The New Approach: Commercial
On-Camera Acting, Audition Technique, & Career Building Strategies for TV Commercials
Saturdays, 12:00pm – Taught by casting director/producer Nancy Scanlon – Starts June 6th, 2009
$250 per 4-week module (or $600 for the complete 12-week package)
Television commercial work can be incredibly lucrative, so it’s important for an actor to be smart about how their commercial work and ultimately how their career is approached. In this twelve-week program, the focus will not only pertain to preparing the actor for each audition, but also how an actor can best market themselves for the job. Using archetypes and the individual’s personality, students will learn how to bring themselves uniquely to each commercial audition, so that their "brand” gains value as they stand out from the competition. All class work is on-camera, and an in-depth exploration of career building strategies will begin every class. Marketing topics include how to get an agent, how to get called-in by casting directors, what producers and directors want, when to join the union, the all-important pictures, and much more.
This comprehensive commercial program is offered for a total of twelve weeks, divided into three 4-week modules. Students may sign-up for all three modules at a package rate. Teacher Nancy Scanlon will guide students through topics which include, but are not limited to, the following:
On-Camera Discipline (Be Authentic Using Your Archetypes and Own Personality)
Psychology Behind All Commercials
Spokesperson Spots
Dialogue Spots
Improvisations
Reading Copy
Story Boards
Slice of Life Spots
Props & Product Use
How to Slate and Effectively Interview On-Camera
How to Build a Career in Television Commercials
Module 1 – Current Trends & You
To be relevant in the commercial business, you must first be well versed in the psychology behind all current trends. Using improvisation and exercises, students will discover who they are in a commercial context, and how their personality and archetypes fit-in to the current markets. Focus will be on speaking authentically in the first-person. Students create and perform an on-camera spokesperson spot that represents a market in which they fit-in perfectly. In addition to laying the groundwork for on-camera acting for TV commercials, an in-depth exploration of marketing techniques will take place at the beginning of every class to get the wheels in motion to break-in to this lucrative business.
Module 2 – The Audition
You know where you fit-in at the commercial marketplace from Module 1, now discover how to also stand-out from the competition. Students will not only learn to make every role their own as if the spot were written for them, but they will also master the techniques of every type of commercial audition, including, but not limited to slating, interviewing, improvisations, and reading copy. In-depth discussions of in and out of the box marketing strategies and techniques continue at the beginning of every class.
Module 3 – The Shoot
This module brings it all together for your on-camera discipline. When you distill it all down, your performance must be simple and believable: your diction clear, timing excellent, demeanor natural and inspired, and so forth. Students will master commercial acting for the camera performing comedic dialogue, slice of life, spokesperson, wild spots, and so forth, while also using props, products and hitting their mark. Marketing discussions continue, with an emphasis on putting the prep work of the first two modules into action.
NANCY SCANLON
Casting Director / Producer
Originally from New Jersey, Nancy has enjoyed a highly eclectic career as a producer, director, writer, acting teacher, talent agent and casting director. She began her career as assistant to the artistic director of the Santa Fe Festival Theatre on the staged production of Blithe Spirit, starring Madeline Kahn and Amy Irving.
Nancy went on to become a highly regarded actor and director in the renowned Chicago theatre, where she directed the critically acclaimed production of The Love of a Good Man and the one-woman smash hit The Fall From Precious, among many others. In film, she wrote and directed Marilyn for Tandem Films as well as produced and directed a documentary about girls in Chicago gangs entitled Voices To Be Heard, which screened at the Charlotte Film Festival and selected for its honorary national tour. Nancy was department head at a top Chicago talent agency, adjunct professor for The Theatre School at DePaul University, as well as founded and operated a highly successful acting studio before relocating to Los Angeles to serve as story editor for Trigger Street Productions’ The Big Kahuna, starring Kevin Spacey and Danny DeVito; Roger Ebert named Kahuna among his top ten picks of that year. Shortly thereafter, Nancy landed a ‘first look’ deal at DeVito's company, Jersey Films, followed by a threepicture contract at Universal Studios. Together with Mimi Leder, she is currently producing Reuben Leder’s original comedy, In A Perfect World, as well as developing a slate of films under the auspice of The Company Artists, for which she is president.
For more information:
Tel: 323-988-1175 or info@studiocartists.com
or visit us at www.studiocartists.com