Write For Hollywood! ? Blog Archive ? Screenwriters, Take One ...

One of the reasons I used to convince myself to take acting classes was to improve my writing.? I thought if I looked at writing from a totally different perspective, I?d learn a whole lot more.? I did, and got the acting bug.

Just like directors, writers should take acting classes to understand how an actor prepares for a role.? As an actor, it?s very hard to prepare a role that hasn?t been developed because there will be so very little to work with in terms of character description, background, and motivation.? Understanding why a character does what they do is fundamental to scene study.? An actor can only do so much to bring your words to life.

When an actor gets a script, he typically reads over it, jots down everything about his character he knows for certain, then writes down everything that?s implied through choice of words, style of dialogue, his behaviour, the relationships he has, etc..? After the character is built, he then looks at the scenes to understand what he?s after, what?s his goal, what does he want?? If it?s not obvious, a good actor will find one.? Then, through every line of dialogue, his and his scene partner?s, he interprets what it means to him, why he?s saying it and how it serves him in achieving his objective/want.? He also interprets what the other character(s)? actions and dialogue means to him, how it affects him so he knows how to react.? So if any of this information is missing, an actor will know.

I remember as an actor I got a part where I had to deliver an awkward line of dialogue and I couldn?t understand why anyone would speak like that.? It was stiff, formal, over the top.? Finally, I found a way for it all to make sense: she was being sarcastic.? It was also the only way to make sense of why a young woman who was newly engaged was at an event alone and why she would say what she did.? But I got it wrong.? It was to be delivered straight and so I had trouble recalling the strange line because it made no sense to me.? I?m not saying this to make the writer wrong or myself for that matter.? He had his reasons for creating the character this way, but it?s simply an example of how a scene can be misinterpreted by either an actor or even a director.? Our job as writers is to be sure everything is on the page the way in which we intended so that it appears on screen that way.

The other day, I was breaking down a scene from London Boulevard in which a drunk posh reporter is in a dodgy London bar flirting with a criminal just out of jail.? An actor looks at EVERYTHING.

INT.? ANOTHER PUB.? LATER

PENNY is drunk and flirtatious.? But it?s the drink.? It won?t last.

PENNY

Mad Tommy said?Mad Tommy with the mad hairpiece?that the party was for a criminal just out of Pentonville.

MITCHELL

That would be me.

PENNY

Fascinating.

?

Just in that small interaction alone, here?s what we get (with a few liberties taken from the background already done on the character).? Penny went to ?another pub? with Mitchell.? In the scene previous, Mitchell defended her from a group of thugs outside his welcome home party.? Mitchell is an ex-con just out of jail.? If Pentonville is a real place, that would suggest too what kind of criminal he is.? Penny is drunk and flirtatious, but it won?t last.? She might be using Mitchell and she does this by flirting ? probably uses this tactic all the time to get a story.? This could mean she?s not a very good reporter because good reporters don?t need to resort to flirting.? Or it could mean she?s extremely dedicated and will use any means necessary.? The former is most likely since she just met Mitchell and this is the first tactic she tries.? Her first line she gossips.? It?s later proven that she does this all the time, she can?t help herself.? This is another tactic she uses to get what she wants.? Another example that she?s not a very good reporter.? She knows the guys at the first pub by name; ?Mad Tommy?.? She?s been there before.? She was talking to Mad Tommy, trying to get information possibly about Mitchell.? When Mitchell tells her he?s the criminal, she says ?fascinating?.? Not your typical reaction especially from a woman like Penny.? Either she finds this appealing or she already knew.? This is a posh reporter.? What is she doing hanging out with criminals?? Not only that, but if she was at the first pub for a story, why did she go to another pub with this criminal?? Why is she flirting with him?? What does she want from him?? Does she really want to sleep with him?? It seems she doesn?t feel as good about herself as her clothes and upper-class upbringing would suggest.

The answers to questions I had were revealed later on in the script (for the most part), but you can see to what level of detail you can extract simply from one brief exchange.? A writer needs to be very precise in the decisions he makes because everything is taken very seriously.? We can?t just throw words down on the page hoping it?ll all make sense or that the actor will ?make it work?.

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Source: http://www.writeforhollywood.com/screenwriters-take-one-the-importance-of-acting-classes/

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