[Watch the video interview on YouTube here]
Film Courage: As a director, what is your approach or philosophy to building a scene?
Adam William Ward, Actor/Filmmaker: Depends on what stage I’m in. If we’re there on set and I have two actors building the scene, I’d like to try to do rehearsals beforehand. So you could be in the rehearsal stage at that point. I want to try to free people up to try new things to learn to be open as long as they come prepared.
I think on set, there still has to be that element of freedom but at the same time sometimes the scene isn’t working and at that point it comes down to budget and time to fix it because if it’s not working you don’t want to keep it.
I heard on Sicario, the last scene, that they shut down the whole set for three hours and re-did the scene, rewrote the scene on set and they just kept doing improvisation with the two lead actors to make it work. That’s a luxury that a lot of people don’t have but you’ve got to have that sense of freedom. They sense the director…the buck stops with you. If the scene’s not working you have to fix it, you have to figure out something whether it’s taking the chains off your actors to improv and then go:
Oh I like that! Stick with that line or stick with this.
But ultimately you’ve got to have:
-First, looking at them making sure you believe what they’re saying. Okay, if that works then you’re good.
-What’s the point of the scene?
-What are they trying to convey?
It might be amazingly acted but then I want sympathy for your character. Right here, can you do it more hurt?
Communicating with actors, the simpler you can…(Watch the video interview on YouTube here).
MORE VIDEOS WITH ADAM WILLIAM WARD
WATCH ‘BAD ADVICE’
Tubitv.com/series/300010740/bad-advice
WATCH ‘WALLY GOT WASTED’
Tubitv.com/movies/564745/wally-got-wasted
CONNECT WITH ADAM WILLIAM WARD
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About:
Adam is a Jewish-American born in Abington, Pennsylvania who grew up in Bucks County, PA. At age twelve his family relocated to Roseburg, Oregon; a new and unfamiliar small town. As the middle child of three, Adam realized he had to stand out to gain any measure of attention, if he wanted his rightful place at the dinner table. His antics started purely as a way to amuse his family, but quickly blossomed into a desire to entertain a bigger audience. This desire, however, was abated by a nearly crippling case of stage fright that lasted until he joined his high school’s drama program as a teenager. Through his teacher and classmates’ encouragement, Adam gradually let go and confronted his fear. It seemed to work. After receiving much local acclaim in his first year on stage, his high school named the A-Ward Award after him and it is still given annually to the most outstanding newcomer. It was because of this success Ward pursued his love of film as an undergrad at Hawaii Pacific University where he graduated with a Communications Degree. After graduating from college, Ward made his way to Hollywood! During his first day in town, he used his charm to land a position in post production at Dreamworks. From there, he segued to a gig working for Todd Phillips at Warner Brothers. But pursuing a career made him temporarily lose sight of his dream (dream of what?) It wasn’t until Ward bumped into Jimmy Smits at LAX that he was convinced to go back and study acting again. At Smits’ recommendation, he began studying at the Joanne Baron DW School of Acting during which he found time to star in eleven short films. The following year ward was a lead in three independent features. But it wasn’t until the year 2011 Ward, took his destiny in his own hands and wrote, directed and starred in a tv comedy called, “Three Guys and a Couch” (On Amazon Prime). In 2013 wrote Directed and Starred in “Parole Officers” another tv pilot. (On Amazon Prime). Later in 2014 Ward co-wrote a feature film called, “Wally Got Wasted”. [See more of Adam’s bio on IMDB]
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