Category: News & Advice
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12 Tips for Controlling Nerves
Top tips to help deal with nerves ahead of auditions, performances or rehearsals. Nerves can get the better of all of us. Even established actors get nervous before auditions, performances and in rehearsals as Imelda Staunton, Josette Simon, Alex Jenning and other actors have shared with us. The trick is knowing how to deal with them when…
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Tips for Preparing for a Performance
Top tips from our Spotlight Prize finalists about preparing for performing on stage or on camera. As part of the Spotlight Prize, graduate performers are asked to perform a monologue of their choice in front of the camera before performing a second piece on stage in front of an audience of industry professionals. We asked them what they did…
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5 Films and TV Shows Filming in the UK in 2023
2023 is looking like an exciting year for the screen – here are five films and TV series currently filming in the UK and Ireland. By Charlie Gardiner The new year is upon us and as we look forward to what 2023 has in store for us, we celebrate the exciting productions that are back…
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Caring for Your Voice in Winter
Winter voice care tips and advice for vocal recovery after a cold or congestion. We asked spoken voice coach, podcaster and voiceover artist, Nic Redman, for her top tips for caring for your voice during the cold season and what we can be doing to look after our voices this winter. 12-minute listen. Episode Transcript Kristyn Coutts: Hello…
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Spotlight’s Year in Review 2022
Recapping Spotlight’s news, events, advice, tips and industry updates from the year gone by. 2022 proved to be a busy year here at Spotlight HQ. We refreshed our membership offering, introduced a bursary scheme, hosted the Spotlight Prize, and participated in the CDG and CDA Awards. In addition, we were delighted to bring back Open…
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Financial Mindfulness – Budgeting Tips for Performers
How to organise your finances and budget with ever-changing earnings. Money – or the lack of it – is not the obstacle to your success and goals but sitting blissfully in the ignorance of your financial health may well be. I can tell you from personal experience that by ignoring your finances and giving sole…
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7 Things You Should Know If It’s Your First Time Doing Pantomime
First time doing panto? John Currivan shares seven things you need to know to make the most of performing in pantomime. The comedian David O’Doherty has a joke: “Life is a marathon, not a sprint… but it’s the kind of marathon you have to sprint.” Swap the word ‘Life’ with the word ‘Panto’ and you…
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An Actors’ Guide to Surviving Panto
Dust off the false eyelashes and smack me in the face with a lump of glitter, it’s panto season again! Like it or loathe it, panto is as essential to Christmas as pudding, and as essential to performers as a steam inhaler. It’s a British institution based on Christmas frivolity, the festive merriment of children…
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Meet the Makers: The Founders of Sisters Grimm Theatre Company
Ella Spira MBE and Pietra Mello-Pittman MBE talk about launching a theatre company, the importance of collaboration and what they look for in their cast. Grammy-nominated composer Ella Spira MBE and former ballerina Pietra Mello-Pittman joined together in 2009 to launch the UK theatre company, Sisters Grimm. While Spira had produced music for Bruno Mars and…
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A Guide to Tax Returns
What actors need to know about tax returns, National Insurance, VAT and allowable expenses. Article updated December 2022. As welcome as the onslaught of conversations about kale and dry January, is the fun of the tax return. Here to break it down and make it less daunting, are Chartered Certified Accountants, Breckman & Company, on…