How to Read a Script

One of the things I've learned in my newfound (dare I call it) career as a writer is how to read a screenplay or TV Episode script as an actor. Basically, you have to ignore a lot of it.

See, one of the things that acting schools don't teach you is that writers, writing for any medium outside the theater, are writing to show a reader what this final product might look like. They are writing to sell as much as anything else. And in attempting to create a picture for the potential buyer, or showrunner, or boss, one must write in a ton of looks, facial expressions, reactions, parentheticals, emotions - all of which, in reading a script, help show the reader what the final product might look like, none of which help the actor deliver a performance.

See, as a writer, I don't care if the actor smiles where I say smile, or gives a dirty look where I say "gives a dirty look." In writing a screenplay, I use those as devices to make beats, to help map the page. I would, in the end, much rather see an actor honestly play the scene, using all of those markers as a roadmap. The same way a playwright writes "(beat)," I might write "Del looks out at the sea for a moment, wondering if he'll ever find his way back home." Essentially, silent pause, but I want the reader, the potential producer, what have you, to be inside the character at that moment because I don't have the benefit of having an actor performing at that moment.

As an actor, you must learn to read between these lines - you must find the map. And the more honest of a performance you can give, even if you don't drop your keys when told, or heave a sigh of regret, you're gonna be closer to getting the job.

At least... that's how I write.