A chemistry read (or chemistry test) is an opportunity for the producers, director, and studio/network to see what kind of chemistry you have (if any) with other actors being considered for a role opposite yours. Not all projects have chemistry reads—it’s largely dependent on the director or showrunner’s preference. It’s a way for the creative team to see if the actors have compatibility, comfort and feel like they “fit” together.
So how can you whip yourself up some in-room chemistry?
Well, you can’t. It’s going to be a natural connection or… not. But here are some things you can do to help harness a better connection with your scene partner:
⚡️ Allow yourself to be open. Open to direction, open to whatever choices your scene partner throws at you. Don’t resist, allow them to surprise you and react authentically.
⚡️ Focus on the partnership. Think of this as a joint audition, not 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 audition. Trying to place focus on yourself will take away from any amount of potential and authentic chemistry.
⚡️ 𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 be off book for this one. The goal is to lose yourself in your scene partner, not your sides.
You did the read. There were more sparks than the 4th of July. But no call…
𝕎𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕡𝕖𝕟𝕖𝕕?
Ultimately, it will be hard to pinpoint the exact reason(s) why but there could be a multitude of factors:
The actor reading opposite you had a stronger preference to someone else.
Even though you had chemistry, someone else’s essence won the director over.
Someone else physically embodied the character a little more.
Sometimes it’s so hard for us to choose, that we’ll go back and re-watch the tapes and go off a moment, an interesting beat, or an innovative way of handling a piece of dialogue.
𝗗𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁. 𝗧𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗷𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗲𝘆. 𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗴𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗹𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆 𝗮 𝗺𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁.
#themoreyouknow#TheCastingDirectorsCut#terminologytuesday