For on-camera actors, the whole business of needing, craving, demanding response from others takes on an added dimension. You have to assume the camera’s always on. On you! The editor/director, of course, decides when to come to you for reaction, but you better have something for them to come to.
I’ve been told, and I’ve no reason to doubt it, that many casting directors are more interested in how you respond to the (dumb) reader than how you deliver lines. That may be an exaggeration, but how you respond to the reader is unquestionably very important.
When an actor asks me to coach her (guys too, of course!) for an audition, one of the first things we do is go through the other actors lines in order to determine how and when to respond to the stimuli contained in the text. Usually, you have no more than 48 hours to prepare for an audition, so quick work and quick decisions are absolutely necessary.
You know the reader’s probably gonna be a dud, but you have to respond as though you were working with Depp or Streep. One of the pitfalls of on-camera. I said in an earlier post, and I’m not drumming up business here – if you can afford the relatively modest fee – and it’s an important audition, go to a coach. That outside, objective eye can make all the difference.
Bottom line. You may be able to get away with the occasional lapse on stage – although I don’t encourage it – but film is utterly unforgiving. The camera is like a magnifying glass and it will pick up on interior emptiness – which you absolutely cannot afford.
So the message is: Work on the environment, the other characters dialogue and everything else, as hard as you work on your own lines. That allows you to know how, when and why to respond. That nasty ole’ camera is on you 24/7
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