Let’s cut to the chase. As an actor, you should only be engaged in one of two things at any given time.
When you are on set, you have to be focused on delivering a world class, standout performance.
When you are not on set, your focus should be on doing anything possible to get back on set. That’s it.
Everything else will fall into one of those two categories. Of course, you will have to work on polishing your skillset. That falls into the category of delivering a world class performance.
Sure, you will have to spend some time on your social media and your overall online presence. That falls into the category of getting yourself back on set. More on that in a bit...
Over the past few weeks we have been working on crafting a game plan for how you will thrive in the new industry.
We have also been talking about all of the changes that the industry has been forced to go through and the new regulations and processes that it’s had to adapt to in such a short period of time, and how it affects you as a professional actor.
Thinking that the industry has stopped during this time would be a huge mistake.
In fact it’s moving faster than it has in a very long time and the way you fit into it is changing rapidly.
That’s why we’ve been going over how to simplify things for yourself and apply leverage to where it will actually be impactful and beneficial to your acting career.
Today, we are taking a deep dive into how to turn one acting job, into two, then three or even more. Before we get into it I have to warn you about something...
While you will undoubtedly have a couple of aha moments, the main concept is actually quite obvious.
If you deliver a world class performance on set, people will want to work with you over and over again, especially if you are playing a character that poses a particular challenge.
There are some conditions you have to meet of course. We’ll get into that in a moment
Every actor enjoys playing wild characters. You get to show your range and they are pretty fun most of the time.
However, the type of character that is incredibly challenging is the “everyday” character.
These are characters that are often relatable in some ways and in order for them to be believable and feel natural to the audience, it takes a high degree of discipline to play the character within the proper range of “rails.”
Paul Giamatti does a great job with roles like this, as does George Clooney, and Anne Hathaway plays them spectacularly as well.
What makes them so challenging is their limited range. You need to go far enough with your character but not too far.
My acting teacher would refer to this as playing inside the rails.
The idea is to create a range that your character will bounce around in and stick to that range without faltering until the right moment.
An easy way to do this is to create a numerical scale. For example, a scale of 1 to 10 could be the range between crying hysterically at 10 or a passive aggressive roll eyes at 1.
Depending on the situation that would change to 10 being jumping with joy at 10 or a simple smile at 1. You get the idea.
When you are building your character, you decide what upper levels of emotional response would be and what the lower levels of response would be.
For example when she receives bad news, does your character always go immediately to a 9 or 10 on the scale? Is she more reserved and always stays on the lower end of the range?
What about when she gets some good news? That could be a different dynamic. You could have a character that stays will go to 4 with bad news but will immediately go to 8 or 9 with good news.
It’s up to you to decide what fits best with your character but the goal is to stay within the rails.
Doing so builds tension. For the audience, that translates to a build up of energy that is then released when your character reaches the climactic point in the storyline.
That’s how stand out, world class performances are delivered. You squeeze your audience’s emotions by playing in that limited range.
They know that at some point there will be a release of energy and not knowing when is a deep rooted trigger that will have them clinging to every second of your performance in anticipation of that release.
They don’t know to which “extreme” your character will lose it. Will they have a psychotic break or a break-down?
That example is at the extreme of the range but it doesn’t have to be that pronounced of an event.
It can be something subtle, depending on the character.
For example, the movie Too Big to Fail has some fantastic characters. One of them is Hank Paulson, former Secretary of The Treasury.
The film is about the 2008 financial crisis and it centers on Paulson’s role in it.
Even if you don’t have a shred of interest in this, the film is a great case study on playing within the rails. Throughout the entire film, William Hurt does a fantastic job of portraying Paulson as a calm, collected, and level headed person.
He is the stillness in the storm, so to speak even as one thing piles on top of another and the problems he is facing get worse and worse..
It stands out in particular because there is a lot of chaos wrapped in a fast moving story.
At every turn, it seems like it’s finally the last straw and Paulson is going to lose it...but he remains calm and still in the middle of the chaos.
He is a master of rolling with the punches, yet he shows just the slightest bit of apprehension or worry. This is the character touching the rails, but not breaking outside of that limited range.
He only shows enough to let you know that beneath the surface, he is terrified about what’s coming down the pipeline.
That’s key!
The audience comes to that conclusion on their own, because of the subtleties layered into the character, even though William Hurt doesn’t show it explicitly.
Towards the end of the story, he has a moment with his wife where he finally let’s the audience in and sheds some light on what’s going on beneath the surface for the first time.
We finally understand that he feels like if he fails at his mission the world as we know it would literally end.
His perspective is that, If he doesn’t get the job done, the world would begin to crumble within days. That’s a lot of weight on his shoulders.
Even then, he stays within the established range and only touches on the rails.
Shortly thereafter, we get a glimpse into what could finally be the end in sight,,,except it isn’t. The problem compounds even further and time runs even shorter.
He gets the news about the plan he had engineered falling apart while in a meeting. At that point, he finally loses it and calmly but with a sense of urgency excuses himself and proceeds to throw up in his office.
That’s the OMG moment for the audience. That’s the moment when the energy is released, and he plays way outside of the rails and past the established emotional range.
As soon as the scene is over, he composes himself and snaps right back into the range.
The audience is left stunned by what they just witnessed and they are completely shocked that he goes right back to “normal.”
It plays as a phenomenal whirlwind of “what just happened?” It keeps the audience riveted right to the very end, waiting for the next OMG moment.
Typically, in a well written story, that moment doesn’t come and the audience is left with a palatable desire for more.
That’s how you create characters that stick with the audience for a long time.
Everyone wants to deliver a performance like that and as a professional actor you must be incredibly eager to get back on set.
With everything going on right now, that should still be your main focus.
Remember, the industry hasn’t stopped moving. Actors are taking advantage of huge opportunities right now.
We are even starting to see things step into roles that are much bigger than what they were playing before this all happened.
It’s because they put into practice what we talked about earlier. They put their focus into getting back on set and creating opportunities for themselves.
As much fun as it is to work on your craft, understand where you are right now and plan your efforts accordingly.
Remember, things haven’t stopped. They have changed.
Everything’s gone digital now and your acting career has never been more dependent on your digital footprint than it is now.
Take a long, honest look at what they will find about you if they come across your online presence.
That’s why it is so important that your reputation matches your goals. This is a huge part of it.
In today’s industry and for the foreseeable future, it will precede you. So, if you haven’t already started on it, do it now.
As always, if you have any questions about what we went over in this report, let me know in the comments below or shoot me an email.
I’m always happy to help however I can because I want to...
See you at the top,
Scott