I Don't Need an Acting Class

WANT MORE? Become a subscriber on Spotify for bonus content! ⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/actingclass/subscribe⁠ This week, Milton muses about what we mean when we talk about connecting. How much to we, as actors, have to connect to the character’s point of view, and how it that different than the *character* connecting to their point of view? “I often say that you know more than your...

Your shirt is blue. 👕

You promised to bring me the notes for the lecture. I waited for you and when you didn’t turn up I knew you’d forgotten as usual. This is a comprehensive list of what people in class said they would work on when given this one line of dialogue: Relationship to partner Where are we What is the lecture Are you teacher or student How long did you wait Where did you wait Who am I who are they Past of...

WANT MORE? Become a subscriber on Spotify for bonus content! ⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/actingclass/subscribe⁠ There are so many (upsides) to improvisation. For one, it helps you get specific, own what you’re talking about, and find choices that you love. It also forces you to listen because you’re constantly having to check-in with your scene partner to see if you’re getting through...

WANT MORE? Become a subscriber on Spotify for bonus content! ⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/actingclass/subscribe⁠ Milton begins this week’s episode sharing memories about working with Swedish cinematographer, Sven Nykvist and Helen Mirren, and why “taking the time to build slowly and let it layer in” is such a wonderful way to work. And yet, there is no one way of working. This is why t...

WANT MORE? Become a subscriber on Spotify for bonus content! ⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/actingclass/subscribe⁠ Your individual experience will inform your “way in” to approaching a role and of course, your interpretation of a character will be uniquely yours. But that doesn’t mean the character is you, and that you don’t have to move outside of yourself to create this other human bei...

WANT MORE? Become a subscriber on Spotify for bonus content! ⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/actingclass/subscribe⁠ www.idontneedanactingclass.com

WANT MORE? Become a subscriber on Spotify for bonus content! https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/actingclass/subscribe One of the biggest contributions that Stanislavsky (and later Stella Adler) made was the clear logic they brought to the study of acting. This episode includes several ideas in acting technique that simply make sense: make a choice, move slowly, do research that feeds you, &qu...

WANT MORE? Become a subscriber on Spotify for bonus content! https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/actingclass/subscribe In this episode, Milton talks about the myths actors tell themselves about why they’re not getting hired. The bottom line is this: if you’re good, eventually you’ll start getting hired. In a culture obsessed with tricks, quick fixes, fast-tracks and branding, our abilities as...

There’s a difference between the preparation work we do when creating a role, and what we’re actually *doing* in the scene. For instance, in your preparation, you may have had to build a past so that each moment is emotionally filled, but that may not be what the scene is about. And so you don’t want to “play” the past, but instead, play what’s going on with you in the scene. This lesson is illust...

Welcome back everyone! Hope everyone is enjoying their fall so far. We’re beginning Season 6 with an overview of some of our actor-tools: exploring the nature of character, connecting to something honestly and interestingly, they importance of improvisation, visualization, and how music can influence your work.  For anyone interested in Milton’s upcoming six-week Technique & Script Analysis Wo...

Hey everyone, Milton’s 6-week Technique & Script Analysis Workshop will begin October 7th. Classes are Saturdays, from 2PM to 5PM EST and will be held over Zoom for six consecutive weeks. The fee for the 6-week session is $300. This is a great opportunity to get your foot in the door to one of Milton's classes, as he rarely opens up a class to new students. It's also insanely discounte...

www.idontneedanactingclass.com

Hope you've all had a great summer. Just a quick message to let you know we'll be back with Season 6 in September!

In this episode, Milton takes a great question about pacing, which is a note actors get all the time, especially from people like agents and casting directors, and even directors. The reason it’s so precarious is because it’s an “effect/result” direction and never addresses the reason for the pacing. Does the pacing need to be different because of the genre you’re in? Or is it because the moments...

This week, we bring you a private coaching in which Milton breakdown a monologue he’s seeing for the first time with an actor he’s working with for the first time. As the session progresses, you begin to understand his approach. From getting beneath the mentality of a character and they way they see and understand the world that they’re in…to beginning to own and experience the the enormous strugg...

In case you missed it live, this week we bring you our Conversation on Acting series with Sharon Carnicke. Sharon is an internationally acclaimed expert on Stanislavsky. Her latest book  Dynamic Acting through Active Analysis  follows the evolution of a radical rehearsal technique created by Stanislavsky. She is also the author of  Stanislavsky in Focus: An Acting Master for the Twenty-First Centu...

Film Genres Genre Conventions are specific settings, roles, events, and values that define individual genres and their sub-genres. Love Story Buddy Salvation Road Picture Horror Film Uncanny – source of horror is astound but subject to “rational” explanation – such as beings from outer space, science-made monsters, or a maniac. Supernational – in which the source of horror is an “irrational” pheno...

This week, our episode focuses on the idea of instinct. Most of us think of that word as something w’re born with, something that is innately part of us. But in the context of training and learning a process, instinct is learned. The more you exercise certain muscles of your technique, the more it is there for you when you need it.  For example, one of our tools is slowing down enough to analyze “...

This episodes happens to contain more casual chat and personal anecdotes than usual, but there is a point to it. It’s about the need to look at your character’s character. Do they have a strong sense of morality? Do they have principals, and off so, what are they? This is a particularly important question when playing someone whose actions in the play reflect their moral character. Perhaps they ta...

This week, Milton talks about his approach to scene work. He begins discussing what the scene is about, has each actor do an etude (or improvised) monologue about their character, and then has both actors do an improvised scene that is not in the play. However, it’s important that this scene is not an arbitrary choice. There needs to be a reason in the text to explore this “missing” scene. Why doe...

Hey everyone. First of all, we want to welcome our new listeners. It never ceases to amaze us that people keep discovering the podcast everyday. We’re so grateful. We also want to know what you think. Are there any issues you want to hear Milton discuss? Any questions or confusions? What do you love? What do you hate? (No we’re not trying to get you to do an acting exercise.) We would love to hear...

This episode with Milton’s famous class exercise “Something I Love/Something I Hate” where you talk out improvistorally while building something you love or hate. The purpose of this exercise is learning to live off the images and make choices that feed you in order to earn the line “I hate ________”, or: “I love ________.”  “What I want you all to do is stop throwing things out there that you don...

This week’s episode, taken from a private coaching session, is about uncovering what your character’s problem is, and who the character’s partner is, in order to get to the action. And the problem is never the plot. Even though the given circumstances play into the problem, the true problem is always a much bigger, cosmic idea. Your impulse to solve this problem is what you’re doing to solve it. ...

This week’s episode is an excerpt of a coaching Milton did with JP for a SWAT audition. You’ll notice that the difference here between teaching and coaching. Teaching demands that the actors themselves comes up with the choices and tools they’ll use for that specific material. Whereas coaching requires less independence because the coach gives it to you. It’s important to take note of what you’re...