Acting

Hey you! Yeah YOU. Sitting in front of your computer. I have some advice I would like to share with you. Wait for it. WAIT for it. Lean in closely… Are you ready? There are no set standard rules in show business on how to break into show business. Did I really just say that? Yes, I did. My name is Steven D. Snyder and I am an actor, writer, comedian, director, and producer based in Los Angeles and Phoenix. In my quest in 2011 to sign with a literary agent to take me on as a writer, I journ...

If you’re an actor waiting for roles and feeling like the well has run dry, stepping out of the actor’s classroom and into the depths of a film festival can make all the difference. If you’ve never attended a festival or thought that perhaps you didn’t belong, reconsider. And then dive into the following guide for all the reasons why you should. 1) Submitting Your Own Content Improves Your Acting CareerYou’ve likely heard it a thousand times already, but it’s worth repeating: It’s important to...

I decided to get into film and TV later in life. I was more than ten years "behind," compared to the people who moved to L.A. at 18. Needless to say when I finally decided to become an actress, I had no credits on my resume. To get them, I needed to book jobs ASAP. I knew I couldn't book the things I wanted without a resume, so I dove in hard. I did research on every aspect of the business because that's my personality. However, you don't have to. To help you get booked, here are five tips to ac...

If you’ve shot a film and either edited it yourself or watched an editor do it, than you know that editing different shots together can create a whole new meaning not already present in the original shots. It’s called the Kuleshov Effect, and when it was birthed in the early 1920’s by soviet filmmaker Lev Kuleshov, it changed the way filmmakers told their story. According to independent filmmaker Mark Duggan, actors can learn from this historic, cinematic effect, and apply it to their own acti...

If you caught the blog post How to Break into Voice Acting, then you know what it takes to get in the game. In this second post by voice acting mentor and speaker Stephanie Ciccarelli, she dives deep into why voice acting is just as relevant as stage and screen acting, and a fantastic way to supplement your income. Have friends doing voice over jobs online who are able to work from wherever they are, whenever they want? It may drive you crazy to hear about auditioning from home in their pajama...

Hope you are all having a fantastic weekend.  Let's amp it up further with a little Coffee & Content action. First up, a Film Courage video featuring one of our very own.  Mark Sanderson is not only very active in the Stage 32 community, but is constantly helping writers behind the scenes as well.  Here he discusses what he believes are the 5 worst habits screenwriters fall into. Next up, some quality advice from Emmy Award winning casting director, Holly Powell.  In this video, Holly guides...

Family feuds, bad blood, near bankruptcy, and stories that would shake the #metoo movement today, all aided in what author Leonard Maltin calls the Death of 20th Century Fox. His words come after the July 27th sale of Fox to Disney. Maltin recollects the massive movies made on today's Century City lot with some of the biggest names in Hollywood. Movie attendance was at an all time high after the Second World War, but sank incredibly after the introduction of television. But is the acquisiti...

If you are an actor working to build your reel or a filmmaker looking to hone your craft, working on improv based short films can be a great way to experiment with the short film form and begin building a body of work. I first got the opportunity to collaborate with improv actors about twoyears ago, and since then I’ve produced over a dozen improv based short films. When you are first starting out as a filmmaker, it can be difficult to pull together the resources needed to find a full cast and c...

Over the past few years, we've been honored to be recognized by many in the industry as the leaders in online education for content creators and film & television professionals. As the education partner for AT&T, Cannes and AFM (to name a few), we've been proud to program a variety of panels, talks and workshops which have been presented to creatives all over the world. Now, we're thrilled to announce we're extending our relationship with Hollyshorts. For the last 3 years, we've debuted our...

To begin, My name is Mu-Shaka Benson. I’m an actor from Upstate New York and, like many others, I started my acting journey in my 30’s. When I began to pursue acting I heard an array of comments ranging from “don’t quit your day job” to “aren’t you too old for that?” It was a struggle to deal with in the beginning because a lot of those comments came from precisely the same people who you’d want to have your back. My family, my friends and loved ones. But my dream of acting, which had come upo...