Author: Preston Smith
A scene is not a complicated thing or, at least it shouldn’t be. When you enter a scene, with in the first 30 seconds you should have everything you need to have a great scene. Accepting the reality that has been created is absolutely important to having a good scene.
Not only what is happening in a scene but also, who you are in the scene. Accepting who you are in a scene is much different then forcing your character on a scene. For example, if someone says to you in a scene; “You dirty rotten bum, I can’t believe you would steal from me.” You know two things, 1. You are a dirty rotten bum and 2. you stole from your scene partner. You natural tendency will be to deny that you are a dirty rotten bum because who wants to be a dirty rotten bum? Well, let me clue you in on something, just because you play a dirty rotten bum in a scene, doesn’t actually mean you are one in real life. Accept the gifts that you are given as reality and run with it.
Recently we were doing some exercises that focused on this, one scene partner entered a scene and the other scene partner was suppose to totally support that the other person brought to the scene. My scene partner entered the scene are said, “Hey chief, we need to get this engine working again.” I responded in my best indian accent because after all, I was called chief.