the more you can keep doing that in rehearsal…don’t try to get the results of the emotion. Don’t go for the results of the emotion. That’s when all your extra business comes in, showing how distressed he is versus fighting it. Fighting it, fighting it, fighting it, fighting it, fighting it.

card reads "is your acting getting boring?"

Don’t settle for “natural!”

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In my signature “Get Out of Your Head” class I talk about one of the biggest actor crutches/tricks I see standing in the way of honest, vulnerable and exciting performances  And I’m willing to bet you’ve leaned on this unhelpful habit, perhaps more times that you care to admit.

I’m talking about the old “make it sound natural” trap.  Eek.

If you’ve ever taken class with me you know I challenge all my students to focus on telling the story in very active ways.  Instead of working in a “watching yourself” way and aiming to simply pass the “does it sound enough like life” test (so god forbid you don’t get caught pushing a little, even if in your living room), I challenge my students to make choices.  To action the text.  To specific and deep relationships.  I push them to be big and bold and to take risks.  

When you recommit to telling the story, your work is in fact more like life than that other (let’s face it)  boring and just-like-everyone-else way when you throw it all away.

CLASS CLIP TRANSCRIPTION

Sarah: It’s so fun when you name it, you know, like when you find something that works for the moment. Right, because it’s so easy, you guys, it’s so easy to just settle. It’s so easy to just settle because you can make…you can make these lines, they’re written so that…it’s good writing, you can make it sound natural. Most actors will do that. Most actors will just make it sound natural and they’ll throw it all away and they’ll kind of do that thing. And it just makes it so…unfulfilling, you know? It’s like this story that never gets all the way told.

Julia: Yeah, it’s like the common misconception that it needs to sound natural, that’s the number one thing.

Sarah: That’s it, that’s the golden standard: they sound like they’re natural.

Julia:  Who made that rule up?

Sarah: But the audience is falling asleep half the time! They don’t even know what the story’s about! So not settling is so…it’s so worth it. It’s so worth it.

card reads "Are you worried about getting it wrong?"

Am I making the “RIGHT” choices in my acting?

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“I don’t know if I did it how they wanted.” “I’m not sure if I made the right choice.” “I hope they liked me”.

If this is your headspace after an audition it’s time to stop giving your power away.  

What if you could shift away from the idea of getting it right or getting it wrong and instead approach your work with curiosity, playfulness and OWNERSHIP?

You bring your own, unique life experience to every role you will ever play which means nobody can do it quite like you.  And while, of course, you will still make choices that come from the text, every impulse you have, every decision you make, comes from your own lived experience. 

And sure, this might mean that sometimes your interpretation of a moment will be different from how the casting director or director initially envisioned it but this doesn’t mean it’s wrong!  And there’s nothing more exciting in an audition than an actor who pulls off  a confident and bold choice that is supported by the text.  It will jolt them to attention.  

Instead of giving your power over and needing to be picked, begin your work on an audition as if you already have the part– as a collaborator with a whole loved experience to offer.  Forget about “the right way”.  Listen to your impulses.  Bring you.

CLASS CLIP TRANSCRIPTION

Sarah: Here’s some possibilities, I’ll put these in your head so you can see if it gets you on the right track. Again, these are possibilities, these come from my brain, and I know that once you get this, you’re gonna put all this through your own experience and life experience and come up with stuff that’s even better, because it’s you. That’s what’s so cool about acting, is that no one’s going to ever act a part like you because you’re going to put it through your own life experience. So no one will ever do it like Trevor will do it.

Hugues: I hope I did what I was supposed to do in the tape. I can look at it, we can look at it now…

Sarah: You know what, there’s no “supposed to,” either, so I just want you to be clear about that, you know, there’s so many possibilities. But I know what you mean, I know what you mean in terms of the things that we’ve been working on, and…I know what you mean.

Hugues: Yeah, I gotta look at it broad, like you just said. Cuz sometimes I look at it like there’s only two ways!

Sarah: No, no, and that’s when we get into the headspace of like trying to give them what they want versus put my own spin on it. You know, I’ve worked on stuff with actors before where they’ve gone in and blown them away with ideas that they never even thought of! Right, so they may have an idea of what they think it is, and then they may be surprised by what you bring, you know.

card reads "Are you ready to 'let go of your work'?"

