Sixth (and final) week of classes

This week's been the final week of classes... It all went so quickly! We can't believe the course has come to an end. At the beginning of the week, Margie lost her voice and wasn't allowed to use her voice at all, so she was going around the studio with a notepad to communicate! Luckily, she was able to speak (it took a lot of effort!) during our final lessons with her. In her and Crystal's class, we did a comedy piece again, which was a very nice way to finish off this exceptional course. All that's left now is the goodbye-barbeque on Friday at our house and then some people will already be starting to leave...


Margie and Peter communicating via Margie's notepad


Ashley, Britt, Alexandra and Rachel listening to Margie in class


Britt and Linda


At the end of Crystal's class.
Top row: Alexandra, Alastair, Crystal, Linda, Lindsay, Anouska, Ashley.
Middle row: Rachel, Katie, Elizabeth.
Bottom row: Britt, Peter, Margie.

Casting Director Night

On 'Casting Director Night', casting director Paul Weber (Star Gate, War Games 2, ...) came to visit Margie's studio. It was very useful to hear about his side of things. What to do and what not do do? What does a casting director look for in an actor, or in a headshot? A lot of questions from the group were asked, and answered.

Then, quite unexpectedly, he suddenly pulled out a folder full of scripts and then took everybody's headshots. He then laid out all of the headshots on the floor and paired each one of us off with someone else. He then gave each actor pair a different script and gave us about 20 minutes to work on it. "Please prepare it and I'll see you back in this room in 20 minutes!"

Just as well we'd been following a cold reading course! We all immediately went into Margie Haber Mode. After 20 minutes, we all had to reconvene in the room and had to do the scene ('conversation' - yes, I know Saxon!) in front of all the others.

The funny thing was: nobody was really nervous, even though we had to read for a top casting director (and the rest of the class)! We'd so gotten used to the method of attacking the script that we all went for it - and it showed. The standard of the group was high - nobody performed badly.

Kenan, Peter, Perla, Paul Weber, Linda (top row) & Claire (bottom row)

Agent Night

On 'Agent Night', talent agent Neil Bagg from Los Angeles-based Don Buchwald and Associates, Inc. came to visit Margie's studio. The entire group was present in a packed-out room. Neil came in and gave a very interesting talk about the goings-on in the industry.

He then said that everybody who wanted to would be allowed to present a monologue to him! This was a great opportunity for all of us to find out what a Los Angeles agent would have to say about our work. We all went in one by one and Neil listened patiently to all the monologues and offered everybody valuable personal feedback.

He must have been exhausted at the end of it, since by the time everyone had had their say, it was 2 o'clock in the morning! Thanks for that Neil! Unfortunately, we do not have a picture of him...

The Getty Villa & Beach

The previous weekend, Saxon gave us tickets for the Getty Villa (not to be confused with the Getty Museum).


The group at the Getty Villa (Saxon is the fourth from the left)


Linda, Peter, Alastair, Elizabeth & Kate at the Getty Villa Pond


Getty Villa exit

After that, we went to the beach and played some volleyball...


Alexandra, Anouska, Peter, Claire & Victoria action shot


Fake life guard


Real life guard with Anouska

Industry party

Last Friday, Margie threw an industry party: an opportunity for us to meet other actors, agents, managers and casting directors in the Hollywood Billiard Club.

Margie

Katie, Jim, Kirsten & Anouska

Perla, Rachel & Anouska

The group

Fifth week of classes

The week started with Crystal and this time, we did a comedy conversation (sitcom). What we found out is that there is no such thing as doing something 'too big'. A lot of actors fall into the trap of artificially 'making it smaller' (because it's on camera). There is only connection and need! Anything you do in connection and in truth, is OK!

Next, we had Margie again and we did 'three slices of life' about a doctor in a field hospital who had to treat a kid who had an ear bug. The kid was obviously not there and we had to 'make the kid real' by using a chair. Tips we got from Margie in this class:

1. Make the kid specific and establish a strong relationship.
2. If it's late at night, don't show them it's late (e.g. by yawning)! Just let the lateness affect you and it will shine through.
3. All actions (e.g. tying shoelaces, writing something on a pad) must be real and specific. If you're going to write something, determine what it is you're going to write and actually write that!
4. The actual Haber Technique is to get out of your head and into your body and emotion!

Later on in the week, we had Crystal again, where we did romantic comedy. To paraphrase Crystal: "romantic comedy is real life with a twinkle in the eye, where the twinkle comes from neurosis".

