On-Camera Intensives Now Extended to 5 Weeks!

New April Workshops Open Now!

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Commercial Intensives Now

Extended from 4 Evenings to

5 Evenings!

Compare Hal's On-Camera Commercial Acting & Auditioning Intensives to other workshops out there. For just $325 you get a 5-evening Workshop of on-camera work that includes instruction, direction, extensive feedback, and the opportunity to watch others, all taking place within a safe and supportive environment designed for you to take risks and explore.

Instead of the usual 15-20 students per class offered elsewhere, Hal's Workshops have a maximum of 6 students per class!

Add to this the rare opportunity to review your work, as well as your classmates' -- including the instruction and feedback you were given -- at home after each class on a password protected link. View your slates and auditions as the director and clients view you.

Do your research. Compare reviews. E-mail me, call me. I'm here to answer any questions you may have as you figure out exactly which Workshops are best suited to your needs.

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NEWSLETTER CONTENTS

UPCOMING WORKSHOPS | About Workshops | Why Hal's Workshops? | Turn Your Passion Into Your Career | The "Secret" To Commercial Auditioning | Student Updates | Other Services | Actor Testimonial | Quotes of the Month | Featured Actors | More Testimonials | YELP | Google+ | Official Web Site

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A Video Introduction To Hal's Workshops
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Upcoming Workshops

On-Camera Commercial Acting & Auditioning Intensive!

Monday Evenings Apr. 14, 21, 28, May 5 & 12 from 7:30 p.m. - 10:30 p.m.

or

Wednesday Evenings Apr. 30, May 7, 14, 21 & 28 from 7:30 p.m. - 10:30 p.m.

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Advanced Commercial Acting & Auditioning Workshop

Tuesday Evenings Apr. 15, 22, 29 & May 6 from 7:30 p.m. - 10:30 p.m.


ALL WORKSHOPS NOW TAKING RESERVATIONS!

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ABOUT EACH WORKSHOP

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ON-CAMERA COMMERCIAL ACTING & AUDITIONING INTENSIVE

If you think working in commercials is just about a “look,” then you’ve been misled. Over the years, I have witnessed hundreds of good actors enter the audition room and systematically strip away most of the unique qualities that would have otherwise resulted in a callback. Second-guessing, misunderstanding what it is Casting Directors, Directors and Clients are looking for, not knowing how to navigate the ins and outs of the audition process… These are the roadblocks that keep most actors from transitioning from audition to callback. Or, worse, keep them from getting auditions at all! READ MORE...

Upcoming Workshops:
Monday Evenings Apr. 14, 21, 28, May 5 & 12 from 7:30 p.m. - 10:30 p.m.

or

Wednesday Evenings Apr. 30, May 7, 14, 21 & 28 from 7:30 p.m. - 10:30 p.m.

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FILM & TV ADVANCED ACTING & AUDITIONING WORKSHOP

In this 4-week Advanced Workshop, we will take the auditioning skills you acquired in our On-Camera Commercial Acting & Auditioning Intensive, and the acting strengths and techniques you cultivated and made your own in our Advanced Commercial Acting & Auditioning Workshop, and apply them directly to Film and Television auditions.

Though there are similarities, Film and TV auditions are not the same as Commercial auditions. In this Workshop, we will directly address those differences in detail –what you should expect and what is expected of you– and we will work together until you are comfortable auditioning in all of these mediums. READ MORE...

Upcoming Workshops:
TBD

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OTHER SERVICES

PRIVATE COACHING
In-Person or Online
via Facetime or Skype!

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“Hal is the perfect storm. He combines his director’s eye, his understanding of process and his positivity to support you in finding your way. It feels safe to explore all types of material with Hal.

“With a couple of suggestions from Hal, I leave there with a firm grip on my perspective and the story, ready for any room. I know what I’m doing. It doesn’t get better than that.”

