Vancouver Actor's Guide Newsletter - February 2, 2015
Published: Mon, 02/02/15
INDUSTRY NEWS
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ANNOUNCES
SUPPORT TO BUILD CAPACITY OF BC’S CREATIVE INDUSTRIES
On January 23, the federal government announced $1.2 million in funding to Creative BC to build the capacity of British Columbia’s creative industries.
Business is booming in the Okanagan
film industry, and another film will begin shooting in the Valley next week. Unseen is an indie feature that has been shooting in Vancouver. The production will move up to West Kelowna and the North Westside for seven days.
HOLLYWOOD’S ‘BANK TO THE STARS’ SEES LONDON PUSH UNDER RBC
Royal Bank, Canada’s second-largest lender by assets, agreed to buy Los Angeles-based City National on January 22 for about $5.4 billion. The cash-and-stock deal offers City National the
opportunity to become “the premier entertainment bank in the English-speaking world,” with new beachheads in Vancouver, Toronto and ultimately the U.K.
Homegrown heartthrob Ryan Reynolds will be back in his old stomping grounds to resurrect his role as Deadpool, the character he played in X-Men Origins:
Wolverine.
PREMIER CHRISTY CLARK PROMISES BALANCED 2015 BUDGET
"This session is going to focus on supporting all those diverse sectors of our economy," Clark said. "Supporting film, supporting technology, supporting the forest industry and the mining
sector, and of course continuing to move forward on liquefied natural gas. It's going to be a range of initiatives."
DALLAS SUMMER MUSICALS' THE KING AND I CASTING CAUSES CONTROVERSY
While many in New York are looking forward to the upcoming Broadway revival of THE KING AND I starting rehearsals in the coming week, a controversial decision to cast a Caucasian actor as King
Mongkut in Dallas Summer Musicals' forthcoming production is generating the opposite response.
A Star Wars star attended a mayoral candidate’s re-election gala at city hall January 23. Well, sort of. That was Mark “Luke Skywalker” Hamill playing the bad guy on the set of The Flash, a
first-season hit TV series for the CW network.
UBC ALUMNUS BRENDAN TAYLOR HAS A CHANCE TO WIN $1,000,000
According to Taylor, Vancouver is “definitely a really great place to be” for anyone looking to start a career in film. Taylor entered the film industry upon
graduation, working in set decoration. He began to realize, however, that his real passion was not working behind the camera.
Don’t just throw everything you have on there. Leave them wanting more. People know in the first 30 seconds if they want to hire you. The best kind of footage to use is from a project that was shot well, with a 30-second
scene featuring you, that shows how you would be cast, and is current.
I see many actors making decisions based on what they have been told to do opposed to what their instincts tell them to do. When one of my actors books I ask what they think made that happen. Not once has someone said, “I just
got lucky,” or “I’m blessed.” The answer I get more than anything else is, “I stopped being afraid of being wrong and did what I wanted to do in the room.”
Agents serve many purposes. Just the act of having one validates you to the rest of the industry. It means someone known to the casting community has agreed to endorse your talent by signing you as a client. People will take you much
more seriously when you have representation.
5 DAYS + 3 INSTRUCTORS + 2 CASTING DIRECTOR WORKSHOPS = BIZ STUDIO SPRING BREAK FOR KIDS+TEENS
Biz Studio Spring Break Intensives are a chance for students to see the kind of progress they
can make when they are able to devote 100% to acting. Students spend three to four hours in class each day working on scenes, building confidence on-camera, having fun, and receiving expert feedback and support from Biz Studio instructors. Video from each class is posted online. Each week also features workshops with two local casting directors (TBA; because of their busy schedules we confirm week-of).
DIALECT COACHING | TONY ALCANTAR Hollywood producers trust Tony Alcantar with their stars: Oscar-winners Halle Berry, Billy-Bob Thornton plus A-list stars Stellan Skarsgard, Sam Rockwell, Joel Edgerton, Bob Odenkirk, Martin Freeman, Elizabeth Banks, etc. You can trust him too! Tony is Vancouver's #1 dialect coach, recommended by agents and casting directors. Learn with confidence the most requested dialects and accents required for the Vancouver
market. Book that role! Contact: 604-418-1192, tonyalcantar@icloud.com
VANCOUVER YOUNG ACTORS SCHOOL
Come join Vancouver Young Actors School in our upcoming term! VYAS is the elite training school for young professional actors in Canada. Our programs are committed to offering the most advanced form of training possible for young actors in a state of the art facility. We offer improv, on camera audition and Voice over classes for students from 4-17 years
old.
Our Spring term is filling up fast, please contact Lisa at 604 568 5449 for more information or to register.
Training an actor to work without self consciousness, to establish fluidity in truthful reaction, to bring his/her work alive through focusing on the present moment and to drop habitual behaviours which limit an
actor.
4 week Meisner technique training for professional actors. $175, Wednesday afternoon starts Feb 25, 2-4:30pm, Wednesday evening start March 4, 7pm - 9:30pm.
An introduction to working with Matthew and exploring his philosophy and practice. Freeing, eye-opening, and inspiring, the Foundry Intensive is the foundation of The Foundry. Through intensive focus exercises developed by Matthew Harrison, the actor is
drawn out, into what the Foundry calls being ‘vectors-out’, the natural place where the performer can live truthfully in the scene. Actors receive scenes and scene partners in advance, rehearse and fully prepare scenes, and apply the work to focal exercises, preparatory exploration, and scene presentation.
FULL TIME FILM ACTING
CONSERVATORY PROGRAM-ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS NOW
OUR ACTORS LEARN BY DOING. New Image College has one of the finest acting film acting programs in the country. We are a project based school. Our curriculum includes, Stunt Acting, Acting for T.V. and Film , Theatre, Text Analysis, Actors Movement, Voice. Our Core Acting Classes Methodologies are: Meisner, Stanislavsky, Chekhov, Moss, Cohen, Lewis, Adler, and Chubbuck. What makes our
program different is we produce both theatre and film. Everyone of our students are tested on a film set and on the theatre stage.
Dress to impress and come witness the premiere of the six 2015 Crazy8s short films -- made in
just eight days. The 2015 Crazy8s Gala Screening and Afterparty will take place at The Centre and Science World.
