Term 1 classes complete week ending Saturday April 6 and Term 2 classes commence from Tuesday April 23, after the two week autumn semester break.
Term 1 was a challenging and productive term which saw students from all age groups and levels tackle some difficult scene work, with varying degrees of success. Comedy scenes are particularly difficult to play and a cleverly written two-hander scene from the school’s archives rehearsed and recorded during Term 1, proved the point; highlighted by the following story… As an old actor lay on his death bed, a fan from the nursing staff asked if he was afraid of dying. The old man laughed and said, “Dying is easy. Comedy is hard.” Sound advice indeed.
SCREEN ACTORS WORKSHOP 25th ANNIVERSARY!
July 2013 marks the 25th anniversary of our actor training facility and we will certainly be celebrating in style! The majority of small businesses fail within 18 months to 5 years of start-up, so turning 25 is a major milestone for any business. The school will be hosting a big party in July to celebrate our achievement – so stay tuned for the May-June Newsletter in which the date and time for the party will be posted.
And while on the subject of exciting news, the Screen Actors Workshop has been nominated as an Outstanding Educational Service finalist in the 2013 Australian Small Business Champion Awards. On the strength of our two wins in three years at the local small business awards, we were nominated for the Australian awards by the selection committee. Needless to say, we are thrilled to be selected as a national finalist for this prestigious award. The awards ceremony takes place in The Grand Ballroom of The Westin Hotel in Sydney on Saturday April 13. We’ll let you know how we fared in the May-June Newsletter. Fingers crossed!
UNTOLD STORIES
Due to the school’s sponsorship and involvement with the annual 24/7 Youth Film Festival, I was asked by Warringah council to be the professional film industry judge for the 8 finalist films in the innaugural Untold Stories documentary competition; which I was more than happy to be involved with. The Untold Stories project is a competition for budding filmmakers aged from 12 to 24 years and involves the archiving of life stories from selected Warringah shire senior citizens. The standard of the films ranged from average to exceptional. The winning Seniors team (18 to 24 years) and the recipients of the $1,000.00 first prize were Veronica and Sofia Szterenyiova for their film Verso Sisters. The second prize of $300.00 went to Michael Perry for his film Shirley Allbright’s Story. First place in the Juniors category and the $1,000.00 prize went to Harri Gilbert and Mathew Hoff for their brilliantly produced film Pamela’s Story. The cinematography and editing on Pamela’s Story was truly outstanding and Harri and Mathew are names to keep an eye out for. Second in the Juniors and the prize of $300.00 went to Tom Unger for his film Theresa’s Journey from Hungary.
ASK THE AGENT MASTERCLASS REVIEW
The Ask the Agent masterclass held on Sunday March 24 with tutor Roxann Husband was a very interesting and informative workshop. The attending students Paul Millett, Shannon Donaghey, Oscar Lin, Meredith Cox, Greg Newnham and Jodie Campbell gained valuable insight into discovering how to brand themselves, succeed at auditions, and sustain a long-term acting career. Many thanks to Roxann for a fun and value packed session.
Agent Roxann Husband instructing the students
WORLD PREMIERE SCREENING OF THE JUNGLE
The Jungle, the third film in director Andrew Traucki’s Three Colours Red trilogy (Blackwater; The Reef; The Jungle) premiered March 8 to an enthusiastic (and very scared!) audience at Fox Studios in Sydney. Andrew has proven to be an exceptionally skilled director within the horror genre and The Jungle is highly recommended for the many fans of his previous two films. Actor Agoes Soedjarwo’s wife Julie was so scared that she had to leave the cinema half way through the film! Whether her exit was from fear alone, or whether Julie couldn’t bear to see the fate awaiting her husband’s character, I couldn’t say for sure.
Actor Agoes Soedjarwo (4th from left in yellow tie) at the world premiere of The Jungle.
STUDENT NEWS
Well done to advanced adult student Brett Garland who has just completed two back-to-back acting gigs in a Choosi Insurance TVC and a training video for Sydney University on harassment in the workplace.
Advanced adult student Sam Smith is currently appearing in the popular play Jilted at the Sidetrack Theatre in Marrickville. Due to strong audience demand Jilted is now into its second run at the Sidetrack. It’s a must-see play, “guaranteed to make you laugh your socks off!” The fact that a buff Sam performs the play in his underwear will definitely appeal to female patrons (and, to keep things in perspective, some of the males in the audience too, I would imagine.)
Sam Smith performing (in his undies) in Jilted.
It was also a treat to see former student Kristin Gonzales performing in a high rotation CBA TVC as a young grandmother. Kristin’s facial expressions and physical performance were a real stand out in the comedic TVC. Well done.
HOLLYWOOD’S FAVOURITE ENERGY DRINK
Hollywood’s energy drink of choice, Mona Vie, has proved popular at the studio with two cases of cans sold in the past term. We were initially selling Mona Vie for $6.00 a can but due to the health drink company’s success with the Hollywood fraternity, Mona Vie Australia has kindly reduced the wholesale price to the studio – which now allows us to retail the healthy energy drink for $5.00 a can. The students who are already drinking Mona Vie are impressed with the natural boost in energy, focus and concentration that the drink supplies. In fact Mona Vie’s acai blend has all of the benefits of drinks such as Red Bull but with the added benefit of containing no chemicals or sugar. Try a can next time you’re in class. You’ll be impressed with the results.
A HANDY TIP FROM A HOLLYWOOD CASTING AGENT
CLASS SCENE DVDs
If you would like an edited copy of your on-camera scenes from Term 1, or from previous term’s work, then see me in class or shoot me an email and I’ll organise it for you. Class scene DVDs are $40.00 per terms work or the same price for a compilation of your favourite 5 scenes from your archived body of work.
Check out this heavy dramatic scene from Term 1, 2013 featuring Meredith Cox and Jodie Campbell. Meredith – a fun-loving mother of four in real life – nails the murderous psychopath role of Sturzmann in this impressive performance!
Have a safe and happy Easter and autumn semester break and I look forward to working with you again during Term 2.
Alan Nurthen
Director