–Julie Lancaster, Actor, DEXTER, HOT IN CLEVELAND, THE OBAMA EFFECT, HOLLYWOOD MUSICAL!, GREY’S ANATOMY, EVERYBODY HATES CHRIS, THAT’S SO RAVEN, JOAN OF ARCADIA, ALL MY CHILDREN, LAW & ORDER, STEPMOM, GUIDING LIGHT, AS THE WORLD TURNS, ONE LIFE TO LIVE and dozens of commercials!

READ MORE...

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OTHER SERVICES

DEMO REEL EDITING

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“Updating my demo reel is one of my least favorite things to do in life. Choosing which material to use has always been overwhelming to me, and the climate in the industry is ever-changing. Hal was incredibly patient with my concerns, open to my input, while lending a discerning “director’s” eye to what represents my work most effectively. He was candid about which scenes showed me in the best light, but was also a great collaborator.

“Together, we arrived at the conclusion that separating my reels into “leading lady” and “character” would be most advantageous for me. It’s the first time in a long while that my demos actually make sense to me.”

–Kathy Christopherson, Actor, DEXTER, PRIVATE PRACTICE, ENTOURAGE, CALIFORNICATION, COLD CASE, CSI: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION, DREAMS AND SHADOWS, THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS, MY TRIP TO THE DARK SIDE, KAMEN RIDER: DRAGON KNIGHT, TITUS, KNOTS LANDING, DOOGIE HOWSER M.D., COACH, MURDER SHE WROTE and dozens of commercials!

READ MORE...

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Why Take Hal Masonberg's Workshops?

There are so many acting and auditioning workshops out there that it is difficult to know what separates one from another. Take a moment to discover what makes my Workshops so absolutely distinctive.

With more than 20 years' casting experience to draw on, I have designed a series of acting and auditioning workshops that offer actors everything they need to both navigate the tricky landscape of commercial auditioning and further their craft.

My hands-on, on-camera Workshops help actors discover and build on the gifts that set them apart. Actors graduate with greater confidence in their acting abilities and, just as importantly, with a keen understanding of how to gain the attention of casting directors and directors.

Here are just some of the features that distinguish my Acting & Auditioning Workshops from so many others:

  • SMALL CLASS SIZES (6 STUDENT MAXIMUM) WHICH MEANS MORE ON-CAMERA TIME & PERSONAL DIRECTION.

  • CULTIVATION OF UNIQUE TRAITS, ABILITIES AND APPEAL THAT SET YOU APART FROM OTHER ACTORS.

  • INVALUABLE OPPORTUNITY TO REVIEW YOUR PERFORMANCES & INSTRUCTION ONLINE VIA A PASSWORD-PROTECTED LINK.

  • TEACHING BY AN INDUSTRY PROFESSIONAL WITH OVER 20 YEARS' CASTING EXPERIENCE IN BOTH FEATURES & COMMERCIALS.

  • MOVING BEYOND FALSE ASSUMPTIONS & BELIEFS ABOUT CASTING & AUDITIONING.

  • COMPETITIVE PRICING. FLEXIBLE PAYMENT ARRANGEMENTS AVAILABLE.

  • IN-DEPTH, EXPERIENCE-BASED PERSONAL INSTRUCTION RATHER THAN THE USUAL COLLECTION OF GENERIC AUDITIONING "TIPS."

  • A SAFE & SUPPORTIVE ENVIRONMENT THAT ENCOURAGES YOU TO CHALLENGE YOURSELF & TAKE RISKS.

  • LEARN HOW TO START BUILDING A FANBASE OF CASTING DIRECTORS & CLIENTS WHO WILL WANT TO BRING YOU BACK AGAIN & AGAIN.

