Join author Deborah S. Patz at the Biz Books Pop-Up Shop to celebrate the book launch and sign copies of:

Film Production Management 101: 3rd edition

Happening Wednesday, February 5, 2025 – 5pm – 7pm (Pacific)

at the Roundhouse Community Centre Boardroom

Pacific Blvd & Davie St, Vancouver, BC

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Fine On Acting is a “class in a book” that provides a solid foundation in the useful and exciting acting technique taught at the renowned Howard Fine Acting Studio, located in the heart of Hollywood and its sister-Studio in Melbourne, Australia. In this revised edition, Howard Fine expands on his technique to meet the needs of today’s working actor.

The post Fine on Acting: A Vision of the Craft PREORDER appeared first on Biz Books.

Just ahead of the film’s world premiere at the Vancity Theatre on April 5th, Robert David Duncan talked to us about how his time as an actor and director influenced his work on A Legacy of Whining.

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Can you start by telling us a little bit about you?

I have been dedicated to acting for 10 years now, having decided to pursue it seriously in mid-life after working as a consultant, college teacher, author and public speaker. At one point, I literally “gave up my day job” and took a leap into the Stella Adler Studio summer conservatory program in New York, which was a wonderful experience.

After lots of acting training here and in New York and some cool experiences in acting, I decided to try directing. Ross Munro was a big encourager of mine, telling me that I should give directing a try, and that it was fun. He was right! Several years ago I formed a production company, Fat Punk Productions, and we have developed a number of films, most recently a feature called It’s About Love that is in post-production. We have been fortunate to have had a lot of success getting our films into festivals around the world and winning several awards. I have also written books on acting and filmmaking and teach both subjects.

Recommended Reading You Can Act On Camera Click a cover for more details The Art of Voice Acting Secrets of Screen Acting Recommended Reading You Can Act On Camera Click a cover for more details The Art of Voice Acting Secrets of Screen Acting

What can you share about your character in A Legacy of Whining?

Hilariously enough, Dunc is like my evil twin. He is everything that I am not. Aside from the obvious physical and name resemblance, he is Mister Hyde to my Doctor Jekyll, which makes him a delicious acting opportunity. In real life, I am an optimistic, encouraging person. I’ve been with my wife for 25 happy years, I don’t party or pop pills, and I’d much rather be home in my nest when the sun sets. Dunc on the other hand, well…

What kinds of things did you do to prepare for your role?

Ross Munro and I talked quite a bit about the characters, and the homage to old buddy movies of the ’70s. We very early on had a meeting of the minds, and didn’t have to explore the script to death, because the rhythm of the communication between the characters was just so natural. We slipped into each of our characters very readily and our rehearsals were really a lot of fun. My wife was also great at helping me with the lines, and she still knows a frightening number of them – we are always tossing around Mitch-isms and Dunc-isms. I also think everyone has had a friend like both of these two guys, the one who remembers everything about the old days, and the one who couldn’t care less, the undermining friend, the starry-eyed dreamer, and so on. By the time you get to middle-age, there’s a lot of experience to draw upon!

You have a wide mix of acting and directing credits. What do you enjoy about each of them?

Directing is a lot of fun and I find it sits comfortably on me as a vocation, probably due to my background in teaching, acting and management. Acting though, is the real drug, and is my first love. There are times during a performance when you can be so in flow that you zone out, and only come fully back into yourself when “cut” is called and you see that everyone is quite excited by the work. I’m sure every actor gets that experience at times, and it is really special.

How does your experience as an actor help you as a director and vice versa?

Because I was an actor first, I get where most actors are coming from, which helps me immensely as a director. I have studied most of the acting traditions, and can relate to an actor that is working either from their emotional experience, or from a more cerebral or imaginative place. This helps me communicate my vision as a director in terms that we both understand. I also know to go easy on the number of takes because I understand the risks of burning out the actors. I aim for 3 takes maximum. To get to that level of performance I try to do a lot of work with each actor before we shoot. As for being an actor who also directs, I think it helps me understand what the director likely needs, and so I can bring that to my performance – things like repeatability in coverage shots, awareness of continuity and the like. In both cases, my empathy is deepened because I understand the different jobs on set, and the importance of serving the story and ultimately the audience.

Many of your directing credits are short films. What would you say are the three most important ingredients that every short film needs to be successful?

