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:

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:

We mostly associate Stanislavsky with internal life and emotional training, but this wise and disciplined master also understood the value of an Outside–In approach. In fact, one of the very first examples of an actor’s success in Stanislavsky’s An Actor Prepares is Kostya’s journey to the costume shop to get fitted for the old man’s overcoat.

A familiar and cynical actor/director dialogue goes something like this; Actor: “But what’s my motivation for crossing to the sofa (or “saying this line,” “picking up this book,” “breaking into song,” etc.)?

Director: “Your paycheck.”

Sounds good, eh? But what does that mean? Who is an independent actor?
The actor who is “director-proof,” not dependent upon outside feedback.
The actor who is not stuck in propensities, limitations or habit patterns.

When that actor develops an ongoing curiosity about the ways of the world and its human inhabitants.

-When that actor is steeped in understanding through psychology, and absorbs alternate world views through philosophy.
-When that actor discovers the connection between movements in the arts and the historical and cultural environments that spawned those movements.

Embrace, invest, live in and commit to the phrase that you’re saying, NOW! Fulfill the present moment. The past is over, the future will arrive – awareness of either will undermine your commitment to the present. Don’t worry about the next line, the next action, the next transition, but fully inhabit the immediacy and importance of THIS moment.

Being specific as you explore the text means that you will miss no clues, transitions, or subtext. Being specific with your homework means that you can create powerful, motivating backstories, circumstances and imagery every time.

Actors are always worried about their lines: How many, what inflection, what word to emphasize, picking up cues. But in film, it's not the lines that we care about, it's the transitions, the reaction shots, the moments before and after the lines.

Yes, what you see is what you get. And what you see before you is the “Actor-Character.” Not just the Actor, not just the Character, but the entity in front of you that you and your character must deal with.