Filmmaking / Directing : Rehearsal Time by Jacob Buterbaugh

Speaking from my own personal experiences, as an actor and director, I always welcome as much rehearsal and prep as possible. As I director for a recent short film, I had two rehearsals. The first was at my home at a table, with just the actors, and snacks. The second rehearsal was at a studio with actors, my DP and AD where we went through the blocking. Additionally, I was in frequent contact with my actors about the project and roles. All the best! Matt

Thanks, Matthew! I've been on a few shorts as an actor where the only rehearsal was a table read (with the DP and AD present), the character stuff (backstory, objectives, subtext) was discussed between the cast members and the director on an individual basis, and the blocking was rehearsed onset during production. I was curious about how pros do things.

Thanks, Dan! Most of my learning has been done through books so far. Some directing books seem to tell me to rehearse every single beat with every actor. Others seem to say that there probably won't be much rehearsal time at all. I figured the truth was probably somewhere in the middle, and dependent on budgets, schedules, whether my shoot was union or non-union... I realize there are usually some notable differences between the reality of filmmaking and the filmmaking you read about in books. (Side note: It seems like the differences between the reality of screenwriting and screenwriting books are many!) Anyway, I really want to exchange the books for filmmaking reality.

All I know is that time is infinite: So how come I never have enough? When it comes to film rehearsals; a lot depends on the Director - unique in every instance. Control freaks demand Actors spit out every word & line as written. The more creative and adventuresome Directors allow Actors a little more creative freedom of interpretation. Actors expect & deserve enough time to get it right and "right" is debatable.

Dan - Thanks for the advice! I think that's probably the best thing I could do for myself now.

Doug - Thanks for the information. I don't have a lot of experience yet, but I'm definitely not a control freak. I think the best thing I can probably do in any directing situation is explain my vision to the actor, but then trust them to bring their own ideas, creativity, and inspiration to it. Within reason, of course. That said, I imagine that script supervisors probably have better days when actors stick to the words and lines as written.

By the way, I always look forward to your comments.

I just shot a 20 minute short and I had a day and a half of rehearsal. However, I had children in it. My advice is not to skimp on rehearsal bc it can really save time (and therefore money) when you are shooting.

Thanks, Amanda! I can certainly see how that would save time and money. I imagine that you'd get through coverage a little more quickly with rehearsals rather than without them.

Great question. Some actors don't like any rehearsal. I personally love rehearsal. I think it depends on who's in the cast and what kind of material it is. Ask your actors what they like if you have the time and budget for rehearsal. Obviously on low budget movies that need to move quickly rehearsal is sometimes not an option. A quick read-thru of the lines, a run thru and you start filming. I've done that many times and it's fine. Usually around the 3rd take I'm getting where I want to be. On television you generally get 3 takes and that's it. So the cast needs to prepare as much as possible before they come to set. But I would say if you can afford rehearsal take it!

Hi, Stephen! It seems like it's mostly dependent on budget and schedule. I can certainly see how rehearsal would benefit the cast, the crew, and me, especially if I want to keep shooting ratios low. Thanks for the information and the advice.

Absolutely. Saving takes based upon the time you've put in rehearsing is absolutely true. The other thing to be said for that is discovery for actors comes with the amount of takes. But they won't discover anything great until the material is in their bones. If that makes sense...

The simple answer is that it takes enough time as it takes to get it right.

Dan MaxXx - What little experience I've had definitely matches what you're saying. The shorts I've been involved with so far have provided a table read at most, private meetings with the director by request when necessary during prep, blocking done onset.

I certainly understand the benefits of rehearsal time, and I hope to be able to provide at least a little of it during prep. That being said, I also understand that considering my creative and professional goals (strictly low budget horror and comedy) there probably won't be much time or money for it. There certainly won't be time and money to rehearse every single scene, and every single beat in the script.