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  4 0 Hire the best talent you can find (not the best known), then trust their instincts. (I'm speaking as an actor, obviously.) What I appreciate most in a director: someone who knows what they want to elicit from a scene, and trusts me to elicit it. In other words, a director who will tell the actors, "I want the audience to feel sympathy for this character, but not quite trust them," and then let me use the script and my training to bring that to the screen. I don't want the director to give me literal line readings, unless I'm totally screwing the pooch. Tell the actors, before you start shooting, what you want to get out of a scene. Unless you're really not getting what you want, don't tell them specifics, tell them where you want the scene to go. I do want a director who will keep control of the set. Filming is a tiring, stressful process, and it's so much nicer if the director is clearly in charge, and keeps the chitchat and distractions to a minimum. It's quite possible to do that without being a total asshole, but I'd rather have a director who was stern with people who aren't respecting the time of others than a nice guy that takes three times as long as necessary to get a shot. And that leads me to my final point. Respect the time of others. Even the background people. Schedule things so that people waste as little time sitting around doing nothing as possible. Don't have a call time of 7 a.m. for someone whose scenes aren't even going to be set up until 1. Don't call 20 extras if you're only going to need 3, then leave the other 17 sitting there all day hoping. (Now, obviously, you can't always anticipate all these things, but when it's clear that the location has fallen through and there's nothing you can film today with that person, send them home!) Geni answered in Filmmaking Week about 1 year ago | Report 1 comment by Kubrick’s Handsome Nephew… 0 0 As a director, I appreciate this answer. I put a lot of trust in the actors to bring their own talents to the scene, and it’s always nice to hear that trust is appreciated. Kubrick’s Handsome Nephew commented about 1 year ago | Report Enter your comment or ask a new question New comments are not being accepted at this time.

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  3 0 Take an acting class. Take a few. Find out their side. Learn what to expect from a director as an actor and that will go a long, long way to making you effective at directing an actor. Miss Foxtrot answered in Filmmaking Week about 1 year ago | Report Comment on this answer Enter your comment or ask a new question New comments are not being accepted at this time.

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  2 0 I'm not Steven, Dan, but if you don't mind, here's this: I think it starts with a deep respect for acting. Acting, real acting - not the boob-job and face lift kind, is very hard work. In film, some actors want a minimalist director ("Just tell me where to stand.") and others want to be able to trust the director to such an extent that they can depend on the director keeping them on-track in an all-out performance ("Was that too much? Do you need more?"). The great director (from an actor's viewpoint) is someone who can rapidly tell the difference between the two and fulfill those varying needs in a kind and respectful way. Oh..and on a film set? It's the little things, too. A lot of actors are very grateful to those guys who can keep a set as calm and quiet as possible. And unlike the Hollywood tale of old, no one wants to hear someone screaming, "Action!" Bauhaus answered in Filmmaking Week about 1 year ago | Report 1 comment by Geni… 1 0 ...but I do want to be able to *hear* "Action" and especially "Cut." ;-) Some directors are so quiet and polite that you don't hear it, and everyone keeps performing for five minutes after Cut. Geni commented about 1 year ago | Report Enter your comment or ask a new question New comments are not being accepted at this time.

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  1 3 3 things: Placate, placate and placate. Jennifer Roth answered in Filmmaking Week about 1 year ago | Report 1 comment by Miss Foxtrot… 1 0 As an actor, writer, and filmmaker, I can't disagree more with this answer. I feel that it's best to take a few acting classes and learn to speak an actor's language. If you only placate an actor, then you won't get the best performance out of them, particularly in a performance medium as potentially spontaneous as film. Miss Foxtrot commented about 1 year ago | Report Enter your comment or ask a new question New comments are not being accepted at this time.

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