p.167
It’s important to understand that, when you go on an audition, your job isn’t to show the casting director how good an actor you are.
What?
Your job is to show the casting director how good you are at creating relationships, and the degree to which you can do that tells the casting director how good an actor you are. If you can turn a mop into a dance partner, you’ve got it made. If you can hold up an empty plate and convince people that it’s a dish of steaming, mouthwatering lasagna, you’ll get the job. If you can instantly turn a stranger into the love of your life, you’ll work forever.
There are six key elements to breaking down a commercial script. The first, and perhaps the most difficult, is to identify all the relationships in the copy. Relationships are the key to all good acting.
We’ve already discussed two of the most important relationships you need in order to have a successful audition: the person you’re slating to and the person whose problem you’re going to solve. You also need to know who you are in the commercial. Are you merely a friend to the person you’re talking to or are you a spokesperson for the product? And you could be both. Either way, you’re a friendly authority on the subject—with an emphasis on friendly.
The reason it’s important to know if you are a friend or a spokesperson is a question of status. If you’re a spokesperson, you’ll want to deliver your lines with more authority, more pride. As a friend, your approach will be more casual. How can you tell who you are? If the words we, our, or us are part of your dialogue, you’re a spokesperson.
p.168
You’ll also need to have a relationship with the product—The Hero. And you may need to have a relationship with the competitor’s brand—Brand X. If other people are mentioned in the spot, you’ll need to create a relationship with them. Example: if you talk about Aunt Agnes, we the viewers need to know how you feel about her.
If there is an event (e.g., an anniversary) or situation (e.g., a baseball game) mentioned in the spot, you’ll need to create a relationship with those as well. In other words, you’ll need to create a relationship with every person, situation, or event that is mentioned in the script.
Then, once you have identified all the relationships, you’ll need to assign a positive or negative value to each one. Sometimes a relationship will have a neutral value. These neutral relationships are rare and are hard to play, but every now and then one will pop up.
Here’s an example of finding relationships in a commercial script.
Royal Bakeries
(Talent sits with a small group of people at a picnic table in a backyard. He holds a plate with a large slice of chocolate cake on it. Behind him we see a birthday party in full swing: guests talking; kids playing games; balloons, streamers, etc. Several groups of partygoers sit or stand in various clumps around the backyard, socializing.)
TALENT (turning to camera): IT WAS MY BIRTHDAY PARTY AND MY AUNT JEAN MADE HER FAMOUS ROYAL BAKERIES CHOCOLATE CAKE.
UNFORTUNATELY, MY COUSIN JOEY WAS INVITED TOO.
BUT HEY, EVEN JOEY CAN’T RUIN A GREAT CAKE.
(Talent, using a fork, cuts a bite of the cake and eats it).
When it comes to identifying the relationships, here’s what we’ve got:
IT WAS MY BIRTHDAY PARTY (event—positive) AND MY AUNT JEAN (person—positive [we’re assuming you like her; she made your favorite cake]) MADE HER FAMOUS ROYAL BAKERIES CHOCOLATE CAKE (Hero product—positive). UNFORTUNATELY, MY COUSIN JOEY (person—negative [the word unfortunately tells you all you need to know about how you should feel about Joey]) WAS INVITED TOO. BUT HEY, EVEN JOEY (person—negative) CAN’T RUIN A GREAT CAKE (Hero product—positive).
p.169
So, in addition to the person you’re slating to and the person whose problem you’re trying to solve, there are six other relationships in this spot, and the viewers need to know how you feel about each one. (Please note that Joey and the cake are counted twice because they’re mentioned twice.)
Once you’ve identified the relationships and assigned a positive or negative value to each, you may want to “adjust the volume” to reflect those feelings. How you feel about the birthday party is positive, but maybe not as positive as how you feel about the cake—the cake is The Hero, after all. Same for Joey; you mention him twice, but perhaps the second time his name comes up, you don’t feel quite as negative as you did the first time.
Please understand that the problem in this commercial isn’t the fact that Joey showed up at your party. The problem is you have a friend who needs to know what’s the best cake to serve at a party and you’re telling her the story about the cake that was served at your party, the idea being that the story and the suggestion of the Royal Bakeries cake will solve her problem.
When auditioning for a commercial, remember that all of your product relationship choices, except for Brand X and its attributes, are going to be positive. You’re not acting in an intense drama like The Revenant; you’re simply trying to help a friend decide what cake to serve at a party.
Finding the various relationships in commercial copy and then figuring out how to express them is not easy. (And please note: the word negative is used simply to add a different color. Cousin Joey isn’t a child molester; he’s just an obnoxious relative.) However, once you figure this out, once you master the art of identifying the relationships, your chances of booking the spot have increased a 1,000 percent. Really!
This step, finding and evaluating the relationships, is the hardest part of this technique and the most important.
p.170
SUBSTITUTIONS
In making relationship choices you may need to do some substituting. If you don’t love the product you’re auditioning for, you need to focus on something you do love and be thinking about that while you’re talking about The Hero or the attributes of The Hero.
