Hi Everyone, Welcome to 2010.

It’s going to be a tough (so I’m told) but great year. Although several shows were cancelled last year new shows are being developed and will get the green light very soon. It appears Melbourne may well have a second cop show on Channel 7. The Nine Network are also developing a new cop show I’m led to believe. There’ll be more Cop Shows on air than possible crooks to catch. City Homicide will continue with a new producer and therefore a change on many levels. KELLY O’SHEA has been appointed new Casting Director and will be working in-house at 7.

We have already booked Kelly for the National Actors Intensive in January in Melbourne and for the first Ultimate Screentest Courses in Melb and Sydney. Gold Coast will then follow. 2009 ended very well with several more screentests. NATALIE STEPHENSON, currently in Canada with her parents, who is on hold for one of the major roles in Bad Behaviour, a new feature being shot in Queensland. Hopefully it’ll all work out for her.

TAFTA STUDENT PROFILE: CAL REIN

This is a new segment that will be a part of our newsletters where we profile one of our successful students.

It’s going to be a great beginning of the year for CAL REIN who’ll be shooting a guest role on Neighbours when production resumes later this month. He auditioned successfully just before the Christmas break. Cal has done very well since he came back to Australia late last year from LA, where amongst other things he played the lead baddie in Jean-Claude van Damme’s Eagle path. Late last year he guest starred in Blue Blood directed by Fiona Banks.

Cal was born in Traralgon, Victoria. He came to Tafta when we opened on the Gold Coast in 1996 and spent two years studying with us. He has appeared in Shadows in Paradise, Dead End Falls and the Vanquisher in the US just prior to Eagle Path. In Australia, before going over to the US he appeared in Neighbours(twice), Shark Bay, Stingers, Blue Heelers and Mission Impossible. He will be returning to the US in Feb for Pilot Season. Good Luck Cal. Let’s hope something really big happens.

EMOTIONS #1

Emotion: (N) strong feeling: excitement: a mental and bodily reaction (as anger, joy, disgust, fear, distress etc) marked by strong feeling and psychological responses that prepare the body for action - Websters Dictionary
 
This is an 8 week course comprising of one session per week @ 3 hrs per session.
Expression of the emotions at will is one of the most powerful and important tools an actor can possess.

“The basic emotions are hardwired, etched into our neural circuitry by our genes rather than by our culture, part of the basic mental design that is common to us all. They are universal and innate. They are of rapid onset and last a few seconds at a time”

This course is designed to help you understand the various emotions and through their understanding (and what stimulates them), find the keys to their expression. Not just once, but time and time again, depending on the number of set-ups and takes. Feel confident that you can express any emotion at any time for however long it’s necessary.

Expression of emotions, simply, sincerely, where you are entirely in control, is what this course is designed to help you with.
 

COURSE COMMENCES: MON 25TH JAN 2010
TIME: 7:00PM - 10:00PM

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CHOICES & ALTERNATIVES

This course deals with the special nature of screentesting and the approach to screentest scenes, however does not limit itself to screentests only, but is a thorough and exhaustive approach to scenework on screen. This is an 8 week course comprising of one session per week @ 3 hrs per session.

This course is not for the beginner, but for those that have had some professional experience or have completed advanced courses in acting for the screen or have been involved in the Ultimate Screentest Courses at TAFTA. This course is about the choices and alternatives that might exist in any screentest scene.

Is there an ultimate, perfect choice? If so, should you place all your eggs in that basket or should you thoroughly explore all the other possibilities that might exist and if so, just how thoroughly? How do you find those other alternatives? What to look for? How far removed is the final performance from the screentest? How does any new Choice you make impact on every single moment of the scene? Intensity, pace, emotion, truth, character – with choices and alternatives.

The final session will focus on cold reads – the problems they pose, how to solve them and how to be at almost performance level in a very short time.
 
COURSE COMMENCES: WEDS 27TH JAN 2010
TIME: 7:00PM - 10:00PM

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OTHER COURSES & WORKSHOP DATES

Mon 25th Jan - Elements of Screen Performance #1 (Beginners Course)
Mon 25th Jan - TV Serial (Tullamarine)
Wed 27th Jan - Elements of Screen Performance #1 (Tullamarine)
Thurs 28th Jan - Screen Scenework
Thurs 28th Jan - Improv – US Style (Tullamarine)
Tues 2nd Feb - Emotions #2
Sat 27th Feb - Ultimate Screentest Course #2
Sun 7th Mar - Ultimate Directors Workshop
Sat 27th Mar - Ultimate Screentest Course #3