Am I the Drama? Why Writers Should Take Acting Classes

Being a writer is a different kind of profession that comes with its own set of “perks.” You can do your work from a coffeeshop or in your bed, and both are equally valid. You can go to the movies “for research,” and no one bats an eye. You can wave off any Google search, no matter how weird or gross, as “this is for a script.”

But being a writer also means you’re often alone, in your own thoughts. You’re not on a stage, saying the words you wrote. You’re not necessarily observing the world the way an actor might. You’re not tapping into those emotional states of being that are necessary to make your words spring from the page and come alive.

Which is why, if you’re a writer, you should take some acting classes.

Yes, yes. How positively annoying to hear, right? You’re trying to hone this craft, not that one. You’re a wallflower. You have a lisp. (If so, hi! Me, too!) You don’t belong on a stage or in front of a camera. In fact, that’s why you chose this, to hide behind your words, dammit!

Yet taking acting classes doesn’t mean you’re suddenly shifting your entire career strategy. It simply means you’re adding another tool to your toolbox. Think of taking an acting class.

Here’s a bunch of other reasons you should enroll in acting classes if you’re a writer:

Your dialogue will improve. Knowing whether your dialogue is working requires your dialogue being read out loud and acted out. You need to see whether your scenes are working by putting them on their feet.

Okay, you might be thinking, I’ll just stage a workshop. Well, sure. But it’s a lot faster to learn how to write good dialogue by performing it naturally and out loud yourself. If you learn those skills, then you can try out your dialogue literally anywhere, all the time, until you’re happy with your lines.

Your ability to sharpen your dialogue will improve. Perhaps this comes from doing a billion years of improv, but improv specifically will help you craft better dialogue because you are forced to come up with the scene in the moment. There is no script. You have to think through things like justification (“why is this character doing or saying this?”) right then and there, allowing you to get out of your own way a little and react to what’s happening. You know, like an actor would in your scenes on set.

Why does a character want this? What motivates them? Why are they doing this thing in that way and not that way? These are the questions actors ask themselves, and they’re the questions you’ll learn to ask yourself when you’re writing every line.

You will discover new talent and/or collaborators waiting in the wings. How exactly do you find the next person to be the lead at your table read? In those acting classes, natch! Having access to a stable of performers ready and willing to read your stuff, act in your short film, or offer ideas on what a character might say or do is crucial to succeeding in this business.

They want the practice, and you need the voices.

If they’re not absolute jerks or egomaniacs (or not insanely busy), they’ll likely be happy to help. And being in the trenches together solidifies the bond that becomes a working relationship down the line.

Plus, you genuinely never know who you might meet. Robert Towne of Chinatown fame wrote the script with Jack Nicholson in mind. Guess where they met? Acting class.

You will get out of your own mind and into your body. One of the lesser discussed issues with writing is how mental it is. Acting classes are designed to get you out of your head so that you are responding naturally. Yes, it involves a lot of weird stuff. “Now you’re a tiger!” “Sit on that chair and pretend it’s a block of ice.” Whatever you imagine it is, it probably is. But that’s what happens when you need to look inward and find your emotional center.

Actors have to know how to tap into fear, rage, despair, or lust at a moment’s notice. This requires letting go of your guard and dropping your inhibitions. That’s extremely uncomfortable! However, we’re all working towards sharing our collective consciousness with the greater world, which means we have to feel our way through those moments. By practicing the art of accessing your vulnerable soft insides, you can find it faster on the page.

You will learn how to apply notes faster. When an acting teacher is giving you notes, it’s essentially a director giving you notes. And guess what? Writing is all about taking notes from, but not limited to, directors, producers, managers, agents, money people, and yes, other actors.

Bringing your vision to life requires a delicate balance of cooperation and confidence. So, getting out of your own way and accepting notes gets you to that pitch, that sale, that script page being taken at face value more quickly.

A LOT of other writers have done this. If all you do is try to bang out scripts and watch movies or TV, you’re not really living, ya know? Your job as a writer is to pull from your life and the lives of others, including experiences you’ve never lived, and apply those to the stories you write. Maybe that’s why Townsend did this. And Aaron Sorkin. And Quentin Tarantino. And Tina Fey, Donald Glover, David Mirkin, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Larry David, Emma Thompson, and many more.

This is not new info, folks. It’s just tried-and-true advice that’ll help you get where you want to be faster and let you (hopefully!) have fun in the process.

In the words of Sheldon Bull, an industry mainstay and my first TV writing teacher: “Even if you have no aspirations to be an actor, an acting class can be invaluable to a writer. Even if you just audit the class and never do any acting yourself … the more you understand the acting process, the better your writing will be.”

New year, new you. Start memorizing your lines and learn your marks. When it’s over, you’ll see just how much you’ve improved as a writer—and then you can get back to writing crackling dialogue under the covers, just as God intended.

*Feature image by Cristina Conti (Adobe)