The Actor's Menu: A Character Preparation Handbook

207 Pages·2005·0.94 MB·English

by  Bill Howey

The Actor's Menu®
A Character Preparation
Handbook
Bill Howey
Compass Publishing • Lakewood • Colorado
^e Actor's Menu®
A Character Preparation Handbook
by Bill Howey
Published by
Compass Publishing
P.O. Box 280188
Lakewood, CO 80228-0188
[email protected]
Copyright © 2005 by Bill Howey
^e Actor's Menu is a registered trademark of Bill Howey.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2004106457
ISBN: 09753102-2-4
First Printing
Manufactured in the United States of America
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise,
except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review. Requests to the
Publisher for permission should be addressed to Legal Department,
Compass Publishing, P.O. Box 280188, Lakewood, CO 80228-0188,
[phone]. Email: [email protected]
^e purpose of this manual is to educate and entertain, ^e author and
publisher shall have neither liability nor responsibility to any person or
entity with respect to any loss or damage caused, or alleged to have been
caused, directly or indirectly, by the information contained in this book.
If you do not wish to be bound by the above, you may return this book to
the publisher for a full refund.
I dedicate this bookto my son, Chad Howey, who
never had a chance to live the menu ofhis life and
to my dad, jack Howey, who never fulfilled his.
"Bill, I'm in your debt."
-George Clooney
Table of Contents
Acknowledgment 11
Introduction 13
Appetizer. 17
Goals 17
What Is Acting? 20
Hidden Acting Agendas 22
Payback 28
Excellence Is A Habit 28
Your Acting History 29
Coming Across Or How Others See Me 31
Using Feelings Vs. Feedback 33
"I've Been Told I'm A Type" 37
Acting Preparation 38
Booking 'tte Job 40
Auditions 41
"tte Work 42
In a Scene 42
Plays*Movies*Industrials*Commercials 44
On "tte Job 48
Training 49
Acting Class 49
Class Time 51
Reading 53
Writing 54
Dance/Movement 55
Voice 56
Scripts 57
Your Process 58
Clearing ^e Table 60
A Flinch Test 62
Entree 65
Primary Ingredients 66
You 67
"Do I Have Talent?" 67
Imagination 70
Some Words About Words 72
Fuzzy Words 74
Story 75
^e Character's Story 77
Character 77
Introspection 81
Impulse 82
Essential Ingredients 85
Emotion 85
Emotion As Opposed To Feeling 88
Feelings As Opposed To Emotion 90
Perceptions 93
I Can Eat; ^erefore, I Can Cook 93
Distinguishing Emotions 94
Levels Of Emotions 96
Emotions Up Close And Personal 97
Happiness 98
Anger 100
Fear 103
Pain 104
Grief 105
Unactable Emotions 108
Love 108
EmotionalAssociates 110
Is ^e Character's Emotion Mine Or Not? Ill
Emotions-Finding ^e Sweet Spot 112
Controlling Emotion 115
Presenting Emotion 115
Interesting Or Interested 117
If One Emotion Is Good—Two Are Better 117
Taking Your Place At "tte Table 119
Emotions, ^e Audience and You 119
Why Not Take A Shortcut To Powerful Emotions?... 120
Objective 121
"What Will An Objective Do For Me?" 124
Wording ^e Objective For Maximum Result 125
^e Benefits Of A Completely Worded Objective 127
Your Need And ^e Objective 128
Conflicts: ^e Consequence Of Objectives 129
Past Experiences 130
From ^en To Now 131
What Just Happened? 132
When Events Of^e Past Meet Events
Oftte Present 134
Past, Present And Change 134
Subtext 135
Inner Monologue 136
Traits 137
Flinching 138
Seasonings 141
Improvisation 141
Why Actors ^ink ^eyCan't Improvise 142
How Do I Plan To Do What I Don't Know
I'm Going To Do? 143
Masking 144
Masking And Physicality 145
Masking In Acting 145
Masking In Casting 147
Moments And Transitions—
Getting From Here To ^ere 147
Moments To Remember 148
Your Acting Recipe 151
Read ^e Script For Impressions 152
What To Do IfYou Still Can't Get An Impression 154
Activating Your Impressions 156
Intellectual Vs. Visceral Choices 157
In Character 158
Generating ^e Impression 159
Phrase 159
A Drawing 160
Music And Songs 160
Photograph 161
Reinventing ^e Character's Story 163
A Sequence For Your Reinvention 163
Reinventing ^e Character's Story
In One Expressively Worded Paragraph 164
Presentation 166
Claiming ^e Stage 168
At An Audition 169
Finally 169
Dessert 171
Response Is Your Dessert 171
Inner Critic 173
Review 174
^e Joy OfDeveloping 175
Less Isn't Always More 176
Deconstructing Frustration 176
Development Is Natural 177
Reinvent Once More 177
Your Acting Menu 179
Glossary. 183
About the Author 189
Comments from Bill's Acting Students: 190
Quote Citations 193
Index 197