actors love to cry. for all their talk of creating complex characters and subtle moments, nothing attracts them more than the chance to weep. aliens watching from out of space must think them a very sad subsect of humans. they also love to play anger but if they can muster genuine tears, that’s the holy grail because it means they’re a genuine artist-actor with an emotional wellspring just waiting to be tapped. it means they’re a real actor. it’s a right of passage to them.

and as if that’s not enough, they’re always trying to make us cry, too. maybe the aliens watching from out of space don’t think them sad so much as mean. always trying to make other people cry. it’s terrible. when children make other children cry they get punished. when actors make other people cry they get awards. or at least that’s what actors think.

but with all the other actors on the planet trying to make us cry and get awards for doing it, how does the real actor stand out from the crowd of tears. make us laugh. nothing brings home the full effect of a tear-jerker more than one moment in the middle of a crying scene, when the actor makes us laugh. or at the very least makes us smile.

you want to open our flood gates, you want us to think you’re a real actor, take your character just past the point of tears, almost to the point of weeping – not there but almost there – and then find the humor in it all. if you can find a moment of humor in a crying scene, well then pass the kleenex, dust off your mantel and start practicing your acceptance speech.

“John Swanbeck’s: How To Steal The Scene & End Up Playing The Lead” – the Ebook – new release date – april 2012.

comic characters are more interested in wanting what they want than in getting it.

which is why actors can’t do comedy. or have trouble doing it. or hate it. because their “process” requires they listen, absorb, process, and be effected by the other characters. comic characters never listen to anyone, never absorb anything, process nothing and allow themselves to be effected by no one. that’s what makes them funny.

comic characters are so single minded in their pursuit of what they want, it becomes a matter of principle that they get it. they’re convinced they deserved it all along and that a great wrong will have been committed if they don’t get it. they become fanatical about it.

that can’t really happen when the actor’s being effected by the other characters.

and the more that actor listens, absorbs, and is effected by the other characters, the less we want to laugh because we’re wondering more and more what they’re thinking and feeling. and the more we’re wondering what they’re thinking and feeling, the more we start to care about them and the more we care about them, the more we worry about them. and if we care enough to worry about them, we won’t laugh. why would we? we’re not monsters. we’re on the actor’s side. if they ask us to care, we care. if they ask us to laugh, we laugh.

and the actor’s “process” is designed to make us care. using it in comedy is like trying to give someone an orgasm by following the instructions for making homemade bread. not only won’t you achieve anything, it’s gonna be painful.

“John Swanbeck’s: How To Steal The Scene & End Up Playing The Lead” – the Ebook – new release date – april 2012.

it’s better to be wrong & interesting rather than right & boring.

the only filmmakers who want you to come into an audition and get the scene “right” are student filmmakers. and if you find yourself auditioning for a filmmaker that’s directing you to play the scene the “right” way or “as it’s written”, you damn well better know what you’re doing because they don’t. you’ll never “pop” under their direction. but actors walk right into it because they think we want to see the scene played “right”. what we want to see is whether you know what to do on camera and if you’re doing anything interesting while the camera’s pointed at you. we don’t watch your audition thinking, “hmmm…how well does that actor understand the scene?”. what we want to see is how interesting you are as you read the scene. we want to see if you “pop”. unless, of course, you’re auditioning for a student filmmaker or otherwise amateur. for the rest of us, it’s…do you know what you’re doing and are you doing anything interesting.

you’ll never “pop” if you’re trying to play the scene “right”. how could you? you’re playing the scene as it’s literally written. you’re playing the obvious. and everyone else will be doing the same thing.

you’ll be just a clone of an obvious choice.

you’ll be boring.

but you’ll be right.

“John Swanbeck’s: How To Steal The Scene & End Up Playing The Lead”  -the Ebook – new release date – april 2012.