For instance, if you’re thinking, “Chocolate isn’t my favorite thing,” when you’re auditioning for Royal Bakeries Chocolate Cake, the camera will pick that up and the people watching the playback will sense that something is wrong and, because they’re trying to sell chocolate cake, you won’t book the job.
Never forget, the camera can “see” what you’re feeling by what you’re thinking.
So, if ZZZ Detergent doesn’t make your heart sing, think about something that does, and make sure you’re thinking about that while you’re extolling the virtues of ZZZ Detergent.
Whatever you use as a substitute has to be something you love, not just something you like a lot. There is way too much money involved for you not to make this simple adjustment. The residuals from a national commercial could pay your rent for the next three years. However, if anyone involved in the hiring process has even the remotest inkling that you don’t love the product, you aren’t going to get hired.
The substitutions you make are necessary to generate the feelings you want to convey.
If the product is frozen peas and you can’t stand frozen peas but you love vanilla ice cream then think about ice cream and how good it is each time you mention anything to do with the frozen peas. The viewers will “see” the love you have for vanilla ice cream and they will automatically make the leap that the vanilla ice cream you’re thinking about and the frozen peas you’re talking about are one and the same. It doesn’t matter what you use as a substitute: rock ‘n’ roll, fish sticks, money, mom’s homemade cookies, sex, whatever; just make sure that if you don’t love the real product, you use something you do love as a substitute.
p.171
THE HERO VS. BRAND X
Okay, I know I need to love The Hero, but what do I do with Brand X? Today’s television audience is much more sophisticated than it used to be. In today’s climate there is no need to trash Brand X in order to celebrate the virtues of The Hero.
The best way to handle Brand X is to dismiss it lightly. This works especially well by elevating the status of The Hero (whether you actually love the real product or you’re using a substitute).
The following is an example of how a commercial works when Brand X is used to help sell The Hero.
Cream Crisps
TALENT: MOST COOKIES ARE ALIKE.
BUT A CREAM CRISP IS SOMETHING SPECIAL.
LUSCIOUS CHOCOLATE, MIXED WITH DELICIOUS VANILLA ON THE INSIDE; CRISPY, CRUNCHY WAFER ON THE OUTSIDE.
CREAM CRISPS.
ONE BOX WON’T BE ENOUGH.
Here’s how it looks when it’s broken down:
Problem: A friend is having guests over for tea and she wants to serve a tasty, sweet snack.
Solution: Cream Crisps.
Substitution: Do I (the actor) love Cream Crisps? Or do I need to substitute something else for this? I’ve never heard of these cookies before so I’m going to substitute Rocky Road ice cream for The Hero.
Who am I? A friend. The words we, our or us are not used in the copy.
Who am I talking to? June, my next door neighbor. Why is she seeking my advice? June knows I entertain all the time, for all sorts of occasions.
p.172
TALENT: MOST COOKIES ARE ALIKE. (The cookie is Brand X. I don’t want to do anything to elevate its status, so I’ll treat this as a negative and be slightly dismissive.)
BUT A CREAM CRISP IS SOMETHING SPECIAL. (This is The Hero product. I want to be positive. I want to make sure I have a warm-fuzzy-feeling thing happening, so I’ll use my substitute, Rocky Road.)
LUSCIOUS CHOCOLATE, MIXED WITH DELICIOUS VANILLA ON THE INSIDE; CRISP, CRUNCHY WAFER ON THE OUTSIDE. (These are the attributes of The Hero. I want to be positive so I’ll use my substitute again.)
CREAM CRISPS. (Again, this is The Hero. I want to stay positive; I need to love this—I’m thinking Rocky Road.)
ONE BOX WON’T BE ENOUGH. (This too is about The Hero. Still positive, still needing to love it—I’m thinking Rocky Road, a double scoop.)
Because both The Hero product and Brand X are mentioned, the actor has to strike the proper chord for each in the commercial. By creating joy and warmth for The Hero product, and by mildly dismissing Brand X, the story favors The Hero product. The goal is for the commercial to influence consumers so that the next time they’re shopping for a cookie-like snack they’ll buy Cream Crisps.
EXERCISE
Start breaking down several pieces of copy, identifying the various relationships in each commercial. Once you’ve identified the different relationships, figure out if they’re positive or negative. When you’ve done that, start playing with the “volume.” Is one relationship more positive than another? If so, adjust the volume so that relationship sounds a little better than the others.
Look for lists. If you have a list of three (or more) attributes, practice making those attributes sound different from each other. A good way to do this is to assign a “good,” “better” or “best” value to each attribute. In the Cream Crisp spot, the third line—“LUSCIOUS CHOCOLATE, MIXED WITH DELICIOUS VANILLA ON THE INSIDE; CRISPY, CRUNCHY WAFER ON THE OUTSIDE”—“luscious chocolate” is good, “delicious vanilla on the inside” is better, and “crispy, crunchy wafer on the outside” is best. This creates variety, and variety sparks interest.
Also, see if you can find a line in the copy where you have both a negative and a positive relationship, such as in the Royal Bakeries spot—“But even Joey (negative) can’t ruin a great cake (positive).” Practice going from one to the other. The key to making these transitions work is to slow down. Going too fast will hinder your ability to give each relationship its full weight and value. And each and every relationship is important.