Actor Expectations on an Indie Film

Many no-budget and indie Directors and Producers come to the task woefully unprepared for working with actors. Unlike in theater, most Directors and Producers were never actors, myself included. What this means is that we’re not familiar with the needs and expectations of actors, and going in blind like this can quickly lead to production-wrecking conflict that you may never be able to recover from. It is essential to learn to work with actors if you want to Direct or Produce films.

Actors have the right to expect two key things: for you to be professional and respect them as professionals, and for you to know enough (about acting, directing, and your own material) that you can actually direct them.

Getting to Know Acting

Every Director should set out to learn something about acting. After all, how can you Direct something you don’t know anything about?

Anyone who wants to Direct should really take at least one improv class. Why improv? Because every aspiring Director needs to experience the feeling of how difficult it is to be thrown in front of a bunch of people and told to perform right now. It’s miserable. And the best improv teachers start off this way, so you can experience the fear. But you’ll soon realize that everyone starts off terrified, even the ones who seem natural at it, and that what ultimately makes improv possible is developing rapport and trust relationships amongst the participants. That is also what makes a positive, productive film set possible.

Most of you won’t be doing Christopher Guest style improv films, but improv will teach you a lot about how to make actors (and crew) comfortable on-set — and do so by letting you experience first hand how terrifying it is if you’re not comfortable.

It is also advisable to take at least one acting class, and as cliché as it may seem, you should probably take a method acting class. Many actors have been trained in one of the method schools (in the U.S., usually Meisner or Strasberg styles). Even those who don’t practice method acting have generally studied Constantin Stanislavski’s acting “ABC” books, and so should you.

Finally, stick yourself out there. Go act. Do a community theater performance, or a role in a friend’s short film. I don’t consider myself an actor at all, but I’ve done some voice acting, and played minor roles in a few short video productions, to make sure I have some first-hand understanding of what the actors are going through.

This level of exposure won’t make you an expert actor, nor will you become totally fluent in the academic methodology and terminology of acting, but you’ll have enough of a foundation that through repeated exposure to actors you’ll develop a shared language with them.

Expectations Before the Shoot

Most actors like to rehearse. Some don’t, but most do. And pretty much all actors would like to at least do a table read before shooting. If you think you can’t afford rehearsals on your budget, try to think of other things you might cut before making that decision. But even if you genuinely can’t afford the actors’ time and space for rehearsals on your budget, at least do a table read. Whenever I’ve neglected to do table reads first, getting scenes right has always proved to be much more difficult. This is especially true for no-budget shooters that are working with inexperienced actors, even those with a lot of raw talent. Rehearsals and table reads allow the actors to become familiar with the material, and you with their performance style and Directing needs. It is the beginning of developing trust and rapport. But don’t over-Direct the rehearsals. You don’t want the best performances off-camera, and you don’t want to burn out your actors. Allow the rehearsals to be fluid, fun and imprecise. Everyone should know that this is just a way to get familiar with the material and each other, not a pressure situation where they must “nail it” — and then be expected to exactly duplicate that performance on-set.

Actors also like not to be forgotten when updates to schedules, locations, shot breakdowns, and script pages are being circulated. New Directors and Producers that have been struggling to figure out the technical how-tos of making their film can become obsessed with making sure the camera and sound crews are kept in the loop about everything, and completely forget about the actors. But the actors care just as much as the technical crews if schedules, locations and shots are changing, and even more so if the script is being modified. Don’t leave your actors out of preproduction updates. (Another good thing about rehearsals and/or table reads is that it’s harder to forget about someone that’s right there in front of you.)

On-Set Expectations

These on-set expectations are not strictly limited to actor expectations. Everyone on-set will benefit from good production and direction, and the film will be better for it.

Be professional. Stories of tantrums and tyrannical Directors and Producers abound in the industry, but there’s really no benefit to unprofessional behavior. The only possible outcome of on-set tantrums and other mistreatment of cast and crew is wasted time and resentment that leads to people not giving your production their all. Losing your temper is never good, and should it happen in the heat of the moment, accept responsibility for getting everyone back on track. Being professional also means being punctual and organized, and sticking to your schedule as much as possible — and/or working with a Producer who will enforce all that on you if it doesn’t come naturally.

