Does anyone have any cold reading tips?

yeah pick up a script and read it. No I'm not being funny either. That's how I stay fresh I just read scripts out loud. Just continuously with a friend , acting buddy, or by myself. Hope that helps. But if you want a more indepth answer try this book from drama book shop.

Cold reading- and how to be good at it- Basil Hoffman. Great book. If your looking for a good coach that specialize in cold readings PM me.

Lift off the page so that you bring the line into the other actor's face, is one thing. Another is to read it through so that you know the character's references. When they refer to something in their world, you can create an immediate linkage to the character. Just allow your life to make the reference. The reader can give you much or nothing, but you can give as much as you want to the reader, and then take it away if you need to.

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Or something like that.

Do you love my piggy or what?!
 
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the best way do nail cold reads is to have a well developed instrument (body, voice, and mind). The ability to improv is also pretty vital.

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the best way do nail cold reads is to have a well developed instrument (body, voice, and mind). The ability to improv is also pretty vital.

You nailed it...There is no such thing as a cold reading technique. It's one of the biggest training scams around. Doing brilliant cold readings is mostly a side effect of being a well developed and trained actor. - Jason

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Originally posted by California P.:
yeah pick up a script and read it.

That's good, simple advice. DO it. A lot.

One problem for some actor is literally reading. If you have trouble picking ANYTHING up and reading it cold, all the more reason to do it everyday. Open a book of plays and start reading, cold. Pick up today's paper and do the same.

Otherwise:

- Listen to the diction, phrasing, etc. as written to see what it tells you about the character (dialogue for an aristocrat is rarely the same as for a tailor or a taxi driver.)
- Think about the moment before. Where was your character before the scene? What expectations are they bringing into the scene?
- What, based on the dialogue, do they WANT?
- What kind of obstacle are they getting from the others (or other) in the scene? Are the other people not listening? Contradicting them? Misunderstanding them? Each demands a different reaction from your character.
- What PAGE is the scene on? A scene at the start of a script generally will have different energy than one towards the end.
- What hints exist in the dialogue about the relationship of your character with the other(s)? About your character individually?
- What are the power relationships? Who has the upper hand at the start? At the end? Who has more respect for whom?

These are just some of the questions you can ask yourself, and if you're strapped for time, only some will do. Which is one big reason to practice this kind of thing as much as you can when you DO have time.

Excellent basic acting class advice in the previous post -- can be found in any elementary book about acting. As I said, there is no such thing as a Cold Reading Technique, doing a great audition -- and especially a cold reading -- is the result of knowing all these very basic ideas in the previous post, and so, so, so much more that goes way beyond this Acting 101 post.

Get in a great acting class with a great teacher. - Jason

Certainly, having a great acting teacher is important for most actors (except those phenoms who just glided to success somehow, but don't count on being one of them).

This said, the fact that advice is very basic is neither here nor there. There's many an advanced music teacher who keeps beating out the time for advanced students. The basics remain important, even if they are the basics.

Otherwise, the original poster did after all ask for tips on the process. It seems perfectly reasonable to take their request on its own terms.

lol. JB and Jim need to get into a ring and just beat each other up for a while. Then they can become best friends.

JB,
I don't know if your comments came from the history between you and jim, but I really think that if someone could actually DO all the acting 101 basics, then they would be better cold readers than 90% of the actors auditioning in hollywood.

I still have problems with the basics and I work on them every day.

I think there are some basic cold reading techniques for film and tv that the op needs to know that you wouldn't learn in a scene study class.
like learning how to slate, or keeping your eyes on the camera or other actor when you are not speaking, so that they can pick up the reaction shot.
Basically, for film and tv auditions, you need to show them you are camera savvy. No extraneous movements or swaying in and out of focus. I think it's really important to practice standing still or sitting still and project what you're thinking and feeling by using as few physical movements as possible.

Peking your funny you picked up that too huh !!

No, I really wasn't meaning to demean Jim's post. I meant what I said. It was excellent advice. And from his recent post, it sounds like we agree to me (but I don't meant to be presumptuous).

I simply meant to reiterate what I had said earlier, that there is no such thing as a special "cold reading" technique.

You simply have to be a well trained actor -- full of emotional life and with a well developed imagination -- and you have to have done many full-length plays/scripts in classes and productions.

And you have to be a great Improviser. This is all about being a great actor...

A brilliant cold reading results from all that -- not some magic process for cold reading. Doing great auditions is in large part dependent on the actor knowing how to DISTILL DOWN a meaningful acting process into the bare essentials.

You gotta be really interesting and unique. You gotta interest them and entertain -- in a very, very short amount of time.

Again, this results from serious actor training, usually not the dime-a-dozen audition and cold reading classes in NY and LA.

Again, the biggest money-making schemes in "training" in LA and NY are where you learn the least about acting -- acting for the camera classes, audition classes and cold reading classes. They are all over the place, they rake in the dough -- and you learn the least about acting, in general, in these "classes."

Of course there are exceptions. Some of these classes are taught by brilliant teachers and CDs. They know about stuff I don't know about and don't care to teach -- and I support those classes a whole lot. But I would say that's terribly rare. Most are just rip-offs. They were created to make money, not because there was any intention to teach anything meaningful.

