faq for actors

 

(for business skills please click here)
 

Are you available for coaching sessions?

Unfortunately, I don't have much time currently, as it is being put into other projects at the moment, but contact me with what you are looking for and if I think I might be a good match for you we will try and make some time.

 

Do I need to be a professional actor to qualify?

No. To be honest, I could care less about what it says on paper about you as an actor. There are great actors with few credits, and many poor actors with lots of prestige. If you arrive and finish on time, bring questions, challenge when necessary and so on, you have a work ethic, a vested interest in your craft. That's what matters to me when I look for an actor I'd like to coach. 

 

How much do you charge for coaching?

Unless you are wanting coaching for a paid project, such as having me on set with you, in which case we can discuss, my coaching sessions are always free.

 

Why are your sessions free?

It is an ethos of mine, there's no catch. Unless it is for a paid project, actors often go to a coach to improve their skills, presumably because they need more work. In this situation money is not an endless resource. An actor goes to a coach, pays them, but then has to work more hours to pay for the sessions. Meaning less time to audition or act. The coach is actively working against the interests of their client, and I take ethical issues with this.  

 

What is a coaching session like?

Coaching sessions are best targeted with a specific problem, or concern. Within that, however, there is a range of flexibility. A session, for example, can be about that audition you have coming up on Thursday afternoon, or we might be working on your concern about working on certain types of characters. Conversely, it may be a session about strategising how to take yourself further in the marketplace, or how to work with difficult directors or agents. 

 

What's your teaching style?

When we work together you have nothing, absolutely nothing to prove to me. None of this 'Well, if you want to be an actor...' crap. You are an actor, period, and it's a silly power game to treat an actor like a child who can't make up their mind. Nor do I think you need to be 'broken down' and 'built back up,' or pried for your psychological details, and so on. There is a level of human decency and respect that many acting teachers seem to conveniently forget about when they are getting to your 'artistic truths.'

 

What makes you better than other coaches?

Nothing, absolutely nothing. Nor should you ever listen to anything I say if I ever made such a claim. Fewer things raise my hackles more than arguments from authority. What I want you to do is to take my claims and tools and attempt to put them through the shredder of your experiences in trying to use them, and if they still stand up then we might be on to something. I want you to base your decisions on evidence and not on taking my word for anything. The burden of proof is on me in making the claims, not on you in having to 'believe' them. 

 

Do you have a cancellation policy, late notice, etc?

Yes. If we agree on a session together, you'll receive all those details. That said, it doesn't have much of a grace area. If you are someone who knows you're often late, or has things frequently come up that result in last-minute changes to plans, please find a different coach.

 

Are you doing any workshops, classes etc. not listed here?

All of the public workshops I am doing will be listed in the 'current' section, with details about how to find more information and register if they are not one of mine. I don't list private workshop information without the permission of the group or organisation I am doing it for. 

 

I have an idea for a project...

Send a note to royce@roycesparks.com and we'll chat more about it!