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Faith, love and gratitude are certainly feelings. And good feelings at that. But they become virtues when they are rooted in action. When they become regular practices. Especially when practiced in absence of feeling.

“If deadlines are the only things that motivate you to get stuff done, then it pays to get better at setting and enforcing your own deadlines. The alternative is waiting on other people to set deadlines for you. But then you’ll always be dependent on others for you to get your stuff done. The problem is weContinue reading “Set Your Own Deadlines”

“The knowledge that every day there is something more to learn, something higher to reach for, something new to make for others, makes each day infinitely precious. And I am grateful.” – Uta Hagen, A Challenge For The Actor “When the student is ready, the teacher appears. When the student is truly ready, the teacher disappears.”Continue reading “Those Who Can’t Do…”

“The person who says he knows what he thinks but cannot express it usually does not know what he thinks.” -Mortimer Adler “Writing is the process by which you realize that you do not understand what you are talking about. Of course, you can learn a lot about something without writing about it. However, writing aboutContinue reading “Write To Know What You Think”

“People will forget what you said, and they will forget what you did, but they will never forget how you made them feel.” -Muhammad Ali Just like an actor wants to make the other person feel something, (check out this post about legendary acting teacher Earle Gister and his advice on how to do so)Continue reading “Make ‘Em Feel It First”

“Action alleviates anxiety.” -Sigmund Freud “Use the relaxation to eliminate fear and tension that interrupts expression.” -Lee Strasberg “The wrong kind of concentration is a stumbling block, and once you have removed it, you are better. If you can concentrate your genuine human powers of attention on fulfilling a concrete task in performance, you willContinue reading “Relaxation And Concentration”

“We treat the body rigorously so that it will not be disobedient to the mind.” -Seneca “Art is choosing to do something skillfully,caring about the details,bringing all of yourselfto make the finest work you can.It is beyond ego, vanity, self-glorfification,and need for approval.”― Rick Rubin, The Creative Act: A Way of Being “The cave youContinue reading “Your Artistic Misogi Awaits”

“Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.” -Anton Chekov For the screenwriter… A useful exercise after completing your first draft is to go back and see how much dialogue you can eliminate. Challenge yourself to convey each scene’s intent and purpose without the characters uttering aContinue reading “The Silent Film Exercise”

Speaking of great movies and great scenes, John Huston’s Fat City (based on the Leonard Gardner novel of the same title) is a must watch. I just purchased the blu-ray and this scene has been on repeat viewing for me. Susan Tyrell’s portrayal (she was nominated for an Academy Award) of a boozy alcoholic mightContinue reading “Fat City”

“He said to me, ‘I want to do the best acting I’ve ever done,’” Trier says of Lie’s preparation for Worst Person. “He’s gotten better with his craft, and he’s gotten even braver about exposing deeper emotions.” -Joachim Trier, director of The Worst Person In The World on actor Anders Danielsen Lie in Vanity FairContinue reading “And…Scene”