COMMERCIAL ACTING
BASIC & ADVANCED
BASIC ON-CAMERA
Frank Spencer Frank Spencer (Basic Commercial) - Gave up Wall Street for a career in stage, film and TV. Came to acting through HB Studio with Uta Hagen. Has principle credits on stage and in Daytime Drama. Has also been seen in national commercials and as an industrial spokesman. Was taught by Bob Barron and Dwight Weist and continues the techniques that they instituted. Frank is senior instructor.
Personal Philosophy:
"Acting
is a craft that can become an art form. Learn the craft and wait for the inspiration"
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Ed Ferron Ed
Ferron (Basic
Commercial) – A NY stage actor with many regional and dinner theatre
credits. A trade show spokesman for RCA, TICKETRON, MERGENTHALER, and
LINOTYPE among others. Appeared in commercials for NBC ENTERTAINMENT in
training films for VIDEO TUTORIAL SERVICE and in various roles on ONE
LIFE TO LIVE. Most recently he served as a coach for on-camera talent on
PBS’ Personal Philosophy: "Someone said : "It's not that every artist is a special kind of person; it's that every person is a special kind of artist." As a Basic Commercial teacher, I meet many students who are making their first professional explorations into acting. And while my immediate goal is to offer the student a thorough introduction to the challenge of on-camera commercial auditions, I am also interested in helping the student find out if acting is the mode of artistic expression they wish to commit to. So I view my teaching as an introduction to the acting process itself. What is that process? It consists of the actor asking him/herself two questions: (1) How do I take the words I'm given and make them mean something emotionally to me? (2) How do I find and interesting and effective way of expressing that emotion to the audience? The fact that the on-camera commercial usually involves simple, straight-forward, expansive, positive emotions makes it a more congenial starting point for the inexperienced actor's exploration of the acting process."
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ADVANCED ON-CAMERA
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Jerry Coyle Jerry
Coyle
(Advanced Commercial) - Jerry is no stranger He has been at the Weist-Barron studios in NYC for over 20 years teaching acting, television commercial technique, cold readings and newscasting. In addition, Jerry teaches at the Connecticut School of Broadcasting and twice a year he conducts acting-for-the-camera workshops in Cologne, Germany for the Camera Acting Centrum. In New York he has worked with several high profile clients giving them a smoother and more natural delivery to the camera and helping them understand the importance of their energy in relationship to the camera. Among them are Dan Elias, "The Antiques Road Show" WGBH, Boston; Leslie Dodson, Reuters Business News; Walt Kane, News 12 New Jersey; Kitty Pilgrim, CNN Business News; Mike Eruzione, 1980 Captain of the U.S. Olympic Hockey Team and Susan Waldman, WFAN Radio and the New York Yankees. Jerry also conducts Master Classes at the Tisch School for the Arts and the School of Education, Department of Musical Theatre at NYU in Manhattan. Periodically, he conducts seminars and workshops at Kent State University, Kent, Ohio and Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana. Personal Philosophy: "Today TV Commercials are about real relationships with love and acceptance portrayed as the bottom-line human need. Commercials are not about selling or announcing, products are subtly insinuated into the copy as solutions. My ability as a teacher is to allow you to understand your instincts. In a commercial audition, you are part of the collaboration and your instincts truly matter. I refuse to "direct" my students but as their teacher, I allow them to trust their own choices and guide them to discover their true selves in the scene or cold reading. Using their own energy and, above all, their own humor, students begin to gain confidence and comfort in front of the camera."
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Batt Johnson Batt
Johnson
(Advanced Commercial) -
Batt
has extensive voice-over and radio broadcasting credits from top
stations in His
awards include a New York Film
and Video Festival Award, a Clio
Award nomination, a Mic
Award for creative excellence, and two International
Film and Television Festival Awards for corporate films. He
teaches at the Weist-Barron School of Television, New York University, Batt
studied at the Actors Playhouse, HB Studios, Weist-Barron School of
Television, Reed-Sweeny-Reed the Teachers and The Bill Wade School of
Radio and Television Broadcasting earning his first class F.C.C.
license. He holds a BA in Media Studies and Social Theory an MA in
Communications and will soon start working on his MFA. Personal Philosophy: "The best way to augment your study of the acting profession is to study real people in their everyday lives. There is a tremendous amount of education there. Learn to portray other people convincingly. What we do as actors is try to do what real people are doing naturally everyday. As an actor, you will never be asked to do something that people are not doing right now. Acting is not about acting - it is about being." Batt Johnson - from his book Rich and Famous in Thirty Seconds.
Available at: Amazon.com: (877)823-9235 http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0595130372/ qid%3D994189688/104-9821133-6379912
Barnes & Noble.com: http://shop.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/ results.asp?WRD=Rich+and+Famous+in+Thirty+Seconds&userid=3LATN51O5B Also at Borders.com, iUniverse.com, www.battjohnson.com
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Jacqueline Sydney Jacqueline
Sydney (Advanced Commercial)
-is an actor who uses Personal
Philosophy: You
are unique and it is your uniqueness that will book you the job.
With improvisation you develop your individuality, learn to be present
while throwing yourself into every audition with the abandon that will
enable you to enjoy your work. Improvisation gives you the freedom to
take risks. Show up, be yourself and have the time of your life. |
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SECRETS OF THE NEW MASTER CHEFS and various infomercials.
to the camera.
Besides shooting Industrial films and some work on Soap Operas, the bulk
of his experience has come from filming numerous television commercials.
They include DENQUEL TOOTHPASTE, MARINE MIDLAND BANK, BANK OHIO, ROY
RODGERS, BURGER KING, CHIPS AHOY, GOLDEN GRIDDLE PANCAKE
SYRUP. Jerry has appeared Off-Broadway and in Regional Theatre
Productions from Seattle Repertory Theatre in Washington to the Dorset
Theatre Festival in Vermont.
an award-winning actor, broadcaster, college professor and author. He
has performed in plays, on-camera television commercials, corporate and
feature films radio commercials, narration and animated cartoon voices.
His voice-over commercials include IBM, Pepsi, Merrill Lynch,
Norelco, Wisk, McDonalds, Sears, Kodak, Burger King, Exxon, American
Express, Wendy’s, JC Penny, MCI, Charles Schwab, Sony, Bulova Watches,
Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Price Waterhouse and more. 
improvisation
in her work. She is Mrs. Pack in the totally improvised
mocumentary feature 'Filmic Achievement,' which is a 2005 official
selection at the Independent Film Festival of Boston, Cleveland
International Film Festival, Woods Hole Film Festival and Stratford Upon
Avon Digital Film Festival. She's put her improv skills to use as
Mommie in the upcoming 'Mommie Deadest,' and as a kidnapped
HMO Executive in the upcoming political thriller, 'Confess.'
She played the lead in the multiple award winning short, 'Pure Sugar,'
and can be seen in the upcoming short 'Ten Souls Rising.' On stage
she most recently appeared in 'Carcass' for Diaspora Drama Group,
'Machinal' for Synapse at the Ohio Theatre 'Fit For Feet,' at Vital
Theatre, and 'Champagne and Caviar' at American Playwrights Theatre.
Jacqueline was honored to perform her one woman piece, 'A Weekly
Manicure,' as part of a week long benefit for the 911 Fund. She¹s
also worked with the Phoenix Ensemble in