Directing Audiobooks:

What difference does it make?
by Paul Ruben

Please indulge an audiobook director for a moment. Read this article's title aloud as if you were recording it. Okay, go ahead. Take one.

"Directing audiobooks: What difference does it make?!"

Hmmm. Okay. Your intonation was a little flat, and your pace a bit fast. Sounded sorta half question, half statement. . . like you're not really sure about audiobook directing. Lemme hear your point of view. And remember you need to perform, not just read the words. Okay, you're rolling. Take two.

"Directing audiobooks: What difference does it make!"

Good. Better energy; nice pace. But I'm still not hearing your point of view as the storyteller. So, take three.

"Directing audiobooks: What DIFFERENCE does it make!!!"

Wow, that was interesting. I guess I know what you think of audiobook directors, huh!

Listeners who have never witnessed an actor and director at work on an audiobook may well wonder what contribution, if any, the audiobook director makes to an actor's performance. I hope my answers to this question will illuminate two propositions: first, that a director's skills are indeed relevant to the essence of audiobook narration, which is storytelling; and second, that a director's specific "performance tools" enable good actors to become better storytellers.

Director's rule #1 Read the text in advance. Know the story and the characters so that you can assist the actor with interpretation.

Director's rule #2 Become the actor's co-conspirator. Collaboration inherently breeds trust and confidence, enabling the actor to "hear" the director as he or she assists with text interpretation.

So, how do you actually direct actors? Even ones as famous and accomplished as, say, Lynn Redgrave? First, recite the director's mantra: Audiobooks are an actor's medium. Repeat: Audiobooks are an actor's medium. Unlike directing a film or even a play, there's nothing monumental an audiobook director can do to assert his or her imprint on the production. You serve the actor. Remember that, and good actors will respect you.

Director's rule #3 Only offer actable direction, because that's all the actor can act.

Last year I produced and directed Lynn Redgrave (one of this planet's foremost actors) in Robin Pilcher's romance novel, STARTING OVER. And, because Ms. Redgrave is the quintessential actor (meaning she's grounded in theatrical tradition and training as opposed to being a TV personality), she responded positively to any direction that was "actable."

What does "actable" mean? Actors can act (or perform) only one thing: emotion. They can't act intellect. Or ideas. Or what happened to the character last Wednesday. Offer an actor a non-actable direction and they'll think you're well-meaning, maybe, but no director. The not-so-sweet actors may treat you like an idiot. So, Ms. Redgrave reads a line. (I take a breath. I call her "Lynn." She smiles. Whew, I live.) "Lynn, I think this character's feeling more enthusiastic."

"Hmmm," muses Lynn. "OK."

Take two: Lynn masterfully executes my direction and I feel like a genius.

So, what if Lynn disagreed with me (as she sometimes did) and said, "Actually, Paul, I think maybe less enthusiastic?" We'd collaborate, find an agreeable and "actable" solution, and move on. However, this does beg the larger question: How do you know if your direction is correct in the first place?

Directing is an art, not a science. That said, if you know what's going on in the scene, you and your actor/ collaborator will probably draw conclusions consistent with the author's. Specifically how you accomplish this with the actor suggests the next Director's rule.

Director's rule #4 Bring your director's tool kit to every session.

Your director's kit consists of two compartments, which I label "organic" and "technical." Each includes a variety of appropriate directing tools that can stimulate, even inspire, actors to increase their creative choices. (Caveat: Directing tools are only as good as the actors on which they are used.)

Enter Simon Jones, who, like many of the talented storytellers I've recorded, responds intuitively and with unmatched capability to tools in both compartments.

Organic direction goes to the heart of the characters' motivations and emotions by drawing from the actor's own emotional reservoir. I might say, "Hey Simon, I think maybe the character's more nervous than you're playing him."

Simon nods. Intuitively, he recalls that sense of nervousness from past experience. And, like magic, he re-creates it.

Technical direction finds another way to skin the cat by asking the actor to employ vocal technique (as opposed to emotional recall) to influence performance.

An actor's pacing (literally, the rhythm of the words) can be altered vocally. If I say, "Hey, Simon, let's make the character more empathetic here," simply by slowing his pace, Simon increases listeners' empathy for the character. And, again, like magic, the entire performance is transmuted.

Other technical directions, such as affecting a stage whisper to create mood, or pausing for dramatic or comic effect, can also significantly heighten a given moment or scene.

While some audiobooks are performed without a director, I'll go out on a limb: Ask any good narrator, and he or she will tell you that the collaborative effort with a good director opens the door for more creative choices, which can produce a richer, more compelling performance. And who are the beneficiaries? Not only the actor, the director, the author, and the publisher. . . but the listener! And that's the real story!--Paul Ruben

Paul Ruben has been an independent audiobook producer/director for 15 years. He's worked for most major audiobook publishers.

[To read more about directing audiobooks, see the complete feature article in the December/January issue ofAudioFile. Subscribe Now! ]

December 2003/January 2004
(c)2003 AudioFile Publications, Inc.