Mark Rylance, Gardening, and the Big Free Fall

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Letting your work go is one of the toughest parts of acting.  It sounds almost like a magic trick. How will I remember my lines?  Will I be able to stay active?  Am I even acting anymore or am I just being myself and trying to sound natural?  

Not only is it possible to let your work go, it is vital.  But the truth is, contrary to popular opinion, you actually let go of your work without forgetting it.   

The incredible actor/director Mark Rylance has a beautiful analogy about the rehearsal process which he says is like tending to a garden.  You work the soil and plant the seeds and water and then you see what comes up– and there will undoubtedly be some surprises along the way.

It’s really the same with acting. After rehearsal you allow your work to bloom like a flower– and those the blooms may have colors and qualities you never anticipated.  And just like how not every seed you plant will sprout, not every action or reaction you experimented with in rehearsal will always appear in every performance.  But if you’ve tilled the soil enough, something beautiful will rise.  And maybe even some unexpected “volunteers” will pop up, as we call them in my family, that will enrich each performance in exciting and nuanced ways.

CLASS CLIP TRANSCRIPTION

The theme is: learning to let your work go. And the difference between releasing your work and forgetting your work–And I don’t really think, you know sometimes coaches say that, and I’ve said that before as well: you’ve got to forget the work–But it’s not really true. You don’t really forget it.

I was listening to Mark Rylance talk about directing and I loved his—he has this garden analogy, talking about how you just, in rehearsal and in your preparation, you’re doing all of this–you’re working the soil and you’re planting the seeds and you’re watering and you’re doing all this stuff to take care of the garden. And then when you go to play the scene, a lot of seeds you planted are going to pop up, but there’s also going to be some surprises along the way, right? And you’re going to have some weeds up over here–and you’re going to have things that you planted that didn’t come up.

So I really love that analogy because it is so much like what it is–but it’s one of the hardest things, especially for us heady creatures, to really truly do that work, and then—do that work so that—you can free fall.  And come into the scene and then the only thing you really have to do anymore is try to affect the other person and listen. And so, that’s the whole goal, when you freefall–when you let go–when when you release the work, you are now living through you, living the scene, and you don’t know what’s coming next. And so you do all this so that you can leave it alone and listen, listen like your life depends on it, let it affect you, boom.

Forget "Forgetting your work" the do-nothing technique part 2

Forget “forgetting your work.”

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Remember a few weeks ago we talked about the no-technique-technique approach to acting and how it’s hurting the craft? 

(If you missed that one, click here)

I mentioned the big key these teachers are missing when they tell actors to ditch rehearsal and preparation because it makes them heady.

🔑 >> Dearest, most talented actors who I adore, you must learn to release your work<< 🔑

If you hold on to your work then yes yes yes, you will be in your head and your work will lack spontaneity and look pushed.  

The first month of driving a car in Italy I was sure I was going to die every time I sat in the driver’s seat.  I white knuckled the steering wheel, stopped at all the roundabouts and drove 8 miles per hour on the autostrada.  A year later you would have mistaken me for an Italian the way I gracefully cut people off and sailed past slow-poke tourists on the opposite side of the road while casually sipping my caffe latte.  

Were my driving impulses dead because I practiced too much?  Assolutamente no!  I could still react quickly and slam on the breaks when somebody cut me off.  But I no longer gripped the wheel so tightly.  I didn’t have to use so much effort and concentration.  My new skills sort of faded into the background and it became fun.

Why am I telling you this story?   

Despite the popular acting class phrase, I don’t think actors actually “forget” their work and this is likely where at least some of the confusion comes in.   

I learned this the hard way.

I was coaching an actor who was taping an audition for the lead role in a big film and the material was very challenging.  And though she had done a lot of preparation and made strong choices, I could see she was nervous and saw how much she wanted the role.  I started to see signs of effort as she pushed a little.  Not much, but enough to prevent her from sending a really killer tape. 

I remember telling her something like “you’ve got this, see if you can forget the work” and we started again.  

The next take totally threw me.  She got very flat and one-noted.  Her old habits of heavy sighing before every line crept back in and she had odd physical behavior that didn’t match what she was playing.

I asked her what happened.  “I just tried to just forget the work, I don’t know, I threw it away.” she said.

“Ah.  Let’s go again, shall we?   This time let’s see if you can allow the work to be there to support you, but try not to lean on it.  Release it.  Leave yourself alone.  It will be there for you.”

