Aaron Marcus warns actors to vet classes carefully before enrolling. Ask if you can audit a class first to check the instructor's credibility and teaching style. Red flags include instructors who push personal trauma, peer feedback that feels hostile, and cultures that discourage actual audition work.
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Have you ever taken a bad acting class? Who hasn't? I mean, most, most people I know have. And maybe you're feeling a little gun-shy about taking another one. You don't want to waste your money. You don't want to waste your time. Well, watch this video and I'm going to share with you one question you absolutely want to ask before you sign up for another class. I'm also going to give you some other information of ways to help make sure that this is a class that's right for you. I also have a special bonus video that you'll see at the very end, and it's all about what do you do if you're not paid for an acting job, and it's going to be really helpful to you. Okay, let's get started. Hi, my name is Aaron Marcus, and welcome to the Acting and Modeling Quick Tips channel and the Actor Career Center. Where I love sharing information with my fellow actors about experiences that I've had in the acting industry for a little over 38 years now. If you haven't done this yet, don't forget, click the subscribe button, the notification bell, so you always know when I upload a new video. And if you like it, give it a thumbs up because that is very helpful. And don't forget to share, share the link with your fellow actors so we can always help each other, which is why I do this. So it's really easy to walk into a class and all of a sudden you're thinking, uh-oh, what did I do here? Spent a lot of money, it's just not working. And before I give you the one specific question, let me tell you some other things that you will also want to do ahead of time. Look, before you take a class, it's like looking for a doctor. You really don't want to just go online and do research that way. I mean, you can, you want to ask fellow actors, you want to ask other industry professionals if there are any teachers that they can recommend. You also want to make sure that you are going to be learning what you really need to learn. Look, if you're interested in doing film and TV, then you don't want to take a class that's based on stage acting. You know, look, great acting is great acting, but you do use different techniques for stage and for TV and film. And if you are interested in doing commercials, well, there are some very specific things that are unique to auditioning and performing TV commercials as opposed to TV or film. Those are the things, a couple of the things that you definitely want to be thinking about. Before I tell you the one major thing, I want to share with you a story of a class that I left. I never walked out on a class before, and I want to share it with you because I think it will be really helpful. So this is many, many years ago. I never went to an acting school, didn't go to college for, for acting, and— but I heard about this teacher and, and I read, read his books. And actually there were some very interesting things in the books, and there were people who were taking, or taking and teaching this person's technique. And I, I just feel a little uncomfortable mentioning the person's name. I don't even know if the person's alive. He's not alive anymore, but he used to travel the country doing workshops. But he also had teachers who were teaching his technique, and I would drive like an hour, an hour and a half to these classes every week. And it was really helpful to me because I didn't have an acting training, I didn't have an acting background, and this is where I was really learning. And like I said, I really liked some of the concepts of what he was doing. So when he was giving you a class, in, in the area. So I signed up, and here's, here's what I found. And it was, it was eye-opening and very disappointing for me. Number one, I found that— and this was supposed to be like a weekend retreat kind of thing— I found that most of the people who signed up for the class were people who talked about acting Loved the concept of acting, took classes all the time, but they never went out and actually auditioned. They never went out and really tried to get work. It was almost— it kind of felt like to me it was almost as if they were using this technique as therapy sessions, which is to me, number one, felt dangerous. Because this teacher is not a psychotherapist, and he had no idea what he was doing as far as trying to heal people's trauma. And the other thing was, I found— and I was getting angry about this, and this actually, I'll just tell you, this is the first time I've ever shared this with anybody, but I— I want to. I felt angry because when I would go up and perform, the teacher would ask the students, fellow students, who— what did you think? And I didn't like that for a couple of reasons. One, I was getting feedback from people who I felt, number one, were angry with me. People who— they shouldn't be, but they were. It felt like they were jealous because I'm out there trying to work. I'm out there making a living doing this work, and I don't think they liked it. I think it made them tap into some of their own issues. And so They would say things about some of my work that it just didn't make any sense. It seemed sometimes it would get personal. Sometimes they would talk about, I just don't feel like you're opening up. And, and, and the teacher would just kind of pick and pick and pick. Some people really enjoyed being insulted. By the teacher. Maybe they like being slapped around. I don't mean that literally, but just being brought down to their knees and just told how bad they were. And the teacher also knew— it's not hard to do, anybody can do it— the teacher knew he would get some information about you because he wanted you to share some personal things about your life. Which I didn't want to do, with the class. And then he would push your buttons. And, you know, you would mention something that might have been traumatic, and then he would push it and push it, and then people would start crying. And there were people in the class who believed they were making a breakthrough. They felt like they were really acting because they were tapping into emotions. They were crying. They were getting