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Robin Vada Song

Directing Coach

Learn How to Speak the Language of Actors and Get Great Performances

(Skip the pitch. Send me straight to the course sign-up.)

Welcome

Welcome to the immersive learning lab for speaking the language of actors

You’re confident in your camera angles, you live for lighting and lenses, maybe you've even been directing for a while now. The technical stuff you’ve got locked down.

 

But actors… how do they actually work? Where’s the knob that dials their energy up or down? Or the secret switch that turns an ok performance into a great one? 

 

Well there might not be a knob or a switch... but there are some magic words - a whole language, in fact - that will transform your ability to get the performance you’re looking for.

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Whether you’re directing dramas, comedies, or even commercials, getting fluent in Talking to Actors will totally transform your work.

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Maybe You've Felt

Maybe you've felt stuck when an actor:

  • Kept giving the same performance

  • Didn’t understand your note

  • Kept saying the line wrong

Or maybe you've been disappointed when you: 

  • Got a less than stellar performance from your actor

  • Lacked choices in the edit

Or maybe you've been frustrated when: 

You’re directing a commercial and the client wants something, and you keep redirecting the actor, but the actor isn’t nailing it and your client is getting antsy.

1

A Deep Vocabulary for Articulating Your Vision to Your Actors

2

The Tools to Rehearse Whether You've Got 5 Weeks or 5 Minutes

3

The Secrets to Unlocking a Scene or a Character

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That's Why
That’s why the Talking To Actors Essentials Course give you :
You'll Gain
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When You Learn the Language of Talking To Actors...

You'll Gain:

  • ROCK SOLID SKILLS AND CONFIDENCE in your ability to get great performances from your actors

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  • CONTROL OF YOUR VISION. You know what you want, now learn how to get it.

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  • THE REPUTATION YOU'VE DREAMED OF. Become known as the director who knows how to get great performances. You may think this is just for narrative film and theatre, but it holds especially true for directors on commercial sets where you have a whole committee with opinions sitting behind you called The Client. Even if the actor gives you a fine first take, 9 times out of 10 the client is going to want something different, and often they’ll want multiple options, so your job as the director is to efficiently translate what the client wants into playable direction for your actors. You’ll impress your client and keep them coming back to you when you show them you know how to get the performance they’re envisioning.

The only time directors ever get practice working with actors is on the job. 
How bonkers is that? 
Imagine if you were a weightlifter who never went to the gym in between competitions? Directors need ongoing training just like actors and athletes.
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You'll Save:

  • TIME & MONEY. I have witnessed SO many shoots wasting time and money - even going into overtime or requiring reshoots - because the director didn’t know how to get what they needed from the actors. When you can communicate your vision effectively to the actor you’ll get the performance you want a lot sooner. 

  • THE DAY. I'm talking about crew morale here. I'm sure you've been on a set (maybe yours, maybe not) where the director was struggling to get what they needed from the actor, and you started to feel the morale of the crew deflate. Soon frustration and malaise seeped into every department, and production began to slog. But you have the power to change that as the director. When you know how to talk to actors, you can keep the creative energy high and set a positive tone for your whole production.

  • YOUR SANITY. There’s enough stuff for you to stress about on set. Directing the actors should be the fun part. And it IS when you know how to speak the actor’s language.

You'll Save

If you’re a director (film or theatre!) who has the tech stuff dialed in and is ready to delve deeper into the human side of the equation… the Talking to Actors method is for you.

Course Details

The Courses

Save 17% When You Buy All Three Together in The Essentials Bundle

$336   $282

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The Talking To Actors Essentials Course
 

Become the director you want to be. One who gets fascinating, memorable performances from your actors because you can speak their language.

You'll Learn:

  • The 7 Essential Tools for Directing Actors

  • How to Avoid Performance Killers

  • How Actors Work (and why they're so weird!)

  • The Truth About Subtext

  • The 3 Keys to Unlock a Scene

  • The Key to Casting

You'll Get:

  • A live Zoom Q&A where you can ask me anything

  • 3 Cheat Sheets you can keep and use forever

  • Practice sessions where you get to use the skills you're learning along the way (with feedback from me!)

  • 20% off registration to one Director's Gym workshop where you get to direct real actors with live coaching from me.

  • One Month FREE membership to the Online Community

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Script to Screen
(or Stage)

 

Avoid two-dimensional, on-the-nose performances by learning how to translate what's on the page into a deeply realized performance.

You'll learn:

  • Step-by-Step How to Prep for Directing a Scene so that You've Got Notes Ready Long Before You Call Action

  • What to Look for on a Fact Finding Mission, and How That Informs Your Direction

  • How to Create and Use Backstory to Flesh Out a Performance (without stepping on your actor's toes!)

You'll Get:

  • 2 Cheat Sheets you can keep and use forever

  • Access to ask me questions on the discussion boards

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How to Rehearse
Whether You've Got
5 Weeks or 5 Minutes

Would you expect an opera singer to belt out their best performance without warming up? Don't expect your actors to either. Learn how to run a great rehearsal no matter how much time you've got. 

You'll Learn:

Exactly how to get the most out of your rehearsal time whether you've got:

  • 5 weeks

  • 5 minutes

  • or even 5 seconds!

You'll Get:

  • Real Demos with Professional Actors

  • Access to ask me questions on the discussion boards

 About Me 

Robin Vada Song - Directing Coach

I started teaching micro-lessons on Instagram, and this happened...

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After many years of working behind the camera as a producer, 1st AD, and Director (credits include shorts that have screened in Oscar-qualifying festivals like Dances with Films, a host of features, and a bevy of commercial work for clients like Amazon, Adidas, Kodak, Xerox, and Intel.)

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And in front of the camera as an actor (credits include Hulu's "Shrill", Investigation Discovery Channel's "Wonderland Murders", and a ton of commercial work for clients like AT&T, NBA, Goodwill, HP, Intel, Amazon, etc...)

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And managing an acting studio (Act Now with master teacher Jana Lee Hamblin)... 

I noticed one thing over and over...

More often than not, directors don't speak the language of actors - and therefore they miss out on the the chance to get the actor's best performance.

So I started posting tips for directing actors on Instagram. Just micro-lessons a minute or two long. And the response was staggering.

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That gave me the push I needed to launch my Director's Gym LIVE Zoom workshops, in which directors get to work out their mental muscles by directing live actors in an actual scene with realtime coaching from me.

 

When those directors in my workshops asked for even more, I created the Talking To Actors: ESSENTIALS course, and I've made it my mission to help directors speak the language of actors so they can get great performances.

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Hang Out With Me On Instagram

Talking to Actors

©2024 by Robin Vada Song

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