Desmond’s Drops: Lessons from The New Actors Workshop
By Desmond Hall | July 15, 2022 |
Welcome to a new edition of Desmond’s Drops!
This month, enjoy three drops inspired by The New Actors Workshop with Mike Nichols:
- MGM Telephone
- Hold the Emotion
- Name the Job
Email subscribers, please click directly to staging-writerunboxed.kinsta.cloud to view, or visit Demond’s Drops on YouTube.
Look for more of Desmond’s Drops in September!
Have your own bit of wisdom to share? Drop it in comments.
Desmond Hall, author of YOUR CORNER DARK, was born in Jamaica, West Indies and then moved to Jamaica, Queens. His second novel, BETTER MUST COME, a fiercely evocative, action-packed YA thriller that examines that darker side of light-filled Jamaica, released in May, 2024. He’s worked as both a high school biology teacher and English teacher, counseled at-risk teens, and served as Spike Lee’s creative director at SpikeDDB. He’s also written and directed the HBO movie, A DAY IN BLACK AND WHITE, which was nominated for the Gordon Parks Award. He’s written and directed the theater play, STOCKHOLM, BROOKLYN, which won the audience award at the Downtown Theater Festival at the Cherry Lane Theater. He’s also served on the board of the Partnership for Drug-Free Kids, and was a judge for the Addys, and the Downtown Urban Arts Film Festival. Named one of Variety Magazine’s 50 creatives to watch.
I love your drops. The crush the emotion has made me think. So many times in my scenes, people comment what is she feeling? I’m not much for feels. Anyway, there are some heavy scenes in my WIP and saving her emotion till then would make a bigger impact. I guess I’m asking how do I show my character has feelings without her falling apart in every scene? Thank you.
Thanks for the props. To answer your question, I’d say check out Vronsky in Anna Karenina. His code of officer/gentleman keeps him from reacting to the consequences of his tryst until it bubbles over in two distinct points–his attempted suicide and his reaction scene to Anna’s actual suicide. Then there is Lydgate in Middlemarch. His belief in capital H honor has him submit to the mores of his time, and the trials of his current experience, until he finds that he’s lost his true love. And in Clockers, the gangster child, Strike holds his emotions in check until he’s ultimately betrayed by the substitute father figure in the 3rd act. In each case, emotions are crushed by various personal beliefs, until…
Looking forward to listening! Thank you!
Thanks!
Great drops, Desmond. I get a lot from these helpful little nuggets.
Thanks!
As usual, awesome, Desmond. Thanks.
Wow, Desmond! These are possibly three of the most valuable techniques I’ve ever seen. Two of them are about increasing contrast and therefore the impact of a beat, the other is about signaling the protagonist’s (Or maybe anyone else’s) objective in a beat. And they should all be easy to execute. Thank you.