We have found 20,175 posts across 4 actor forums:
How To Cry On Command! (4 FAST & EASY Acting Tips To Fake Cry On Cue!) Pete Carroll by Amanda Toney • last post Jun 24th
Acting Thought: It’s the Small Actions by Timothy Miller • last post Jun 24th
Something I’ve been thinking about lately:
Acting isn’t just about lines—it’s about what you do between them.
The smallest actions:
- a glance
- a shift in posture
- a pause
- a breath
…can say more than dialogue ever could.
Body language and subtle movement carry the inner life of the character. In fact, much of what audiences understand comes from nonverbal communication—how you move, react, and exist in the moment
The more subtle and intentional the action, the more truthful it feels.
Big acting shows emotion.
Great acting lets it slip out in small, honest moments.
Curious—how much do you guys focus on subtle physical choices in your process?
Script Breakdown Technique by Suzanne Bronson • last post Jun 24th
What is your go to method of breaking down a script when you first receive it? Do you look for the objectives first or do you let the emotional tone guide you?
I, personally break it down to the beats first. Determine my superobjective, then my objective for each scene, then each moment. What about you?
The Worst Request I Ever Got From A Casting Director by Aaron Marcus • last post Jun 24th
The Worst Request I Ever Got From A Casting Director
https://youtu.be/1--FmruAQYQ
Have you ever received a casting director's audition notes expecting the usual details, audition and shoot dates, etc… and instead found something that made you incredibly angry or insulting? I did.
I share the entire story in my latest video.
If so ever got a weird audition note from a casting director or director, please share your experience here and on my channel.
Thank goodness I'm not superstitious...knock on wood. by Doug Kayne • last post Jun 23rd
Acting is weird. I think we can all agree...for many reasons.
There are also a lot of superstitions, traditions, and rituals we all engage in, some of which we don't even know why.
There is a tradition in the theater not to whistle backstage. This actually has roots in history, as many times sailors and riggers, who had not read the play, signaled when to drop sandbags, scenery, etc. by whistling. Whistle at the wrong time, and someone could get injured.
There is also the ghost light, set out on a dark stage in order to ward off the ghost (because every theater has a ghost, right?) This also has practical origins...as it can be dangerous to enter into a completely dark theater.
And most of us are familiar with the need to refer to that one play as "The Scottish Play" backstage, lest you curse the show. There are a few remedies should this happen, including reciting any line from any other Shakespeare play, spinning around and offer an insult, or even more. Obviously if you are performing in...uh...The Scottish Play...then you are allowed to say the name in the theater.
However, some performers have certain rituals, superstitions, traditions, etc. that they indulge in for their own well-being...and if they don't do them, then the show won't go well. Legend has it that James Marsters, when he was Spike on BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, carried a Spider-Man action figure around with him. Kit Harrington from GAME OF THRONES reportedly kisses the stage three times. Ariana Grande used to eat chocolate donuts before important auditions for luck.
When I was doing community theater, I would always arrive before call time (usually fifteen minutes or more) and walk the stage. If I didn't touch every inch of exposed floor onstage, it didn't sit right with me. I still walk the stage before my improv shows before we open the house (though I don't need to touch every inch). I also have a pre-show ritual of four breath mints, taken two at a time...though that is also done as a courtesy for my fellow cast members. And, in one show I did. it was a ritual where another cast member and I used to give each other the middle finger right before going onstage. Hey, we always had a good show, so who am I to judge what works, right?
What are some of your pre-show rituals, traditions, or superstitions?
Vanity fair TImothee Chalamet&& Matthew McConaughey by Crystal Rollen • last post Jun 22nd
I don’t know about anybody else, but I absolutely watch a Fan fair. I watched a round tables. I watched them all . I don’t know if I’m the only one that watches the stuff, but I am deeply involved when it comes to acting putting emotion into it really giving it your own and let me tell you what these two went deep talking about Interstellar
Tony Leung Reflects on ‘Silent Friend,’ Wong Kar-wai and Why His Films Must Be Seen in Cinemas at Shanghai Masterclass by Geoff Hall • last post Jun 21st
Tony Leung is one of my favourite actors and I’d love the opportunity to work with him. (One hope for the future!)
Chunking Express and In the Mood for Love are my favourites. I love the intensity he brings to a character, by what may seem a very restrained and understated acting style.
And his process for ‘Silent Friend’ is also interesting:
“To inhabit a neuroscientist, Leung spent six months reading books on plants and neurobiology and visiting laboratories to observe experiments firsthand. Around the third or fourth month, he said, the scientist’s mindset took hold without him consciously trying. He described thorough preparation as the condition for freedom on set, noting that the more prepared he was, the more shooting felt like play rather than obligation.”
