The 20% of Acting that Gets 80% of Your Results

Who knew some ancient economist's obsession with peas would save my hide when I started graduate school?

Intrigued?

I thought you might be.

Vilfredo Pareto discovered that 80% of results come from 20% of the inputs by studying the plants in his garden (among other things). I became aware of the Pareto's Law (aka The 80/20 Principle) just before I started graduate school in a magical book called "The 4-Hour Workweek" by Tim Ferriss.

(There's also another book that digs deeper into the subject appropriately named "The 80/20 Principle" by Richard Koch.)

This principle is present everything from pea pod procreation to wealth distribution.

On a personal note, you may notice that 20% (or less) of your friends/associates account for 80% of your happiness. So in theory if you wanted to be more happy you should spend 80% of your time with those select people who bring you joy.

This rocked my world when I started to view the world through the lens of this idea.

When pondered my acting career with this principle in mind I immediately noticed that only about 10% of my bookings accounted for 95% of my income!

This ultimately led me ask:

What's the 20% of preparing a part for the stage that would net me 80% of my results?

The only thing that I could think of applied to most ever actor whether you were Brad Pitt, or an eight year in her first community theater role was that every actor...

...had to know their lines.

Unless you're an improv performer, or Marlon Brando, memorizing your lines well is non-negotiable.

You gotta' know the words that are supposed to be coming out of your mouth! You got to know them cold!

I like what David Mamet has to say on the subject:

"Here, again, is your job; learn the lines, find a simple objective like that indicated by the author, speak the lines clearly in an attempt to achieve that objective."

Most of what we do here at "Off-Booked" hinges on that statement, but I digress.

When I made this 80/20 discovering I decided to put it to the test. I decided that I would spend 80% of my preparation time outside of rehearsal memorizing lines -- just memorizing lines.

I began this experiment when I got cast as Richard III in the play by the same name. My man Slick Ricky 3 talks A LOT!

I started memorizing lines as soon as I got the script, and I started showing up to rehearsal off-book.

By starting the rehearsal process not holding script I found that I was able to really soar and make some really cool character choices. Moreover, because I so thoroughly downloaded the character into my psyche, I downloaded the character as well.

Plus the state of Flow that comes with truly mastering your lines is unparallel.

Hitting those cues with precise comedic timing. Nailing those massive soliloquys word for word. That was what really helped me to feel "in the moment."

Think of it this way; you can't run a piece of software on your computer until you download it. The script is the program of the actor. Until you have mastered the script you can't make the machine that is the play work for you. The character is "encoded" in the script. Know the script well and you'll know your role!

The Takeaways:

• The Pareto Principle (aka the 80/20 Principle) indicates that 80% of your results come from 20% of your inputs

• By doing more of the actions that get you more return on investment of energy you should get higher quality results

• In the craft of stage acting knowing one's lines is the "20%" that gets your 80% of your results in performance.

• Spending the majority of your non-rehearsal time mastering lines will dramatically improve your ability to perform