If you have ever watched one of your performances, chances are that you were probably distracted by something that plagues most actors...

I’m talking about your hands and why they seem to have a mind of their own on screen.

Because we rarely ever think of what to do with our hands, off set, actors tend to think that what to do with your hand, on set, is a small enough detail that doesn’t really require much attention.

So, when you watch one of your performances, you probably end up cringing a bit and wondering why you were rubbing your forehead to show that your character was deep in thought.

You might watch a scene where your character was angrily pointing their finger at someone, but it didn’t quite look right.

How natural is any of that?

Seriously, think about it. When you are deep in thought, do you rub your forehead? Not many people do. It’s a lot more natural to just sit and think, usually looking, blankly off into the distance or at whatever is in front of you.

These subtleties are what separate professional actors from everyone else.

Thinking about the little things is what helps them deliver powerful performances and If you want to be a professional actor, you have to think about them and a lot more too...

Acting classes don’t really teach much on this topic because it’s too nuanced to go into in a typical group setting.

This leaves most actors to just try and figure it out on set. Professional actors don’t do that. They plan their character choices well in advance.

If what you do with your hands doesn’t match your character, it can pull the audience out of the moment and detract from your performance.

How can you tell whether you are adding to your character or distracting the audience?

There is an instinctual element to it. If something doesn’t feel right, it’s usually not the right character choice.

As it relates to what you are doing with your hands, if you are thinking about whether to use a particular gesture to emphasize certain words,it’s probably not the right character choice

It will almost always look robotic and pull the audience's attention away from what’s actually going on in the scene.

If you get through a few takes and things just don’t feel right, your immediate urge will be to plan a different choice.

While that may seem like the obvious thing to do, it will almost always send you down the wrong track again. Instead, step away for a bit and try to just clear your mind and let things happen.

A good way to work through the scene is to do the opposite of what you were doing before. If you were playing the scene one way, play it the polar opposite way.

Instead of waving your hands to show some kind of excitement, play the scene more calmly at least as far as your hands are concerned.

On the other hand, if you were playing the scene with calm hands try out a few gestures and see if it feels natural.

You don’t have to plan the gestures themselves, just plan to either go further with them or plan to tone them down a bit, depending on how you were originally playing the scene.

Try different things spontaneously over a few takes and see how it turns out. If you’re still not happy with the way things progress, let the director know and ask for specific guidance.

You will intuitively recognize when things are falling into place and when your character choices are on the right track. You will notice what your hands are doing but you won’t be overly focused on them.
Details like this are what separate professional actors from everyone else.

So pull a few of your old scenes from different projects you worked on and watch them a few times. As you are watching, first identify whether your hands are distracting from the rest of the scene or if what you are doing with your hands just doesn’t fit for some reason.

After you review the scenes, act them out again and change up what you were doing with your hands.

Work through the scene with the process we talked about today and see how big of a difference this can make.

Next time you get on set, you will also be able to use the same process to ensure that your performance is the best it can be.

Even when you refine your skill set and deliver powerful performances on set, there will still be more to do.

For starters, you have to make yourself visible to the industry so that you can show just how talented you are. I built this to help you show up where they are already looking.

It doesn’t stop there...

No matter how talented you are, casting directors and industry decision makers won’t call you out of the blue. They have to know about you and have a reason to seek you out.

Casting directors want to work with actors that have a stellar reputation. If your industry reputation is not what they expect, they won’t feel comfortable working with you over a more established actor. Here’s how I can help with that.

The industry has always worked this way and it’s part of what makes it so difficult for actors to get to the next level in their career.

It causes so many actors to leave the industry before achieving the goals they set for themselves.

We’ll talk more about that over the coming weeks.
In the meantime, I built this to give you every advantage possible to succeed.

As you work through everything we went over today, remember I’m always only a comment or an email away.
Get in touch anytime, even if you just want to bounce ideas. I’m always happy to help however I can, because I truly want to...

See you at the top,
Scott