This past July, members of the SAG-AFTRA union for actors and media professionals joined the Writers Guild of America in going on strike for higher wages and fairer contracts. This was the first time since 1960 when both unions banded together and went on strike simultaneously. The headlines in the news about both unions urged me to explore the similarities between writers and actors. It sparked my motivation to research even more parallels in basic writing and acting techniques.

William Zinsser in On Writing Well says good writing is produced with “confidence, enjoyment, intention, integrity” (Zinsser 2016, p. xi). Ironically, these are some of the essential principals of basic acting. Just as a writer must communicate their intention with confidence and enjoyment, actors must identify the intention of every sentence they speak and find the confidence, enjoyment, and integrity to present it.

The Comparison

• Intention: Konstantin Stanislavski, one of the greatest founders of the method acting technique identified that finding appropriate intentions and motivations are the keys to successful acting (Stanislavski 1917, p. 240). Finding a character’s intention and why they say certain things or make certain choices in the context of a play makes an actor more realistic. This is also true in writing technique. Whether an author is writing from their own voice or writing through a character’s voice, intention is the key to communicating a clear message and tone.
• Audience: When writing, Zinsser talks about speaking to your audience in your own style and voice. The authenticity of writing to an audience in your own voice in an enjoyable way will more successfully engage the audience (Zinsser 2016, p. 25). Similarly, in acting technique, finding an authentic way to portray a character will result in the most realistic character portrayal. An audience wants to watch an actor’s interpretation of a character, not an copy or imitation. An inauthentic portrayal of a character will come across as phony to an audience by an actor or writer.
• Action: In writing technique, Zinsser points out that active verbs “activate your sentences” (Zinsser 2016, p. 68). He urges writers not to use dull verbs that do not provide color or action to illuminate a noun. Marina Calderone created an entire acting technique based on active verbs and how they can help actors find active objectives in their lines. “Finding the right action is an essential part of the process of preparation for the actor. Using this thesaurus of active verbs, the actor can refine the action-word until s/he hits exactly the right one to help make the action come alive.” (Calderone 2017). Using action words in writing and acting make the material more interesting and captivating to an audience.
• Voice: Zinsser warns writers not to alter their voice to fit a subject but rather to be authentic in their own voice without cliches and fluff (Zinsser 2016, p. 241). He also encourages writers to draw on their own backgrounds and use their past to find their own voice by “writing about what you know” (Zinsser 2016, p. 133). Similarly, Stanislavski’s acting technique teaches actors to draw upon their own emotional recollections as research to create a realistic situation and experience for their characters.

The Takeaway

As the negotiations of the SAG and WGA unions came to an agreement this month, we all hopefully have a newfound sense of appreciation for both art forms. Whether you choose a night out at the theatre or a cozy night in with a novel, we are all looking to connect with a piece of content and escape into someone else’s story. The end goal of both is to transport, speak to, and connect with the audience. After all, if writing is storytelling and acting is telling that story aloud, the important part is the story being shared, regardless of the medium.

Citations:

Caldarone, M., & Lloyd-Williams, M. (2017). Actions: The Actors’ Thesaurus ([edition unavailable]). Nick Hern Books. Retrieved from https://www.perlego.com/book/1420850/actions-the-actors-thesaurus-pdf (Original work published 2017)

Stanislavski, K., & Hapgood, E. R. (2022). An actor prepares. Albatross Publishers.

Zinsser, W. (2016). On writing well. Harper Paperbacks.