We then made sure she had a very strong first action to play (supported by the text) to ensure she was focused on the other character instead of herself.  

And then magic happened.  She even surprised herself.  New emotions and physicality surfaced, she was connected, released and powerful.  And very free.

So what happened?

If you don’t drop in and live, it’s absolutely true that you will be in your head and nobody will believe you.  Your work will look muscled or planned and not like life.  You won’t be able to listen or access your spontaneity.  This is why these teachers started teaching what they teach.  But without this vital preparation, actors will simply play a version of themselves and oftentimes an inactive and boring snoozefest of a scene.  

The greatest actors of all time know how to do deep preparation so they can give electric performances that are alive and also tell the story that is on the page.  It’s what actors like Meryl Streep do to play Margaret Thatcher.  And Viola Davis in Fences.  These actors know that when they prepare and build a whole life and world for their character, they do a great service to storytelling.  They do the work so that they will have access to their impulses.  They do the work because it releases them.  The greatest actors understand that when playing a challenging role, only their preparation can set them free.

When you go to a great acting class that treats acting like the nuanced craft it really is, when you spend the many years it takes to master living the text and releasing the work, you will rise to the top.  The no-technique-technique is killing the craft.  

Save stories.  Save acting.  And save your career.

making the first read of a new script count

Actors, don’t underestimate the power of your very first read of a script.

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The biggest gift that initial read gives you is the power of your first instincts.  As you read the script aloud, whether with a partner or alone, pay close attention to the actions your body instinctively plays.  Are you blocking someone in response to being blasted?  Do you react by warming someone when you feel you are being lifted?

Although these actions can (and probably will!) shift and change as you continue working on the material, those first few reads can give you invaluable information about your initial reactions. So take note of them.  From there, you can make adjustments and try new things as you learn more about the characters, but you only get the chance to read the script aloud for the first time once!  Make use of that exciting opportunity to follow your instincts.

CLASS CLIP TRANSCRIPTION

In some of those first reads, it’s really valuable to discover what some of your instinctive actions are as you go and kind of write some of those down. They may change a little bit but depending on what they give you in that first read, you’re going to have that lovely first impulse as to what to do back because you’re reacting to what they just said to you– So in that first round it can be really nice to go back and forth and say, well you’re doing this to me, you’re blasting me, so I’m going to divert you, or redirect you… So when I redirected you, and they’re like, woah, okay so now I feel like I need to (do something else back)…right?  To have that collaboration can be really nice–to do that back and forth. But you don’t need a partner, you can 100% figure out, like how we’ve been working here, thinkin: okay what do I want?  How do I want to affect this person?

have you been seduced by the do-nothing technique?

Have you been seduced by the do-nothing technique?

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I can’t keep quiet about this anymore.

Look, I’m not a hater.  I take zero pleasure in knocking other teachers (or anyone!) but the truth is: Too many acting coaches are teaching a sort of alternative, no-technique-technique that is actually harmful to storytelling.  This approach is damaging the craft of acting and stopping great stories dead in their tracks.    

There are several different variations of this philosophy but the basic idea seems to be (and odds are you’ve heard or even studied this), you are enough: learn the lines, trust your instincts and voilà!   

While it’s certainly possible to get some lucky, lovely impulse moments this way–or if you are basically playing yourself you can pull it off–but that really is about as far as it goes.    

Of course, this do-nothing-technique is terribly seductive.  You don’t have to work very hard!  The idea these coaches seem to teach is that if you rehearse or make too many choices in advance you will be in your head instead of living the scene.  They teach not to ever “plan anything”.  The goal is a kind of naturalistic acting regarded as believable.  “Just play yourself.”  

But there are a few major problems with this.  

Most importantly, the scene usually ends up being all about the actor and not about the story the writer wrote.  Countless important stories have dreary coats of grey painted over them by actors who are not being active in their work.  This kind of acting encourages the avoidance of risky, expensive theatre tickets.  It changes the channel. It’s the kind of acting that puts us to sleep.  And it’s getting worse, we just cover it up with big effects, crafty edits and nice looking faces.  

Plus, when actors are not active in their work, tensions creep in and they tend to fall back on old habits.  These actors tend to have a small range and are only able to play a variation of themselves.

Not so fun, right?  

