At the Reel Scene, our mission is to aid and coach actors, helping them get into the acting industry with all the tools they need in order to thrive and survive. To do this, we put our actors through an intense week of training, with coaches such as Mina Anwar and Scott Haran, to prepare them for mid-week auditions, time in the studio to experience life on set and for the final showcase at the end of the week. Many see that once you have graduated from the Reel Scene Event you cannot come back and do it all again. During the August Event we saw October 2015 and March 2016 Graduates, Jessica Balmer and Nadine Burton, return to the Reel Scene. We wanted to share with you their reasons for coming back to the event for the second time and what they learnt from the Event.
Jessica Balmer attended the first Reel Scene Event in October 2015. She came to the Reel Scene as a young actress who had little knowledge of the industry and wanted to progress her skills as an actor. She graduated from the October Event and returned to the Reel Scene through attending the monthly workshops to keep up her training while she completed her final months of her A-levels. Now having finished her education, Jessica decided to attend the August Event to immerse herself in intense training so that she felt ready to face the industry, having refreshed her skills as an actor. Having Graduated the Reel Scene Event for the second time, Jessica feels that, even though the structure of the course if the same, she has still learnt so much. She describes the August Event as “reading a book for the second time. I have noticed so many little details about acting that I didn’t know before and this has helped me progress my acting. I have realised that actors never stop learning and that there isn’t a point where you become established and that’s it. I am glad to know that, as actors, there is always something to progress our skill and learn about the industry”.
Our second returning graduate, Nadine Burton, attended the March Event only a few months ago. After having completed her first Event, Nadine now has twelve professional credits and all the materials she needs to showcase her acting abilities. So why did Nadine attend the August Event if she has had so much success within the industry. Having asked this question, Nadine told the Reel Scene that “I loved the Event so much the first time that I wanted to come back and see how much I could push myself. I received such wonderful feedback from the first Event which has allowed me to enhance my acting. From all of my hard work in the March Event has shown my family that this is the industry I want to be in even to the extent which my son, Jake, decided that he wanted to attend the August Event with me. I believe that the guidance of the Reel Scene will show him how to get into the industry, using the correct etiquette to represent himself in a genuine and authentic way so that he is able to go for auditions”.
At the end of the day, we will never close the door to our actors. Whether they are attending the Event for the first or the twentieth time, we will always encourage and welcome them back to learn and develop their skills as an actor. We aim to create a community where actors feel that they are able to come back and not feel as if they are alone in their journey into the acting industry. We are glad to say that our community is forever growing and we are seeing attendees who have little experience of the industry, flourish and grow into talented actors who, we believe, will thrive in the acting industry.