Crystal in class (+ Ashley's feet)

Universal Studios Tour

On Friday, we got VIP-passes to the Universal Studios. It was very nice to whiz past the long queues for the rides! We also got to walk around some of the sets. See pics. We had a great time.

Neon sign

Tour guide with just the girls

Ponchos for the wet rides

Peter fixing the DeLorean from Back to the Future

The Bates Hotel from Psycho

Peter and Anouska on filmset

Victoria, Lindsay, Alexandra & Linda

After all of that, some of us needed a massage...

Fourth week of classes

Crystal's first class at the beginning of the week was more like a lecture. We didn't do a scene, which was good, because many of us were still recovering from serious hangovers caused by the Oscar parties the night before... Peter didn't have a hangover, because he had to have his headshot taken by Los Angeles-based photographer Paul Smith (to see the result, see picture right at the bottom of this page on the first post). Crystal taught us which phrases are useful to have memorised - by heart, that is, not using pegging or other memory tricks.

Another important tip she gave is to ignore any feedback after an audition. Feedback is not always helpful; most of the time, the casting director has forgotten how your performance went and will just say something to get the agent off their back. Feedback should always come from a consistent source, e.g. your acting coach.

In Crystal's class on Tuesday we had to do a conversation where we had to play a cyborg-kind of creature. It was very funny to see how some people turned this into a cartoon-like drama. We'll have to do that one again next week...

Saxon's class on Wednesday was great fun. She gave us a conversation (taken from a pilot) where we completely had to let go of our inhibitions - the conversation ended with us impersonating a Silverback monkey! It was very funny.

On Thursday, we had Margie again. Apart from practising her Phrase Technique, an important message was to stop being an actor, personalise and have fun! To know that you are special. "Try to expose instead of to hide. The worst that can happen is better than the hiding!"

Oscar night

Sunday was the big Oscar night. We invited everyone around our house to watch the ceremony on the big tv-screen. It was quite and experience to realise that all of this was happening just around the corner! Unfortunately, we weren't invited to the ceremony... However, Anouska and Elizabeth went to an Oscar after-party in the Hollywood hills and got eye-to-eye with some of the Hollywood celebs, who, to quote Anouska, were "very short, less good-looking than on tv, and a bit spaced out".

The Getty Museum

Saxon gave us passes to the Getty Museum (the new one, not the 'old' Getty Villa). What an amazing place! The buildings are beautiful and the views breathtaking...

Third week of classes

The week started with teacher new to us, Crystal Carson. She's a very lively person (she drinks a lot of coffee!) and, like the others, loves teaching. She brings in her own personality and her views of what the actor's job is. Everybody can memorise lines and speak them; only good actors can 'live the experience' there and then - 'in the moment'. They explore what's NOT on the page!

She also talked about the importance of "..." in a script. There should always be a specific thought when we see them. It means: "it's your turn now!". It's important to let things come up - to let the experience hit you. Don't just sit there: it must be real to you!

With regard to props, it's only really permitted to use them if you would have them on you in real life, e.g. a packet of cigarettes, a jacket or a pen. So bringing in a surfboard is not a good idea!

Another tip: if a casting director says: "that was great! Do it again!", don't attempt to do it exactly like before: just live the conversation from moment to moment again and make sure you've got the objective and relationship correct. Then see what comes up.

We do not have a picture of Crystal yet...

On Wednesday, we had the voice coach Steven Memel again; this time with a smaller group. He gave us a sheet of paper with the names of all of the American States on it. We had to read them out loud in one breath! The point was to 'waste' as little air as possible and to make the sound as loud as possible. The first time round, hardly anybody could do this. After he told us what to do, almost everybody could do it!

We each also had to prepare a monologue, which we had to do before the group. Steven would work with us individually to make the performance better.

On Thursday we had Margie Haber herself! Everyone was quite nervous. She had us come into the room one by one and cold read a conversation. She would then give individual comments. After everybody had a go, she talked about how actors tend to make a drama out of everything: "Oooh, yes, there's someone else with a little bit of the DD!" she would say. By that, she means the Drama Disease. She kept saying: "have F U N!".

She talked about a 'soup', where the ingredients are personalisation, story and the other person. Don't sacrifice yourself to the story; physicalise: don't let the camera turn you into a zombie! Stop being an actor; if you trip, trip forward and use it - the other person will save you; the lines won't!

