This Is Your Community: The Latest from the Acting Program
Toronto Film School’s Dundas Campus is bursting at the seams. It must be October! Welcome to the 2015 Fall Semester for the TFS Acting for Film, TV & Theatre Diploma program. We have nine sections this term, including two theatrical productions in Term 5, so we have lots of news to share.
First off, welcome to the new first term students! This is the start of an extraordinarily fulfilling time in your life. Take advantage of every opportunity and make the most of your time. The creativity and talent is all around you and it is essential that you network and collaborate with students from all departments and build up that demo reel.
Remember that everyone at Toronto Film School is working towards a career in this industry. This is your community.
Our vision withToronto Film School was to integrate all the programs and provide you with a greater overall learning experience. Some of this term’s acting program collaborations with other departments include:
- Toronto Film School General Auditions which highlight our actors for Film Production films
- Actors starring in each other’s Term 6 films and monologues
- Film Production students helping to produce our Term 6 Greenlit Films
- Actors’ Voiceovers being used by Video Game designers at Steeles Campus
- Writing Program students pitching scripts to our Term 5 Acting Students for the greenlight competition
- Graphic Design Students creating more dynamic packages for our Term 5 pitches
Our resident instructor (and all around great guy) Omar Zamir, is now in charge of theToronto Film School General Auditions.
This is an online platform for acting students to record a monologue on camera, and then have Omar post it online forToronto Film School directors/producers who use it to cast their films. If you have not auditioned for the generals, we urge you to contact Omar at [email protected]
We are so thrilled that our graduates are getting signed by agents and have gone on to direct/produce/write/and star in several films that have premiered at TIFF, Sundance Film Festival, Cannes Film Festival, Toronto Film School’s Festival of Films.
They have also made appearances in both commercials and tv series including Degrassi, Covert Affairs, Rookie Blue, Hannibal, Odd Squad and most recently graduate Richard Maxwell starred in an HBO show playing opposite Kim Cattrall (Sex and The City) under the direction of Canadian filmmaker, Don McKellar.
We also want to congratulate graduates, Meeland Mansour and Chandler Vold, for being the recipients of the Best Actress and Best Actor Awards and this year’s TFsFF. These are big shoes to fill and we could not be more proud.
Sue Miner and Ralph Small are back to direct the Term 5 plays. Sue will be working on a modern version of Moliere’s “The Learned Ladies” while Ralph will be directing “Book of Days” by Lanford Wilson. Both have impeccable taste and outstanding humour and are sure to be a delight to watch. The shows will run between December 16th and December 19th at The Pia Bouman Theatre.
We’d also like to congratulate our Term 6 graduating class who will be starting production on their short films under the guidance of Yale Massey. The directors will be on location for the first half of the semester. Make sure to inquire with them as to whether they are holding auditions for acting program students. Or do anything to get involved! It’s all part of networking on campus.
Finally, our ever-popular acting showcases will be held the week of December 14 to December 20. Attendance to all Term 5 plays and the Term 6 Short Film Screening are mandatory. Please ensure that you are all available for the duration of showcase week (ie don’t book any flights home for Christmas until after December 20th) and stay tuned for specific times.
We want to wish you all the best in the coming semester. Break a leg!
Hart Massey & Michael Ayoub are the Coordinators of The Acting for Film, TV, and Theatre Program. Hart is also an actor and producer, known for Last Monday (2010), Ordinary Magic (1993) and The Film Student (2011). Michael is a graduate of the prestigious Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theater in New York City, under the brilliant Sanford Meisner. As an actor, director, producer and teacher, Michael has been an active force in the business for over forty years.
