WHEN YOUR ACTING PARTNER IS LESS THAN IDEAL

I coach a celebrity actor on a tv series every day on set. We have all kinds of guest stars and cast members on the show. Sometimes he’ll say, “Come on Win, how am I supposed to act with him?” Or “It’s pretty hard to react when she’s giving me nothing!” I just tell him, “It’s your responsibility to be responsive no matter what they do”.

If you know what’s making your character say what he’s saying, you can react to it, even when you don’t actually get it from the other actor. Just like I have been asking you all to do in monologues. On a tv series, everyone gets there own coverage. If you are the one being authentic, thoughtful and interesting and the other actor is boring and lifeless, guess who the editor is going to choose to stay on screen longer. You should never let anyone throw off your performance. Keep your character’s thoughts flowing and react to what ought to be there, and you will still give a great performance.

And how about those auditions with a casting director who is giving you a lifeless reading? It’s an older woman and you need to imagine she’s a cute guy who’s trying to pick you up. You need to see something very different than what’s actually in front of you. Hear something different too. You need to be prepared for anything and depend on no one. And you need to act for the both of you...seeing what you need to see in order to respond authentically.

How about those commercial auditions where you need to be some guy’s loving wife and the person they’ve matched you with is stiff and trying to put his arm around you - but it looks more like a strangle hold? I could tell you so many horror stories about audition scene partners who were absolute nightmares. But auditions are too hard to come by and too important to waste. You need to be the professional. You need to take control of the situation in some way so that you can do what you need to do to show your skills...coolly, calmly and with grace.

Even in the professional world you are going to have to work with actors who can’t remember their lines. It will be your close-up and you are trying to react in a dramatic moment and they just can’t get the lines out. They stop a million times, breaking character and screaming out “Line!” Nobody said this was going to be easy. You need to be steadfast, stay in the mind of your character, start over as many times as they do...always reacting as though it was the first time you have ever heard the line. If you don’t your own performance will suffer, and you can’t afford that.

You’ll get a lot of practice if you are taking an acting class. Maybe you spent $500 for a class and you’ve been assigned a scene partner who never wants to get together to rehearse and often doesn’t even show up to class. It’s your career and your $500. You need to do whatever it takes to make the class worthwhile. Speak to the teacher. Ask for another partner. Prepare a monologue. Always be prepared on your own. Even if someone else just stands and reads the lines, you should be able to give a believable performance. It will be great practice for those auditions we spoke of earlier.

Bottom line, it’s all up to you. The only person you have control over is you. Just make sure that you are always prepared and ready for anything. You can expect any of the scenarios I described here, many times in your career. Just make sure you are never the one that anyone will ever complain about.