The phrase “what’s my motivation” is a joke in the theater world. I remember rehearsing for a production of Alice in Wonderland when the actor playing the (very minor) role of the Cook, when told to cross the stage when the Duchess enters, yelled out “What’s my motivation” to the director. We all burst into laughter.

That’s because the line has become a cliché—mostly spoken by “method” actors who seem pretentious or precious when they ask the question, especially if they have small parts. These actors are supposed to work out the character’s inner thoughts by themselves.

This isn’t always true of film actors who are in scenes filmed out of order and have never seen the whole script. Film and TV actors are only provided “sides”—the snippet of script where they appear. So they really don’t know that their love interest was beheaded in the previous scene or the king has just announced they’re to be knighted.

But whether they work it out for themselves, or refer to the script or the director, the truth is that all these actors need to know what their characters want in this particular scene.

Writers need to know that about all their characters as well.