yesterday we were taught by felicity huffman! it was awesome. man, all the master classes have been amazing. between her and mamet, i finally understand what the analysis was supposed to be and how it is supposed to be taught. i think some of the teachers get it wrong. i won't get into that, though.
words of wisdom from flix:
- figure out where the bits are and stage accordingly. don't forget about stagecraft.
- take focus where you need to take focus.
- to land the role, you need to be different than everyone else in the audition. how? bring yourself to it. bring your analysis to it. everyone else is asking the questions, saying the lines - play the action!
- the only time we see you is when you're focused on the other person.
- you only have about 20 good ideas and they circulate through your work. throw yourself into the unknown.
- the difficulty lies in the scene. it's your job to solve the problem. everyone else will pay allegiance to the scene.
- when you're in a rush, give yourself something to actually do. we spend so much time pretending, help yourself out. if you can make the suitcase heavy, if you can actually eat, do it! it's the added burden of making stuff up when you're already pretending.
- if you don't know what to do, do nothing. say the line flat.
- don't do the lines - everyone is gonna do the lines - use the action based on what you see.
- work it out before the audition.
- "i wanna see you."
- just because the character doesn't remember, doesn't mean you don't have to.
- i want to see you make the decision. that doesn't mean you have to move, you just have to decide.
- even if your first moment is "wake up!" and you're wrong, she is awake, at least you have the next step in the dance.
- figure out the moment before - it'll bring you into the scene.
- always make your blocking about the other person, your action, and stagecraft.
- "everyone says the words are meaningless. i think that's bullshit. the words are your tools. they aren't bullshit. rather, they can mean anything."
- why are you looking out, etc? tie it back into your action.
- "okay he just threw something at you which was 'fuck off and die' so you have to use that."
- what do you want it to look like? then fill it up with the truth.
- "i'm glad it matters to you but you have to gain an ally [or whatever your action is]."
- 'i don't care what the line sounds like, you're telling him to stand up and be a man.'
- everyone is going to do the scene. do the action off the other person.
- "hey, how about it's all in?"
- it's so hard to actually care about something.
- allegiance to the scene will fucking sink you.
- work off the other person! don't do your ideas!
- why do you have to say 'it's hard to say this' like it's hard to say? it can mean anything. you can say it like 'you have the best smile'.
- all your movements must help your action.
i couldn't write fast enough. she was very inspiring. she talked about how she's lazy and took her forever to get her shit together to begin taking her career seriously. it's so amazing to hear an oscar-nominated actress say she's lazy and needs a kick in the ass sometimes to stay motivated. and hear her say she hates the unknown and it takes work for her to engage in it. she said she's coming to the showcase! how amazing. anyway, as always, just when i feel discouraged, i begin to feel encouraged.
today has already been a productive day. i re-wrote my script and emailed it to clark gregg (!) and am anxiously awaiting his notes. we're shooting a piece of my screenplay for my reel on may 3rd directed by clark with all this professional crew etc. it's overwhelming and exciting. i was on the warner bros lot (!) on weds auditioning (mostly doing a general for you actor types) with a couple casting directors. i nailed (i'm gonna say 'nailed'...) this in class audition for a teacher who is also a writer and producer and collected our headshots to put us in things. now it's time to shop, hit the gym, and rehearse for my friend's 'walk the line' throughline where i'm playing june carter cash. i want this life.
