I thunk I learned somethink

I never thought I was a particularly bad cold reader. That is, until now. I just started taking a comedy class with Jodi Collins. I'm not exactly sure why, I've never heard of her or anything but there was a picture of the Comedy Central logo next to her class listing...

I was trained in theater but since being in New York I've been way more interested in the film/tv side of the industry. I'm fully aware that there is a difference, but there is one difference in particular that I have been oblivious to and as a result I'm fairly certain that I've seemed brain damaged to many people that matter.

In theater, you are trained to be a stickler for your lines. You are taught that the playwright slaves over every single word and that they each have a very specific purpose and intention. Paraphrasing and ad libbing were very much discouraged. This training has certainly carried over into my cold reading skills. In addition, my recent class with Karen Kohlhaas on cold reading taught a very specific technique of staying with your reader on his lines and only going to the script on your own to generate a real reaction rather than a preparation for your next line.

For tv, apparently not...Jodi gave all of us sides to look over for 15 minutes before reading in front of the class on camera. Everyone read, got notes, and then had a chance to adjust. During the second takes I realized that a lot of times the words were different. These people were PARAPHRASING! And it seemed like everybody was doing it! I didn't know what to do, I had spent my 15 minutes worrying about character and backstory and actions and objectives. Should I have been memorizing? When it was my turn, I went with my Kohlhaas technique: holding my script up and out to create openness, staying with my scene partner, taking my time. My notes were not to hold my script so high, get out of the script, and pick up the pace! There goes $275 out the window. I adjusted as best I could, still uncomfortable with editing the prose, but apparently it was a little better. I think I looked really dumb, really inexperienced, and flat out bad.

How was I supposed to know about this? Maybe the moral of the story is take on camera classes if you want to be on camera, dumbass, not theater ones. Next week we get the sides beforehand. I don't know if I should memorize them or practice riffing on them. Maybe just maybe I should try to use those improv skills I've been working on for 2 years! (God, I'm dumb.) I have a lot to prove, my friends, that's pretty much all I have to say about it.