The Great Acting Blog: “Great Actors Are Excited By Great Acting”
When we work towards a goal that excites us, that we absolutely want to accomplish, then discipline ceases to be an issue, we do what needs to be done.
I am always stunned by actors who find line learning to be a chore. Sure it’s not the most thrilling task in the world but it’s a fundamental component of the actor’s work and it’s going to be with us for our whole careers, line learning isn’t going to go away. Plus, learning lines to the point that speaking them becomes habit is crucial to giving a great performance – until the lines are eliminated  as an issue, we cannot let rip in performance.
Discipline is an important aspect of the actor’s life. This is why I baulk at the notion that actors are children. Actors have to be disciplined: keeping themselves in shape when out of work mentally and physically, keeping themselves in a state of readiness to work even though the next job might come tomorrow or next year. The work itself of course, requires enormous discipline; discipline of the body, of focus, discipline of our personalities. We have to fit ourselves into the strict form of a script, we need to be precision instruments. Indeed, many fail in acting because they cannot cope with the discipline that the life and work demands.
We fail at the discipline because we are not motivated by the goal we have set ourselves. If you lack the discipline to stay on the correct path, then ask yourself: what are you aiming for? Perhaps your goals aren’t big enough? Perhaps they don’t excite you? Or perhaps you haven’t stated them to yourself in such a way that makes them captivating to you?
This is why stating your goal as; “to get my next acting job” is a mistake. It’s just not exciting, it’s just not sustaining, it doesn’t capture the imagination and it wont motivate you to get through the tough times, in fact, such a goal turns the actor’s life into one of drudgery.
Great actors become great actors because the notion of being one was thrilling and important to them from the beginning. It was in itself a motivating goal, so the discipline required to get there was not a problem.
If you’re having difficulties getting some aspect of your work done, then perhaps it’s time to re-evaluate and re-state what it is you’re aiming for?
