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New discovery: you can get an approximately 35% better performance from an inexperienced day player by stripping away all the exclamation points & question marks from their scenes. You can add another 15% improvement if you include "calmly" as a parenthetical to their dialogue.
In my experience, an inexperienced actor or actress will almost always try to do too much: put too much spin on the words and/or declare their lines to the entire set instead of speaking them to another character.
Most of this is in the director's hands, but as a writer on set you can help create conditions where the inexperienced actor has a better chance to succeed.
Trim a word or line if it's giving them problems. Or, add a line if they're having trouble giving the desired nonverbal response (you can always take out the line in the edit and keep the moment before or after saying it).
If the inexperienced actor or actress says the line slightly different than how it's scripted but it doesn't make it any worse, I'll often simply change the line to how they're saying it. I'll often let the actor/actress know that I like the adjustment.
I think this does two small things: 1) it let's them focus on being present in the scene and not fixate on getting the line exactly right (I'd much rather have a good performance than a perfect replication of a line); 2) it also tells them to relax and trust their instincts.
This is also why I like to sit in for as many auditions as possible, even for the smallest of roles: it's the first time to see lines in action. If there are words/lines/moments that don't work in multiple auditions, maybe the script is the problem. You now have time to adjust.
I also think one of the most important things a writer-producer does is setting the tone for scenes. If you can sit with the director during auditions and discuss the purpose of lines/scenes during that process, you're also communicating to the director the tone of the episode.
I tend to have long tone meetings with directors. And err on the side of maybe over-communicating during the prep process. But I'd much much rather spend a few extra hours during prep getting on folks' nerves...
... if that means when we're actually filming on set I can be more hands off because the director already knows how the scene should feel and the script itself is giving even an inexperienced cast member the best possible conditions for success.
