1 scene saving hack aspiring actors need in their toolkit

I’ve watched thousands of scenes during the last 8 years as a method acting coach – from scenes in auditions, in class and during performances, and there’s one mistake I see cropping up time and again that over 97% of actors fall prey to. This mistake hinders an actor’s development and can cost them their careers. Especially if it follows them into the audition room. If you want to learn the 1 scene saving hack aspiring actors need in their toolkit then read on. 

THE BIG ACTING MISTAKE

Playing it safe ­– most actors deliver their scenes in a very generic way, or as I like to refer to it ­– in a very vanilla way. It’s not a disastrous interpretation but they make the same bland choices other actors make, which makes it difficult to capture their audience and find belief in their scenes.

How does an actor know they’re doing this? They’ll feel as though they’re holding back, like they’re just going through the motions or like the words don’t mean much to them.

Now when I find an actor is making bland choices during scenes in their training, they run a very high risk of doing this at auditions because it’s an ingrained performance habit. This is where they can land themselves in trouble. You see, casting directors spend all day watching the same scene over and over. Imagine how tiring it must be to watch it being delivered the exact same way for 7 hours…

Put yourself in their position. How would you feel?

So what’s the answer?

1 SCENE SAVING HACK ASPIRING ACTORS NEED IN THEIR TOOLKIT

PERSONALISATION

This amazing method acting hack will help you bring some vitality, colour, intensity and originality to your scene(s) and stop you falling into the trap that 97% of actors do (vanilla acting).

FIRST:

• identify how your character is feeling in the scene

SECOND:

•  look to your own life and identify a situation in which you feel the same.

Hopefully this will have stirred you and made the connection between yourself and the character much deeper and more visceral.

THIRD:

• begin the scene from this place.

Just a quick note, if nothing has been stirred inside you, keep going with the exercise until it does. 

Using this exercise will help you make much clearer choices within the scene because now you’ll acting from a place of belief. Your acting will become more honest and unique, and thus you capture your audience, because when you believe so do they.

This powerful exercise has pulled many an actor I’ve worked with out of the traps of vanilla acting. I’ve seen plenty of scenes that have given me goosebumps, had me in tears and had me sitting on the edge of my seat utterly magnetised by the actors work. In fact, I forget they were acting. Now that is powerful. 

Try this exercise with your next scene and take note of the difference it makes.

I’d love to hear from you, have you found this useful? Let me know in the comments and let’s have a conversation.

You can also share this with your acting friends by clicking the social media icons. It could be just the thing they need to help them get out of a funk.