ISSUES WITH LINES

If issues with “character” is what most trips up actors, then issues with “lines” runs a very, very close second!

I have seen so many terrific actors completely blow a performance because they had some block concerning the process of taking the lines from the page and speaking them.

For instance, it’s sad to see how many actors shoot themselves in the foot by having their “head in the page” in their audition. In other words, their primary focus was down, on the page they were holding, instead of up, on the situation or person they were dealing with.

I recently went to a commercial audition and was asked to stand behind the camera and deliver the cue lines to a couple actors.

Their lines, as is the custom with commercial auditions, were written on a large tablet of paper beside the camera, so they can read them if they want to.

The casting director asked them to do a quick rehearsal so she could give them notes if needed.

Both actors were amazing! Neither one even glanced at the tablet, trusting that they knew the lines well enough. They came off as spontaneous, real and funny. It was pure magic.

They were so fearless…UNTIL the casting director said-

“Okay, we’re going to film this now.”

Well, guess what happened…

As the camera rolled, BOTH actors stared at the lines on the tablet out of concern they would not get the words right, so, of course, they came off as dead and stilted.

All the joy was gone. POOF!

It was so sad to see.

As an audience, we must feel that the actor wants to be up off the page, for that is where the “magic” is. (That doesn’t mean that he has to be looking the reader directly in the eyes. His gaze could be off to the side, deep in thought.)

The actor doesn’t mind looking down to grab the idea of the next line, but he must always want to return to looking up.

Notice I say grab the “idea” of the line. That is because although he wants to speak the lines exactly as written, he doesn’t NEED to. He would rather paraphrase than put “getting-the-lines word-perfect” ahead of his selfish experience of the scene.

“Paraphrase”

-to express the meaning of something written using different words.

Whenever I bring up “paraphrasing”, some panic-stricken actor inevitably says something like-

“My friend paraphrased at an audition once and the casting director got very upset!”

…Personally, I think this is an urban legend. It certainly has never been my experience.

But you know what I say to that one-in-a-million writer or casting director who gets ANGRY?

“Screw you.”

Normally, if a casting director wants you to say the words exactly as written (almost never happens) then they will politely ask you to do it again. If they get offended for some reason then that’s their unhealthy issue and has nothing to do with you.

I guarantee that until you become comfortable changing a word here or there, you will have difficulty auditioning for TV and film.

The pressure that actors put on themselves to get all the words right DESTROYS their auditions!

The character you are playing isn’t involved in trying to get all the words right, so why are you?

NO ONE ever booked a job because they got all the words right!

Theater actors, especially, have a difficult time paraphrasing.

This is understandable because theater is a medium of words and ideas. (Whereas TV and films are mediums of images.)

Therefore, in theatrical productions, there is a great respect for the writing. No one in their right mind would paraphrase Shakespeare! (However, I did once in college because I forgot my speech. Try paraphrasing in iambic pentameter! Yikes!)

However, the same does not hold true for TV and film, where, in general, there is very little respect for writers.

Mind you, this is not my feeling to be sure! But executives (or “suits” as some people call them) tend to feel a little differently.

And besides, even if you are auditioning for a well-respected writer, he knows that this is just the audition, and that you haven’t had a lot of time with the material. He understands that if you book the job then you will memorize it completely.

Don’t forget that casting is just like high school. Nobody wants to be around the kid who is desperate to make friends, and everyone wants to sit at the lunch table with the kid who doesn’t need them to sit there.

Therefore, do you want to be seen as the “good little boy” who, with nothing better to do, had all the time in the world to read the entire script and memorize it word-for-word in a desperate need to impress?

Or wouldn’t you rather be the actor who was too busy putting up a theatrical production with his friends or filming some independent movie, to put in all that unnecessary work.

You can behave as if you are that lighthearted actor, entering breezily, as if to say, “I have a busy life, but I’m glad to be here, I’m as prepared as I could be, and let’s have some fun.”

It’s not that you’re unprepared. Put in the amount of work that you desire in order to have a joyful experience.

But do it for you, and not for them!

When I first moved to LA, I met this very pretty young actress who worked all the time. I remember we were talking about the subject of paraphrasing at auditions, and she said-

(Valley-Girl accent)

“I don’t care. I just say whatever I want to. I just say whatever. I don’t care. I change the lines all the time to whatever I want.”

And in that moment I realized, “Okay…if she can do that and book work, then certainly I can change a word here or there!”

