1. In general, would you recommend the MA acting for screen program at Central?
For the most part, yes. I would absoloutely do it again, but there were some places that I felt it could be a lot better
2. What were you looking for out of the course & did you get it?
From a technical/skill standpoint, then for the most point yes. In terms of employability as an actor after the course, not necessarily.
3. Did the program prepare you for the real world? Did you get a nice reel out of it?
I have heard of other courses which set you up better for the "real world" in terms of setting up businesses, finding work which is potentially well paid but still conducive to being an actor. There were warning signs provided by the school that seeking work as an actor is tough regardless of your perceived ability or background, but I feel there is a change I didn't pay enough attention or respect to them. I believe you've already seen my reel, which I feel was a great reel and did some good things for me in the years after RCSSD, I've since updated it as it's good not to have an old one stagnate for too long. I did however do it myself as you can tell by the scruffy editing!
This is the RCSSD one:
This is the RCSSD one:
And this is my updated one, of my own editing:
4. After the program, did the school help with getting work, setting you up with agents, etc.?
Not really. There were a couple of showcase nights where short scenes or short films we were involved with were shown in the main auditorium and agents were invited, but few if any actually showed. Once third term had wrapped up or even as early as mid-third term, we felt largely on our own. There were a few girls in the class who really did their research regarding agents and made lists for people, organized glossy headshot photo printing. At the time it was still common place to mail them out directly to agents, though whether or not that has changed, I'm not sure. I didn't get a good agent until mid 2018 after being hussled by one who I paid to join (don't ask)
5. I believe I saw that you didn't study acting in Uni prior to going to Central (I also did not), did you find that hindered you in any way?
Yes and no. I did feel that those who had studied acting prior to the masters had a bit of a head start and for me the three strongest students were all BA Drama etc. graduates from other institutions, so I definitely felt green. I do believe that you will get up to speed quickly if you put the work in. You can also read some books and try exercises out ahead of time.
6. How were the teachers and did they have a large amount of real life experience (were they working professionals)?
A mixed bag. Amanda Brennan is the head tutor and I think she is great at her job for the most part, although at times seemed to pick favourites. She is fairly insightful and intelligent and has a lot of experience coaching high level actors (I believe she prepped Andrew Garfield and helped him get the spider-man role) along with working as a writer and director Armen Gregory is fantastic as well for his script analysis and dynamic style of teaching, he is for sure a student favourite. Jo Shah's class on representation within acting felt very much like an academic necessity for the course to receive MA creditation but it didn't feel particularly useful as an actor and she relied on YouTube lectures from other people. Dave Nolan is one of the movement coaches and has worked as a special action extra (I believe) on shows like Vikings. Whilst I got on fairly well with him, there were some people who took issue with his style of teaching. He shared the responsibilities with Anna (whose surname I forget), I liked some of the things I learned in that class, but I am still unconvinced on its usefulness overall. I would recommend you look up Feldenkrais as these activities are used extensively in the first term. In the second term things I enjoyed more like Laban techniue came in to play. I am unsure who is coaching voice right now as the teacher at the time was suffering from some health issues. Keir Burrows taught some of the camera techniue classes, he is more of a director but has made award winning feature films. The dance instructor, Paul was the same genetleman who choreographed all sorts of dance scenes - including the Harry Potter wand fight scenes. He is a little harsh at times, but he recognizes when people put the work in. He commended me for my efforts of going from one of the worst dancers to being one of the better ones, purely because I'd put so much work in. Praise where priase is due is nice.
7. How was the workload in the school? How were classes? In classes were you writing papers or more getting on your feet and working/filming?
The workload for the first term is intense and the second term is relatively intense as well. You have 4 days of 9-6 timetabled hours as a bare minimum but you may have agreed times to meet up with other students, work on projects, practice dancing, line running, writing etc. We were almost always on our feet, though occasionally we sat down for some voice work. The classes are almost always active, save for Jo Shah's class which is about 2-3 hours long. Most of the essay writing you do is on your own time.
8. Did you also get a taste of other aspects of filmmaking (writing, directing, editing, producing, etc.)?
Yes, though as with many things it all depended on how much time you were going to put into it. You were shown the editing suite and Adobe Premiere Pro but typically if you were in a group with an experienced editor (there were a few in our class) they were able to handle that. You aren't coached that much on any of these other skills, so having a rudimentary understanding of these things would help. Each semester has moments where you will be working on projects, roles of directing/editing/writing are shared out. Enthusiasm without being controlling will go a long way.
9. More importantly, did you like it?
Well I would definitely do it again, so I would say yes. I've been lucky to have stayed in contact with some of the students on my course and consider myself very good friends with them. From what I gather the course has improved with regards to the number of short films you make and who the outside director/producer/writers are for those. In the second/third term I was cast in a short film that school funds had been given to the writer/director to write roles which suited us as students. He then decided somewhere in the second/third term to change the role entirely and found I was no longer what he wanted and brought in a past student of the course who suited it better (much smaller build, younger face, almost natural nervousness to him) this and a couple of other things did put a little bit of bad taste in my mouth, but again overall I was happy enough.
10. Anything else you'd love to add!
There is so much you can do to prepare for the auditions and for the course itself. I would recommend you take the 21 Day Self Tape Challenge (Purocasting) as it is pretty cheap for a lot of lessons in working with scripts and doing monologues to camera. I would also recommend you try chi gong - a martial art a lot like Tai Chi which Amanda uses as her warm up. Check out Chekov's techniues. Maybe get Amanda's Energetic Performer. Look up Feldenkrais Download Celtx as it's a free script formatting program if you want to write scripts. DaVinci Resolve is a free Video Editing software suite, maybe not as good as Adobe Premiere Pro, but great for free and worth learning how to use if you want to get involved with editing. If you haven't got headshots, maybe hold off until you have the list of recommendations (Yazzmin might know this) and get them done in London. Obviously make sure you know your lines for the monologues, work hard do your preperation, make a character, make clear choices whilst observing stillness, all that good stuff! Figure out your funding in advance, I should have taken a part time job sooner, though who knows what the economic climate is going to be like after COVID is deemed less of a threat than it currently is.
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