I'm a young writer-actor who is in the process of getting signed by a huge agency. The script I wrote was written with purpose of myself playing the lead. How or even should I tell the agency this before I sign with them?

--Larry

In the film industry, people who work in more than one of the creative professions are called “hyphenates,” such as writer-director, actor-producer or editor-composer (probably limited to John Ottman from X2).

While it’s not exactly a common pairing, there are some very succesful writer-actors out there, including Jon Favreau (Swingers), Clark Gregg (What Lies Beneath) and Nia Vardalos (My Big Fat Greek Wedding). Recently, Madeline Stowe wrote a by-all-accounts-terrific Western for herself to star in, specifically because she was frustrated by the roles she was being offered. Or not offered, as the case may be.

You wrote a script for yourself to star in. Good. An agency wants to sign you. Even better. At some point. you’re going to have to tell them that this script is meant to be a starring vehicle for yourself. I’d argue to do it now. If the agency suddenly cools their interest in you, better that you know before you sign.

Incidentally, Larry, I’m assuming you wrote a script that’s realistic for your talents and star-wattage, like Ed Burns did when he wrote The Brothers McMullen. If you wrote a script that would be a $80-million action movie, you’re delusional if you think you’re really going to be the star. Sorry.

I've heard a lot about actors needing a relationship of trust with the director, and the context always seems to be in relation to a professional situation, rather than a personal. Can you elaborate on this a little? I'm a bit confused about where exactly "trust" comes into play in directing a performance. It sounds like it would be obvious, and I surely understand it from a personal standpoint, but when directing actors it eludes me what they're referring too.

--Jonathan

We directors have a difficult job; this is common knowledge. The actors have a very difficult job as well but it’s difficult in a different way. Actors have to emotionally expose themselves; they have to be vulnerable and open. They must do this not only in front of the director, but also in front of the crew and once the picture is seen, in front of the world. This is a very frightening process, one that begs for the trust of the director. The more an actor can trust a director, the more the director is able to help extract the emotion from the actor.

Too often I think people might look at acting like it is some kind of frivolous ego trip and an easy profession to stroll through whilst getting lots of money and glory. This is not true if we’re talking about good actors. Good actors reach deep within themselves and have a very difficult assignment when trying to pull off a role. Most of them that I’ve ever met need the director to hold onto for trust and support. They’re not all that way, but most are.

Some of the old-timers don’t want to hear anything from a director, as trust in themselves is enough.

What kinds of filters are used while shooting black & white film and does costume color selection play an important part in the process before shooting?
-Imran

First of all please understand that using colour filters for shooting black and white negative film does not work when you shoot Colour film and turn it to black and white later.

In essence a filter will lighten its own colour. In other words if you use a blue filter on a blue sky it will turn white: if you use a red filter it will turn black, or very dark. A red filter makes for impressive contrast and tends to lighten skin tones and make both foliage and sky very dark. Obviously reds costumes will become light in tone and green or blue costumes will turn dark.

If you are after a special look on a face, then you can experiment with colour filters and different kinds of make up and lipstick colours. These techniques were used to great effect in the old days of silent film and film noir. Yellow, Orange and red are the most commonly used filters. Each one will have its own exposure compensation – some requiring as much as 3 stops.

The above means that choice of costume and background colours are of great importance as you need to separate by tone and light and not by colour. This is why there tends to be more use of backlight when shooting in B/W. Black and White is to me the most beautiful use of film and it saddens me that there is so little opportunity to use it.

John August's screenwriting credits include Go, Big Fish, Titan A.E. and both Charlie's Angels movies. His current projects include Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Tarzan, and Corpse Bride. He also maintains a screenwriting-oriented website at johnaugust.com.

Born and raised in Boulder, Colorado, John earned a degree in journalism from Drake University in Iowa, and an MFA in film production from the Peter Stark program at the University of Southern California. He lives in Los Angeles.

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