Where on earth does time go? I’m typing this in 2025, and yet it feels like mere moments ago I was spiralling into existential dread during a script analysis class in 2020. How times have changed: how far we’ve all come, how little I remember from that session… Fortunately, (and I cannot believe I’m typing this) it was a Zoom class–which meant I had the pleasure of rewatching the dissociative expressions of my classmates whilst simultaneously refreshing my memory on different ways we can approach text. Let’s talk about the first thing to do with your script.
The way you approach your script can have a huge impact on your performance. If you apply too many different methods, you’ll likely overthink the material and the performance will be blurry. If you succumb to choice paralysis and don’t do anything at all with your script, then you’ll be about as engaging to watch as a plank of wood. The first thing to do with your script is read it. Then work to a plan catered to your acting process that allows you to work through the material and discover the character. Don’t start acting until you know it inside and out.
When I dusted off the recording of that haunting little COVID relic, it occurred to me just how much is out there in the way of techniques and theories and approaches to script work. Should we drop in the images first? Intone all the vowels or exercise the consonants? Mark out the beats or play with some specific actions or brush our hair or buy more milk? Should we be doing all of this? What if we don’t have time? Where the heck are we supposed to start?
Script Acquired
If you’ve been given a script, there are two* main possibilities as to why this has happened:
- It’s for an audition.
- Not to brag, but it’s for a job that you’ve already landed. (Congratulations, by the way.)
Let’s walk through each of these scenarios and why they’re different when it comes to what we do with our script.
*Okay, so maybe a third option here is that you’ve been given a script as part of an acting class. We’re not going to make that our focus today, simply because the resources of time and information aren’t as scarce. In that context, the first thing you should do with the script is script analsyis, using either our handy guide (linked) or however you’re directed by your teacher.
The Audition
It looks a little something like this: you’ve just finished a ten-hour workday at your muggle job, and you get an email from your agent with a self-tape request that’s due in 24 hours. You’re working another long day tomorrow so the only window you have to submit is that night. Thankfully, your housemate is nocturnal and the script is only half a page and a couple of lines. Time to burn some midnight oil.
When you’re auditioning for a job, time and information are your two limiting factors. It’s likely, especially with screen industry, that you won’t have much time to prepare and the script you’ll be given might have a project synopsis, a scene or two and, if you’re lucky, a character brief. Not a lot to work with but enough to make do.
Skip to the Script
In order to set a good foundation for your work, I’d recommend skipping over the synopsis and the character brief and going straight to the scenes. Sometimes I find reading the project synopsis and the character brief beforehand can tempt me into making choices about the delivery before I’ve even seen the script, so these days I like to go in as blind as possible.
The first thing we want to do is read the script thoroughly without preconception. Read it like you’re reading this article: with interest and without bias.
After your first read, write down in very simple terms what the story is about. Even if it’s an excessively cinematic car advert, there’s a story being told: “Every day man escapes the city to behold the majesty of nature in his brand-new Ford Titan.” You should also make a few notes about what stands out without making any choices about the performance. Are there any actions that are very specific or complex? Any notes about the tone of a line? It’s all useful information.
Additionally, if there are any terms or words you aren’t familiar with or don’t know how to pronounce, look them up. This is the quickest way for your tape to be “noped”, no matter how much work you’ve put in around the error.
Genre and Tone
Now that you’ve got an initial read for comprehension, break out that project synopsis and character brief you’ve been dying to read. Along with the script, these will help you get a gauge of the genre and the tone of the project. Again, don’t make any big choices about acting just yet; instead consider some broad performance elements typical to the given genre.
For example, if it’s a comedy, the timing of your delivery and the tone of any pauses will differ significantly to, say, horror. This is why you should be watching lots of film, television and theatre: so you can identify common elements of different genres.
You’re not trying to reinvent the wheel when it comes to auditioning for a project, you’re giving your unique take on the role. So trust that by understanding the conventions of that genre, and where your character might fit.
The Path Diverges
From here, you’ll need to make your own decision about what to do with the script, keeping in mind the timeframe you have to work with.
If you’re auditioning for a car commercial with a dramatic, cinematic edge and not a lot of spoken lines, I would recommend beating out the script. Develop imaginative images for each part so that your eyes light up with the awe of seeing a vast canyon and a beautiful coastline rather than your bedroom wall.
If you’re auditioning for a drama, be it for screen or theatre, spend time with the character relationships. Mine the script for any information about who the other characters are and how they relate to your character.
