SOLVE THE PROBLEM

SOLVE THE PROBLEM in the scene!

The more you solve the problem in the scene the better the scene will go for you.

• Keep fighting towards the common ground.  
• Take every opportunity you can to solve the problem and get your agreement from the other character in the scene. 
• Get the audience to think and feel that there is a chance for the scene to work out.  Even in O'Neal, there has to be glimmer of hope. 

Experience:
Boy Gets Girl by Rebecca Gilman

I was working on "Boy Gets Girl" by Rebecca Gilman with Jonathan Silverstein. In the scene, my character Tony is on a second date with Theresa and he is trying super hard to get her to like him desperately.  In a certain speech he talks about pasties that his mother used to make him as a boy and how incredible they were. He then proceeds to ask the girl, "do you know what pasties are? ,  she says yes.

Learning: 
I took the answer as a huge disappointment, playing a touch of self pity ( MISTAKE as self pity does not work in life or on stage) that I couldn't impress her.

The scene really took off for me when I took her answer as a HUGE YES! This is the girl for me because she knows what pasties are, just like my mom did.  Solving the agreement and trying to get her closer to me and the common ground, which serve my need.

Why? because if my character doesn't get this Theresa to like and go out with him, the TROUBLE will be that he will be alone for the rest of his life and worst yet, that he will be letting down his mother that he can't be the man that she wants him to be. I crafted that his mother is planning a dinner for him and is expecting and demanding Tony to bring a girl to the dinner.   I should mention that my character is a stalker.

He has to get the girl and he needs to take advantage of every opportunity to charm her and get her to agree with him so that he can SOLVE HIS PROBLEM.

Some great questions to ask:

• How can I get through the other character to get what I WANT? 
• What's my problem in the scene?