Using the Action Verbs

An audition room is a funny thing.

There you are – sitting in a room, looking at a script that you’ve probably never seen before. You’re expected to go read it and create a character and do all of the things that are going to prove to the decision makers that you’re a great actor.

How many times have you had the script in your hand and you look down and all that you see is a bunch of words?!?

You don’t know which words you should use.

You don’t know what you should do with those words that you randomly choose.

 I’m about to show you how to ALWAYS know which words to use when you’re cold reading.

Cold Reading is when you read something for the first time ever in front of the decision makers (Casting Directors, Director, and Producers). It’s an audition that you can’t prepare for ahead of time.

When you’re cold reading, you have to make choices.

When you’re staring at that page with all the words that are meaningless - and you don’t know what the heck to do with them – Here’s what you do:

Find the Action Verbs

The Action Verbs are where ALL the meaning is in EVERY sentence.

Think about this – When we watch a play or a movie, what we enjoy seeing is action. We want to see the actors do things. Watching a movie where two people sit at table speaking and never move wouldn’t be very interesting, would it?

The Action Verb gives the audience a sense of action when you’re speaking.

What is an Action Verb?

The Action Verb is the verb in the sentence that shows the most action.

Click this link http://new.schoolnotes.com/files/DebraHubbard/Acting%20objectives.pdf to view a list of Action Verbs:

What you don’t want to use are weak linking verbs like “is,” “am,” “are,” “was,” etc.  You don’t need to put emotion into these weak verbs.

 

A common mistake that I see actors doing is that they are stressing the pronouns in a sentence. 98% of the time, a pronoun does NOT need to be stressed.  

 

Pronouns are “I” “You” “We” “They” “Them,” etc.

 

Let’s use this sentence as an example:

 

I love you.

 

You need to put all of the meaning into the word love. You can pour the emotion into that verb.

 

I love you.

 

Sometimes, you’ll hear a novice actor deliver that line as

 

            I love you.

 

There’s no meaning in that. It becomes fake and one dimensional when you focus on the pronouns.  Using the pronouns prevents you from creating a fully fleshed character. Pronouns keep you from having believable intentions and emotion behind the line.

 

You need to use the verb.

 

Find the action verbs in the line and milk them for all that they’re worth. You’ll be a better actor by doing just that.