“Laaannnnddd yawr point!” Bobby Lewis would call out to us from his chair during scene
study class.
Sunken into his faded blue jean jacket, with his bald head, round face, squinty eyes and
wire rimmed glasses, Bobby looked like a little Buddha, one of the last living legends from the days of The Group Theatre and a cantankerous, brilliant, forthright teacher.
Even in his eighties, he was full of spunk. He taught us many great tricks of the trade, but
one I remember above all others: “Land your point.”
Born and raised in Brooklyn, Bobby still carried a distinct New York accent and his
comments came booming across the room: “Yaw’re moving toooo quickly! Laaand yawr point!”
In a film or theatre scene, your “intention” as a given character might be to threaten, warn,
humor, encourage, punish or seduce the other character. You must deliver your lines so that they have the intended effect, much like “changing the look behind the other person’s eyes.”
An analogy I often use is that of the tennis ball machine, which continues to toss one ball
out after the next regardless of whether those balls are actually being received.
We all have seen speakers who continue to talk past the point of understanding or interest
from the audience. And we’ve all been subject to the sales person who spews information,
pontificating about their service or product in such a way that it causes the prospect to tune out.
When I went looking for a color printer a few years ago, I stopped into a technology store
to see if by chance they had the HP 2840. This was the salesman’s response: “HP? We’ve got the HP LaserJet M1522 and the LaserJet 3600 Printer series right over here. Great machines. I sell a ton of them. The CP3505 here is terrific also, and if you’re interested, we just got the new Panasonics and Samsungs…”
Not only did I not get my question answered; I was bombarded with a slew of tennis balls.
It took a few more attempts on my part just to get the truth — did he or did he not have the
HP2840? The answer in the end was “no” (surprise, surprise). The salesman thought he did a
fantastic job informing me of other products. Key data point: I didn’t care.
Be sure to land your point before tossing out the next ball. And be sure the tennis ball
you’re tossing is the one that was requested.