Category: News & Advice
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The Role That Changed My Career
Five performers tell us about the roles and people who made their careers. Every role an actor plays gives them the opportunity to showcase their skills and make their mark on the industry, but some roles are so well-received, so pivotal, that they can catapult your career to new heights and audiences. At the CDG…
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Casting Directors’ Self-Tape Top Tips
The casting directors of ‘Paddington 2’, ‘Sex Education’ and ‘Father Brown’ share their top tips for preparing for, filming and sending off your self-tapes. Between them, casting directors Hannah Simons, Lauren Evans and Emma Sylvester have cast a variety of commercials, films and television shows, including: Paddington 2, Sex Education, Father Brown, Sister Boniface Mysteries,…
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How to Become a Freelance Drama, Dance or Singing Teacher
Looking for a side job? Start teaching drama, dance or singing as a freelancer now with this helpful guide and teaching tips. Many actors, singers, and dancers transform their passion for the performing arts into a rewarding teaching career. Teaching drama, dance, or singing as a freelancer offers a decent hourly wage, the opportunity to…
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My Casting Story: Evie Templeton in ‘Return to Silent Hill’
Evie Templeton shares her experience working on horror film ‘Return to Silent Hill’, plus her top tips for dealing with nerves on set and how to stay disciplined with your schoolwork. At just 15, young performer Evie Templeton already has a career spanning across theatre, television and film and was a finalist in the first-ever…
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Is Drama School the Right Path for You?
The Spotlight Prize 2024 winners and finalists share why they went to drama school and how you can tell whether this is the right path for you. It’s no longer the case that you need to have gone to drama school to have a successful acting career. Drama school can equip you with useful and…
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How to Find Funding for Your Short Film
Explore the best ways to get funding for your short film project in the UK and find out what costs to budget for when turning your vision into reality. Creating your own short film can be a long, perilous journey full of ups and downs – the type that can sometimes tempt you into believing…
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Erin Doherty’s Royal Role in ‘The Crown’
‘The Crown’ actress Erin Doherty relives her audition for ‘Princess Anne’ and how she prepared for the callback. From stage to screen, Erin Doherty has been a part of some truly exciting productions: The Crucible at the National Theatre, Les Miserables and Call the Midwife for the BBC, A Thousand Blows for Disney Plus, and…
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How to Set Yourself Up as a Freelancer
When actors need to register as sole traders, how they calculate tax and how taking on additional work affects this. As a self-employed actor, whether you have an agent or not, you’re a freelancer. In most cases, for the purposes of HMRC, your legal status is ‘sole trader’. These terms might appear daunting at first,…
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5 Top Tips From 5 Top Actors
The stars of ‘Bad Education’, ‘A Discovery of Witches’, ‘Dreaming Whilst Black’ and more share their top acting tips that performers of every level should know. If you could only give only one piece of advice to your fellow actors, what would it be? Would you caution them about being prepared for auditions, or share…
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My Casting Story: Ella Purnell in ‘Fallout’
‘Yellowjackets’ actress Ella Purnell takes us behind the scenes on ‘Fallout’, from facing fake monsters to choreographing fights. Ella Purnell is no stranger to appearing on our screens in big-budget productions. She’s had roles in Army of the Dead, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, Kick-Ass 2, Yellowjackets and, most recently, Amazon’s hit TV series…