Identifying Character Objectives

Happy Thursday! As pilot season is off to a busy start, I'm taking the next step in my career and seeking a manager to add to my team. I've had a few meetings so far and am almost ready to make a decision. I'm very excited for the future and working to hone my skillset, aided by reflecting on what I learned at USC:

Observe how you act when you are paying attention to someone in real life, what that feels like in your person.

You have to remember that the characters have never heard this dialogue before. They haven’t memorized the lines like you, the actor, but are working hard to achieve a goal, because they want something from the other person, even if this goal isn’t expressly stated. The “want” doesn’t necessarily?have to be physical- perhaps your character wants to convince his lover to marry him.

Let the objective color the scene.

If there is subtext, and well-written dialogue will have so, it is your job as the actor to identify that objective and use action words attached to your lines to achieve that object, such as “to persuade,” “to flirt,” etc.

Stay tuned for my next newsletter on Thursday:)