Most actors will agree that motivation is vital if you want to truly commit believably to any spoken line, action or character need. Well, here’s a secret that you won’t learn in most acting classes:

Your motivation to play the Intention is never a variation of the Intention, but rather a pain, fear, panic, hurt, insecurity, or self-doubt that gives a life context to the Intention and then demands that you play it. So if, for example, you want “To eviscerate the bastard,” you’d better get in touch with the pain of losing your murdered sister right before you do the scene.

The NEED to Play the Intention

Another example: if you want “To win her over,” you better get in touch with your feelings of being alone and unloved first. Those motivational feelings are created in the emotional preparation (see Section VI: Life Support) right before the scene and almost force you to play the Intention. If you truly NEED to play that intention, you’ll be forever fascinating to watch.