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A 2-day in-person masterclass with Heidi that pushes you to take risks in your auditions and to overhaul the preparation habits that hold you back on camera.
In this class, we work on (re)settling your ease on camera, (re)building your confidence in the audition room, paying attention to details in your audition prep, and owning your unique strengths in roles. Heidi teaches this class in NYC, LA, Atlanta, Chicago, and more cities!
*Please come prepared so we can make the most of our time together. There will be a working lunch with partners.
ASSIGNMENTS
You’ll receive scene assignments. They will include 2 assigned scenes and details on how to select and prepare your own scene that fills class parameters. No monologues.
WATCH YOURSELF ON CAMERA
We film your scenes and provide you with downloads after each class. It’s an excellent way to study your progress, catch your “tricks,” and see what the producers/directors are seeing on the monitors.
SIMULATE WORKING ON SET
On Day 2, we will simulate working on set. Whether you have a little or a ton of experience of set, the process of deepening your awareness of both the camera’s presence and how to collaborate with creative teams is never-ending.
BEYOND CLASS
I encourage you to use select takes from class to generate interest in your talent. Yes, you can post them anywhere if it’s a published film/TV show that’s already aired. Post your scenes on your websites or to share them with reps—it’s a great conversation starter about your process as an actor!
My joy is matchmaking, and I seek those opportunities for my alumni. For this reason, I have created an Alumni Database where you can upload class videos.
If you’d love to spend two intensive days revving up your toolbox, having fun, and doing more deep-dive work that addresses where you’re at right now, this masterclass is perfect!
This class is great for:
TIME COMMITMENT
You will need to plan for homework time to research your assignment and prepare your materials. This is a 2-day intensive so please give yourself some space to be able to dive in for our 48 hours together! All studio classes are designed to stretch and support your complete prep process as an actor for self-tapes and in-person auditions. The more you put into the class, the more you get out of it!
OUR WORK TOGETHER
This is a supportive learning environment where you will be challenged to tackle your obstacles! (Quick note about your class clips: there may be extraneous sound captured from surrounding areas. We’ll do our best while filming!)
This is not a networking class with a casting director. This is an acting and auditioning class with a teacher who has over two decades of professional high-level experience and who cares most about the actor’s process. In the end, I believe it is the process that books the job and supports the actor’s need to stay inspired.
ACTING COACH: Heidi’s career has spanned over 25 years and includes time as the lead Casting Director at Telsey+CO for the Broadway musical RENT, as well as for 70+ projects in theater, film, television, commercial, and voiceover. She’s coached countless actors into roles for Film, TV, and Theater. Most recently, she coached and prepped Halle Bailey for her audition and screen test for Disney’s upcoming The Little Mermaid. Heidi’s active filmmaker career informs her director’s eye and influences her aesthetic for working with actors.
For full acting coach bio, click here. For filmmaker portfolio, click here.
I’ve got two crucial questions for you.
Taking risks doesn’t just mean doing something wild and crazy. The real risk is actually investing your full attention into the material – not cutting any corners – so that every choice is rooted in character and excavating the writing’s potential.
When you have done the deep dive prep, you are ready to make choices.
And. You are primed now to think like a filmmaker. What does this story need? What is this filmmaker going for? How can I give the camera what it needs? How can I make visual choices to tell the story? I guarantee that these are the next layer of questions that most actors are missing in the audition process.
There is a noticeable difference between the actor who has been on set tons and the actor who has not been on set. Because the actor who has been on set understands how to feel the presence of the camera, know where the camera is at all times, and to modulate for it’s proximity to the actor.
In this class, we work on your mastery of shaping auditions and working that camera lens.
Sometimes, you just need to immerse yourself in the bubble of an intensive in order to re-examine and (re)inspire your process as an actor.
Pause the audition madness for a moment. Give yourself some breathing room to explore and grow again. Let’s get to the bottom of what may be missing in your process.
x,
Heidi
WHY I TEACH
First, I always experience major inspiration and rejuvenation when I work with talent on camera. You all inspire me as an artist and a teacher. The best part about casting for me was being inside the audition room—and the best part about directing is being on sets with actors and crews making and creating together. So when I’m teaching, I get the best of both worlds.
I eagerly look for windows of opportunity between my own projects and my 4-week classes to teach this master class because the process of working together sustains my artistic spirit too!
ABOUT MY CLASSES
My classes are small and private, and they operate purely from word-of-mouth by over 3,000 alumni students. I’ve been offering my classes since 2003, and I’m thrilled that word-of-mouth is powerful and that there is such a hunger for deepening the acting and auditioning process.
My classes are not separated by levels of talent. Everyone, including the award winners, starts with me in Part 1 or Nailing the Genre, and we build a process together. I lay in the lessons and techniques very thoughtfully and purposefully over the classes, and I start everyone at the same point in the conversation. Some actors will say it is like developing a philosophy together. My classes will give you more than just techniques because I believe in developing and training actors to be collaborators.
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It was an amazing class as always. I love how Heidi brings the best out of each and every actor I’ve seen her work with! Her genuine curiosity to find the gold in each scene and her generosity always sets the tone for everyone to play and be free and have an amazing experience.
