Running a Studio – Becoming a Better Actor for Film and Video

Some actors are good at one-person shows.  Others invent Troupes – comedy, Shakespearean, street, dance, dramatic etc.

What to create depends upon one’s talents . . . and the talents of others that surround one.  And occasionally a little luck really helps.

An opportunity arose where I could work in a small active studio, specializing in teaching/introducing students to both the technical side and the acting side for the Film/Video industry.  The Studio was also actively producing corporate training videos, short documentaries and television commercials.

The luck came in that no other person applied for the job as advertised!

First day on the job brought a big surprise.  I was hired to perform jobs from janitorial to what ever was needed i.e. the studio “go-fer”.  Great job – little if any responsibility – on the big up side I could watch everything in the studio and learn by asking questions for knowledge.

However the acting teacher didn’t show and they had paid-up students.  Surprise, they wanted me to teach acting: “You’re a teacher, college lecturer, learn acting, study-up and get on with it.  They’ll be here two weeks Monday.”

Yes I’d taken numerous acting courses, mostly weekends.   I’d shot TV commercials and been on numerous film and video sets over the years.  Yes I feel confident in front of a class – because I was always well versed in the subject – passing on theory and experience.   But teach acting with two weeks preparation time was another challenge!

I wanted to work in the studio.  Opportunity doesn’t knock often.  That first day I asked time to go to the nearest film related bookstore in Vancouver – where I purchased books in the following areas of filming: Script Writing, Script Supervising and Film Continuity, Film and Video Budgets, Film Scheduling, Financing, Deal Making, Director’s Team, Running a Film Studio

I went home and studied every waking hour of the next two weeks like it was final exams when you haven’t studied all year.  It is amazing how much one remembers when it is a subject one enjoys reading about and studying.

When day one came I felt ready to talk about the film industry . . . but then what .