See what both Actors and Casting Directors are saying about Hal's Workshops:

1"Any worthy casting director is thrilled to see Hal’s name on an actor’s resume. It’s a huge sigh of relief for me – I know that this actor’s been taught and nurtured in the skills of bringing to the audition the authenticity that I and my directors need. I want to bring this actor in!" --Vicki Goggin, Casting Director

1"Many of the actors that have come to us via Hal have gone on to --not only have an extremely high audition-to-callback ratio-- but actually become some of our top bookers! Hal knows not only what it takes to be a good actor, but also what it takes to gain the attention and admiration of casting directors and their clients. I trust his taste implicitly " --Maria O'Driscoll & Nancy Serena, Popcasting Casting Directors

1“Hal takes you through the commercial process step by step. Once he gives you the information, you’re up on your feet doing it and he gives you plenty of time to work out the kinks. Everyone in the class receives specific and individualized attention. All of the work is done on camera and you can also view it repeatedly in the privacy of your home. An added benefit to watching it at home is that you get to see it from a casting perspective. He uses the actual site that “real” auditions are viewed from so you get to see yourself as the clients do.

“Hal’s like finding a good doctor or hair stylist. Once you have a good one you don’t have to look any further. I’m happy to say Hal is now officially part of my “Team”.” –Monique Edwards, Actor, THE SOCIAL NETWORK, HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER, WITHOUT A TRACE, iCARLY, HEALERS, LIE TO ME, THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS, ER, FRIENDS, PHILLY, BOSTON PUBLIC, STRONG MEDICINE, THE DIVISION, FAMILY LAW, JAG, EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND, JUDGING AMY, SPIN CITY, THE GEENA DAVIS SHOW, CHICAGO HOPE, DIAGNOSIS MURDER, BEVERLY HILLS 90210, THE X-FILES, BABYLON 5, PARTY OF FIVE, NYPD BLUE.

1“Hal is an amazing acting coach. I worked with him on my auditions for years and there are many roles that I booked because of it. He brings a director’s eye to the process and has a true understanding of how the industry works. I highly recommend him.” –Danny Strong, Actor, MAD MEN, GREY’S ANATOMY, HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER, GILMORE GIRLS, LEVERAGE, BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, SEABISCUIT, SYDNEY WHITE, PLEASANTVILLE. Danny is also an Award-Winning Writer/Producer on the HBO Miniseries RECOUNT and GAME CHANGE as well as the writer/producer on LEE DANIELS’ THE BUTLER.

1“Hal demystifies the context of the auditioning room with candour, humour, compassion and detail. His transparency regarding what is important to the client – and how vastly different that usually is from what is important to us as actors – relieves us from self-induced actor paralysis!" --Cerris Morgan-Moyer, Actor, APPALOOSA, RULE OF THREE, MAIL ORDER, DAYS OF OUR LIVES.

1“My favorite things: He tapes the entire session. Later, I was able to watch back all of my bad habits, see what worked for me, etc. and also see how different clothes looked in the light of the casting office. Hal’s easy and open way of answering any and every question we threw at him. I left with an understanding of how the whole commercial business works and my role in it.” –Anna Khaja, Actor, CRIMINAL MINDS, THE NEWSROOM, Recurring on TRUE BLOOD, YES MAN, THE CLOSER, HOUSE M.D., PRIVATE PRACTICE, WEEDS, NUMB3RS , Ovation winner for SHAHEED: THE DREAM & DEATH OF BENAZIR BHUTTO.

1“I hadn’t booked in forever, ran into Hal at an audition and he helped me feel so confident, I nailed the sucker!! He loves actors, helps you get out of your own way and have fun!!!” –Lori Alan, Actor, LAW & ORDER: LOS ANGELES, FAMILY GUY, TOY STORY 3, WALL-E, THE PEE WEE HERMAN SHOW, THE CLOSER, SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS, CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS, SOUTHLAND, CHUCK, DAYS OF OUR LIVES, CSI: NY, CSI CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION, SIX FEET UNDER, FRIENDS, SABRINA THE TEENAGE WITCH, CHARMED, WILL & GRACE, LAW & ORDER.