A story, a message and a theme you care deeply about. To some extent those elements overlap, but they are the key ingredients. I wrote a book called “Micro Short Filmmaking: A guided learning journey” which guides aspiring filmmakers on how to make a simple one-minute film. If you can get a story that fits into a minute, that is driven from something you care about, and leaves a viewer affected, then you can make any length of film. The important thing is to start. If you have a smartphone or other simple camera, you can make a micro short film for no money and get it into festivals and perhaps even win an award. I run workshops on micro short filmmaking, and I am constantly blown away by the creativity of the people who take part. These are the filmmakers of the future.

Are there any books or authors that have been influential in your career so far?

The Art of Acting by Stella Adler, Being an Actor by Simon Callow and Acting in Film by Michael Caine. I read very widely on acting craft, but those are the 3 that I would grab in a fire!

What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned in your career?

Nothing comes easy, and everything takes more time and more work than you can imagine. It’s important to be working constantly on craft and generating your own work through writing and producing. Waiting to be chosen through the traditional audition process is a recipe for defeat and discouragement. You don’t need anyone’s permission to be working on your acting craft. Study, practice, write and shoot a simple film, surround yourself with others who are working hard, and be quietly grinding away all the time. Work more, talk less.

What’s your opinion on the current state of the Canadian film industry?

We are in the middle of a sea-change in terms of the democratization of content production. We are seeing feature films shot with iPhones. If you have a great story, you can find a way to make a film and get it out there into festivals and released online. It’s not a recipe for making lots of money, but there is a lot of talent here in Canada, and a lot of creative people. I think it’s a great time to be an independent film producer.

What other projects are you working on right now and where can we find out more about you?

I am in post-production on a feature film called “It’s About Love” and I am really happy with how it is coming together thanks to an awesome cast and crew. I am also filming a second feature which is an experimental iPhone film, and I have other projects in development. People can come visit us at FatPunkProductions.com, and can check me out on IMDB. Information on my current workshops and training is here. I am @duncanrob on Twitter, and am also on LinkedIn.

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Thanks to Robert David Duncan for speaking with us!

You can check out A Legacy of Whining at the Vancity Theatre on April 5th at 6:30PM.

Tickets available through VIFF.org.

The post The Biz Interview: Robert David Duncan appeared first on Biz Books.

This is the pitch for How to Succeed in Hollywood Without Really Acting, the new book by actor, coach, and now author Peter Skagen which taps into his many years of industry experience and conveys his wisdom in ways that are inspiring, informative, and practical for today’s actors.

We spoke with Peter Skagen to give you a peek into his experiences in the industry, the insights waiting inside the book, and to find out more about just how to succeed in Hollywood without really acting.

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What was your inspiration for writing How to Succeed in Hollywood Without Really Acting?

I came to feel I was done with acting after 35 years and as many movies, and wanted to summarize everything I learned, without any agenda, into a book that would actually be useful, honest and hopefully inspiring.  It became a kind of thesis project, or maybe a letter to the young me.  Before it was even finished, it started taking on a life of its own.  I got a call from the Dean at the University of Lethbridge, whom I know, asking if the book was done.  I told him it wasn’t.  He said ‘we’ll take it anyway.’ They’re still using it, and since then, I’ve just been hanging on as it grows.  I get glowing reviews from casting directors all the time, and I’ve won a couple major book awards already.  I won Best Book in Performing Arts in California for 2015, and I’m a finalist in the Foreword Indie book awards, which is like the Oscars for indie books.

What are some of the recurring lessons that readers will learn from reading it?

Wow.  Well, there are a lot.  First of all, I think you need to be called to it.  Most successful actors I know can point to the very moment they woke up to themselves as actors.  That inspiration has to be strong enough to carry you to the bitter end, so it has to be huge.  Then, they have to know how the Biz works so they’re not going in blind.  Most actors take about 10 years just to figure out how it all works, so I want to save them that time.  Then story.  Story, story, story.  And craft.  Technique.  Nuts and bolts how to do the job.  Craft is the difference between working actors and wannabes.  Finding their brand, or signature character is crucial.  Then they need to know how to package and sell it.  And then it’s all about the audition.  Probably 98% of actors fail badly in the ‘room’ cause they don’t know what they’re doing; they think it’s about acting.  If they really take in all the secret info in the book on the audition process, they’ll never go wrong.

