Film Courage: Can you explain how a director can micromanage an actor in their performance?
Judith Weston, Coach, Teacher and Author: Yes, by talking too much. That’s the quick answer to that. There are directors who want to delve into the inner life a lot. They want to talk, talk, talk. They want to front load. That’s the thing that I think is the most dangerous is when the director has an idea that he or she is very excited about and they want to front load the actor with it before they even do anything and they overtalk. The simplest thing is overtalking. I finally boiled it down to telling directors Listen more than you talk and be percentage about that. Hear your own voice less than 50 percent of the time when you’re talking to actors. Listen to them more than you talk to them and that’s a big thing that actors complain about is directors that overtalk but they still don’t understand what the director wants. That’s just so easy to happen and that’s so very simply under circumvented if…(Watch the video interview on Youtube here).
BIO:
Judith Weston has, for 35 years, brought tools and confidence to filmmakers and actors, with books, workshops, and one-on-one consultations. In 2015, after 30 years of teaching in-person workshops and classes to thousands of film and television directors, screenwriters, writer-directors, and actors around the world, Judith closed her studio space and shifted her focus to one-on-one consultations with directors and writer-directors of film and television as they prepare to bring their projects to life. She can be available for Zoom Q&As and workshops with schools, festivals, and organizations. Judith Weston has been a teacher of directors, actors, and writers since 1985. She has written two books, DIRECTING ACTORS: 25th Anniversary Edition: Creating Memorable Performances for Film and Television and THE FILM DIRECTOR’S INTUITION: Script Analysis and Rehearsal Techniques (via Michael Wiese Productions).
CONNECT WITH JUDITH WESTON
BUY THE BOOK – DIRECTING ACTORS: 25th Anniversary Edition: Creating Memorable Performances for Film and Television
BUY THE BOOK – THE FILM DIRECTOR’S INTUITION: Script Analysis and Rehearsal Techniques
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