Crying on cue, having to hit an emotional set point, being where you think you need to be emotionally in a scene, rather than where you are, flubbing a line—traps for actors can put them in their heads and make them doubt themselves.
Let’s alleviate these worries.
1. Every now and then you’re going to be asked by a casting director to start a scene crying or hit some sort of emotional crescendo that a scene requires. However, this happens a lot less than you realize. And, even if you don’t get to the finished product of what you think it’s supposed to look like, if you trusted that you had a modicum of interesting, true, moment-to-moment experiences going on for you instead of “crying,” you’ll probably be just fine. The casting director would realize this too, and chances are, bring you to a work session or hire you for the job where you’d get to the end result of whatever it was you were supposed to be.
2. Don’t worry if you flub a line. No one knows unless you point it out. “Oh my God! I messed up that line. Can I do that again? That was awful.” Now everyone knows. If you’re committed, no one will notice, and if they do, they won’t care. If you’re going for stuff and you transpose a word or substitute one word for another, it’s not a big deal. Your work is more than a line. It’s more than a word. It’s you. It’s who you are! Can we collectively breathe and get our hearts and minds around that statement: It’s about you and how powerful you are! Mistakes don’t define you, how you respond to them does.
3. The casting director says, “That’s great. Now do it exactly like that two weeks from today!” What? I won’t remember, you think. Neither will they. Calm down. They are giving you an overall note in regards to tone, essence, and the choices you made. If you hit on what they like, it’s already inside you. In other words, you created something they liked. It’s not going to disappear. It’s a creation of yourself. You brought it. Why do you doubt that you won’t bring it again? Yes, the minutiae of the moments will change. They must. So it’s not like you’re trying to replicate every tiny micro-moment—that would lead to “acting” and that’s a lie. Just trust that you understand the scene and can bring back the qualities they are looking for.
4. You invite all your friends over to watch your network TV show debut. Everyone’s cheering for your opening credit when it pops up on the screen. By the commercial break, your character, however, still hasn’t shown up. By the third act you’re still nowhere to be seen. Eek! Is this the wrong episode? At the closing credits, you possibly spy a slice of your shoulder and maybe the mole on the left side of your face. Awkward. Everyone looks at you, which you interpret as them thinking you’re the loser that you feel inside. Deep breath. You’re not. Shit happens. Your part in the storyline got completely cut because it didn’t work. You have more Instagram followers than the second lead. They’re going to find a way to bring back that character later in the season.
All these things are metaphors for life. Stop sweating it. A year from now you won’t remember the things you’ve given so much worry to. Take a moment right now. Do you remember what you were freaking out about this time last year in October? Finding your Halloween costume? Finding an agent? It works out!
The things we are most often consumed with have little to do with us…so breathe.
Don’t worry so much about what you have no control over. Show up, commit, kick ass, stop apologizing for yourself. Realize you’re bigger than a job, a flub, a dry tear duct, or an impossibly small role that just got smaller.
Actors in the video: Justin Loyal and Claire Dellamar
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