Whenever you’re completely stumped, I’d always recommend going back to your imagination. What does the script remind you of? What images or thoughts come up? Play with what your mind conjures up and deliver the lines from an honest place: if you’re confused as heck, then play your character as confused as heck and see what happens!
The Job
Let me be the first to say it: congratulations. You analysed that script so good, you nailed the audition and now the job is yours! This is where it gets fun. Time is still limited but not as limited—and now you have the full script. So many words to play with…
Let’s dig in…
Rinse and Repeat
When you get the full script, forget (almost) everything you did in the audition and start from scratch. Keep in mind what you already know about the character, but prepare to change and add things. The full script may have undergone a lot of editing since you last read it, so for all intents and purposes you’re working with a fresh manuscript.
Read it for sense, get an idea of the full story, the genre and tone. Make notes about any major differences between now and what you learned in the audition.
Once again, consider the project. If it’s a commercial, there isn’t a whole lot to be done with the script. Generally, in commercials, they’re wanting the lines said clearly and plainly with a touch of imagination. If it’s a feature length performance, though, you get to have some real fun.
Read it Again. And Again.
The first thing to do with your script is to read it. Again, and again and again.
Trust me: the more you read a script, the more you have to play with. I like to apply Earl Gister’s method at this stage: combing through the script, taking note of opinions and facts about my character. It’s very scientific and objective.
The main thing you’re doing by re-reading the script is mining it for information about the world, the people who inhabit it and how your character fits in. Read it as many times as you can in as many different states of mind as you can. Read it when you’re tired, happy, sad, angry, frustrated and so on.
You’re not making any major decisions about delivery here, you’re just using the advantage of the human brain as a malleable, changeable anomaly that gives you a variety of perspectives on the same thing depending on what chemicals are in high supply.
This is how we examine our characters and start to form an idea about their personal context within the world of the play or film.
Get Technical
From here, you can start to break down the script into smaller sections or beats and doing some wider research into the context of the script.
While some actors have differing views on beats and objectives (myself included), they are invaluable tools for detail. You already have a broad understanding of the script. By breaking it down further, you can start to identify the individual journey of your character throughout the story.
Identify the climax or turning point in each scene they appear in: what happens that changes the stakes of the scene? It doesn’t have to be huge, but a good script will always have a moment in each scene that alters its trajectory in some way.
If objectives work for you, go ahead and make note of those. (Personally, I prefer Declan Donnellan’s idea about “the target”, but that’s an example of personal preference amidst the sea of techniques.)
Get Studious
Put some time into researching the writer and their body of work. It can give you clues as to their inspirations and ideas that have influenced the script. If the script is based on something from history, or you’re playing a real-life person, you should get across that period as much as possible and research any references you don’t understand.
And at the risk of sounding a bit uni lecturer: research from reputable sources. Don’t trust the Wikipedia article on Janis Joplin when it tells you her legs bent the wrong way. Verify your information, else you’ll make some very strange choices.
Get Physical, Get Vocal
At this stage, you likely have plenty of information to make some broad decisions about how your character moves. If they’re demure and awkward, perhaps they hunch their shoulders and cast their gaze down. If they’re bold and brash, they might tilt their chin upwards and strut around like a rooster. You can over-exaggerate their physicality here too and see how it affects your voice.
Speaking of: start reading the script out loud. Get a sense of how it sounds but, again, resist the urge to “act” any of the lines. That should be reserved for rehearsal. If you’ve done all of your homework, you’ll have plenty to play with when you set in front of the camera or onto the stage.
Don’t cling too tightly to any of these choices as the director may want to change them but don’t be shy about them either–come onto set or stage with an offer. Even if it’s totally different to what the director has in mind, they’ll respect the choice you make, and the fact that you cared enough about the role to do a bit of leg work.
A Final Word of Advice
So there you have it: the first thing to do with your script. (And a few more things after that.) Before I leave you with all this wisdom recovered from the depths of a 2020 lockdown Zoom class, here’s a closing word of advice. Keep a journal. Write down any ideas, observations and questions about the script so that you can bring them to rehearsal. I promise you’ll forget them otherwise.
There are a million different things we can do with our script but I sincerely believe that detaching ourselves from the desire to “act” right away is one of the most valuable things you can do as an actor. You’ll get to play, soon enough. But you gotta do a bit of work first.
Hope this helped. See you around the traps!