After this lecture, she had us do the conversation again, while massaging her feet! It suddenly became very lively, very personal and very funny! We had a great time, especially when people had a thing about feet...

After this great class, we had to get some coffee in a cafe nearby...

Press...

This is a press clipping brought to us by Anne, Margie's assistant...

Second week of classes

The second week of classes started with Steven Memel, the voice coach. We had a general session with the two groups together (20 people), which made the studio room a bit packed - especially when we all had to lie down on the floor to do breathing exercises! Someone's feet would be in someone else's face! Pity we don't have a picture of that. But it was remarkable how Steven made use use our voices to do things we'd never imagined possible. A welcome addition to the course.

Margie also had five actors come in and talk to us about their work. They're all working actors and they all previously studied (or are still studying) with Margie. It was good to hear that there are opportunities out there - even for foreign nationals, as one of them was from Australia and another one from Germany. In the picture below, you can see these five actors and visiting photographer Garet (with the glasses). Maybe you recognise some of them! Margie is the blonde woman in the black top.

The acting classes themselves were with Jim this week. Jim is also a working actor and a great guy to work with. He has a lot of experience; he took Margie's classes years ago and is now a teacher at her studio.

The first day we used a scene and broke it down together. He then asked everyone individually to read the scene while he taped it using the video camera. After everybody'd read the scene, the tape was played back and Jim pointed out everybody's weak and strong points. We then had a chance to do it a second time around. As with Saxon's classes, the differences were very noticeable. As people got more familiar with the material, things started to come together...

The pictures below show Jim at work.

The second day with Jim we did an interesting exercise which took all day. The goal of the exercise was to show us that words on a page are not very important if the character's intention is strong enough.

Two actors would do a scene, while the others would be watching them. The two doing the scene were given the instruction to pretend the other person was someone important to them and that this the last chance to tell them something important. They were then both given two copies of a randomly selected script and when the need arose to speak, they would look at the paper and pick a line at random. It was very interesting to see that most of the time, the group got the gist of the communication, even though the words meant nothing in relation to the scene!

The picture below shows the group with Jim and Margie.

On Thursday, we had someone from an actor management agency talk to us about the business of representing working actors. It was very interesting to hear how things are done here from someone on the inside. We were allowed to ask any questions we wanted and Glenn (one of the 6 people working for that agency) was very open and talkative. No pictures unfortunately.

On Friday, we all went to Universal Studios to attend the taping of the pilot of the American version of the IT Crowd, which Margie arranged tickets for. Everybody had a great time there, apart from Alastair and Peter, who didn't make it in time, because they thought they had to pick up some of the other actors from Margie's. However, when they got there, the office was closed and later it turned out that the two girls who they were supposed to give a lift, had already been picked up by Kenan! Consequently, they ended up in a massive traffic jam (without the girls!) and got to Universal just a bit late and were turned away and had nothing to do but to get sloshed in a bar on Hollywood Boulevard, while the others were watching the taping...

The others thought the taping was nice to have been part of. The comedian who was warming up the audience was very funny and it was good to see how professional and well-rehearsed the actors were.

Santa Monica

Today, Elizabeth, Anouska, Alastair and Peter went to the beach at Santa Monica, before starting the next block of classes tomorrow... Anouska did some shopping, which Alastair had to carry around... We had a great time though.

First week of classes

This first week we've been busy taking classes (among other things). It was quite an experience. Our first teacher, Saxon, was quite a revelation - quite a ride. It showed that she really loves teaching and kept on teaching until two in the morning. We came back on another day to finish it off! Talking about dedication! We ruined her schedule, her social life and probably her marriage... But we learned a lot.

The idea behind Saxon's classes was that we simply absorb ourselves in the story to create the character. Rather than using substitution, we used our imagination to make the story real. As Saxon put it: "imagination is larger than life!". On day two, we added in an extra dimension, which was to put the focus on the other person in the "conversation" (scene), as without the other person, there is no story.

That was very liberating, especially for the British and Dutch actors, because they hadn't been taught that way. It took away the pressure to perform and we could just "be" and live the life of the character. This may sound very straight-forward, but it went against a lot of the training we'd already had. It was a very new approach for us.

We put the "conversation" on camera twice. The first was just a cold read (without having been told all of this) and the second one at the end of the session. The differences were astounding! We all saw a big improvement in our performances. The 11 people in our group are all very supportive, open and willing to learn. We're happy to say that there are a couple of close friendships forming.

