Adventures In Acting - Planning!
- Tom Sawyer
- Jul 1
- 7 min read
This month's collection of acting-related thoughts and feelings:
“Plan for the future, because that is where you are going to spend the rest of your life.”
Mark Twain - Writer of "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer"
Planning - In Acting:
Traditionally us actors are not the most organised or forward thinking creatures.
That may be a sweeping generalisation but if you don't quite see how planning is important to the craft of acting then read on...
How you manage your time may be the deciding factor in whether you know your lines or not.
Planning an alternative option to show in the audition room or on tape might impress the director enough to book the role.
Giving yourself reminders to reach out to industry folk might just pay off over time if you can stay focused and consistent.
Career Planning: Should you make plans? (Yes, You Should)
Planning isn’t just for the bit before the performance—it’s for your career too.
Ask yourself:
What kinds of roles do you want to play?
Where do you want to be in one year? Five? Ten?
What steps can I take this month to move toward those goals?
Spoiler alert: These don’t have to be huge. Maybe it's signing up for a class, filming a scene for your reel, or sending a message to someone whose work you admire. Small actions add up.
Planning Isn’t the Opposite of Spontaneity
Some insist that planning kills creativity. Not necessarily true!
Think of planning as the safety net or a foundation that lets you take more risky risks. If you’ve done your homework, you can throw yourself into the moment without fear. The best improvisers, the most compelling scene partners, the actors who light up the screen—they’ve all planned. They’ve just made it look effortless.
Planning provides a solid foundation and can instil confidence in your creative process.
Script preparation, for instance. By outlining your objectives, tools and tactics, and some potential wants, you are preparing yourself to explore deeper insights during the scene work if you can feel free to play.
Sidenote: Any planning pre performance is not serving you once action is called or once the curtain is up so plan to totally drop any ideas or smart new plans whilst in performance mode if possible.
Planning for performance
Show up with a plan, but hold it loosely. That means do the prep, understand the scene, come with ideas—but be ready to throw it all out if something better happens in the moment. Directors love actors who are both prepared and flexible.
Bring your script and commit to your choices, safe in the knowledge that there is no one way to play the scene.
Experiment with pre-performance routine that helps gets you in the zone and maybe a post performance treat or wind down tradition. Know what you need to feel grounded in a rehearsal room or on set. Whether it’s breath work, movement, or just a good playlist, planning how you land in the space can make all the difference.
Self-Tapes and showcase planning
You know what makes a killer self-tape? A plan. Know your frame. Know your eye line. Have your lighting sorted. Try to not wait until 2 a.m. the night before the deadline to start filming. Planning gives you time to experiment, adjust, and shine.
Same goes for showcases. Choose material that shows range and is right for YOU. Be smart with how you choose your scene based on how a casting director might want to see you. Rehearse it with someone you trust. Plan your entrance emotion and exit emotion.
Then of course give in to new moments that arise by doing the work.
Your Life Outside Acting
Yep, planning helps here too. Budget your time and energy. If you’re running to multiple auditions or filming multiple tapes in a week and also working three side jobs, plan some actual rest. Schedule in time for play, creativity, and being a human. Burnout makes it harder to book jobs.
Final plan
So, as you embark on your next adventure, remember that a sprinkle of spontaneity can make your meticulously crafted plans even more delightful.
Embrace the unexpected, dance with the detours, and let your imagination run wild. After all, the best journeys are often those we never quite planned for!
Happy planning, and may your path be filled with joy and surprises!
Stay Plentiful!
Stay Planful!
Stay Playful!
Adventures In Acting New Website
We have a new website!
Join us over there for new news!
Whether you want to book a class or know more about who we are and what we do, do come and say hello on our beautiful new online space.
Looking forward too seeing you there.
Let's Play!
The ABC of Acting
Acting Book Club:
Blending psychology, Stoic philosophy, and wit sharper than a magician’s card trick, Brown explores what it really means to live a contented life. He challenges the pursuit of constant happiness and instead encourages us to embrace uncertainty, reframe failure, and focus on what we can control.