Please give yourself the same freedom.

I’m certainly not saying that you should just change the words willy-nilly. Obviously you have to, at the very least, get out the “idea” of each line, or the other characters responses won’t make any sense.

When paraphrasing, there is a line you do not want to cross, or they won’t feel that they can trust you to say the script as written on the set. However, trust yourself that you know where that line is.

I like to say that if you are an actor who is concerned about getting the words right, then that’s “in your pocket”.

In other words, you own that desire and carry it with you all the time, so you’ll never paraphrase or change the lines SO MUCH that you’ll offend someone. So you can stop worrying about it.

And here’s the good news: When you release your need to get all the words right, you relax. When you’re relaxed, you end up getting more of the words right!

I can’t tell you how many times the following has happened at my workshop:

Someone does a scene, the whole time reading the lines right off the page; their head buried in the script.

When they are done, they explain that they have “a tough time memorizing lines”.

So I immediately ask them to do it again, but this time they are not allowed to look down at the script at all.

Gulp!

Then they do the scene again, and, inevitably, remember almost every word exactly as written.

Why does this happen?

Because the actor is relaxed and free of fear.

And why is the actor relaxed and free of fear?

Because he has been given permission to be.

He has an excuse now. Everyone watching him heard me say that he wasn’t allowed to look down. Therefore, he won’t get in trouble when he forgets a line.

Well, this permission I gave him he could give himself.

And you can do the same.

This may sound contrary, but while I am saying that it’s good to be memorized enough to be able to have your primary focus be upwards, it is ALSO important to know that you don’t need to be memorized to book a job.

The way a scene is played in a TV or film audition is not quite the same it will be played in front of the cameras. It really is a different animal. It’s not supposed to look just like what will be seen in the finished product. It’s an audition.

The most obvious difference is the fact that the scene needn’t be memorized. The actor is expected to hold the sides through the scene, and use them whenever needed.

When you are not fully memorized, there is a simple trick to getting the lines from the page during an audition:

Make sure to look down at the page while the reader is speaking, and look up when you are speaking.

Many actors make the mistake of looking down at the page while they, themselves, are speaking. It’s fine to do that once in awhile, but it should be something you avoid if at all possible.

I think this habit is most often due to some long ago teacher instructing the actor to – “Always look at the person who is speaking!”

But remember, your acting should be selfish!

So what’s the most selfish and fun moment to get to play in a scene?

As a great actress once said-

“Acting is hearing something for the first time, then saying something for the first time”.

Those moments of honest reaction and decision are the delicious and magical moments.

Therefore, the most fun moments to play are when the reader is finishing his line, because you get to receive it, react to it and deliver your next line. So, be off the page for those moments so you can enjoy them.

So to clarify:

· While the reader is saying his line, look down at the page to grab the idea of your next line.

· While you are doing so have faith that you are hearing what the reader is saying. (You have read the material earlier, you know what he’s saying, so have faith that you are hearing it now for the first time, even if part of you is occupied with getting your next line.)

· Now, get your head up BEFORE he is done reading his line, so you can have your delicious moment of reaction. Once you’ve begun your line, you can feel free to go back down to the page if you have a long series of lines. The important thing is that you got to play with that magic moment of discovery and decision.

Someone once said, “Acting is reacting.” So don’t miss out on those magic moments because you have your head down in the page!

Besides, the casting person is undoubtedly looking down when he is saying his lines, so what good does it do you to be looking at him at that time anyway? He’s studying you primarily while you are speaking, so be up and off the page as much as you can at those times.

I was shocked to find out that there is a highly respected acting coach in Los Angeles who tells her actors to do the exact opposite!

In fact, I have heard that most coaches are teaching their actors to not look down until it’s their turn to speak.

Why?! In my opinion, that makes no sense.

Think about it logically. Besides all the reasons I have already listed, ask yourself this; in a film, when the camera pulls in for a closeup, who is the camera usually showing?

The person who is talking!

No one won an Oscar because they were good at listening!

You might ask, “Well, couldn’t I watch the casting director as he speaks, then have my reaction, THEN look down quickly to get my line?”

The problem with that is, by looking down during the time between having a reaction to something and choosing what you want to say in response, you are interrupting the moment.

Why would you want to break up the most important moments by looking down?

By doing so, you are stopping the organic flow, which makes you appear less like the character and more like an actor.

Be smart and selfish about when you look down at the page.