upset. And it made me angry because that's not what acting is all about. Yes, you have to be in touch with your emotions. Yes, you have to be able to share, but if there's nothing else behind it, it's meaningless. And I remember once I was up performing and people were just making just these horrible comments. And once again, I'm not saying it because People didn't necessarily like what I was— I didn't care about that. I just— and I turned to him in the middle of the class and I said, look, I paid a lot of money this weekend to get your advice. I want to hear from you. I want to get feedback from you. I really don't want to hear from everybody in the class, which is pretty much what people were doing. And he started talking about he felt like I was blocking, I was not opening up. I said, yeah, I'm not opening up. Because I don't feel comfortable here. I don't feel safe here. I don't feel like I'm in an environment where I want to expose myself. This is what's been created. And at one point I just said, this just is not working for me, and I left. So it was, it was a horrible— like, I hated losing the money. I hated losing the experience. Like I said, I enjoyed the guy's books. His teachers I liked because they had a heart. They cared. I don't— I want criticism. I want to be critiqued. That's how you grow. But when it's based on being nasty and just pulling at strings to upset you, that's not an acting class. And I also felt like this person was just doing things with people that were just inappropriate. And, and once again, I'm not going to go into details, but all different kinds of ways. So one of the key things you want to find out before you sign up for another acting class, you know, find out about the instructor. Now look, there are phenomenal teachers who might not be out there acting right now, which is fine. Look, I prefer— my preference Is a working actor because that person really knows what's going on today. But if it's strictly just acting, then if the person isn't out there acting, that's okay with me. You can be a great coach. You can be a great football coach without being a football player. Okay. You can be. But I also like learning things about the industry too, so that's why I also prefer somebody who's actively working, but doesn't have to be. Like I said, I've taken classes and, or private sessions with people who are not actively working, and it was great. It was very helpful. But that's one of the things I would ask. I want to know their experience. Is it just an academic thing? Did they just get a degree, or did they at least spend some time in the field? I also want to really I want to make sure I know what is being taught to make sure it's accurate and fulfilling my needs. But here's the number one thing: always ask. You're not going to get it all the time, and quite often they might say no. But if it's a one-day workshop, of course you can't do this. If it's an ongoing class, look, I would always just ask. Is there any chance I can audit the class, or audit a class, audit part of a class? Could I sit in for 20 minutes? Maybe even if it is a one-day thing, but the person does it in your area every month, maybe just say, look, I'm really interested. Could I just sit in for 10 minutes? And then I— and then You know, if I decide I'd like to sign up for next month's session. Because you also really want to make sure that the teacher not only has the knowledge, has the information, has the expertise, but is able to deliver it to you in a way that will be helpful. And like I said, I don't need kind, soft, fuzzy teachers. I prefer that. I can also tell you that I will never study with somebody who is abusive. Some— like I said, some people like it. It makes them feel special, or who knows? I don't even want to try to answer that one for people, but That's not something I accept, something I would never do. And you're probably not going to really know that until you sit in there, unless you have some close friends who have taken the class and they can explain it to you and they've studied with the teacher. So see if you can audit a class. Always ask. The worst they can do is say no, in which case maybe you could talk with some ex-students and ask them some questions too, because you You know your learning style better than anybody, and you want it to fit. It's like when I do private sessions with people or do workshops, the way that I do it is the way that I would like to be taught. And, and I always— I take questions very seriously. I work very hard at making people feel comfortable, um, no matter what's going on in the class. You know, I really spend a lot of time understanding and knowing what it's like to be in the other person's shoes because I was there at one point. I was there knowing nothing, absolutely nothing about the industry. And, and I, I feel so much pride in what somebody else is doing, how brave they are. And that's the way That's the feel of my private sessions or my classes. And that's what I would like. Like I said, sometimes I've taken classes and it's cold and stuff, but that's okay too. Just make sure, for me, for me, it's not abusive. So anyhow, always ask. That's the one question I would always ask if you can actually audit the class. I hope this was helpful. Please let me and others know, have you ever taken a class that didn't work out? And you don't have to mention names. That's not helpful to anybody. And let us know what happened. Let us know, have you done things differently next time around? Have you asked some questions, done things that gave you a better idea of what to expect, you know, for other classes? Please share that, you know, in the comments section so that way we can all learn from each other. Once again, I promised— excuse me, I'm still kind of getting over from being sick. I promised that I was going to share another link to a great video. It's right up here, and you might see 2 links. One is for a playlist, and you can go straight to a playlist. Or if you want to go specifically to the video of what do you do if you're not paid for an acting job, you can click on the little exclamation point icon, uh, that should be up there for you. And, um, please don't forget, if you haven't subscribed, subscribe. Click the notification bell. If you like it, give it a thumbs up and share. Please share the link. I'm Aaron Marcus, and I can't wait to talk with you again soon. See ya.