The picture you see was taking after our last class with some of the actors. Saxon is in the back row on the right.

Last night we went to the Improv on Melrose Avenue, just around the corner from us. It's a comedy club. There were about 5 or 6 different comedians, each with a different approach and it was great to see stand-up performed American-style. It was great for them to see partying European-style, because by the end, all of our party were dancing in the aisles... The picture shows Margie, Anouska, Kenan and Peter.

First meeting at Margie's Studio

Today, we all met up at Margie's studio for an informal introduction and received a very warm welcome by Margie and her staff and some of the other teachers, Jim and Saxon. There were about 20 of us altogether. Margie provided food for us (grilled chicken, French beans, Ceasar salad and sweet potatoes), which was lovely. We all introduced ourselves to the group ("What made you take this journey and what are you hoping to get out of it?").

We were split into two separate groups. Elizabeth, Anouska and I are in the same group and have classes in the evening to start with. Next week, we'll have day classes... Saxon and Jim talked about their methods of teaching and what they hoped we would gain from their lessons. They looked very enthusiastic and genuinely dedicated to helping us further our careers. Although nervous and apprehensive, we couldn't wait to get started!

Here's a picture of the people we could scramble together at the meeting. Margie is in the top row, third from right, in the green top.

Ice-breaker party

Last night we had the Ice-breaker party we were telling you about earlier. Most of the actors who signed up for Margie's class attended, even though most of them were severely jetlagged... It was good to meet everyone - we completely forgot to take any pictures! The only picture we've got is from the cake we bought (and which we forgot about completely until when most of the people had already left. Oh well, there'll be other times I guess)...

Rodeo Drive

OK, when in LA, there's no avoiding Rodeo Drive, is there! (And it's just around the corner from where we are...). So here's some pictures of the three of us on that famous LA street. Of course, nobody had enough money to buy anything at all (if you need to ask how much something costs, you can't afford it)... Oh, and the videos about our arrival and the tour of the house are currently being edited and will be up here soon... Classes with Margie start tomorrow - Anouska's currently studying and has locked herself in her room. Elizabeth's gone to meet up with some other British actors and will be back here later. Maybe we can do some test runs using Margie's method later on...

Romy

And today I got Romy's picture too. She's the lovely person who told us about all the ins and outs of living in Los Angeles and she's the one who brought us in contact with Margie in the first place by organising the seminar Margie held when she was visiting Amsterdam. Romy coordinates the flow of information between Margie's studio and the Dutch actors who will be going there. Although she will not be in Los Angeles for the entire duration of the workshop, we might meet up with her some time while we are there...

Anouska

Got Anouska's picture today, so you all know what she looks like!

Los Angeles

"Los Angeles was the most glamourous, tackiest, most elegant, seediest, most clever, dumbest, most beautiful, ugliest, forward-looking, retro-thinking, altruistic, self-absorbed, deal-savvy, politically ignorant, artistic-minded, criminal-loving, meaning-obsessed, money-grubbing, laid-back, frantic city on the planet. And any two slices of it, as different as Bel Air and Watts, were nevertheless uncannily alike in essence: rich with the same crazy hungers, hopes, and despairs."

Dean Koontz, Sole Survivor

Oh dear, where are we going?

Car selection

Which car shall we hire? Hmmm. I'd like this one:

But considering the amount of money we have, it's probably going to be:

Or, perhaps, since we're all really poor actors:

Ice Breaker Party arrangements

Today, Elizabeth, Anouska and I have been emailing like mad to arrange where to find each other when we finally meet at Los Angeles Airport and when to hold the Ice Breaker Party at our L.A. house before we all go to our first workshop session at Margie's studio... The party will give the actors from the UK and Holland a chance to get to know each other a little better and share experiences. As we guess everybody will be on a tight budget, we'll go Dutch on that one... Today, I also got a picture of Elizabeth, which is shown here, so you know what one of my house-mates looks like!

(Anouska, can you send me your picture too so I can put it up here?)

House sorted

Looks like my house-mates and I got our Los Angeles accommodation sorted. I'll be sharing the house with Anouska (a model/actress from Holland) and Elizabeth (an actress from the UK). It's located in West Hollywood, not far from Melrose. Looks like it's got a nice terrace, so I guess we'll have to invite the other actors attending Margie's class over for a BBQ!