To open the July-August newsletter, some matter-of-fact advice from Kevin Spacey and Leonardo DiCaprio
Term 2 has been very busy indeed and our students have been working hard on their acting and craft skills, resulting in some powerful performances over the past ten weeks of classes.
Term Dates
Term 2 completes week ending Saturday 1 July – with Term 3 classes commencing from Tuesday 18 July.
It would be appreciated if all students returning for Term 3 post a $50 deposit to secure their nominated class position. This puts “your money where your mouth is” so to speak, and leaves you with less to pay when classes return.
New Weekday Class
Due to demand, we are starting a new weekday class next term to accommodate shift workers, housewives, aspiring actors and any other adults who prefer a daytime class during the week.
The new class commences on Wednesday 19 July and runs from 11-30 am to 2 pm.
Kids Film Acting Workshop Review
The screening and presentation of completion certificates for the April holidays Children’s workshop on Friday 2 June was a great success and the six raw recruits (none of whom had any previous acting experience) turned in energetic performances and had heaps of fun acting in the short film, The Old Castle.
Well done to the young cast of Dani Bradicich, Taj Whitley, Allegra Bruchet, Max Whitley, Ernie Hart and Zachary French. Well done kids!
Advanced Screen Craft Master Class Review
The Advanced Screen Craft master class tutored by award-winning producer-director Bill Hughes proved to be so popular that we ran it twice, in May, and again in June.
The highly educational and fun workshop was a hit with the students and everyone involved learned a great deal about the craft and performance aspects of acting for television.
Congratulations to the May master class participants Andrea Bornstein, Ivana Covic, Orla Hughes, Emily Angell, Michelle King, Jess Reid, Zena Mehanna, Molly Donnelly and Simon Busuttil; along with the June workshop participants (pictured below L to R) Saroni Roy, Shailla Quadra, Claire Trussell, Mikaela Dive, Megan Roggiero, tutor Bill Hughes, Meredith Cox, Josh Armitage, Samantha Dickinson, Jess Grosbard and Shannon Donaghey.
Well done and well learned to the participating students.
We look forward to running Bill’s course again in the not-too-distant future for those students who missed out this time around.
Film Acting Techniques Master Class
Next up on the Master Class Program is the Film Acting Techniques master class. This popular course which produced the short film Cold Dinner for One the last time it was held in January is limited to six teen/adult participants and covers the important technique and screen craft involved in creating an ongoing and engaging role.
Contact Us for further info and a course flyer.
Student News
The school’s students have been popping up all over the place in television drama, TVC’s and films to the point where it’s becoming difficult to keep up with everyone and their current professional appearances.
One performance in a Northern Beaches Council recycling video led to graduate Meredith Cox also being featured in a print advertising campaign in the June editions of Peninsular Living and Pittwater Life magazines.
After the Northern Beaches Council video, the producers Laundry Lane Productions again hired Meredith – along with students Mikaela Dive, Simon Busuttil, Jess Grosbard, Lakshay Dhiman, David McCredie, Claudia Borsini, Frances Cooney, Kael Leak and Melissa McCredie – for roles in a NSW State Transport Safety video.
The producers were extremely happy with the results, saying “every actor was talented and enthusiastic and that made our job so much easier.”
Well done!
Featured Student
Our new Featured Student section kicked off last newsletter with a profile on 2006 graduate Aileen Beale. In this newsletter we profile master class student, actor-producer-director Shailla Quadra.
Call her forward or call her cleverly proactive, but whichever way you look at it Shailla Quadra is a dynamic promoter of her artistic ambitions and considerable talent.
Shailla not only directed her first feature film, Love Socks, but played the lead role of Frederica. She also produced and edited the film.
Shailla with actor Tommy Flanagan (Braveheart, Gladiator, Sons of Anarchy) at the 2015 New York premiere of Love Socks.
But that’s not the end of the story for this talented go-getter, who has appeared in over 50 features and short films, written a book of short stories and monologues for actors, and is a founder of the Sydney Indie Film Festival.
Phew, now that’s what I call a solid resume – and there’s no hint of Shailla slowing down anytime soon!
Class Scene DVD’s/USB’s
If you would like your past term’s scenes edited on DVD or USB then contact me and I’ll organize it for you. Class scene DVDs/USB’s are $50-00 per term’s scenes and are an excellent means of improving your craft via further home study.