As playwrights we are not actors – we provide the material for actors so the process is different. I have heard a playwright say they did no research into their characters and the actors saw it as an excuse to slack off and not do any research and the result was bland and uninspiring. As playwrights we need to capture the imagination of the reader (producer, director, actor, DOP and a host of others) who then work on the script with their own processes – not ours – to bring the script to life for film (and stage if that is what you have written – stage is probably closer to the actor’s process because you are writing for them not a host of others and this then goes into audience reception theory and the differnt ways the media are read/ interpreted by an audience and meaning is made.) I remember having a discussion with Karel a long time ago over “The lives of others” in which Karel maintained that the actor was not acting because that is what he heard that the director had told the actor not to act. What he forgot was that acting and reacting are two sides of the same coin and the actor flips between them. By not acting that director probably meant simply react to what what was happening and don’t try for subtext or to impose meaning on the script – just allow it to be and happen – in short react. As playwrights we react to a stimuli which we then turn into a series of reactions to events that unfold in a structured manner which will hopefully spring out of the moment before in unpredictable ways through characterisation and visual storytelling. And just as we have the concept and treatment to guide us through our writing process the actors (and the techs and other creatives) have the script to guide them through the performance and the art of what is being done. Same words different perspective a bit like Camera left is stage right.

“Being in the moment”, the teachings of Stanislavski, were very important as he discovered that a major problem in acting derives from ‘anticipation’. If the actor has not surrendered to the imaginary situation then they will indicate and will fail in being authentic or believable to the audience. So for the film to work the actor HAS to ‘be in the moment’.

Its pedantic I know but it can be confusing when the term is used differently or of out of context.

Although I strongly agree with what you are saying, if the film makers have not created suitable tension then your mind will drift or worse you will start to see the wheels turning. You guess what is coming up next or fail to believe your characters are really in any danger, because, yes the hero wins (Iron Man 2….).

Thnxs!