What are your favourite Tony Leung films? What is your process for getting in character?
https://variety.com/2026/film/festivals/tony-leung-silent-friend-shanghai-film-festival-masterclass-1236786301/
Seeking an Editor or Screenplay Collaborator for My Novel by Hiro Yamamoto • last post Jun 20th
I am currently looking for an experienced editor, story consultant, or screenplay collaborator to help further polish my novel, The Love Letter After Forty Years.
My goal is to prepare the manuscript for submission to publishers and future screenplay adaptation opportunities.
This is a serious project, and I am open to discussing paid collaboration with the right person based on experience, scope of work, and mutual goals.
If you have experience in novel editing, story development, or screenplay adaptation, I would be happy to connect and discuss the project further.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Best regards, Hiro Yamamoto
Favorite performance by Jason Raymaker • last post Jun 20th
What is one of your favorite performances you watch to feel inspired to keep going on your acting journey?
Apply now ✨ by Barbara Sagula • last post Jun 19th
Filmmakers, writers, actors, directors, producers, photographers, and other creative professionals:
Applications are now open for Noir Aurea, our new private membership platform designed to connect ambitious creatives across film, media, and the arts.
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As part of our founding year, there is currently no application fee for premium members; YOU! We're looking for a select group of early members who are interested in helping shape the community through honest feedback and participation.
The first ten approved applicants will receive a complimentary Founding Membership for one year. After that, Founding Memberships will be available at $49.99 for the first year.
If you're building something meaningful and would like to be part of what we're creating, we'd love to hear from you.
Whether it be feedback, criticism, or encouragement, we're looking for honest voices and genuine people. Founding Members will receive a complimentary badge on their account for life, along with your exclusive ID NUMBER.
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Exciting news for actors!! by Roger D. Mortimer • last post Jun 18th
EXCITING NEWS FOR ACTORS!!
Become a Lifetime Pro-Level Member before July 4th, 2026, and enjoy these exclusive benefits: Only the first 200 people will be accepted into the "Lifetime" Pro-Level Membership!
1. Founding Member profile badge.
2. Virtual '200 Club' member.
3. Create a powerful pro-level profile that showcases your expertise with a bio, photos, videos, and more.
4. Get 'First-Alert' to new scripts to read.
5. Read unlimited new unproduced scripts.
6. Access script slides for specific characters you want to be considered for in each script.
7. Submit short audition videos of the slides and attach them to those scripts for audience, director, and producer members.
Pricing will be updated for the next level of 50 members once the first group is fulfilled. Only 200 Lifetime Pro-Level pre-launch members accepts at the following rates: (50 @ $50), (50 @ $100), (50 @ $150), and (50 @ $200).
#Actors #Acting #Auditions #Auditioning #Filmmaking #Hollywood
Scriptank.com
Screenplay to Novel... Who Else Is Doing This? by Arlane Whitmore • last post Jun 18th
I was reading a post from a writer who's turning a family screenplay into a juvenile fiction novel, and it made me realize how many stories never stay in just one format anymore.
A screenplay becomes a novel.
A novel becomes a screenplay.
Sometimes the second version ends up stronger than the first. What I'm interested in is the actual process.
If you've adapted your own work, what was harder than you expected? Was it expanding the story? Getting deeper into the characters? Or figuring out what worked in one format but just didn't work in the other?
I'd genuinely love to hear about the projects people are working on. Adaptation is one of those things that looks simple from the outside until you're the one sitting there trying to make it work.
Do Limitations Make Us More Creative? by Suzanne Bronson • last post Jun 17th
Actors,
RB's blog this week is about the quiet power of the contained story. I would love to know what you think.
Do contained stories create stronger performance opportunities?
Have you been in a vertical drama? Share your experience.
What challenges come with performing in projects with limited locations and cash?
Actors Act. You do what you do to keep working. by James Woodland • last post Jun 17th
https://youtu.be/8NshH8grXD4
On-Set Etiquette for Actors: How to Work With the Crew, Not Around Them by Laura Hammer • last post Jun 16th
What is the most valuable thing you have learned from a crew member on set — and how has working closely with the crew changed the way you approach your own performance?
The best actors on any set are not just good at their craft — they are good collaborators. A film or television production is a complex, precisely coordinated machine, and every crew member from the Assistant Director to the production assistant to the wardrobe team has a specific role that keeps it moving. Actors who understand this and operate accordingly — arriving early, knowing their lines cold, keeping their phones away, and staying out of the eyelines of the camera and the director — earn a reputation that follows them from project to project. The golden rule on set is simple: if you are not early, you are late. Everything that happens before the camera rolls is preparation, and preparation is a form of respect for everyone else's time.
