Dear actor and director,
Everyone messes up. We hope you don't. But, the important thing is if the mess up happens, it's about how fast you get back up and how you recover and keep going that can make all the difference. RECOVER AND KEEP ON GOING
sincerely,
The other side.
I had spoken a little bit about screwing up in an audition/performance in a prior blog entry "Ain't nothing but a lesson son" , which dealt with viewing past mess ups as a building blocks and lessons for future improvement. Today I will talk about mess ups on the actual day, what you should do, and what I've seen in the casting room and on sets.
Firstly, there is a saying that "Fortune favors the bold." I would like to slightly amend that to "Fortune favors the bold and prepared"
The more prepared you are with the audition material, the greater chance you will be confident and competent in your performance. There is no substitute for preparation/rehearsal for great execution.
That being said, what do you do if things don't go smoothly and mistakes happen? (this happens in live acting, live music, sports, human interactions, the crew and producing)
One word: RECOVER.
One sentence: RECOVER, ADJUST AND KEEP GOING
No matter what happens, keep your composure and keep going. Get through it. If you forget/mess up a line, you recover by completing the scene or going to the next lines until you are stopped. (It's like sight reading for a musician, just get through it, keep going.) It may seem like a fairly basic concept, but I have seen people forget that that is what they really should do.
An audition room and a set are really the SAME thing. As a director or producer , we hope you, the actor, are ready and don't mess up, but we may also look to see how you handle a potential screw up if/when it occurs. How you handle yourself and adversity in an audition can be an indicator of how you may carry yourself on a set.
After all, things can change on the day, and you may have very little time to prepare a new set of rewritten lines or action adjustments on set and hopefully your training, instincts and understanding will help you deliver the performances.
The casting director or director in the room or the director on the set may do one of the following on a mess up:
1) the director may stop you or ask you to take a passage over again right away.
2) the director may ignore it and just hope you keep going and not disturb the recording. Sometimes the director just wants the scene to keep going to collect footage, and if you draw attention to a screw up, it will interrupt the flow of the action and acting and may give less material to work with later as the editor won't be able to use because you are freaking out, potentially making part of a take unusable.
As a director, you may have to deal with actors who are frustrated, upset or flustered because they are messing up or not getting the performance they want from themselves. I've seen it on sets I've been on and have had to personally direct actors through events like that.
How you communicate and deal with them at that moment will make a difference if the work gets done or grinds to a halt, if people are offended to the point where they won't work, or if they will be empowered to finish.
Remember to treat people with respect and empathy.
You may want to give them space and time to recover as needed. Sometimes you have to challenge them to get back up. It's kind of like being a sports team coach. Sometimes its like being a therapist. Each situation and actor/crew/business contact are unique.
I have also seen actors, even name actors and stars, go back immediately and start over an earlier line on set, although many will keep going. Both are always a possibility, depending on the actor's influence, and how the show is produced. But I've also seen that many understand that part of being a good actor is understanding that 'the show must go on' and the professionals will recover and very quickly keep going .
Be well,
Vincent
Break a leg.
My name is Vincent Veloso. I am a writer, producer, director, actor and musician and martial artist. I have worn many hats in my career, learned some things, still learning, but in this blog, I will be addressing my experience and insights making films and music... stories from casting to wrap party... the good, the bad, the really bad and the ugly.... and the really ungood.
I never use real names, and many times I address my concerns on the day directly to people in real time. I point out my own missteps just as much if not more because I have been that actor/writer/producer/director who has made the same gaffes just as much if not more. Hopefully as I address the circumstances, others can gain valuable insight, through story and my experiences, it will give people help. It is not meant to be mean spirited, but like all subjective commentary and blogs, and many other existing advice and commentary articles, I understand that audience perception is subjective and do hope you know that I hope to help others.
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© 2015 Vincent Veloso, Xavmax Multimedia Productions L.L.C. All rights reserved
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