The Great Acting Blog: “Professional Boundaries Prevent Harm”

The Great Acting Blog: “Professional Boundaries Prevent Harm”

I was struck recently when in an interview, an actress said of sex scenes she had done in a recent movie:

“it was kind of humiliating sometimes, I was feeling like a prostitute.”

I don’t know about you but I didn’t go into acting in order to be humiliated. Humiliation happens for actors primarily when someone (a director) has betrayed their trust. This is especially painful for actors because their work involves opening themselves up and making themselves vulnerable. Further, once an actor has committed to a production, that commitment often becomes devotion – they will do anything not to let the production down. The dilemma of course, is presented when the actor is asked to do something which they consider to be beyond professional dedication.

In the example above, the actress was asked to do the sex scene many times over, which was un-necessary in her view. By the end, the work had gone beyond serving the film and became the playing out of a male fantasy.

Clearly this is an extreme example.

However, it confirms why I think it’s so important to have the professional boundaries for your work mapped out clearly in your mind – this clarity and preparation will give you the strength to say no when you feel something you are being asked to do violates those boundaries (the actress above did say no at a certain point, apparently). If you haven’t formulated those boundaries then you are much more susceptible to manipulation and being persuaded into doing something personally humiliating. People say all sorts of things to get you to bend to their will,  never believe them when they say you’re not a serious actor because you draw boundaries for your work and stick to them.

If you’re asked to do something which violates your personal philosophy, or if you think it violates you some way – then don’t do it. It’s your art, it’s your life.

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