To kick off, here’s a quote from one of the greats…
Says it all from a master of the art…
Hopefully Marlon would be impressed with our students hard work this year, as the final two terms of 2014 particularly have seen some inspired and outstanding performances recorded.
It’s been a creative year for the school and we’re looking forward to an ever bigger 2015!
Term Dates
Term 4 completes on Saturday December 13
Term 1, 2015 commences from Tuesday 27 January
Prufrock and Company
Over the weekend of 25 and 26 October, seven of the school’s students, along with myself, spent a weekend at Glen Davis in The Garden of Stone National Park, performing in director Greg Perano’s second feature film, Prufrock and Co.
The Garden of Stone National Park
Greg was impressed with the attitude and professionalism of the students and said Prufrock and Co was a better film thanks to our contribution. Well done to Paul Millett, Laura Tate and Tony Dreise who played my battlefield generals Soren, Markita and Roman; while I played Hussar leader, Josefa the Intoner.
Logan Webster, Kerry Housea, Victor Poliansky and Vera Polianskaia played Cossack warriors.
Logan, Tony and Paul on location at Glen Davis
Laura, Kerry, Logan and Tony
Storming the barricades: A production still from Prufrock and Co.
It proved to be a physically taxing weekend, what with all of the battle scenes and action sequences, but well worth the effort for all involved: At our school, we don’t just take our students on excursions to observe working film sets, we become an integral part of the production!
An invaluable experience for all concerned. Well done.
TVS – Support Community Television
Community television provides a valuable service to the community, screening films, documentaries and short films to a broad audience demographic.
Along with federal government cuts to the ABC and SBS, community television is also under threat.
I’ll hand it over to my old mate Nigel Honeybone to fill you in with the details…
High Time
Production wrapped Sunday November 30 on the Film Acting Master Class, High Time.
The theme of the film is medical marijuana and the story takes place over a single weekend. Well-to-do conservative mother and wife, Sarah (Laura Tate) and her teenage daughters Katie (Jess Grosbard) and Ellie (Samantha Picello) are over the moon at the news that her husband, and the girls father, Brad, is in remission. His cancer has all but disappeared. Sarah, however, gets the shock of her life when she discovers that Brad’s miraculous improvement is due to her brother John (Trevor Shipton) and his girlfriend Jade (Juvahn Victoria) who have been producing and supplying Brad with medical marijuana.
The performances are outstanding and I can’t wait to start editing the film after the summer holidays.
Jess, Laura and Samantha taking directions before shooting another block of Scene 4
Jess, Laura and Samantha performing a block from Scene 4
Thanks again to my talented cast for their strong and nuanced performances. You knocked it out of the park!
Keep an eye out for High Time next year – for along with the extremely successful 2014 film, The Pedder File – we’re hoping for a run of screenings on the TVS program Anthology of Interest along with the award winning short film program Dark Carnival (Foxtel channel 183)
Student News
Congratulations to Paul Swain and Allira Peters for signing with talent agent Roxann Husband at Roxy’s Mob Talent Management. Paul and Allira have worked hard to secure a good agent and they are – along with some of the school’s other advanced-level students – in very capable hands with Roxy managing their careers.
Former police officer Lance Rice has been expanding his acting resume in a big way with roles in numerous television drama series, including Puberty Blues, Old School, and A Place to Call Home. Well done Lance – you play a good cop (obviously) but also a very effective villain!
Sonya Plummer has also been getting her fair share of work, but in Sonya’s case, in television commercials. Sonya has featured in numerous TVCs this year and is becoming an in-demand actor. Keep up the good work Sonya!
Note on Christmas Party
Occasionally during Christmas season over the past 27 years, we’ve been too busy to organise a party.
This is one of those years unfortunately; as during the current term we’ve been helping with logistics and supplying actors for Greg Perano’s film, adding additional classes to cater for demand, and writing and producing the short film, High Time.
My wife Vera and I are also heading to South Africa on 14 December for three weeks over Christmas/New Year, staying with my eldest son, his wife, and our two new grand children – whom we’ve only communicated with via Skype and seen in home videos and photos.
… As a proud grandpa, I couldn’t help posting a pic
While we are overseas all general enquiries can be directed to Ksenia in the office on 9913 3995 or at the studio on 0433 55 1416 and she will be happy to assist you.
I will be online while in Africa, so feel free to email me at alan@screenactorsworkshop.com.au for bookings or more information on classes and courses.
Films on DVD
We’ve been so busy this term I haven’t had a chance to review any new films either.
However, there’s a wealth of quality viewing on our Newsletters Archive page (in the Films on DVD section of each newsletter.)
There are plenty of films and series mentioned – so no excuse for a lack of holiday viewing!
Remember: The more you see, the more you learn.
Class Scene DVDs
If you would like an edited copy of your past term’s scenes on DVD then see me in class before we break for the holidays or email me and I will organize it for you.
Class scene DVD’s are $40 per term’s scenes and a they are a beneficial means of improving your performance and technique via further home study.
Check out this scene from Term 4, featuring strong and naturalistic performances from Logan Webster and Ali Woodall (*Scene contains Adult Themes)
2014 has been a very successful year for the school and our students and we look forward to outdoing ourselves in 2015!
A big Thank You to our students for your support and contribution during the past year. It has been greatly appreciated and I look forward to working with you again next year.
Have a very Merry Christmas and a creative and fulfilling 2015!
Alan Nurthen (Director)