When coaches suggest that actors look down at the start of their lines, they are turning the actors’ audition into an acting “exercise”. The exercise goes as follows:

You sit facing your scene partner. You watch and listen to your partner as he speaks. When he’s done allow yourself to take in what he said and have a reaction to it, THEN look down to get your next line.

This exercise teaches actors to not just rush to speak their line, but to make sure that they are hearing and reacting to their scene partner.

However, an audition is not an exercise!

(By the way, apparently the respected LA acting coach also warns actors to never paraphrase, giving them one more reason to feel tense and afraid in the audition room.)

Many actors, when they aren’t fully memorized, are afraid to look up off the page while they are speaking, because they are worried that they will forget the next word or line.

And when they do forget the second half of a line, they quickly look down at the page, sacrificing whatever magic was happening for them in the moment.

What they don’t realize is that it’s fine when you forget the next line!

Real people aren’t always sure of what they want to say next.

Being unsure of what to say next is just like LIFE!

Allow me to illustrate by using the famous quote from “Hamlet”:

“To be, or not to be.”

Many actors, if they forgot the second half of the line, would do this:

(Looking up, self assuredly)

“To be…“

(Uh-oh! Immediately looking down in a panic and quickly reading the line as they stare at the page)

“-or-not-to-be.”

Ugh!

Now if the same actor would just stay up off the page and take a moment to remember the second half of the line, it would look like this:

(Looking up, self assuredly)

“To be…“

(Thinking. Thinking. Thinking. Ah-ha!)

“-or not to be.”

Isn’t that, in a way, exactly how that moment should be played.

The audience can’t read your mind.

The period of time when the actor was trying to remember the next line, looks exactly like the character trying to decide what he wants to say!

It’s a freebie moment of real human behavior.

So forgetting the line was a gift, because it made that moment so much more than it would have been if the actor had just raced through the line, as most actors would.

I love the quote, “It’s the cracks that let the light of God in.”

Here’s what a well-known British actress has to say on the subject:

“The whole essence of learning lines is to forget them so you can make them sound like you thought of them that instant.”

- Glenda Jackson

Many actors are in such a panic to get the words right that they just quickly rattle them off. The reason being that these actors are trying not to falter or stammer, or worse yet, leave a pause where they feel that nothing is happening.

They fear the uncomfortableness of that moment of silence.

However, in most scenarios, there must be moments of silence. Because it’s untrue to say that “nothing is happening”. Something very important is happening - the character is trying to decide what to say next!

There must be some faltering or hesitation. It’s real human behavior.

So, you see, the thing those actors are trying not to do is actually essential to booking the job!

Think about “Emily’s” famous monologue from the end of the play “Our Town”.

Could you imagine if she just rattled off her lines like she had them all memorized?!:

“Good-bye-world.-Good-bye-Grover's-Corners-Mama-and-Papa-Good-bye-to-clocks-ticking-and-Mama's-sunflowers-And-food-and-coffee-And-new-ironed-dresses-and-hot-baths-and-sleeping-and-waking-up-Oh-earth-you-are-too-wonderful-for-anybody-to-realize-you.”

What a terrible, missed opportunity that would be!

The character of “Emily” must be discovering the words in the moment. Her mind is racing with thoughts, and she “chooses” these words.

Don’t plan the silences. Let them happen organically. And if one of the reasons they happen is that you are not sure what comes next, then that’s great! Neither is she!

So when you forget your next line, don’t have a fearful, knee-jerk reaction and think to yourself, “Come on! Hurry up, Stupid! Get the right line out or they’ll know you’re a sham!”

Instead, just stay involved in the scene, and be glad that the moment came up to add realism and texture. Trying to think of what to say next is a wonderful, authentic moment for your character to have in most any scene.

Better you should paraphrase a little until you are back on track, then to stop the scene, blush and apologize that you “messed up your lines.”

An added note:

Make sure to memorize at least your first couple of lines. It’s of the utmost importance that you begin a scene looking like a real person, and not an actor looking down to get his lines.

In my opinion, if you have the first few lines memorized they won’t mind how many times you look down later!

And you have no excuse for not knowing them, because you are free to take a moment to look at them before the scene begins.

I was coaching an actor in New York City, who was struggling in his performance of a scene. At one point in the scene he threw his script to the floor.

Afterwards, I asked him why he had done that, and he explained that he hated holding sides during an audition. He felt it made the scene “less real”.

A lot of actors are uncomfortable holding the sides (or “script”).

