Happy new year to our students, their families, our  staff and  associates!

Have a happy, creative and successful 2016!

To kick off the current newsletter and the new year, a heads-up from actors Jack Nicholson and Gary Oldman

Advice from two of the greats. Gary Oldman hits the nail on the head regarding the space between the words being as equally important as the words themselves. While Susan Sarandon’s thumbnail-picture quote on the newsletter header says it all about the lifelong benefits of learning how to act.

And on that note, the staff and I are looking forward to commencing classes again from Australia Day, January 26.

Please Note: The 26th is a public holiday but we don’t observe holidays during term and the Junior class commences on that date.

A busy and exciting year lays ahead!

Happy Halloween Post-Production Update

I’m halfway through editing the November master class film Happy Halloween and the film is looking good. The talented and experienced cast of Meredith Cox, Robyn Millar, Jess Reid, Sam Picello, Sophie Richardson and Keltan O’Shea made the most of their respective roles and delivered strong, naturalistic performances.

Cover photo for Happy Halloween DVD slick

The film is now unfortunately stalled halfway through post-production due to the editor VTR requiring new video heads. The machine is currently with the school’s video tech awaiting a new set of heads from Japan. As soon as the editor VTR is up and running again then I will complete the film.

It was disappointing to have the machine go down as the story is up to the part where the cast enter the castle – and the fun really begins!

Children’s Film Acting Workshop

The children’s film acting workshop (held from Monday January 11 to Thursday January 14) was a fun four days spent working with a keen cast of young students.

The kids learned a great deal about the filmmaking process and after recording the final setup, I quizzed them on the important things we covered during the course. They answered every question correctly and with great enthusiasm.

The workshop produced the short film Witches Castle, which (no pun intended) like Happy Halloween, will be a lot of fun to edit.

It was a fun and productive four days working with these happy and creative little rascals.

Student News

2015 was a very successful year for Screen Actors Workshop students and alumni – and 2016 looks like being another big one for the school and our students.

Many of our students found ongoing success last year, and for the most committed students their success is continuing into the new year.

Jemma Eggins (stage name Jemma Jane) found fame in New York playing the lead of Olive Neal in Woody Allen’s musical Bullets Over Broadway. After a highly successful and critically lauded sold-out season in the Big Apple, Bullets is  now on the road and touring all major cities across the USA. After touring the East Coast the show has now opened in L.A. to rave reviews.

On the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, BJ O’Neill received rave reviews  in London for the play he wrote and directed, Torn Apart (Dissolution.)

On the home front, Alli Peters and Mona Bagherpour both scored roles in award-winning short films, and producer Sam Smith’s short film Banana Boy, was selected for the Screen NSW Emerging Filmmakers Fund.

Sisters Katerine-Ann and Emma-Jane MacKinnon-Lee performed the roles of Sarah and Mandy in the popular Peter Andrikidis directed film Alex and Eve.

Tom Danger’s first feature film Lead Me Astray, starring alumni Logan Webster as the antagonist Alpha premiered to a large supportive audience at the Cremorne Orpheum Theatre in October; and Logan is currently directing his first feature, an as yet unnamed comedy-horror film.

I even got into the act myself, playing the bad guy Josefa the Intoner in director Greg Perano’s second feature film Prufrock & Co – along with fifteen of my top students playing roles as varied as my three generals and other assorted male and female warriors from Josefa and Prufrock’s armies 

Josefa addressing his younger inexperienced warriors prior to their first battle with Prufrock’s army

The above selection is representative of the quality and the diversity of work undertaken by our students in 2015 and I’m proud to have contributed toward each individual’s success.

Here’s to ongoing success in 2016 for all those who worked diligently last year to overcome the odds and obstacles to achieve their dreams.

And for those striving to achieve success, the best advice I can give is to study and work hard and take advantage of any opportunity that comes your way.

TV Series on DVD

Entourage (USA: 2004 – 2011) Creator and showrunner Doug Ellin. Starring Kevin Connolly, Adrian Grenier, Kevin Dillon, Jerry Ferrara, Jeremy Piven, Debi Mazar.

Entourage is a comedy-drama series that ran for eight seasons on American network HBO from 2004 to 2011. The series chronicles the acting career of Vincent Chase (Grenier), a young A-list movie star, and his childhood friends from Queens, New York City, as they navigate the unfamiliar terrain of Los Angeles.

Mark Wahlberg is one of the shows two executive producers and the shows premise is loosely based on Wahlberg’s experiences as an up-and-coming film star.

The series deals with themes of male friendships and real-life situations in modern day Hollywood. The show is also know for its array of famous guests, featuring actors, directors, athletes and other celebrities in guest star and cameo roles, often playing fictionalized versions of themselves. Wahlberg himself makes numerous appearances.

The fact that the series was recorded over a seven year period allows for in-depth development of character and story arcs as Vince and his entourage grow from young lads into grown men under the guidance of Hollywood super agent Ari Gold (Jeremy Piven.) Piven’s energetic and manic portrayal of Gold is an acting master class in itself and a joy to behold.

Entourage is definitely worth your time.

Class Scene DVDs

If you would like an edited copy of your past terms scenes, or previous term’s scenes on DVD, then see me in class or drop me an email and I will organize it for you once the edit suite is up and running again.

Class scene DVDs are $50-00 per term’s on-camera scenes and are a highly beneficial means of improving your work via further home study.

To wrap up the current newsletter, I’d like to welcome back our ongoing students for another ten week term of on-camera workshops and to extend a warm welcome to the new students commencing classes with us this term.

2016 is going to be another big year for the school and I’m looking forward to the commencement of classes from January 26.

Alan Nurthen Director