MANILA, Philippines?Starting next month, we?re holding an Integrated Acting, Scriptwriting and Directing Workshop for Spotlight Artists Centre, the new talent development studio recently put up by acclaimed performing artists, Robert Seña, Isay Alvarez, Tricia Amper-Jimenez and Noni Buencamino, among others.
The unique workshop, which is being held for the first time in these parts, seeks to develop ?triple-threat? talents, or artists who are good at all three crafts.
Students
We?ve taught separate acting, scriptwriting and directing subjects and workshops many times before, and quite a number of our students have done very well in the biz?from Doy del Mundo, Nanding Josef and Laurice Guillen years ago to Michiko Yamamoto, Adolf Alix Jr. and Rica Arevalo more recently.
So, why an integrated course? Because we?ve noticed that the three crafts are closely interrelated, and that competence in all three gives ?triple-threat? talents a distinct advantage in the biz.
Examples abound: National Artists Gerry de Leon, Lino Brocka and Ishmael Bernal all started out as actors, and later branched out into directing, with occasional scripting forays in between. Ditto for Manuel Conde, Eddie Garcia, Behn Cervantes, Marilou Diaz-Abaya, Mario O?Hara, etc.
Internationally, their similarly ?thrice-talented? counterparts include Charlie Chaplin, Woody Allen, Robert Redford, George Clooney, Alan Alda, Kenneth Branagh, Mel Brooks, John Cassavetes, Mel Gibson, Jean Cocteau, Noel Coward, Bryan Forbes, John Huston and Steve Martin.
What exactly is the advantage they enjoy? As actors, they know how, when they direct, they can elicit the best portrayals from the talents they handle. As scriptwriters, they can more insightfully analyze scripts when they?re directing or acting in them.
As directors, they have a keen understanding of the totalized view a production should have, and the part that they, as actors or writers, need to play to help their director realize that totalized vision.
So, the ideal isn?t really to train people who can act in, write and direct the same project; rather, it?s to make workshoppers realize how the three crafts interact with and enhance one another.
Thus, if a talent is assigned to direct a project, his analysis of the script he?s working on is sharpened, and he knows how to elicit superlative performances from his actors.
Quite a number of directors are more focused on creating beautiful images onscreen, and can?t relate to their actors as thinking and feeling people.
In addition, their lack of scripting knowledge sometimes makes their movies sound too verbose, and plot and character development is either too sketchy or overwrought.
These and other liabilities would be minimized or eliminated if the theater, TV or film talent is trained to be competent in all three interrelated crafts?so, even Spotlight founders, Robert and Isay, are taking the four-month integrated course, because they want to further enrich their own theater-TV-film careers.
If you wish to join them, call Isay at 0922 898-6644 or 899-8089. Only 12 workshoppers can be accommodated in the intensive workshop.