Go HERE to read more Testimonials.

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QUOTES OF THE MONTH

"The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over the place: from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider's web. " ~Pablo Picasso

"Who looks outside, dreams… who looks inside, awakes." ~Carl Jung

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"Think outside the box, collapse the box, and take a f**king sharp knife to it." ~Banksy

 

 

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ADVANCED COMMERCIAL ACTING & AUDITIONING WORKSHOP

TAKING WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNED TO THE NEXT LEVEL:
In this 4-week Advanced Workshop, we will take your newfound Commercial Acting skills and directly apply them until you no longer have to think about them logically, but embrace them organically. You will learn how to work with other actors in both group scenes and one-on-one, as well as explore both comedic and naturalistic copy, interpreting and taking direction from different clients and directors, navigating a highly choreographed audition (i.e. hitting your marks, reading your copy, dealing with props, interacting with other actors --all at the same time while maintaining the flow!). In addition, we will also recreate different auditioning scenarios and settings so you can challenge yourself even further and get a feel for what it’s like to audition in the real-world! READ MORE...

Upcoming Workshops:
Tuesday Evenings Apr. 15, 22, 29 & May 6 from 7:30 p.m. - 10:30 p.m.

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ACTOR TESTIMONIAL


Carleen Frans

"The students in his classes range from the "just starting" to the "seasoned" actor. From the young to the old. Hal is so much fun to work with. You'll feel relaxed and never uncomfortable. You'll be surprised at the end of his 4 week class in the changes you will see in yourself.

"This is not a "fly by night operation" nor is it a "one size fits all training class." It is the "BEST KEPT SECRET" in Hollywood." –Carleen Frans, Workshop Alumni

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The "Secret" To Commercial Auditioning

Many actors approach my workshops wanting to know what to expect when they walk into a commercial audition. They often believe that by knowing what to expect, they can then appropriately alter their choices and actions to better serve the casting directors' and directors' desires.

It's an understandable conclusion. It makes sense. But that knowledge, while helpful, does not hold the most powerful answer to impressing a casting director or a director. THAT piece of information does not reside in the environment surrounding you, but the one already inside of you.

Each and every person (therefore each and every actor) has a set of life experiences that are wholly unique. No one on this earth, not today, tomorrow or any time in the past, has every experienced life exactly the way you do. What pushes your buttons? What thoughts and feelings do certain words, ideas, experiences bring up in you? No emotion is simple. Whatever you feel is attached to hundreds of other feelings, memories, experiences that you and you alone connect like a Rube Goldberg machine of the many varied events and moments in your life.

No matter what the setting, no matter who the casting director or director is, no matter whether you're in NY or LA or anywhere else in the world, those who search for actors search for the ones who can make them "feel" something. By tapping into your own personal set of experiences, you set off a chain-reaction that allows those of us auditioning you to tap into a series of feelings and experiences that are unique to us as well. No two people receive this information exactly the same way. The only thing you have genuine control over is what YOU are feeling. And the only way you can transfer that feeling to us, is by allowing yourself to actually feel it yourself. Without that, you are simply mimicking an emotion and, thus, enacting the most surface-level stereotype of that emotion.

This will not do. Not theatrically nor commercially.

"But how am I supposed to care about -- no less connect with -- a commercial that's for a product I don't like, don't know or don't care about," you ask? By finding yourself -- not in the product -- but in the experience that you are being asked to live and the unique set of emotions it triggers in you. What is at the core of the spot? If you tell me you like to relax by taking a bath, are you therefore trying to sell me a bathtub? No. Do I need to enjoy a bath as much as you to understand what the feeling is that you have when you take a bath?

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No. I have my own set of experiences that are as pleasurable, as relaxing, as meaningful to me as that bath is for you. You are sharing YOUR experience. An experience that is inside you, an experience you have decided or agreed to share with me, to describe to me, to let me in on.

