#hot-seating

Did some hot-seating for Lyall Baywatch (which seems like a redundant way to start a post with that title, but hey).

My character is head lifeguard Blake Forrest, a man with deep convictions haunted by his dark past. Sometimes I struggle to connect physically with my characters, so for this session I tried something a bit different. Every time someone mentioned the past, I would look out to "sea". This helped tie me to the space, but also slowed me down and gave me something to hold focus while I brooded. I had to do very little to say a lot.

Last-minute connection problems aside, I think everyone had a good time last night. Everyone who sat really got into it and the questions asked were great without my hamfisted attempts to moderate, to be honest.

I'd love to know how helpful the people who sat found it. In my class, we were hotseating characters that we'd already read extracts about, so we had a rough idea of the questions the writer had already thought about and answered in the story. Last night, we mostly didn't know the characters at all, and I was worried that the questions asked were more the sorts of things that the writer didn't really have to think about before answering for the character.

so like I've had an idea guys

in my writing class we have sometimes done an exercise called hot-seating. One person takes a chair and chooses a character from their story, the other people can then ask questions to the person as if they were that character. (you don't HAVE to answer questions but you have to at least try)

It's usually very useful because you never know what people are going to ask. The answers you think of often surprise you and sometimes the questions you wouldn't have thought of are the ones which tell you the most about the character.

I was thinking, since lots of us are writing stories, or RP characters, etc. we could do the same thing in a livestream? For OCs or canon characters, for whatever stories we're working on.

This is a process to get into character, which I haven't used for a long, long time. I think the last time I used it was during a Scene Work session more than one year ago. However, I really really do like this process, as it is especially useful for getting into a character who is different from myself.

Most actors find it difficult to get out of their own skins and into another character. Hence, they end up playing themselves again, and again, in project after project. This is something I well understand, because I have faced this issue as well.

I find hot-seating to be useful, as an actor gets to slowly ease into character.

For those who might not know this process: Basically the actor takes on the character. Then others in the group (other actors, or the director perhaps) question him based on his character's life, or what his character is going through, then he answers as his character. E.g. Who do you love the most in your life right now?

This process can go on for about ten minutes. And it helps to guide the actor to think and behave as the character, to feel as the character. You, as an actor, need to have your back story, given circumstances, opinions all prepared beforehand. However, when unexpected questions come your way, and you answer as the character, you yourself may be surprised at the answers which come out on the fly.