Category: News & Advice
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Reframing Feedback
On the list of things most of us have a love-hate relationship with, feedback would be towards the top. Actor and writer Tahlia Norrish explains how performers can reframe this feedback to progress in their career. Intellectually, we appreciate the purpose of feedback is to make us better. Emotionally, it can still be hard to…
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Meet the Casting Directors – Film & TV Casting for Young Performers
Casting directors Lauren Evans, Anna Dawson and Emma Stafford share their best advice for both parents and young performers on self-taping, the casting process, and how to be found through Spotlight. Spotlight’s latest Summer Session saw casting directors from across the UK answering your burning questions about film and TV casting, including Lauren Evans (London),…
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Five Things You Can Do to Support a Long-Term Acting Career Mindset
Why did you become an actor? Was it the joy of your first standing ovation, and the prospect of feeling that joy on a nightly basis? Maybe it was the magic of your first moviegoing experience, then discovering that the people on screen were paid to do the amazing things you were now copying in…
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Powerful Pause Meditation: Range
This meditation is designed to get you out of your head and into your body, which is one of the key steps to feeling more calm and grounded. We also take a little bit of time to reflect on the gifts that can come from adversity and how this can expand our range. 25 minute…
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How To Perform Verbatim Theatre
Actor, theatre-maker and writer Naomi Joesph explains the different types of verbatim performance and shares her tips on how to get started in verbatim theatre. Verbatim is a type of documentary theatre constructed from the words of real people responding to a particular theme or a real event. These words might be taken from interviews…
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Powerful Pause Meditation: Post-Audition
This meditation may be helpful to listen to after an audition to help you to develop a positive post-audition mindset. Once an audition is over it can be hard to let go of it without an answer, closure, or some sort of clarity. This meditation is designed to help calm the mind from any repetitive thoughts…
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Self-Taping: The New Rules for The New Normal
An industry standard for self-taping now exists, we must all work to uphold it. A four day minimum turnaround, a maximum of six pages, protection for bank holidays. For years, these have been utopian ideals wistfully longed for by actors adjusting to the demands of self-taping. They are now a reality. A ground-breaking joint agreement…
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“Blame It On My Juice, Blame It, Blame It On My Juice….”
Jatinder Chera, National Film and Television School Graduate and now National Theatre Casting Assistant, shares his experiences of getting started in his career, typecasting and diversity. By Jatinder Chera Deciding to become an actor is like choosing orange juice with juicy bits. Most people will push you toward smooth. Smooth is easier. Smooth is more stable. Smooth…
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Transgender, Non-Binary & Gender Non-Conforming – Let’s Talk About It
We speak to Aitch Wylie (they/them), who is an actor, singer, and trans inclusivity consultant in the performing arts. In this episode of The Spotlight Podcast, we cover some of the basic definitions and language used when talking about gender constructs and challenging them. We also discuss the importance of the arts in driving social change…
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Fame: Quickly Won, Quickly Lost
Performer and coach Tahlia Norrish talks about the complex topic of fame, how quickly won fame can be sustained and how quickly this fame can be lost. Fame. A complex topic, yes, but one we’d like to attempt to tackle here regardless. It’s been a surprisingly frequent – and often subconscious – pain-point amongst coaching…