Authority.

In the movie business you, as an actor, don’t have authority.

The authority comes from the producers. ‘He who pays the piper calls the tune.’

How do you keep your quality, dignity, and high level of excellence? 

There are very few movie stars who can dictate what a movie is about and how it is made. The production companies even control the movie stars.

The question of authority is very much on the agenda today. In the political sphere who has the authority? To whom do you look to for authority? In some instances it is the leader of the country, or a religious leader such as an imam, rabbi or priest, or it could be your parents, even someone you idolize in entertainment, sports, science or elsewhere, or it could be your agent or manager. 

Within the film community where do you find authority? From the American Film Institute, Entertainment Tonight, Screen Actor’s Guild, Canadian Film Centre, Toronto International Film Festival, IMDB, Alliance of Canadian Cinema, and Radio Artists, Variety magazine?

On movie sets you still have authority coming from the director and through a system of authority that is still pretty much in place. The First AD has a specific authority etc.

That is calming. 

When on set you know who will give you the orders. There is no chaos. Even if you know that the show-runner told the director what change they wanted, at least it’s still the director who gives you, the actor, the direction. 

That is following norms. An example of authority in place.

The same applies in acting class. There it is the acting coach who has the authority. Again, this allows for a calmness as all the participants know that the proceedings will be carried out in an orderly fashion and follow professional actor-training protocol. 

When the authority is clear - the works flows.