On set, silence and spatial awareness are professional currencies. Film sets demand intense focus from every department, and noise travels further than most actors realize — both on the floor and backstage. Staying out of the crew's way during setups, keeping backstage conversations to a whisper, and never touching equipment or props that are not yours are small habits that signal a big-picture understanding of how productions work. The same applies to wardrobe and makeup — treating your costume as something the wardrobe team worked hard to prepare, hanging it up at the end of the day, and avoiding food and drink while wearing it are courtesies that build trust with the people who make you look your best on camera.
The most underrated skill an actor can develop on set is the ability to learn names. Knowing the names of the grips, the PAs, the camera operators, and the stagehands communicates genuine respect for the collaborative nature of the work — and that respect builds the kind of creative environment where everyone performs better. The chain of command on a professional set runs through the Assistant Director and the department heads, and working within that structure rather than around it is what separates the actors who get called back from the ones who do not. Collaboration is not a soft skill. On a working set, it is a professional requirement.
Every experienced actor has a story about something they learned from a crew member — a grip who explained why a certain shot was not working, a wardrobe supervisor who caught something that would have read badly on camera, a PA who quietly redirected them to where they needed to be. Those moments of collaboration shape how actors understand the craft from the other side of the lens.
Did I audition wrong? by Doug Kayne • last post Jun 16th
I remember many, many moons ago (it was in the 1990s! gasp!), I was interning at a casting director/producer's office with an acting studio associated with it. As such, I had remarkable access to those casting directors who would come in and hold casting workshops -- essentially a pay-to-be-seen type of situation, but at the time, i wasn't getting a lot of auditions, and this helped. I remember being called in by the casting directors for Friends, MAD TV, Just Shoot Me, and more. And, while I didn't land any of the roles I went out on, I was grateful for the opportunities.
The scenes we got to read in the workshops were sides from the shows they worked on. I remember, for example, reading a scene from Friends (I read Ross' part) where he and Rachel were arguing -- I still remember one of the lines: "First of all, it was Professor Pitain, and second, he was able to prove that dinosaur had wings, but could not fly!"
One of the workshops involved a casting director for a show that was currently on (I will name neither the CD nor the show), where I had just seen the episode the sides were from just a week prior. I happened to mention it as I was given the sides. Now, for the record, I would never have been called in for this particular role -- he was very much a leading man type and, more so then, I was definitely more like Ross -- not the romantic lead, but more of the quirky, sidekick character.
At that time in my training (and I still believe it now), you should always put your own spin on the character. When I first auditioned for the acting studio, I was given a scene from L.A. Law (I was reading the Harry Hamlin role). It was a courtroom scene, and I made it my own, changing the Michael Kuzak character from Hamlin's portrayal to one that has a bit more of a sarcastic, smart-ass bent. I made it my own. So...I did the same thing with the role I was reading for in this particular casting director session.
After my scene partner and I performed our scene, the CD kind of berated me (in front of the rest of the workshop participants), essentially saying that my performance was "wrong", and that I should have known better since I just saw the episode! Needless to say, I have never been called in by this CD to read for them since.
Did I do the wrong thing? Should I have basically given a carbon-copy performance of the guy who had already gotten the role? My gut still tells me no, that I gave the performance I would have given if I was in the role...and I didn't fit that demographic. I still insist (and clearly it still baffles me) that I made the right call, and that the CD was wrong. Now, I also recognize that it was in the 1990s, and there are wider portrayals of lead characters than the stereotypical type the CD wanted me to be (which I'm still not!).
What are your thoughts? Am I right or (equally possible) horribly misguided?
Why Actors Should Never Try to Get Rid of Audition Nerves by Aaron Marcus • last post Jun 16th
Why Actors Should Never Try to Get Rid of Audition Nerves
https://youtu.be/6rKgCmsFqkE
LET'S TALK IN THE COMMENTS
Have you ever felt completely overwhelmed by nerves before an audition? What did you do? Share your experience below and on the channel. Your story will help a fellow actor. I read and respond to every comment.
https://www.fiverr.com/s/2K3dgZ8 by Neet Patel • last post Jun 13th
Check out this page!
Dream performer. by Jason Raymaker • last post Jun 11th
Who is your dream performer you would like to work with? Living or dead.
Bypassing the Audition Bottleneck: Structuring Talent for Active Corporate Slates by Mark Winton • last post Jun 11th
My desk is currently locking in upcoming creative slates and managing portfolio allocations within the TPS corporate network for this quarterly cycle. We are looking for highly disciplined, cross-functional talent who understand how to treat their brand like a commercial business asset. Our private matching tiers are designed to place vetted profiles directly onto the desks of active equity financiers, producers, and directors who hold actual greenlight authority.
If you are ready to stop chasing random auditions and want to know how our offline onboarding channels work, let’s connect. Message me directly to move this over to our secure executive network.