A fast-paced, hands-on workshop for actors who want to sharpen their on-camera technique while building high-quality material for a professional showreel.

Over three days, you’ll shoot multiple scenes, monologues, and structured improvisations crafted to generate dynamic, contemporary footage — one of the most essential tools for securing representation and casting opportunities. Every actor is featured on camera every day, in a scene, a monologue, or an improvisation; on some days, we’ll film two of the three.

What we do each day

Each day combines rigorous technique work with real shooting time:

• Voice and speech warm-ups, physicalization, and movement
• Improvisation, role play, and pure-technique exercises (action, objective, image, and character work), on and off camera
• Text analysis and text-preparation exercises
• On-camera scene work, monologue performance, and structured improvisations
• A variety of challenging shot setups and camera scenarios

The approach

You’ll be introduced to the heart of contemporary, universal, playable acting technique — the same foundations that serve both film and stage. The focus is practical and camera-specific: the essential principles behind truthful, compelling screen performance, with particular emphasis on personalization — creating a deeply authentic, immediate version of yourself in every moment on screen.

At the heart of our work are the fundamental questions of acting for camera:

• Who am I?
• What do I want?
• How badly do I want it?
• How do I get it?
• And ultimately: what I do depends on what they do.

Drawing on contemporary screen-acting approaches and Meisner-based technique, the class emphasizes responsiveness, emotional specificity, and behavioral truth — the qualities that define the strongest film and television performances today.

The goal is simple but demanding: when the camera rolls, the audience must believe you are who you say you are.

What you’ll leave with

• Enough footage — featuring you — to assemble at least a starter showreel
• Professionally shot scenes, monologues, and improvisations suitable for building or strengthening your reel
• A working understanding of the basic tools needed to approach casting directors and agents: your CV, photographs, and showreel

Footage from each day’s shoot is sent to you promptly — often the same or next day — so your material builds throughout the workshop.

Before you start

• Scene material is sent early to everyone who signs on.
• Links for finding and preparing monologues are sent before the workshop begins.
• Alex Murphy also shares links to seminal acting technique and provides printed handouts for the technique context that matters.

All scripts and scene material are assigned in advance, so you arrive fully prepared to rehearse and move confidently into shooting. Actors are expected to be off-book and camera-ready.