Bestbuy eBooks - Directing Actors.

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Article by independent producer and director David Horatio
Is There a Better Way to Deal With Actors? Yes!
Directing doesn't have to be a chore. With the right tools you can achieve almost anything on the stage or screen. Yes, actors can be difficult. Given the wrong tongue an actor can quit, screw up a performance, or waste hours of precious film stock or rehearsal time.
But you can avoid these pitfalls with the right knowledge. You can start directing the easy way now!
I remember back in my NYU days there were several key mistakes novice directors made when it came to the actor-director relationship:
- Treating your actors like demigods. To this day I've never seen an actor lift a mountain or part a large body of water. If your actor sucks they should be fired, immediately, without an apology. Unless the actor's name helps you raise money for a project, no single person in your cast or crew should be viewed as indispensable.
To find out if you've hired an actor that's worth their weight take our free actor quiz.
- Talked too much about what your project/script means rather than your material vision of the project. Maybe this is the most common mistake of directors. Directors love talking about themes and metaphors but actors can't work with themes and metaphors. You're not writing an English paper; you're shooting a movie or producing play if you're in theater. Actors need a very special kind of "actorspeak" that I've learned to develop over the years.
- Working with amateurs You are not rich. You are not famous. You cannot hrie a professional. WRONG! The honest to god truth is that anybody can hire professional actors. No one has to settle for casting their step-sister. The problem is approach. Hiring professionals requires certain procedures and etiquette. I'll cover how you can better approach professionals in a minute.
- Spent too little time rehearsing or, more commonly, no rehearsing. So you spend a few minutes "warming up" then you start shooting. Big novice mistake! Yes, this works In TV land where actors get merely a week (or less) to read, memorize, and rehearse a 50 - 60 page teleplay. But thankfully you don't work in television (if you do you have my sympathies!).
Actors need time and your sincere attention to construct a character, build a scene, and make a movie you can be proud of. A lot of directors don't take the time to learn the actual process and so settle for less.
- Refusing to accept criticism from professionals. If you're still reading you probably don't have this problem, but those who do never learn much about the process of directing quality work.
Even successful professionals need to keep an open ear to new information and guideposts. In Hollywood it is often that once a director spits out a few blockbusters their ego takes over and they assume every move they make is the best move. Their later work suffers as a result and their career ...

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