- Jason

get involved in reader's theatre. it's one good way to constantly hone your reading skills, vocal skills and acting skills. find or start a troupe with other actors and you can *practice* it for free while providing enjoyment for others :-).

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Originally posted by JBActors:
No, I really wasn't meaning to demean Jim's post. I meant what I said. It was excellent advice. And from his recent post, it sounds like we agree to me (but I don't meant to be presumptuous).

Well... you're a lot nicer than I am about it.

I don't disagree with any of Jim's advice, but it's just a bunch of mental questions that won't help your acting one iota. To do good cold reads you gotta get "out of your head." For example, it's not enough to ask yourself "what's the moment before" (although this is an excellent question to ask). You have to ask yourself about the moment before AND COME UP WITH SOMETHING TO DO (there are dozens of things) so it looks to the casting people as if something happened before the scene started. It's not just enough to THINK about the relationship. You have to figure out something to DO so that the casting people will see there is a relationship. Maybe it's the way you touch her, or the way you give her a kiss on the cheek. Or you could ask sensory questions that causes a quiver in your cheek. There are hundreds of ways. Acting is doing.

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Originally posted by Oh_hai_thair:

I don't disagree with any of Jim's advice, but it's just a bunch of mental questions that won't help your acting one iota.

Well, not if you keep them in your head WHILE you're on stage, they won't. Any more than doing emotional prep, then trying to play that specific emotion in the scene itself will. Or, for that matter, plotting out specific actions meant to "show casting people" anything, rather than following the impulses that arise naturally out of a richly defined relationship.

There's a huge difference between doing preparatory work, such as script analysis, and doing the acting itself. My own metaphor for the process is that the first is building the house - carefully, methodically - and the second is going to live in it. But the idea of breaking down a script and your given circumstances is hardly original with me (as I'm sure you know).

Phillipe Petit spent a very long time studying the World Trade Towers, figuring out how to run a cable between them, etc. before he finally stepped out above New York City and did his famous walk and dance. At which point I'm sure he didn't give his earlier studies a moment's thought - or he would have fallen (a very long way down.)

Same thing for actors.

This is why I don't like talking about acting because its so easy to misunderstand what we say to each other.

"Plotting out" anything as a general rule of thumb is very very bad. You want to stay spontaneous and "moment to moment" while you act. When I say "do a specific physical action" (which is just one aspect of doing - there are a lot of other things you can do), I mean that you have to come up with those actions "spur of the moment" (I suppose you could also call it following an impulse).

Again, I don't disagree with anything you said. For me, I'd just have to do a little more. I sometimes forget that everyone is different, so let it be known that I tried to edit my previous post, but backstage wouldn't let me. I think what I said about "won't help your acting one iota" was slightly incorrect. It just wouldn't help mine, but maybe it would work for someone else. Whatever works. If that stuff is giving you killer auditions, then keep doing it.

Just so the less-experienced lurkers will be clear on this:

It's not like I just came up with all those suggestions on my own. As JB pointed out, most of it can be found in innumerable acting books. Otherwise, I've picked it up in classes and workshops.

The whole problem of how to do intellectual work and then let go and just act is a central one for a lot of actors. But I think anyone's who's studied for a bit knows there IS a balance to be struck.

Personally, if I were to choose one thing out of my list, it would be the Moment Before. Knowing where your character's coming from and what they expect coming into the scene can make a HUGE difference. right off the bat.

A simple example: the scene has your character walking in on two people kissing.

Possible moments before:

- You're involved with one of them, and have just come to announce you've done something wonderful for them.
- You're involved with one of them, and have just decided to tell them you're dumping them.
- You're just friends with one of them and have just been thinking how to convince them to ask the other person in the scene out.
- You're just friends with one or both of them, and just got dumped yourself, and have come looking for sympathy.

Etc. Obviously, some of these come from the circumstances of the piece (which you often don't know in a cold read), but clearly all will drastically modify your reaction to what you find, walking into the scene.

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Originally posted by JimChevallier:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by California P.:
yeah pick up a script and read it.

That's good, simple advice. DO it. A lot.

One problem for some actor is literally reading. If you have trouble picking ANYTHING up and reading it cold, all the more reason to do it everyday. Open a book of plays and start reading, cold. Pick up today's paper and do the same.

QUOTE]

So true! I myself have always read books, newspapers- everything. When I was in school, I read all the time, non-stop. It has served me incredibly well as an actor. On the other hand, I don't know how many times I have seen actors attempt to cold read and stumble through the words. If you read regularly, eventually your cold reading will improve as a result. Throwing your money away on any class won't help if you are not a decent reader to start with.

I think one of the biggest problems a lot of actors face when Coldreading/Auditioning is them being too proud to look at their lines when they want to be "off book" as much as possible for the CDs. It's okay to look down at your lines. When people talk, do they always look into the other person's eyes when talking in a regular conversation? NO! Naturally, your eyes occasionally move away, you blink, or your head turns. Replace those natural actions with moving your eyes down to look at your side.