Coaching

The actors who find me usually aren't beginners. They're working actors, some on long-running series or major film projects. Most have been at it long enough to know every note a director is likely to give, and that can become the problem. The work has gone safe and smooth. Smooth and safe don't elevate craft.

I coach a small number of professional actors privately, one-on-one, over Zoom. Where you live or work from on the globe doesn't matter much; we'll find a time. I've been awake at 3:00 in the morning, coaching, as my actors walk to the set on the other side of the planet.

What we work on

The Top, the Bottom, the Safety. Given the confines of the script, what's really available to play? What's the least we can offer, yet the most we can reveal of the character's inner dialogue?

Active Listening. Most acting problems are listening problems in disguise. Dead listening is the quiet killer of good scenes, and it can be fixed.

The Refresh. The habits that got you hired at some point can begin to cost you. We find them, keep what is truly yours, and clear out what has hardened into an auto-tic.

The Beauty of Discomfort. Every actor has a moment they hurry past because it feels too naked to hold. We learn to stop hurrying. What lives in the pause is worth the worry.

The Totality of Immersion. Full immersion comes in two kinds, and the camera can tell them apart even when the actor can't. We find the one that keeps the scene alive instead of swallowing it.

Career Dynamics. Nerves, wanting a role too much, the long silences between jobs. That's the territory of The Quantum Actor, and it matters as much as any technique.

Auditions and Self-Tapes. For most auditions now, the tape is the room. We work on what the camera sees, and on what you're keeping from it.

How I work

My approach is mixed martial arts: Stanislavski, Meisner, Adler and Hagen, silent-era physicality, and nearly forty years on sets, in casting offices, production meetings and actor coaching sessions. It isn't a system to swallow whole. It's a toolbelt, sized for your circumference.

How it starts

Depending on my availability, we'll have a free fifteen-minute conversation. No pitch; we simply find out whether the fit is right. If it is, we'll meet weekly for ninety minutes.

Reach out here and send me your IMDb or Spotlight page and a recent self-tape. It will give us both a head start.

Coming soon

A short course built on six signature concepts: the cliff notes that have worked best for the working professional. Join the mailing list to hear first.

I don't advertise. The work stays small, personal and confidential. It comes by request or referral. If you're ready, write to me.