Truth In Advertising is a new book by John Kenney. I haven't read it, but here's a promo for it.
I thought this was worth sharing for a few reasons:
Focus groups can be like this. Especially the lady with all the issues, and the guy who changes his mind.
The piece was funny, but I thought it was very over-acted. Subtlety always works best. If you want someone to act confused, don't have them scratch their head; have them bite their tongue in a way you barely notice. I promise - you'll notice.
When
you’re shooting a TV spot, you’ll see about 50 people audition for every role
you’ve written. Typically, you’ll watch all of these online, and you, your
partner and the director will mark the ones you like best. These actors (maybe
a third of the people you originally saw) will come in for callbacks, which you’ll
usually attend in person. Actor after actor will come into a small room with a
camera and act out the scene for you.
I’m
shooting with a director who’s very good with actors and dialogue, and I’ve
learned a few things from him in callbacks that are great guidelines for
choosing actors:
Watch
their eyes. Their eyes will give away whether or not they believe in their
character and the scene. That sounds very ethereal, but when you’re watching 50
different actors audition for one role, just watch the eyes and it will become apparent
who’s into it.
In
dialogue, watch the person who isn’t speaking. It’s easy to look at the person
who’s reciting the lines you or your partner wrote. But if you look at the
actor who’s supposed to be listening, you can tell if they’re invested in the
other character or not.
Good
actors support their co-actors, bad actors automatically shift into
competition. We were auditioning for the role of a father and a son building something
together. The son was supposed to say, “You’re going to need a new crosscut
saw.” When they start adlibbing, the best actors would simply smile and
respond, “Yep. You’re right.” The bad actors would say, “There’s nothing wrong
with that saw!” And then the sons would reply, “Come on, Dad! This thing’s been
around since the Jefferson administration!” And then the Dad would say, “Ah,
you kids don’t know quality when you see it.” Bad actors are looking to stand
out, and pitting themselves against any other actor in the room is the easiest
way to do that.
This
isn’t the kind of thing you’ll learn in portfolio school. So tuck this away and
use it when you start casting actors.
