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Tips on cold reading

Question:

Sia;    we can tell by your post that you can’t read….. hope you can act.  

Response:

Part of the art of cold-reading is being able to absorb the meaning as you’re reading.  It requires good technique in the physical act of reading, itself.  If you don’t read well, you won’t cold-read well. Read everything you possibly can. And then read it out loud.  Practice your inflections.  If you have scripts lying around, read them out loud.  Practice, practice, practice.  Try recording yourself on a new piece once cold and once after you’ve given it some serious thought.  Note the difference and see if there are any cues in the text that set off signals for meaning that you could pick up on immediately. — Brian P. Evans

Response:

 As a director/actor I have worked with many actors that where bad readers and wounderful actors…

A director friend of mine loves to talk about the time, years ago, when he did NOT cast Robert DeNiro after auditioning him for a NY play.  Bad reader.<g I spent about an hour auditioning Eric Stoltz one time, for an equity-waiver play I was directing in North Hollywood.  Only reason I spent that long with him was that the "buzz" on the street about him was good.  I thought he was a nice guy but nothing really special.  He read okay but didn’t shake the rafters. And I remember stumbling across Meg Tilly in an open call for EXTRAS at American Film Institute.  Good look, so we read her for a role.  She read great.  But then the part got written out. Ed Hooks

Response:

:  Is there anyone out there who could give me some very useful tips on : cold reading? I’d really appreciate it. Thanks in advance. Two tips: Every day, pick up something at random and read it aloud. Doesn’t matter what it it is, just to get the mechanics of having your eyes picking up stuff ahead of your mouth. With scripts, spend what little time you have in racing through looking for the structure, then try to get the end down pat, then try for the cues and the immediate response. The structure will give you the curve of the part, the end will mean you can give eye when the auditor needs it, the cues will mean you can be seen listening, the immediate response words will show you can re-act before going back to the script. — *  Peter Messaline is The TaxXman, an actor’s tax preparer (416)960-1785  * *   Not all the bulbs in the marquee are working, but he lives your life. *

Response:

 Is there anyone out there who could give me some very useful tips on cold reading? I’d really appreciate it. Thanks in advance. I suggest you admit yourself into a classroom or workshop in your area to exercise this skill.  Perhaps Ed Hooks would be able to point you in the right direction.  And he might even have a book or two available for recommended summer reading.  <G ; )

Ahem….I recommend "Audition" by Michael Shurtleff and "The Audition Book (Winning Strategies for Breaking into Theater, Film and TV)" by….uh….I forget his name.  Good book though.  I’ve tried much of the stuff in it, and it works.<g Ed Hooks

Response:

 Is there anyone out there who could give me some very useful tips on cold reading? I’d really appreciate it. Thanks in advance.

I suggest you admit yourself into a classroom or workshop in your area to exercise this skill.  Perhaps Ed Hooks would be able to point you in the right direction.  And he might even have a book or two available for recommended summer reading.  <G ; )

Response:

- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hello everybody!  Is there anyone out there who could give me some very useful tips on cold reading? I’d really appreciate it. Thanks in advance. I don’t know about "tips", but I CAN give advice.  Cold readings help the director in a few ways: first, can you read? I worked on college productions with actors who did not read well, and it’s always a nightmare working with them.  This is compelet and outer BS. As a director/actor I have worked with many actors that where bad readers and wounderful actors. And I have cast wounderful readers that turned out to be shit actors, because that’s all they are good at READING.  Now I’m not saying that good reading skills are not important, but that is not the end all. Tom Crouse can’t read, niether can lou Dimond Phillps, and it has not hurt them much. These two I know for fact, there must be others. Sia.

Dear Sia,         A little severe in your first sentence, Sia.  Michael Shurtleff gives a wonderful story about Robert Deniro, the worst cold copy reader he ever encountered, who still had enough presence to convince him, despite the fears of the producers that this was the actor they had to hire.           Then he makes the point that one of the fundamental tools that every actor must learn is how to cold read….. to, at the very least, get past the basic rejection process or a cattle call or 1st read.           And let’s face the hard, cold facts…. you have to be a rather extraordinary talent to get the attention of most CD’s if you can’t cold read.         Self-serving poster that I am, my web-site includes a piece on super-cold-reading…. advanced work, mind you, based on the common cold-reading technique called the 50/50 formula.   Break a leg, Bill — THE ACTING STUDIO http://gvtg.com/theactingstudio

Response:

Hello everybody!  Is there anyone out there who could give me some very useful tips on cold reading? I’d really appreciate it. Thanks in advance. I don’t know about "tips", but I CAN give advice.  Cold readings help the director in a few ways: first, can you read? I worked on college productions with actors who did not read well, and it’s always a nightmare working with them.

 This is compelet and outer BS. As a director/actor I have worked with many actors that where bad readers and wounderful actors. And I have cast wounderful readers that turned out to be shit actors, because that’s all they are good at READING.  Now I’m not saying that good reading skills are not important, but that is not the end all. Tom Crouse can’t read, niether can lou Dimond Phillps, and it has not hurt them much. These two I know for fact, there must be others. Sia.

Response:

Hello everybody!  Is there anyone out there who could give me some very useful tips on cold reading? I’d really appreciate it. Thanks in advance.

I don’t know about "tips", but I CAN give advice.   Cold readings help the director in a few ways: first, can you read? I worked on college productions with actors who did not read well, and it’s always a nightmare working with them. Second, How do you sound?  Do you have a really nasal voice like Fran Drescher?  Would that work for the part?  I won’t know till I hear it. And finally, do you have a feel for the role.  Not that they expect a performance, but if you’re thinking oranges and the part is apples, it’s a quick way to find out. Read a lot.  I know this sounds obvious, but the faster and more proficiently you can read, the easier it is.  And work on your vocabulary.  If you all ready know how to say a word, it makes it that much easier to say when it pops out of a script. Learn how sentences and common phrases *sound*.  This is the only time when line readings may actually *help*.  Phrases like "blah blah blah blah blah" have a rhythm and tone we expect.  If the line is a question, is it rhetorical, or does the character really want some information – this can alter the phrasing.  For example, "Are you on drugs?" can be a humorous comment or an expression of concern depending on the intonations.  Using the wrong one can ruin a good reading. Ultimately, I suggest you read "AUDITION" by Michael Shurtleff.  It is one of the best books on the audition itself that I know.  It is available at all major bookstores. — ** NOTE: address is spamblocked – }:-)       Christopher Jahn

{:-(         Dionysian Reveler "Why, you’re more than realistic –    you’re nearly grotesque!!"         Charles Busch, ‘Vampire Lesbians of Sodom’

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