Pedro Correa, Actor/Filmmaker: But I will say that technique and a lot of acting techniques
help so much in writing.
Film Courage: What are the steps to developing and building a character?
Pedro: I have an acting coach who told me this
thing I'll just give him a shout out Scott Sedita he has this thing called
woefram it's your want obstacle feeling relationship as if intention and moment before
that's it's a great way to start but the more the more I guess Pedro
style of creating a character I would say I would say the more Pedro style of creating character
in my opinion and my what I to do is I to listen to a lot of music that always helps I to
just I'll read a script and just say it out loud a million times just neutral
and then start thinking about other stuff people are calling me and and life kind of hugs
I guess fiction in that way where I'll start getting inspiration from wherever I am in
that moment for a character and just try things out and if I'm ever kind of in a rut I'll just
just do something I’ve never done before I doing that a lot when I'm working on a character
I started skydiving for this other role that had nothing to do with skydiving
at all he was just kind of an average guy that was okay at skateboarding
and I was I'm going to go skydiving and it gave me some inspiration for that and kind of gave me
got me out of myself really just getting yourself out of yourself is the most important thing for me
even if you're playing a version of yourself because I think that's what attracts me to acting
as a whole of getting to live these different lives so if you can do that in your normal life
that's even better and get some inspiration for a character then you're not even working at all
so you really want to skype skydiving yeah no I actually love skydiving I got halfway through
my license and then 2020 happened ah now I need to go redo it but I love skydiving
so you go up in a plane and then you have a a spotter or a coach or something that goes
down with you or oh so for your well it's funny actually the first time you go skydiving it's
just you're not attached to anyone or anything so that was kind of new when I showed up I was
oh so you're just going already it's been a six seven hour class that's a good amount of time but
we're doing it now and you just go with with another person and he kind
of gives you hand signals to what you should do straighten out your legs or widen your arms
but that was the coolest experience to me and that's that's kind of what I realized
as cool about skateboarding or anything pushing yourself your boundaries is that after I got back
from skydiving I had an audition I think the next day I walked in I did not care at all at all I
still did the work I cared about the opportunity but any anxiety that was in the room was just I
almost died yesterday but then I pulled the chute and I didn't die and now here I am nothing matters
but it's it's a really weirdly spiritual thing in that way to face your own mortality
and challenge yourself in that way because I think you realize what's important in
your life really quick and also you just take a deep breath and you're I'm alive
and then you landed and you said I want to try this again and then I did it
six more times seven more times it was awesome one time the shoot didn't open which is really crazy
it happens it's not super common but you do have a backup shoot but it's not very good and also once
the shoot doesn't open or gets caught which was what happened I pulled it nothing came out and
I was you're supposed to count to I think six or seven seconds and if nothing happens after that
you're supposed to pull again it cuts it and that's a scary thing because you're I hope the
other one's in there so I was pulled it nothing happened I was okay one two three four it comes
up the chute pulls but then it gets twisted and so it's this big just a wad of parachute five six
seven and I'm pulling the strings doing all the things you need to do eight nine and I'm all right
I'm waiting too long and I was just about to cut it and then I pulled it open it caught me it was
well that was crazy it was really crazy and so after that happens you really open up to other
opportunities oh please but I haven't been in a while and that's why I think it's important to do
those things on a regular basis maybe it doesn't need to be skydiving maybe it's I don't know
calling someone you're really anxious about calling or you haven't talked to in years
whatever it may be for you I think that's an important thing to reset yourself or kind of
humble yourself with have you ever given a talk in front of a large audience or done live theater
I did some theater in in high school but I wasn't I'm kind of jealous of theater kids
I feel so many people in la are theater kids and I love shakespeare and all this stuff and I'm
I don't know it at all I I don't even really watch so much theater it's not that I don't it
but it's just I movies birdman yeah yeah watching a movie about theater I'm there
but but it's a different muscle for sure I do it for that reason but I also don't get to
see pretty images and cuts and sound design as as much in theater as you do in movies and that's
when I really realized I'm a filmmaker when I was oh but in theater you don't get to cut two or
go back there's people do some crazy things in theater but it's not the same what so
that's why I movies tv shows are cool too but I really movies
that's true because tv shows some of them are filmed in front of a live audience so you could
oh that's true there's some sitcoms right I just met some other guy on a movie I was doing who
is the king at that he was the funniest guy ever and I was that's why you're used to playing for
the camera and then playing for the audience we're talking in a group of people I'm you're not only
entertaining me you're also entertaining the six other people around here and I'm I admire that
I'm going to go take a photo of this bush over here and put music behind it
tell me again the woe moment so it's called the woe frame and this is a hundred percent Scott
Sedita's technique he's he's awesome there's lots of different variants of it but he teaches you
woeframe which is your want in the scene what do you want the scene your obstacle in the
scene what can't you get the feelings you're feeling throughout the scene they may change
the relationship you have with the characters you're in the scene with you're as if which is
what how is this similar to a moment in my life your intentions you can go line by line I intend
to punish you or whatever it may be and then your moment before so that's the moment before
the scene even happens what was your character doing and to me that was my freshman year and
acting oh now I know how to act I had taken many classes before that but it was a good just jump
start to be when in doubt you have that now I make up all my own stuff but every once in a while go
back and be pick little techniques that out from from that technique wow frame woah for your life
shout out to Scott shout out to Scott awesome were there moments do you think that you incorporated
that into it sounds with every role it's just in you but but for my dead dad were there moments
where you're what I really have to go back to that maybe it was too personal or whatever it was
I think so I think so it's funny because I never I never consciously do it anymore I never
Scott always makes you write it on the side of your paper and write it out which is good
for the memory just to write but I'll always subconsciously do it if I'm oh even I just
said I don't use it I'm doing it all the time just without ever thinking about it
but I will say that technique and a lot of acting techniques help so much in writing I learned
so much about writing by being an acting class there was probably a year or two maybe two years
or at least the solid year where I was consciously in acting class working my muscle as an actor sure
but also literally just translating everything to how I could use that in the script how I could
reverse engineer that from a performer's standpoint and be okay what is the moment
before the scene what is the what is the want in this thing the scene doesn't have any want but
should we even have this scene in the movie probably not there's nothing happening here
so it's been super helpful being an actor and and using those acting powers on writing in a way.