Actors who use deep script analysis are certain they don’t miss any particulars the writer has given them.  I teach my students to break down their scenes and make choices based on the writing.  They pull out their character info, they build relationships to all the script’s PPOE, they dive into the character’s wants, what’s in the way and then, perhaps most importantly, they experiment with how they are going to achieve their character’s wants.  They have thought about what they want the other character to think, feel or do.  They work at affecting their partners.  They figure out where the transitions are.  They raise the stakes.  They get a sense of the style of the writing and make necessary adjustments.  All of these things are vital because they are a part of the story the writer (you know, the person who spilled their soul into those pages) gave you to tell.  If you miss these things, it becomes an act of self-indulgence.  It becomes all about you and how natural you are.  And usually, a biiiiig-time snooze fest.

If you’re not convinced, try doing Neil Simon or Tenessee Williams with the no-technique-technique for eight shows per week and report back.

So why do these teachers recommend we ditch the fundamental wisdom about acting we learned from the greats?  They claim it makes actors heady and blocks spontaneity and impulses.  And I get it, I totally get where they got this idea.

 

But here’s the big key these guys are missing and the vital thing you must learn to become a great actor:

 

After you prepare, you must release your work.  You’ve likely heard that phrase before, but what does it really mean?

Stay tuned.  A juicy part two to this in a few weeks.

are you still playing adult roles like a kid?

Are you still playing adult roles like a kid?

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There’s a transition that happens for many actors as they grow out of the age range where they can comfortably play adolescents.  It’s exciting—new opportunities to play the strong lead—but it can also be uncomfortable and bring up old stuff.  

On top of that, you may get feedback from your agents that you’re reading “too mature” — as if that’s a negative thing — and actors sometimes internalize that subconsciously.

I can’t tell you how often I work with adult actors well into their thirties, forties and beyond that still play roles with their voice and body as the little kid they grew up as. 

In this Class Clip I talk about making that important shift into adult roles, and the self-awareness that will help you do it with authenticity and confidence.

CLASS CLIP TRANSCRIPTION

There’s an actress I was working with and she was starting to work on…Well, there’s this transition that happens for a lot of actors where they’re starting to go out of the “I can still play adolescence” and going into playing, like strong young male lead, strong female lead. There’s an actress I work with who’s in that place right now and feels like, almost like you’re going to be punished if you can’t sound young still and you can’t sound like a little girl still.  And not getting roles, you know actually getting feedback for being too mature.  If you’re not careful, something like that can be really damaging.

I found it fascinating as we started to work on the kind of action palette words that are very “strong young woman” roles, that playing some of those verbs was uncomfortable–what would happen to her voice and where it would sit in her body–her voice would change.  But once she was able to find–when she was able to embody, to really practice some of those in her life, and starting to get a little bit more comfortable with physicalizing that–how this enormous shift happened with just having that awareness.  You know, just having that awareness in the work you’re doing (is helpful because sometimes) you could not even know that’s operating.  But it’s been really cool to see some of those things coming up.

tasks and activities

Playing activities and tasks in your acting

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Have you ever been tasked with a physical activity on a stage or set—maybe you’re cooking breakfast or packing your apartment—and found it hard to continue to connect with the other character?  

For a lot of actors their “business” in the scene screws them up, it feels like too much to juggle and suddenly they are speaking Robot and forget there’s even another person in the scene.

Good news: Every task or activity is actually an opportunity to affect your scene partner.

Everything you do in a scene, from folding laundry in a commercial to firing a gun in a Chekhov play, can be used to help you embody your action.

Do you use your tasks to help you affect your partner?

CLASS CLIP TRANSCRIPTION

If you’re doing an action like folding laundry, you have the opportunity to use the laundry as a way to affect your partner–one hundred percent for theater because there’s so much of that. But really, I’ve seen a lot of actors struggle on set trying to…cook breakfast, right? You’re cooking breakfast, and you’re trying to send your actions, and you’ve got eight hundred people around you, and you’re thinking about continuity…

How do you keep embodying your actions through the physical action and use that cooking of the eggs to affect your partner? Are you adoring them through your cooking of eggs? If you’re a widower and you’re packing the lunch of your six-year-old kid, how do you pack the lunch with care? This is some of the stuff that easily goes out the window when we’re juggling a lot of things, even though we know it intellectually.

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