Know your material. Many new Directors go on-set with insufficient knowledge of the film they’re actually making. (Doing so on your first production or two is basically inevitable, which is one reason why it’s good to start small for your first few projects.) Good Directing requires having ideas about everything from camera angles to character motivations, and you need to know the material inside-out in order to make sensible decisions about all those things.

Actors will expect you to be able to discuss every scene in-depth, from a variety of aspects: tone, theme, character goals, character motivations, blocking, etc. Preproduction exists to allow you to build a strong foundation of knowledge of and ideas about the material, so that inevitable on-set changes aren’t overwhelming. It’s easier to make on-the-fly changes that don’t wreck the final product if you know the material. You will have a very difficult time, and your end product will suffer for it (if you manage to finish at all), if you don’t know your material and have ideas about how everything should look, sound, and feel.

Be flexible. Knowing what you want is essential, but so is realizing when you just can’t get it under the given circumstances, and being knowledgable and creative enough to quickly make a change that you can live with (good news: sometimes it turns out even better than your original idea). If you become obsessed with how things were in rehearsals, and what you saw in your head during preproduction, you can grind your whole production to a halt by trying to do something that’s impossible with the time, budget, and level of experience your cast and crew have.

Even Directors of hundred million dollar films don’t get every shot and every performance to come out exactly the way they dreamed it would, and you’re not going to either. The job of the Director and Producer is to get the best work out of everyone on-time and on-budget, without burning them out or destroying the produciton by being intractable. Actors particularly like the opportunity to try out an alternate read or blocking if material isn’t working for them. Flexibility doesn’t mean straying from your vision or letting your film get hijacked by your cast and crew, but rather being able to deal with the real world in which things sometimes go wrong and an alternate approach is needed. Creative adjustments to on-set problems often lead to better films, and insisting on something that’s clearly become impossible is a good way wind up failing to even finish shooting.

Let the actors settle-in. Give the cast and crew time to get to know each other at the beginning of the shoot, and schedule the easiest set-ups for the first 10% of production. Then, during each scene, leave time for the physical set-up (dressing, lights, etc.) and line-ups (reintroducing the cast to the scene and how it’ll play out, including changes necessitated by differences in the actual set to the rehearsal space, or new ideas you had on how to make the scene play better). Start each day with an easier scene, as well. Building a groove before trying the most difficult scenes will always give you better results.

Listen. Actors want to be a part of the creative process, not just puppets. You’re under no obligation to take all of, or even any of, their suggestions. But you’ll have a much better time on-set if you give them the opportunity to be heard. The phrase “let’s try a take of your idea, but I’d still like to get one of this other approach” can buy you a tremendous amount of goodwill with your cast. And if you’re any good at managing your set, it will do so without wasting time and sending you off schedule. Again, you don’t want to let someone hijack the set with their own personal baggage, but don’t assume someone will just because they ask to be heard. Most actors will be very professional and collaborative if you treat them the same way.

Don’t give line readings. When fixing performance problems, never read a line and tell an actor to do it like you just did. There are two reasons for this: it’s patronizing, and “if you’re such a good actor why aren’t you up there doing it yourself?” There are plenty of other ways to fix line readings. General hints, such as angrier, are ok but often inadequate. Talking about character motivation is popular, and necessary, but not always sufficient. A more visceral and specific hint is often better, such as: “say it like he just punched your mom in the face.” If you have time, having the actors do a short scene that isn’t in the film as a character warmup can get you some good traction, and if people are having a particularly hard time staying in character asking them to do so all day, even between takes and on breaks, can also be helpful. In general, you need to work with your actors and see what approaches work best for them as individuals — yet another good reason to have rehearsals.

Food, toilets, and breaks. It sounds hyperbolic (I’m not sure how one would get such data, or how to verify it), but in a producing class I was once told that 80% of all low/no-budget productions fail because the Producer didn’t provide for decent food and toilet facilites, and/or the Director wouldn’t ever let anyone off set to use them. Whether or not it’s true that 80% of productions fall on this sword, you don’t want yours to be one of them. Especially when you’re not paying people (or not paying them well), you really had better find a way to budget for food, facilities, and breaks.

The basic take-home point of all of this is: Well treated people will work those 16 – 18 hour days needed to squeeze out a decent production within a tiny budget and schedule, and mistreated people will walk off set and never reutrn.