FILM WORKOUT

Bob McAndrew, former talent coach at 20th Century Fox and Paramount studios, has developed the Actor's Film Workout to produce breakthroughs for actors both at auditions and on the set. In the following paragraphs, Bob describes his philosophy and objectives for his on-camera gym.

Good film and television actors will tell you that they work very hard to make it look easy. What these actors don't tell you is that they are masters of technique. A master is simply someone who knows. The dictionary defines technique as "The systematic procedure by which a complex task is accomplished." Well, this sounds correct when we apply it to acting. The great acting teachers of the 20th century including Stanislavski, Strasberg, Adler and Meisner all taught technique. Each had a system or a method. You may ask why. When you have technique you know what you're playing at any given moment. When you know the rules of any game you have more fun playing that game. Robert DeNiro told me that his favorite director was Elia Kazan. "Kazan put me on a track, a track with boundaries, yet I was free to improvise within those boundaries." Often actors are afraid of technique. They have this idea that it's going to restrict or hold them down. It's just the opposite. Freedom and technique go hand in hand.

Misconceptions about Film and Television Acting

The biggest misconception is this business of energy. Actors will tell you that you have to "take it down;" that film acting is about being yourself; that it's casual or natural. This is nonsense. Acting is never about being yourself. It's about using yourself to create whatever the role demands. Regarding energy, I like what Dirk Bogarde said: "You must feed the camera take after take and hopefully when you see the rushes the next day, you'll be proud of at least one great moment that you had."

Learn by doing and do it right the first time

The class has a dual function. It prepares you to audition with confidence and to perform in front of a camera with excellence. You will learn to do it right the first time because you don't get a second chance out there. When you audition for casting directors you must hit a home run. If you don't you won't get a callback.

This class parallels the real world. You have one shot at the scene or the cold reading. You come to class fully prepared; exactly the way you would if you were working professionally. We shoot the scene that day or evening and view it at the end of class. You are on camera every class either performing a memorized scene from a quality film or television script, or you are breaking a scene down that you will cold read during the class.

You learn by doing, by using the techniques over and over until you own them. At the end of this course you'll be on your way to mastery.