Ryan and Phil recently founded Acting Unlocked, a company offering acting lessons and industry insight to all: from complete novices to seasoned professionals. They were kind enough to sit down with my questions recently after I offered to help spread the word about their new venture! Here’s what they had to say…
Congratulations on Acting Unlocked, gentlemen! Tell me a little about the venture and how it came about.
Ryan: “Thanks so much! It’s a bit daunting trying something new but we’re really passionate about trying to make acting more accessible. It really started after a conversation I was having with my partner. She has no real acting experience but decided she wanted to try it out. After going to a couple of different courses she had some pretty awful experiences. From an arrogant course leader who decided that if you weren’t there to become a professional actor you were not worth their time, to another course where there was around 30 people in the session with one tutor. Which meant that each student only really got about 1 minutes’ worth of actual experience or teaching per session. After telling Phil about this we decided…we could do better!“
One thing I love about Acting Unlocked is the fact your courses are welcoming to all abilities, from complete novices to seasoned professionals! Was that always part of the ethos?
Phil: “That was the primary motivator to start the company and I’m so glad that that is something that jumps out to you. We absolutely believe that Acting should be for everyone just like everyone should be able to pick up a musical instrument or a paintbrush and give it a go. Having worked in the professional acting world for 16 years now, it’s very apparent to me that there is a lot of pretention around what it takes to be an Actor and even who is welcome to try and so we wanted to strip all of that away and provide classes and courses for everyone regardless of their background, experience, ability or even confidence level.”
Is there an element of your courses you particularly enjoy teaching, or something you are enjoying re-discovering a love for now teaching the skills to others?
Phil: “I think the thing I’m enjoying the most is just helping individuals really unlock their potential. The wonderful thing about creativity is that everyone has their own way of communicating, processing and working. There isn’t any one “right” way of teaching, it’s just about finding the most effective ways of getting your message through to the student and helping them discover their own method of creating. The moments where you watch something click for someone is always the most satisfying.“
Leading on from that, both of you have lots of experience acting, Ryan has even sat on the audition panel at Drama Centre London previously. Has that experience on “both sides of the table” shaped you as teachers?
P: “Absolutely. Much of our approach to running these sessions is derived from what we didn’t like about the way we were taught and trained. We’ll be bringing all of our experience and learning and we’ll be doing our best to form it into something positive and affirming rather than exclusionary or isolating. We want our students to feel comfortable and safe to help them find the confidence to be brave with what they try out in our classes.“
R: “I agree, having moved away from the acting world in recent years it’s given me a lot of perspective on how insular and protective the industry is. It really doesn’t need to be! It’s also shown me how transferrable and useful the skills are. Most of my success in the corporate world is down to my acting training! You’d be surprised how far confidence, the ability to deliver a good presentation and building relationships with people can take you!“
And of course, it’s not just you two as part of the Acting Unlocked team – you’ve assembled a team of whose experience covers a wealth of creativity – acting, voiceover, and even magic skills! That’s really exciting – how important is it to have that variety in your teaching, and how does it help develop your skillset?
P: “We’re over the moon to have Christopher Ashman, Sarah Kolb and Christopher Keegan involved. They bring something really different to what we offer. As I mentioned earlier, everyone has their own unique way of creating and every performer is different. It was so important to us to have different experiences and different skillsets in the room to really maximise the learning opportunity for our students. Our three tutors are excellent professional performers, incredibly versatile and skilled but also, they very much represent the values we want to pass on to our students in that they are bold, committed and highly practiced in their skills but also warm, welcoming and unpretentious. They’ll be very important to Acting Unlocked going forward and I’m sure the students will really come to value their input.“
R: “Absolutely, having a team with such a varied range of experience is brilliant, both for us and for the students. I’ve always been a big proponent of the value of diversity of thought.“
Is there something that you’ve shared or learned through establishing Acting Unlocked that you wish you’d known when you were starting out in your careers? Or a great piece of advice you were given whilst training that has stayed with you?
R: That setting something like this up and starting from scratch is incredibly difficult! You have to have a strong vision and be prepared to fail and try again and again.
P: “Putting together Acting Unlocked with Ryan has been really enjoyable because we’ve been able to be open and communicative with each other every step of the way. I really value that and whilst the acting industry is one built on rejection and vulnerability, the earlier you can be open and communicative about what you’re experiencing and how you’re feeling, the more in control you’ll feel and the more safeguarded you are in terms of your mental wellbeing. If I’d grasped that earlier, the start of my career would’ve been a less bumpy ride for sure.“
What would you say to encourage someone who’s interested in acting but nervous to put themselves out there to give Acting Unlocked a try?
P: “I would love to invite them to have a chat with us. We both totally appreciate how acting can seem incredibly intimidating and so can being in new groups of people. I would love the chance to talk to anyone who is nervous about signing up just to reassure them that one of our primary motives in setting up this company and running these courses is to cater for people who feel exactly like that. We want nothing more than to create a safe and welcoming space and to help people develop their confidence through and with Acting. If you’re nervous about what the classes might entail or about myself of Ryan as Course Leaders, please drop us a message and we can have a chat. Hopefully we’ll be able to give you some reassurance about ourselves as individuals and the classes as a whole. “
R: “I completely agree – we’re here to chat! Also, we’re running a free taster session on the 27th June in Walthamstow – I’d encourage people who aren’t sure or a bit nervous to come along and meet us!“
To find out more about Acting Unlocked, including getting yourself signed up for the free taster Ryan mentioned, head to:
https://www.actingunlocked.co.uk/
Phil and I are putting our heads together to arrange a chat on the podcast about Acting Unlocked and beyond… keep your eyes peeled for that update, search for “Wheelie Stagey” on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter!
Wheelie Stagey 