Let’s face it, cast mates and crew members in each production you’ll work on in your career will be different in some shape, way or form. Some directors will want you to act word for word in alignment to the shooting script. Some will allow you to ad-lib some parts of your character thereby providing the natural flair tailored to your personality. Some will allow you to improvise the entire character as long as the original intent of the character is not changed. Whatever the case is, there’s no right or wrong answer here.

If improvisational acting is allowed at some point and if you feel like there is negative pressure, don’t. I get that it’s easier said than done, but the ease increases with consistent practice working with different cast mates and crew members in different environments. Make sure if there is pressure, it’s for the right reasons in ensuring you give a strong performance and not because you’re insecure about improvising. Some Actors love improvising because of how flexible and free you can be, whereas some do not prefer it because they’re held too tightly to the script. If you fall into the latter option, just know that your choices on camera have increased chances of you being more in touch with your natural self when you improvise.

Personally, I love acting of all kinds (using the script and improvising). The point is if I have to improvise on-camera, I’m not intimidated to do so, as my self-consciousness is exponentially decreased.