Arts & Entertainment
Working With Writers & Directors
Lesson time 23:27 min
Helen advises you on how to create successful relationships with writers and directors, and she shares lessons learned from working with renowned director Robert Altman on the film Gosford Park.
Students give MasterClass an average rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars
Topics include: Nurture Good Relationships With Writers • Collaborate to Strengthen the Dialogue • Negotiate Using the Correct Channels • Suggest New Scenes With Backstory in Mind • Learning From Robert Altman's Freedom
Teaches Acting
In 28 lessons, the Oscar, Golden Globe, Tony, and Emmy winner teaches her process for acting on the stage and screen.
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You have to be very careful when you're dealing with writers. I won't say dealing with, but in your relationship with a writer. Because a writer has his or her ego. And this is their work. And it might have been a painful process to get this script on the page, or the scene on the page. And they might have put an awful lot effort into it. So you must be very careful with your relationship to that. Sometimes they haven't quite got it right. Or sometimes they've got it completely wrong. But nonetheless, you know what? You agreed to do the role, so it's your job to kind of make sense of it. Some writers want to work with you as an actor, and others don't. And really, you have to judge that. And you have to judge whether it's appropriate or not to approach the writer if the writer is on set. It's always great if the writer is on set, incidentally. And if the writer is on set, go make a relationship. Say hi. Say how much you love their work. That's always a good thing to do. And make a relationship with them, so then you can approach them and say, I'm having a slight problem with this line in this scene. And I'm not quite sure why it's there. Could you maybe help me a little bit with that? So make a relationship with the writer If that's feasible, if that's possible. I would say always treat the writer with respect, because they're on their own mostly, when they work. They're isolated. And they don't know whether this thing is going to fly or not. So I would say, treat a writer with respect, but not so much that you can't contribute. Because in the end, what we do on the screen is an absolute collaboration. The first moment of the inception of this baby that we were all putting out into the world-- it takes its little toddling steps out into the world-- the moment of conception is the writer with his empty page. Then comes the director, and comes the cinematographer, the production designer, the actors, the editor, the music. And all of these elements-- all of them-- in every moment this work of art shifts and changes, gets added to, and morphs into something. And you're all contributing to that. Every one of you. So be conscious of that. That you are a part of a very complicated whole. Sometimes writers, because they have so much to deal with, they haven't quite grasped-- They've got the scene right, but they've actually got it in the wrong order. And you, as an actor, because your job as an actor is to make the mental connections between this word and that word, this speech and that speech, this relationship and that relationship. And we have to consciously make those psychological connections. Great writing-- It's very interesting to me that good writing is really easy to learn. Bad writing is really difficult to learn. Because in good writing, those subconscious, those psychological connect...
About the Instructor
In her first-ever online acting class, Academy Award-winning actress Helen Mirren shares the techniques she has learned through the course of her international career that has spanned stage, screen, and television. Her powerful and versatile performances have earned her numerous awards, including the Academy Award in 2007 for her performance in The Queen, a Tony Award in 2015 for her performance in The Audience, and four Emmy Awards.
Featured MasterClass Instructor
Helen Mirren
In 28 lessons, the Oscar, Golden Globe, Tony, and Emmy winner teaches her process for acting on the stage and screen.
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