The bonus scene has a "behind the scenes" discussion at the start. Rich: "It's not like any models ever rehearse shit on their own time." Jasmine: "I'm a model, not an actress."
This fits in with a wider issue: if you're making a short film with actors then you'd expect them to learn the lines in advance, but if you're making a WAM custom with models then they basically need to be fed every line (or do improv). That said, I think it's fair to pay people to learn lines, rehearse, etc. rather than expecting them to do it as a freebie when they're off-duty, but they still need to have a good enough memory to learn several pages of dialogue.
I guess this raises a question: is it easier to find actors/actresses who are willing to get messy, or to find WAM models who can learn lines?
This is purely hypothetical, I've not hired any models or actresses/actors myself so cannot say for certain.
I think most people who get into this are going to be models. I don't think it would be impossible to find actors who would be up for it but you're looking at a very different talent pool and the likelihood is that most would turn down the role.
There are some WAM models who are great actors, others who are really into the improv, and a lot who quite frankly don't need to do much more than stand there and look beautiful for a video to sell.
A lot of it also depends on the client, the producer, whether it's a custom scene etc.
It varies from scene to scene for me, but if I'm doing a proper gameshow custom with a producer, I do script either certain key lines, or, if it's designed to "trap" a victim (consenting model, I mean victim within the fictional scene), a whole exchange. I don't go mad and make these *too* long or involved, as you say, it's hardly fair to ask people to spend much time rehearsing these things with everything else going on, and I'm a fairly good judge of what's about right.
Leia and Poppy acted a whole exchange and set-up brilliantly, but another thing I've found works well - using CustomWam as an example - is giving the host specific lines (that they can have on a clipboard in scene) but then letting the other person improvise answers, as long as they know the general area we're playing in. That can give a good natural result - Charlotte and Casey did this excellently on my first MW custom.
Some models are truly excellent actors though - Star Nine is brilliant, and adept at writing her own scripts as well. I would cast her in a legit drama in a heartbeat, but what's great about her is she knows when to push the OTT reactions too. Tina Lee Comet & Cadence Lux did a non-WAM custom for me last year, and were similarly great, working only off a scene plan from me.
So it's a fluid area, but I think you *can* do proper scripting and get great results with some producers.