Knowing What You Want Isn’t Enough

We’ve all heard the “What do I want, how do I get it, and what stands in my way” description of Stanislavsky’s approach to acting. Each of those refer to different components of the process - Objectives, Tactics / Actions, and Obstacles. Those three things are at the core of acting and more often than anything else in the studio are the three things I try to bring everything back to when a client is stuck in a scene or in a song.

That first step of “What do I want” or the Objective, can be very confusing to answer. A lot of times we ask that question by basing our choice on what we know about the character and their particular arc throughout the story. There is a major problem with that. We know the ending. We know what their final goal is. Our character does not.

In addition to being an acting, voice, and audition coach, I also work as a life coach for actors. Studying this particular facet of my job has been one of the most enlightening things in my work as an actor. You see, Life Coaches live in the world of GOALS. It’s a huge part of what we do. Yet, one of the things that I’ve realized about working with my clients on their goals is most of them don’t really know what their goal is.

That seems odd right? We all think we have goals. We all know there are things we want in our lives. Yet, why is it when people ask you about your goals - say in a coaching session or a job interview even - we can’t really formulate sentences to describe what we want? Saying the things we want out loud is hard.

If we as living, breathing, moving, real life people struggle with knowing / saying what our goals are then why should our characters be able to articulate it so clearly?

I want money. I want love. I want fame.

These are all things that we could feasibly give our characters as “wants” in the course of a story. Yet it feels weird for us as people to just say them out loud like that. Often times, we never really articulate those goals out loud like that for ourselves. If we don’t do that for ourselves, why are we doing it for our characters?

Most of the time when I’m with a client, I don’t really care what they think their characters want. I care about something else. I call it the “Okay, but why” test.

Let’s say a client says their character wants wealth and fame. All of their choices of actions and obstacles are based off of that, but yet they still feel stuck. I’ll ask them the question “What do you want” and they will give the answer “Wealth and Fame” and then I’ll add “Okay… but why?”

Why we want something changes how we try to achieve it. Wanting a good grade on a test is one thing, but those actions you use to get that good grade will change based off of whether or not you are failing the class or not. They will change if you are trying to keep a certain GPA. They will change if you have the opportunity to cheat, but want to prove you can do it on your own. Each “why” will change how you get what you want.

This is often called “motivation.” As a director, one thing that makes my skin crawl is hearing an actor say “what is my motivation in this scene?” That is such an “actor-y” thing to say. I immediately imagine said actor wearing all black and donning a black beret doing vocal warm ups in the corner. As a director, it’s not my job to tell you that. That’s your job as the actor to know that.

Often times, I will ask the actor “why don’t you know what your motivation is?” They will usually come back with “well, I think I know I want it to be, but I’m worried it’s not the right answer.”

AHA! FEAR!!

Fear is the greatest motivator. Just like we talked about in last week’s post. Fear is a powerful tool. We do lots of things because we’re scared. I don’t mean scared like a monster is under your bed. Fear of being late to work is a powerful motivator to get up on time. You’re not really scared of being late to work, you’re scared of losing your job. Rather than wanting to get up on time, our brain actually says “I don’t want to be late.” Fear has done its job. Just like the actor above, we base our wants and actions off of fear. We should let our characters do the same.

Client: (As their character) I want fame and fortune.

Nate: Okay… but why?

Client: I don’t want to die poor and forgotten.

THAT is way more interesting and gives you more to explore. What about:

Client: (As their character) I want fame and fortune.

Nate: Okay… but why?

Client: I don’t want my Dad to think I’m a screw up.

OR

Client: (As their character) I want fame and fortune.

Nate: Okay… but why?

Client: I don’t want my family to ever have to worry about money like I did as a kid.

NOW we have somewhere to go. Each one of these scenes has the same WANT, but the WHY is different. Each story will involve different actions / tactics and different obstacles as a result.

The next time you’re stuck in your work, try adding “Okay… but why” to your analysis process. Go with the first thing that comes to mind. Go with the answer that honestly scares your character the most. Go with the one that feels risky to play because it might be wrong. THAT is where the fun truly begins.

If you want to try bouncing these ideas off of a coach, feel free to book a session. I’d love to help you out. If you have questions about this, please don’t hesitate to reach out and ask!

You’re awesome. Be awesome. See you soon.

Best Wishes!

-Nate