A breath of fresh air in looking at a script and a hug feeling in coaching form. It feels like love and kindness with some deep learning, whenever I get to learn from Heidi. I can’t wait to afford her coaching for all of my work. No joke. It’s on my vision board. 🙂
This masterclass experience was so clarifying and grounding in all the tangible takeaways in how to prepare and perform a scene. It gave me clear guidelines on how to approach a film script and put a scene on its feet. It really drove home to importance of visual storytelling and how as an actor you play into that.
Uncomfortable, fun, inspirational, educational. I ran home the night after our masterclass and gushed to my family that I had the most wonderful time! I said it was challenging and uncomfortable, but so much fun to step into a new form of acting.
A must- try. The best master class I’ve ever taken. The most amazing coach ever. It opened up my mind to possibilities and reminded me to have fun and be an artist.
Transformative. I think the class is labeled perfectly. I did leave feeling more at ease! I also would like to say, Heidi herself has such a welcoming , thoughtful, candid approach and it really is such a blessing to be granted that influence as an actor!
It’s really great with immediately usable and memorable tools to take with you to set or to an audition. It’s an amazing chance to practice and learn technical things as well as having the encouragement to be more of an artist.
I’ve received incredible experience with a top acting coach for theater and film. The entire week was very intensive, starting from audition prep to the actual performance.
Wonderful tools that I will be taking with me into auditions and roles; a great weekend of on-camera experience with like-minded peers all wanting to challenge themselves creatively.
The masterclass was invigorating, inspiring, and exactly what I needed after taking some time away from acting. It helped me tap into the exploration, discovery, and play that is necessary to not only perform at a high level but also to have the most fulfilling experience as an actor.
A physically well-organized, psychologically safe and welcoming environment and approach., the chance to work with extremely talented professionals and an ingratiating and generous teacher. This was my second opportunity to work and learn from Heidi and her actors. Both opportunities were life changing. I look forward to using the skills I learned, and to the next chance to work with this gifted genius of an acting coach.
This auditioning Masterclass with the incomparable Heidi Marshall gave me so much freedom. Grasping the audition as a stepping stone in the process (not the end goal, that is making movies!) It helped me lighten the pressure I put on myself. Doing the scene work, and trying different tools a head of time in a more organized analysis opened the delivery of my lines. I learned how to be ok with not being perfect: messy hair, wardrobe malfunctions, careless makeup, wrong timing.. all the self-doubt thingy’s are always going to be there BUT it feels so good to let go of that for the audition! It was like going to the gym for my process, building up these muscles, so I can better flex my confidence. I loved getting to “play” Director, Producer, etc. I thought I was a super smart way to go about filming our scenes!
Oh my! I’m going to use all the tools when working on scene analysis, self-taping, call backs, finding variety in takes and on set. An intensive masterclass which explores on camera acting in a collaborative and supportive group environment where everyone is encouraged and challenged. It is a transformational experience!
Heidi is an absolutely amazing teacher and communicator! (and film maker!) She truly works with you wherever you are . Her approach to the ‘messy actor’ and using the Tools to mix things up (and steer away from trying to do a scene perfectly) is so refreshing – and the Tools are fun and stir the imagination. I found the weekend so so energizing and feel really great about the work that I did. People in the class loosened up quickly and were really supportive of each other – this was definitely a byproduct of how Heidi structures things and of her incredible ability to support and encourage everyone. Don’t hesitate – don’t obsess – just sign up for this class! It’s an amazing opportunity.
A deep-dive to level up your audition self-tapes. It’s energizing and is a safe space to make mistakes and correct them without judgement.
You are a fabulous teacher, with more than the usual set of tools to teach an actor to be a more authentic actor and become better and better at the craft! Love the safe spaces you create!
Heidi is a humble, incredible acting coach. She sees everyone as equals, and that is very clear as she coaches. She leaves you with helpful tools, such as how she breaks down a script in a way that’s easy to take with you afterwards. Along with breaking down the script, in this Masterclass, Heidi coaches you one-on-one by the kind of actor you aspire to be.
I left motivated. I want to continue to do the work and I’m itching for auditions to resume so I can put what I learned into play. I would describe it as a class that will set you up for success.
It’s a practical experience, fully rooted in work. Heidi creates a supportive, encouraging and fun environment that is welcoming and warm. That’s not to say it’s not rigorous. It is. But there is kindness in her rigor that is so refreshing!
I’m excited to use the ten different tools to make my auditions more dynamic and truthful
Thanks so much for our class yesterday it was so rejuvenating and motivating.
An extraordinary opportunity to play, create & explore working on camera and also learn and experience new tools to shake you up and find deeper connections to the text, your scene partner and what you bring to the scene and the character all with Heidi’s compassionate and insightful guidance.
It’s digging deeper after part 2 and getting even more Heidi tools! It’s a fun weekend (or 2 weekday) masterclass touching on multiple parts of acting on camera (eyelines, taking direction, script analysis, etc) where you get to meet and get to know other awesome artists.
It was fantastic being with and playing in front of such a loving group of talented artists, and all under Heidi’s direction! Plus, not having to worry about the camera and lighting and everything felt like such a luxury. Life-changing and soul-nourishing!
Full disclosure — please note that we do not guarantee that actors in these classes or workshops will be hired for any project that we might direct, produce, or cast. We teach and coach because we enjoy supporting and nurturing actors as you develop your personal process for auditioning, working and creating your own work.