- The table read is an informal reading of a script.
Now before I jump into a recording session,
I like to hear the dialog and character interaction
to make sure the script is as strong as possible.
This isn't always possible to do,
but every time I've done it, I got to tell ya,
my scripts have gotten stronger.
As the producer or director,
you should not be one of the voices.
You need to be paying to how the script sounds
and be making notes.
Each actor is assigned one or two voices,
and one person reads all the scene descriptions.
Then if someone stumbles with a line during the readings,
maybe it needs to be edited.
Maybe you can work it out right then and there.
As actors start to riff, let me tell you,
sometimes they come up with some really great
extra funny material.
What you might also find,
it's not even if they're stumbling on things,
but sometimes as they get into characters,
something doesn't feel right for that character.
It's amazing when you hear a character saying something,
especially with a good actor who's really into it.
It makes a huge difference.
So you might actually go away
and everything sounded good to them,
but you might get some ideas and go away and make it better.
Sometimes you can get a group of actors together
if they're your friends for little or no cost.
But I got to tell you, it always helps
to bribe them with food.
Order a pizza, have some chicken wings, whatever.
People will do almost anything for food.
It's kind of like t-shirts.
Some scriptwriting groups will perform
amateur table reads for each other.
I was a member of one, and it was great.
There weren't any actors involved.
These are all scriptwriters.
We would get together once a month,
and we would read portions of each other's scripts.
Generally they wouldn't be long ones.
We'd do a few every time we had a meeting.
It was really great, again, to be working on your script
and to hear how your characters sound.
You can check around in our area
to see if you have any local scriptwriting groups.
Just ask any other writers or, again, Google search.
At the of the reading, talk about your script,
and ask for thoughts.
You're going to get a lot of thoughts.
You won't make every change that's suggested, obviously,
but you will often get some really great ideas
that'll only make your script stronger.