How to Succeed in Hollywood Without Really Acting

What do you think the biggest mistake is that new actors and performers are making when they try to enter the industry?

Giving it a try is the first mistake.  If you’re trying to be an actor, you should maybe move on.  You have to know.  You should have a ton of raw talent and unshakeable faith to start with because those things will be assumed throughout your career and you have to deliver them time and again without fail and without notice.  You gotta have the goods off the top.  If the industry–not necessarily acting coaches, but industry people like casting directors–if they respond to you early, that’s a good sign.   Love is another problem.  Many actors come to it thinking they’ll get love and admiration and all their problems will be over.  The Biz will never give you those things.

Who are the people that are going to get the most out of reading the book and applying the knowledge that you are sharing?

Anybody coming up, their parents, college students and professors, coaches and teachers, stage actors, comics, singers, anybody planning on moving to Los Angeles or New York to get into it, writers are loving the book, and you wouldn’t believe how many working actors in the Biz contact me saying how much the book helped even them.  Also, anybody who’s just plain interested will find the book very easy to read and very informative.  I hear it called a page-turner a lot.

 One of the themes of your book is the idea of not thinking like an actor, but instead thinking like a filmmaker. As you see them, what are the differences in how actors think vs. filmmakers?

Actors are all about themselves.  Filmmakers are about story, financing, making the day, and making a dollar at the end of it all.  They look for actors who understand their pain, and know how to help out in all those ways, and many others.  The acting is only a small percentage of the job.  Example: do you know how to talk to a potential investor in the movie in question?  If the answer is no, you have learning to do.

What inspired you to get into the film industry?

I started writing plays when I was about 9.  I made a movie when I was 14.  It was just always in there.

How would you describe the state of the film industry now? How has it evolved since you first became involved and where do you see it going?

This is a huge question which I address in the book.  I’m not a Hollywood insider by any means, but it’s clear that the actor has to think about his or her career more like a band does these days.  You have to become successful on your own.  It’s all about your social media following, your YouTube presence and so on.  And your knowledge and skill of the Biz, and ability to join the party seamlessly without having to be a beginner (somehow).  I came up during the ’80s, before the internet.  One of my classmates said she was thinking of getting into a new thing called rock videos.  Movie stars were really movie stars, and it was all about movies.  Nowadays, if you tell an agent you want to be a movie star, he might drop you.  There’s no money in it.  The big corporations running the studios don’t even want stars.  They want interchangeable young people as Spider-Man.  They want sequels, and remakes, and animation, and knock-offs.  The money is in television, and increasingly on the internet.  So, a lot has changed.  I see China becoming a much bigger player in the Biz, and I see the potential for a new renaissance of micro-studios making movies all over the world similar to Hollywood in the ’20s.  The major studios will continue only with giant blockbusters leaving room for new moguls around the world to fill the gap, and distribute on the web.

What books have been influential to you in your creative journey?

I’ve read everything on the subject I think.  I love the books of William Goldman – like Adventures of the Screen Trade – who wrote The Princess Bride and about 50 other major movies.  That’s for story.  Michael Caine’s book on acting – Acting in Film – is still one of the best.  And I love True and False by David Mamet.  Patrick Tucker’s book – Secrets of Screen Acting – is really good. And I would suggest reading books on film production including biographies, like The Kid Stays in the Picture by Robert Evans who produced The Godfather. And so on. You can’t read enough. And just really good fiction.  One of the first books I ever read was The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas. It became a movie in my head.

What other projects are you involved with right now?

I’m writing a sci-fi thriller to be shot in China in 2016.  Right now it’s called Dead Still, but that title will change.  It’s a little like Jurassic Park but the dinosaurs are something else, and much worse.  And, crazy as it sounds, I’ve started writing a stage show based on the book.  It’ll be a musical with songs like I Wanna Be Rich, Would You Like Cream With That (from the book) and Oh, my God, it’s Johnny Depp.

Where can people find out more about you and your work?

They can go to PeterSkagen.com.

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Our thanks to Peter Skagen for speaking with us! You can check out his book right here!

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Recommended Reading

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Adventures in the Screen Trade
William Goldman

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Secrets of Screen Acting
Patrick Tucker

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The Kid Stays in the Picture
Robert Evans

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