Yara Shahidi Quotes

I like to improvise.

I used to be very rigid because I just wanted to get through it. Now, if I think a scene should go a certain way and it goes another, I'm able to go that new way with ease.

I'm convinced to do improv. All you have to do is listen to what people are saying to you, and then just add more information to what they've just said. That's all there is to improv, but it's the hardest thing to do.

Sometimes you don't want to get married too much to a lot of rehearsing, I feel, when it comes to film, because there's so many technicalities. So if I'm in my head, I've gotten settled on something, I'm gonna have to change it if I get there and something was set that's completely different.

I film quite a bit of footage, then edit. Changes before your eyes, things you can do and things you can't. My attitude is always 'let it keep rolling.'

You can't always go by the book, even in comedy.

With improv, it's a combination of listening and not trying to be funny.

I never try and do the same show, ever. The audience controls the dynamic of the shows. Sometimes they listen, and sometimes they ask a million questions.

You've gotta leave enough space for your actors to bring stuff to the table and whatever the weather's doing that day or what the light's like. Things can shift, and you have to be malleable. Every day is a different feeling and a change.

I like to leave things open, and even when I write out the story ahead of time, it always changes. I don't think I would finish anything if I was sticking to a plan that was very rigid.

I like to leave a little room to innovate and change things around while I'm working.

From Kelsey, I have learned among many other things the value of turning on a dime and how you can have an extremely funny and extremely poignant moment with absolutely no separation in between... and sometimes in the same moment.

I just go with the flow, so any style can be in my music - that makes it exciting.

As I get older, I'm trying to accept improvisation into my day-to-day living.

The thing about improvisation is that it's not about what you say. It's listening to what other people say. It's about what you hear.

Part of being an actor is letting things come about organically as opposed to forcing them.

I like to think that we've got a plan, so let's stick to it. That said, once we've stuck to it, we're allowed as much improvisation as anyone cares to indulge themselves in.

Do I have a long-term plan? Kind of. I have a general direction, I think. But it's funny what comes down the pike.

I allow an area for improvisation because the chemical things actors bring to stories make it not work.

I'm not somebody who plans. There were times I planned a lot in my life, and it never turns out how you plan it. So I think it's important not to. I'm a very spontaneous person.

My directing style has changed over the years. I allow things to breathe a lot more.

A good director's not sure when he gets on the set what he's going to do.

I use a Bruce Lee technique: 'The way of no way.' He had the idea that he would learn everything, so that whoever he had to fight, he could improvise anything. The best way of starting a gig is just to not think of anything - to clear your mind, not in an empty Zen state, but more just to go on and see where you go.

My whole life has been one big improvisation.

I am very much a seat-of-the-pants actor. I will prepare when I have to. But I like being unprepared.