The Problem with Characters
At the core of your story are your characters. At the core of your characters are their hopes, dreams, fears, sorrows, shames, etc. that drive them to action and, in turn, drive your story.
Dead Lines
It’s 1995, early in my teaching career, and my parents are visiting me in Los Angeles. Because I am always looking for something to impress my father with, something that would make him proud of me, I show him a brochure of a seminar that I will be teaching. It’s a very detailed brochure with bullet points of all the aspects of directing that I promised to cover. I am watching as he reads every line of the brochure, making those little ‘hmm’ sounds as he absorbs the information.
Elephant in the Room
We’ve all been there. In the room. Any room. And we’re keenly aware of the elephant … in the corner … on the couch … behind the desk … wherever. We know we don’t want to talk about it (otherwise the elephant wouldn’t be there) and we’re hoping nobody else does either. Or perhaps we’re hoping that someone else will bring it up to get us off the hook. That way we won’t be blamed for mentioning it and we can claim we had no idea it was even there.
The Battle Against Fear
I’m looking into the eyes of a very talented, very famous, very angry actress. I am her director and we are at a crossroad. It’s only a few days until the opening of the play that we’ve been rehearsing for weeks and my Emmy-winning actress is having a meltdown. She’s looking to me to make everything right. The problem is, I’m not sure what’s wrong. Of course we’ve had our differences during the rehearsal process, that’s normal. But at this moment the only thing I see panic is in her eyes, I see rebellion, I see fear.
The Director – Actor Dance
As far as relationships go I propose the one between actors and directors is one of the most challenging. It is extremely demanding and often misunderstood. Just think about it. A director gets a script that is full of complex characters and the director needs actors to portray those characters. No problem. There are thousands of available actors from which the director can choose. But … once the selection has been made the trouble begins. It’s like dancing a waltz and both you and your partner are trying…