These actors desperately want to set the sides down and do it from memory. They feel the sides make the scene seem false, so they’ll drop them onto their lap or the floor.

It simply isn’t true that using your sides keeps an audition scene from being “real”.

The casting people expect you to hold and use the sides in an audition scenario. They are accustomed to seeing actors look down at the script to get their next line. As long as you stay involved the scene, the sides are invisible to casting people.

The problem is that many actors have a hard time staying involved in the scene when they have to look down at the sides.

But, this issue is completely of their own making. It is a wall that was built by them. If you think looking down to get your line takes you out of the scene, then that will be your reality until you change your mind about it.

There’s no reason for you to feel that the scene has stopped when you look down at the page.

I think a lot of these actors have that same ghostly voice of an acting teacher repeating in their head, “Stay focused on your scene partner. You must keep looking at your scene partner.”

But, this does not apply to an audition.

Nor should you feel constrained to do so in an actual filmed scene.

I certainly don’t STARE at the people I talk to in my everyday life.

You can let that ghostly voice go. It’s no longer helpful.

Here are three reasons you should hold onto the sides:

1. If you forget a line, the pages are right there in front of you, and you won’t miss a beat as you look to the page to get the line.

2. I believe it makes casting people uncomfortable if you let go of the sides for too long. It doesn’t fit the style of an audition, so it takes them out of the scene. They are wondering why you don’t want to hold onto the sides.

3. If you don’t hold the sides, it sends a message that you are now giving your “final” performance. It says, “If you hire me, this is exactly how I’ll play the scene.” …Wouldn’t you rather have the casting person think, ”Gee, if she’s this good in the audition, just think how great she’ll be when they actually shoot this!”

Concerning line memorization:

When memorizing the lines, you should solely be involved in just that; committing them to memory.

Many actors combine line memorization with planning how they will say the line.

You mustn’t do this. That’s how you come up with lifeless and controlled line-readings.

We all have a vulture that wants to give us line readings as we memorize. He’s squawking line readings in fear that the line won’t come out “correctly” if you don’t plan it ahead of time.

Just let your vulture know that you’re not interested in his line reading.

So how do you memorize a scene without inadvertently memorizing line readings as well?

First you must make sure that you are seeing the lines as “ideas” and not just a series of words in a certain mathematical order.

(Read the chapter SEE THE LINES AS IDEAS.)

When your vulture tries to give you a line reading, tell him that you’re not interested, and that you’re going to focus solely on the idea of the line. In other words; “what the line means”.

Tell him that you want to be surprised by how the line comes out in performance because it’s the only way that the scene can be spontaneous.

When memorizing, simply ask yourself, “What does this line mean? What do I mean when I say it?”

I’m not talking about some hidden subtextual meaning.

On the contrary, just the literal, shallow and obvious meaning of the line.

Seeing the lines as “ideas” will make memorizing MUCH easier.

Personally, I used to hate memorizing, and now I find that it’s easy and painless.

When you memorize lines as “ideas”, it’s as though you are absorbing the lines into your stomach, versus shoving them into your head. You will own them.

And, you will no longer feel the pressure of saying every line word-perfect, because now you understand the line and are not involved in simply “getting the words right”.

A side note:

For the most part, if an actor can’t paraphrase, it’s because he has memorized the lines as just a series of words in a certain order, and didn’t put the bulk of his focus, while memorizing, on the “ideas” of the lines.

It’s not that he doesn’t understand what he’s saying, but he’s more interested in getting the words right than sharing the ideas.

I don’t like to memorize (or rehearse) a scene out loud.

The goal of an audition is to have it happen, as if for the first time, right there in the casting director’s office.

I figure the less you have to fake the better. The character certainly hasn’t said these words before. Therefore, if I wait until my audition to speak the words out loud, then I will have the genuine experience of saying those things for the first time right there in the audition. I won’t have to pretend that I’ve never said those words before. That aspect of my performance will be totally honest by definition. What’s more real than that?

My favorite way to memorize is to just sit and write out my lines on a separate piece of paper. I write slowly, really taking in each word, and the meaning of each sentence. After doing that just once, I find that the words are well on their way to being memorized.

If I do want to run the lines out loud, I speak them quietly to myself, void of any emotion.

Sanford Meisner, the famous acting teacher, recommends using a “robot voice”. While saying the lines aloud to yourself, use a quiet, monotone voice with no inflections, and speak in an even rhythmic pacing. This way there will be no line readings set in stone.