Great acting begins long before the camera rolls.
It begins with the blueprint-dialogue between you and the writer.
Script Secrets of the A-List Actor is a practical, on-demand system for learning how to break down any screenplay, side or play. Script Secrets shows you how to determine what the story is actually, literally and definitively saying. Every actor will know what to play. Every director will know how to cast, shoot and elevate the script. Every casting director will now have a clear road map. And every producer will understand the world they're creating.
So when you submit an audition, start rehearsals or step onto a set, you're not waiting for someone else to tell you what to do. You know!
You arrive ready.
Understand the story.
Find what you're fighting for.
Make choices that matter.
WATCH: JOHN EXPLAINS THE COURSE
YOU CAN BE TALENTED AND STILL BE UNPREPARED
You memorize the lines.
You create the backstory.
You decide how the character feels.
You rehearse the scene over and over.
And yet something still feels off...f#ck!!!
You find yourself asking:
The problem is not your acting ability.
The problem is your tool-set. You're using a hammer when you need a paint brush. In other words, your ability to interpret the script accurately and imaginatively, is all out of whack.
Because before you can decide how to play the character, you need to understand who the character is and why they exist in this particular story at all.
THE SCRIPT IS YOUR BLUEPRINT
The writer has already given you clues, hints, messages and a winning treasure map. It's all in the blueprint:
The relationships.
The behavior.
The belief systems.
The questions.
The resolution.
The tone.
The world.
The answers.
The things your character says, does and behaves.
And sometimes even more importantly…
the things your character doesn't say.
Script Secrets teaches you how to recognize every clue and begin connecting with them imaginatively.
Suddenly the script stops being pages of dialogue you have to memorize.
It becomes the blueprint of human behavior.
As Aristotle famously said: “We are what we repeatedly do.” And so there goes the winning choices and decisions of every successful and interesting actor.
And once you understand the map, your choices become brilliant.
STOP ASKING, “HOW SHOULD I SAY THIS LINE?”
There are many more important questions:
“Who am I? What am I doing here? Who am I talking to? And how do I actually see, feel and think about this person I am speaking to?”
Great acting isn't built around predetermined line readings.
It's built around a deep, meaningful and creative understanding of the material.
Every:
Will suddenly be alive.
When you understand what your character is doing and what the script is celebrating, you can lean in hard and let it rip.
Instead of manufacturing emotion, you have something to live for.
Instead of trying to look interesting, you have something to say.
Instead of guessing, you begin making informed choices.
That's the power of Script Secrets of the A-List Actor.
WHAT ARE YOU ACTUALLY LOOKING FOR IN A SCRIPT?
Throughout Script Secrets of the A-List Actor, you'll learn how to identify all the major elements that give a story life, and your character a reason for being.
You'll explore:
You begin to see how the individual scene fits into the larger story.
And more importantly:
You begin to understand why your character behaves the way they do.
YOUR CHARACTER DOESN'T EXIST IN ISOLATION
One of the easiest traps for an actor is becoming so focused on their own character that they lose sight of the story around them.
But the audience isn't watching your character study.
They're watching a story unfold.
So instead of only asking:
“How big is my part?”
Begin with:
“Who is this character as described by the author's dialogue and what happens to my imagination with that information?”
This question can completely change the way you approach a role.
Because your responsibility is to create a character that
lifts, boosts and enhances the story.
WHAT HAPPENS ON DAY ONE?
You arrive on set.
There may be little rehearsal. If any.
The director is moving quickly.
Lighting is being adjusted.
The crew is waiting.
Another actor has made a choice you weren't expecting.
And suddenly the scene isn't unfolding exactly the way you imagined it at home.
What do you do?
If your preparation consists entirely of rehearsed line readings and predetermined emotions, you can become trapped.
But when you understand the architecture of the scene, you have options.
You know exactly what's going on.
You know what you're ‘doing’ in a scene.
You know what can change and what cannot. You are receiving all of the director's notes as additions to your work, not erasers. Or criticisms.
This allows you to adjust without losing the character.
Proper preparation doesn't make you rigid.
It makes you free and ready to play.
THE STRONGEST ACTORS AREN'T JUST EMOTIONALLY ALIVE.
They're specific.
They understand:
Why the scene exists in the story.
What every relationship actually is.
What every beat is.
What their characters' needs, wants and desires are.
What's actually at stake.
What it means if they lose out. What they're afraid of losing.
