Screenwriting : Writing v. acting... which is harder? by Simon King

As a writer, that's not what I would say. Both have to be capable of dealing with an tsunami of rejection. But if someone pointed a finger at me and said, "Now cry!" I'm pretty sure I couldn't. Nor could I take on an English accent at the drop of a hat, or convince the world I'm a gay hair dresser, or a hedonistic doctor. I write the words. A good actor can breathe life into them and take them to a transcendent place that didn't exist on paper - I've seen it happen. When I see what good actors can bring, and what it took to hone that skill, I never think what they do is easier than what I do. Just my opinion.

I've done performance poetry, and trust me, performing is so much harder. But then, I'm a writer.

I think it depends on you. For a writer, acting is harder. For an actor, writing is probably harder. Now, if you ask someone who does both, that'd be fascinating!

Yep! Writing has to speak for itself, you don't need to meet the writer. Actors have to be met, got on with and bring all they are on to the set to do the job. Personality can help open doors but not if you never get to experience it. I think Alda has a point.

I took acting classes at ADA... just to see for myself, what acting was about, I was jolly good at improvisation lols....

IMHO Acting can be fun and challenging, and nearly insane when dealing with producers/directors/other actors who do not jive with your style or will not budge in the slightest. Writing can happen any time, in any place, but refining a written piece and completing a story (with the essential beginning, middle, end, and stinger) and finding someone who would help you bring life to those words is a challenge greater than anything else. Both writing and acting have their challenges. Both have different obstacles and can be great or horrible. As a writer, I know that my work satisfies me, and am learning that I need to focus more on what AUDIENCE I wish to read and potentially perform the work. My method is to start writing, keep going until I feel I am done, then to leave it aside and live life a bit before brushing it off and refining it, rewriting it, editing the hell out of it, and then seeing if those changes have made it better. After all that, I find I must think of the audience I wish to read it. Then I have to rewrite some of it to suit that target audience. As an actor, I must read the lines, read the entire script, memorize the words, get to know the other characters, the setting, the moments of emotional strength and weakness, and work with others who may see something glaringly obvious that I am unaware of, in order to make the words come to life, to make the performance better, to bring out the core feelings and desires of both the writer and the audience.

I can't act. At all. so acting is MUCH harder for me than writing.

The best performances, the most noteworthy actors of all time have been some of the weakest actors and worst performances, until the director took the actor by his or her strings and showed how the performance could be improved, bringing a merger of visions and interpretations into some of the greatest moments in film/stage history.

Best example: Look at Tom Cruise. His greatest moments, his best character performances have been when he lets his ego fall and submits to the script as written, follows his director in every aspect of the scenes, and stops being the smart-ass, smiling, better-than-everyone Tom Cruise that eliminates the character written in the script. For him, there are "Tom Cruise" vehicles, and then there are films starring Tom Cruise. The difference is obvious to anyone who watches some of his best stuff versus some of his most egotistical hero on steroids crap. It's the difference between an Actor in a Role versus a Superstar flaunting his ego above and beyond the character he was cast to portray.

Having watched the DVD Xtras on Blade Runner, Harrison ford was left alone to get on with everything himself. Over night shoots, soaking wet most of the time, lots of attention given to the actress playing Rachel . . . not a happy place or easy for him but it resulted in a great performance! Rutger Hauer went off the script to enhance that memorable 'time to die' speech at the end too, improvising it a lot himself. Sometimes its great to have the director share his vision with you and let you loose to do your thing and fly as an actor within those and the characters parameters. The script is the key to it all, the vital split pin that holds it altogether even when the bolts get loosened off. One director I have had the extreme pleasure to work with who gives you this space and makes all his actors glow with structure, a clear vision, freedom and with confidence in your personal ability is Andy Wilson.

In the end, it's all about who has the best instincts to bring the performance to its pinnacle of greatness or the worst instincts which lead the written word to its pit of complete disillusion.

Acting: Say your lines and try not to bump into any furniture. Writing: Making up lines that don't cause the actor to bump into the furniture. ;)