It’s deep, thoughtful, and occasionally disarming—but in the best way. This book doesn’t promise quick fixes. Instead, it gives you tools to think more clearly, live more intentionally, and suffer a little less when life throws you curveballs (as it tends to do).
Enjoy!
Send me your best acting book recommendations.
Please email: Connect@tomsawyeractor.co.uk
What's my motivation?
The scene for this month's analysis is chosen by Kris Seppala.
Kristofer Seppälä is a Finnish/American writer, director, and actor. He received his MFA in Writing from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). His most recent work, a short film called "We Duel at Dawn!" is currently on the festival circuit. He lives in Helsinki.
Kris says about the scene:
"This is the first time Jeff Bridges' and Chris Pine's characters have met, with Bridges' lawman character having chased after Pine's outlaw character throughout the film.
It's a modern Wild West tale and this is the penultimate showdown. By this point you as the viewer understand and appreciate both characters' goals and viewpoints, wanting somehow for both to win. Toward the end of this scene you really don't know if Bridges is going to actually try to go for the gun or not.
His gaze alone has you on the edge of your seat thinking he might. Bridges' performance is masterful in that the entire time you can feel the restraint his character is holding back. Bridges was the only actor to receive an Oscar nomination for this film—this scene alone shows why he got it."
Some context on the film:
Hell or High Water (2016) is a modern Western crime drama set in rural Texas. It follows two brothers—Toby, a quiet, divorced father, and Tanner, an impulsive ex-con—who rob a series of banks to save their family farm. Hot on their trail is a gruff Texas Ranger nearing retirement. As the chase unfolds, the film explores themes of poverty, justice, and the lengths people go to for survival in a broken system. It’s tense, gritty, and unexpectedly heartfelt.
Click on the video link below and then check my short interpretation underneath:
The final scene of Hell or High Water is a masterclass in restraint on a sun baked Texas porch and it’s delivered by two actors at the absolute top of their sneaky game.
Let’s give them the boyish schoolyard nicknames they deserve:
Chris Pine is from now on: PINEY
And Jeff Bridges becomes: BRIDGEY
You have to love the part that the setting plays in this scene!
The sprawling landscape and towering, creaking machinery gives the actors a sense of insignificance which seems to only add to the danger and intensity here.
As we jump in on this scene there is a few things to keep in mind:
Notice how Bridgey is sat the whole time (lowering his status) sipping on a beer while his life is in danger.
How calm Piney is makes the situation eerily more unpredictable.
The fact that Piney is holding a shotgun is the only sign that he is the antagonist in this scene.
From Brigey's demeanour it's hard to tell if he's happy to see Piney or he's just playing a smart game (maybe both are true).
There is something sweet and vulnerable about how Bridgey is behaving here, his soft lilting tones and his shortness of breath is like an elder grandparent reading a night time story to his grandchild and yet we know that's not the case.
Piney does listen to everything Brifgey has to say, without interruption, for what seems like a lifetime in an intimate exchange between them. It would be so east to make this scene aggressive given the context but it works so well to see the humanity between them.
How can we as actors justify the actions of these men?
You could be caught up in the fact that they are discussing death so freely and make negative judgements about the kind of people they are.
Yet if you really drill down into their motivations you might find clues as to how we can buy into their life circumstances.
You could find that Bridgey will protect justice at all costs and that justifies all his actions.
You could also assume that Piney will protect his family at all costs and that leads him to this very questionable predicament.
As we near the end of this scene and the tension rises along with the sound of the oil drilling pumps we get more invested in the outcome.
Will Piney pull the trigger or will Bridgey manage to strikea deal and stay alive a while longer?
The very end plays out in silence and leaves us never knowing if the outcome is deadly or not.
The takeaway here might be how powerful it is on film to simply commit to listening and trusting that the story will tell itself if you remain present with your partner andthe surroundings.
Stay deadly
Stay Playful
Have a short scene you want to see analysed simply?
Click below to send link to scene:
Any acting related news or questions email me:
Thanks for your attention - stay playful people.
Tom
If you enjoyed this, please do share using links below:
Comentários