You don't have to relate to the product personally to relate to the experience someone would get out of the product. What is YOUR version of that experience? THAT is what we are so desperately searching for. Yes, we take what you give us and direct you in this direction or that, but this is based on what we receive from you. There is no direction we can give you that has any meaning if you don't start by giving us something to direct.

YOU are the beginning of booking a commercial, of landing a role. Not by doing what you think we want, what you think we are looking for, but by allowing yourself to have an authentic experience and by allowing us to partake in that experience and be moved by it. MOVE US to direct you. MOVE US to want to see what else is inside you. Feel something so we can feel something as well.

We all love stories. Whether telling them or receiving them. It's in our DNA.
In an audition, YOU are the storyteller. That is what we hire you to be. Not a salesperson. A storyteller. You convey the human experience, whether through drama or comedy or both.

What are we looking for in a commercial audition? We're looking for you. The AUTHENTIC you. Not sure exactly how to give us that? That's where I can help. I take 6 students per workshop so that we can spend the proper time getting everyone to a place where you will be able to show us what you have inside, what it is that makes you unique as an actor. It's all tied in to what makes you unique as a person. Which means you already have it.

If you'd like to know more, please feel free to contact me and I'd be happy to speak with you in more detail about my workshops. info@halsworkshops.com

“There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and will be lost.” –Martha Graham

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Turn Your Passion Into Your Career!

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There is a widespread and misleading notion that commercial acting is a "different" kind of acting from "regular" acting. That commercial auditioning is all about having the right "look," getting a paycheck and collecting residuals so that you can afford to do your "real" acting elsewhere.

If you genuinely believe that auditioning for commercials doesn't call on you to bring forth the same skills, talent & passion you might for a theatrical audition, then you have taken your first step toward not being a successful commercial actor.

Acting is acting, plain and simple. It's about finding personal truth within the material; it's about finding "you" somewhere inside that script, inside that role, no matter how different it may initially seem from who you think you are.

And here's another tip: Auditioning for commercials is NOT about selling products. It's not about "pretending" to be interested in something you are not. If commercial auditioning is about selling anything, it's about selling you. It's about finding the emotional truth in any script, any story, no matter what its subject. It's about allowing that story to be filtered through your absolutely unique set of experiences, your singular view of the world, and sharing that with us.

If you can allow yourself to bring your maximum level of talent and skill -- to allow yourself to be wholly vulnerable in a commercial audition --then you will be on your way to not only standing out from others and giving us what we are so desperately searching for, but you will also be on your way to creating a fanbase of casting directors and clients who will want to see you again, who will want to find you work because they "get" you.

Even more, if you can embrace commercial auditions as acting challenges, as creative opportunities, you will fall in love with the process -- not because it is a means to an end, but because you are revealing a part of yourself; a one-of-a-kind interpretation of the material that speaks to who you are. And because it is acting, real acting... and that is your passion.

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STUDENT UPDATES

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Congrats to Natalie Garcia on her new Android Wear Commercial!!!!! Watch it below:

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Congrats to Anna Khaja on the extension of the LA Premiere of the extraordinary and highly recommended play MY NAME IS ASHER LEV at the Fountain Theatre. Now thru May 18! This production made the LA Times Critic Choice!!!!

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Congrats to Russell Clark on shooting a print job for Hewlett Packard!!!!!

Congrats to Linda Monsalve on signing with Idiom Talent for modeling/commercial print work, and for landing a role in the web series GOING PRO and, as if that weren't enough, for completing shooting on the lead role in the film DRAWING DOWN THE SUN!!!!!

Congrats to Katie Canty on being cast in the film SUICIDE PARTY! Also, congrats Katie on heading into production on your own script!

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FEATURED ACTORS


Vianca Peguero
Contact info available on request.



Sara Choi
Contact info available on request.

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Copyright © 2012 Hal Masonberg's Commercial Acting Workshops, All rights reserved.

(323) 401-1972

info@halsworkshops.com

 

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