Product Description

Directing film or television is a high-stakes oppucatiopn - the white water rafting of entertainment jobs. It captures your full attention at every moment, calling on you to commit every resource and stretch yourself to the limit. But for many directors, the excitement they feel about a new project tightens into anxiety when it comes to working with actors.

Directing Actors is a method for establishing creative, collaborative relationships with actors, getting the most out of rehearsals, troubleshooting poor performances, and giving directions that are briefer and easier to follow.

The following issues are discussed:
* what constitutes a good performance
* what actors want from a director
* what directors do wrong
* script analysis and preparation
* how actors work
* the director/actor relationship

Directing Actors is the first book of its kind. Judith investigates in detail the sometimes painful, often frustrating, but potentially exhilarating relationship between actor and director. It provides simple, practical tools that directors and actors can use immediately - and takes the reader on a journey through the complexities of the creative process itself.
Although one chapter is entitled 'Result Direction and Quick Fixes', the tools and suggestions of the book are now superficial band-aids or facile jargon; they are radical excursions into the perhaps most misunderstood artistic collaboration - that of director with actor.

Judith Weston brings to this book twenty years of professional acting and nine years of teaching Acting for Directors. Her students include academy Awards and Emmy winning directors, writers and producers of studio and independent feature films, television episodics and MOWs.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #31148 in Books
• Published on: 1999-06-18
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 300 pages

Synopsis
Directing film or television is a high-stakes occupation - the white water rafting of entertainment jobs. It captures your full attention at every moment, calling on you to commit every resource and stretch yourself to the limit. But for many directors, the excitement they feel about a new project tightens into anxiety when it comes to working with actors. "Directing Actors" is a method for establishing creative, collaborative relationships with actors, getting the most out of rehearsals, troubleshooting poor performances, and giving directions that are briefer and easier to follow. The following issues are discussed: what constitutes a good performance; what actors want from a director; what directors do wrong; script analysis and preparation; how actors work; and the director/actor relationship. "Directing Actors" is the first book of its kind. Judith investigates in detail the sometimes painful, often frustrating, but potentially exhilarating relationship between actor and director. It provides simple, practical tools that directors and actors can use immediately - and takes the reader on a journey through the complexities of the creative process itself.

Although one chapter is entitled 'Result Direction and Quick Fixes', the tools and suggestions of the book are now superficial band-aids or facile jargon; they are radical excursions into the perhaps most misunderstood artistic collaboration - that of director with actor. Judith Weston brings to this book twenty years of professional acting and nine years of teaching Acting for Directors. Her students include academy Awards and Emmy winning directors, writers and producers of studio and independent feature films, television episodes and MOWs. The first book to directly address directors about working with actors.

From the Author
Greetings to readers
Hello! I wanted to say THANK YOU to all the readers who have been emailing me with their responses to the book. It means everything to me to know that you are finding DIRECTING ACTORS helpful and even inspiring. I've been doing quite a bit of traveling since the book came out -- Last year I went to a number of film festivals, and gave seminars and book signings at the Sundance Festival, the Taos Talking Pictures Festival, bookstores in New York and San Francisco, as well as a number of book signings in Los Angeles. I traveled as a teacher too -- In addition to my Acting for Directors workshops in Los Angeles, I went last year twice to Amsterdam, giving three workshops on each visit. And I returned home a few days ago from a trip to Helsinki, Finland, where I taught two workshops. I feel very lucky to be able to meet filmmakers from all over the world, in person and via email.

I'll be teaching an Acting for Directors workshop in New York City on March 27-29. If you are interested in information on the New York workshop, or my workshops in Los Angeles, please email me. Thank you and best wishes. Judith

Customer Reviews

A Real Resource for Directors
This is a fabulous book. It is truthful, honest, informative, focussed, insightful and intuitive.I have been a director for nearly 15 years and this book has helped me to focus all that I've learned, and more importantly given me new ways to apply all that I've learned, in an enormously thorough way. If you are relatively experienced or not, if you are directing actors, you should read this.

Incredibly Insightful
I am a trained actor who has worked within the film and television industry and am about to direct my third short film. Directing is something quite new to me. This book took me to new heights as i searched for a deeper sense of understanding of what makes for great, playable direction; the key to guiding actors towards truly wonderful performances, unforgettable films and enough ammunition to accomodate every angle you need when directing fianlly begins.
Each and every element of this book is connected seamlessly, developing with your own learning curve. Well written. Beautifully constructed, it rings on so many bells that tell you in no uncertain terms exactly what you can find within yourself to make you a great director if only you will take the time to invest in it. I have only had this book 2 days and i am starting to read it over for the second time to cement its principles to my approach. I now see so much inner life within my script and cannot wait to get into my next rehearsal. If you are a director and think you know how to communicate with actors on yours and their terms then you might just need to wipe the slate clean and start again. And you wont regret it. I assure you. I urge both would be actors and directors alike to indulge themselves.

useful not only for film and TV!
I bought this book as a first time theatre director and also an aspiring film director. i loved the no-nonsense approach, and Weston's realistic impressions of what actors and directors really feel. I found it very useful, and I think that many of the techniques are equally useful for the stage as well as for the screen. I certainly found them so.