Thoughts behind our scripted lines

Food for your acting thoughts…

“Every day and every place that we go and with every person we meet, we judge them. That’s just what we do. It’s human nature and how you talk to these people is based on what you’re thinking. If you go to Subway, you’re not just ordering a ham sandwich. You’re looking at the guy or girl going, ‘Did this guy wash his hands?’. You’ll say, ‘Ham sandwich?’ (in a questioning tone), or if it’s a Playboy Bunny behind the counter, it’ll be ‘Ham sandwich’ (in a flirty tone), it’s all based on what we’re thinking. I want you to start being aware of your thoughts and what you’re saying to people and how your thoughts dictate what you’re saying. We do it every day of our life but yet we don’t do it in our craft. To me it’s asinine because when you’re in a scene with somebody and you’re reacting to somebody, there should be thoughts there. It’s not just about lines. It’s never about lines. Yes, the lines are important but when we act every day, there’s always a thought behind something. When you walk into a casting office, don’t pre-program everything because anybody who has something pre-programmed in my office, I’ll say, ‘Let’s do it again. Let’s change a few things.’ It’s like the robot. They come unglued… ‘That’s not how the coach I trained with told me to do it.’ No… because I’m trying to get you to be more natural. Those are the directors that I work with. Those natural reactions. Those real life reactions.”

-Tracy Weisert, Casting Director (Full Article HERE)