And how every moment serves the larger story.
This level of understanding gives you something much more useful than a predetermined performance.
It gives you a human being living in front of the camera.
WHAT IF YOU'VE BEEN READING SCRIPTS BACKWARDS?
Let's face it, it's natural to ask:
But the story existed before your character stepped on screen or on stage.
To understand your part, you first have to understand the whole.
What is happening?
Why is it happening?
What question is the writer asking him/herself and therefore the audience?
What theme or themes are to be leaned into hard?
What does the ending tell us about the entire story that came before it?
Once you understand these things, your character takes on a multi-dimensional life-force and you can serve the story with confidence.
You stop forcing a performance onto the script.
You're now working confidently and imaginatively from within the script's clear blueprint.
INTRODUCING THE ACTABLE-PHRASE™
Analysis is only useful to an actor if it eventually becomes actable.
You don't want to walk onto a set carrying twenty pages of intellectual observations in your head.
You need to convert what you discovered into something simple enough to play.
That's where the Actable-Phrase™ Technique comes in.
It helps you take the larger discoveries you make through script analysis and translate them into something actable, alive, and enormously grounding.
Because the goal isn't to become a literary critic, right?
The goal is to be alive, free and spontaneously effortless.
THIS IS NOT ABOUT FINDING “THE RIGHT ANSWER”
Great scripts can support different interpretations.
Different actors can make very different choices and both be serving the truth of the story.
Script Secrets of the A-List Actor isn't designed to eliminate your creativity.
It's designed to enhance your creative powers and confidence so that you risk with joy and service.
The more you understand the material, the more you'll take big swings and risks that make sense to everyone.
Instead of:
“I hope this works.”
You begin thinking:
“I understand why I'm going for this choice and that choice from take to take.”
USE IT AGAIN AND AGAIN
This is a step-by-step process to be used whenever new material comes your way.
The material changes.
The process remains.
That means you're not purchasing a breakdown of one particular script.
You're gaining a process and a technique that is with you every step of the way throughout your entire career.
WHAT STUDENTS SAY ABOUT WORKING WITH JOHN
BEFORE YOUR NEXT AUDITION, REHEARSAL OR SHOOT…
Imagine being handed a script and knowing where to begin.
Not wondering:
“What am I supposed to do with this?”
But asking:
“Who am I?”
“What does my imagination tell me now that I know who I am?”
“What theme or themes are prevalent?”
“What is my character doing here?”
“How do I ‘actually’ relate to this person? What is my personal point of view of them?”
“What's at stake and how do I make that real for me?”
“What does the ending mean and how does it help me play the scenes I'm in?”
“What makes this scene come alive?”
This is a way more exciting and effective way to play.
And it starts before you ever say the first line.
WHAT'S INCLUDED
Script Secrets of the A-List Actor includes:
10 chapters of on-demand instruction, plus a bonus chapter on how to play relationships
More than 2 hours of detailed, easy to understand personal training from John Dapolito that you can return to over and over and over again
Your own workbook that allows you to apply the process from project to project
Lifetime on-demand access, so you can return to individual lessons whenever a new script demands it
A step-by-step liberating approach designed specifically for the professional actor in real time, real world, on-the-job scenarios.
Use the course at your own pace, then return to the system every time you begin another role.
QUESTIONS
Is this live or on-demand?
On-demand, with lifetime access. Use the course at your own pace, then return to the system every time you begin another role.
What can I use it with?
Any role that comes your way whether it be a feature film, streaming, television, a play or an audition.
Is this a breakdown of one particular script?
No. John takes you through many classic films and plays to help you no matter what kind of material comes your way.
What is the workbook?
An interactive document that allows you to reinforce the process in a very hands-on way.
How long do I have access?
Lifetime access.
YOUR LINES ARE TALKING TO YOU.
There is a story underneath them.
A structure underneath the story.
A reason these characters have been placed together.
A question being asked.
A plot unfolding.
And an answer the writer eventually gives the audience.
The more deeply you understand those things, the more acting power you have.
The clues are already there.
Your job is to learn how to read the blueprint.
Understand and live the story.
Apply the Actable-Phrase™ Technique to any role and liberate yourself with confidence.
Make bold, accurate and imaginative choices.
And arrive on set ready to play with the best of the best in our industry.
SCRIPT SECRETS OF THE A-LIST ACTOR
Learn It. Live It. You'll Love It.
