When I asked a producer friend of mine who has a long history in procedural dramas (“Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” or “Blue Bloods,” for example) what he looks for in casting his shows he said that in general, “Everyone needs to be about to have a heart attack.”
I love that statement. In a procedural, it takes between 40–45 minutes to commit, investigate, and solve a crime. No room for slackers in this genre!
But, there are often problems with the audition material in procedurals: It tends to be over-written. Scenes that are short and quick when the show is produced tend to be longer and less focused in the sides. This is usually because the writers are asked to write longer scenes so there is room for cutting.
I’ve been in many script meetings where I’ve heard the producers, network execs, and even directors talk about the show not as a series of scenes, but as a series of sellable moments. So, if the writer writes a longer scene, there’s a chance for more moments. When the moments that are the brightest and that most effectively move the story forward are chosen in post-production, the rest of the scene is cut.
But at the time of the audition, it’s all there. So how do you generate the right amount of immediacy? The simple answer is to put a clock on it. Even if the scene doesn’t have a stated deadline, you need to have one in order to bring the necessary urgency to the scene.
Please remember, urgency does not mean pace. Pace is about speed, urgency is about energy.
Be sure to choose a “clock” that isn’t generic but has personal resonance for you, i.e., “If I don’t get this information in the next five minutes, I lose my job,” “I have a date with an amazing person whose one pet peeve is people being late,” or “I am up for a promotion and this could seal the deal.” Whatever gets your pulse racing!
Personal urgency places your specific heartbeat underneath the words, so make it important and make it yours.
Whether you’re the detective, the expert, the lawyer, the killer, or the loved ones of the victim, put a clock on whatever it is that you need and you’ll show the people in the room that you not only have a singular and interesting point of view on the character and that you can generate and live in dynamic moments, but also that you also have a full understanding of the needs of the genre.
That’s the whole package and that’s tough to beat.
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