Summer or post-grad training for on-camera work

Hi! My son is a junior theatre performance major (straight acting) and he’s in the process of pulling together applications and auditions for either summer stock, a summer acting apprenticeship, or summer training. I’m helping him find and sort through possibilities, and he’s applying to programs or shows he’s interested in, and he’ll decide what to do after he sees what his options are. In terms of summer training, he took an on-camera acting class this past semester, and he’s interested in expanding on that training with a summer intensive if we can find one. I’ve looked everywhere, and they all seem to be targeted to high school. Does anyone know if a quality program like that exists for college students? He’s looking for something where the entire focus is on on-camera vs. just a small portion of the training. I did find a post-grad program at UCLA; they have a 3 quarter professional training program for acting for the camera. Does anyone know anything about that program, and are they open to recent grads or do they want more seasoned actors? I thought it might be something he could consider post-grad if we can’t find a summer program. I also know others here have recommended specific on-going classes in LA, if he decides to move there post-grad. He understands that college is foundational training, and that he will need to continue with more industry oriented training on an on-going basis once he graduates. He loves stage work, but since he’s not MT, he knows that if he wants to make a living, he needs to add in commercial and on-camera work as well, so I think he’s just trying to get a head start on preparing to get on-camera work while he’s still a student, or after graduation. I’d appreciate any advice anyone has to offer! Thanks!

My D is just starting this journey so I have no knowledge of summer intensives for on camera work. But I found this post by @Gyokoren on another thread and thought it might be useful to start your search.

The main teachers that I recommend to new graduates coming to LA are John Rosenfeld, Billy O’Leary, and Stan Kirsch all of whom used to work for Lesly Kahn who is also amazing if they can afford her. I’m sure there are others, but they are the ones that I have seen people get the most mileage from. I linked podcast interviews with each of them in this reply last spring. http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/22159897#Comment_22159897

And here is the portion from the above link that might interest your S.

While I’m at it, the heads of the four main studios that I recommend have given podcast interviews in the past year. All of them to some extent go into their own transitions into the real world of tv and film from academic training as well as what their experiences have been in helping others make that transition.

Lesly Kahn has a two-parter on “Industry Standard” with Barry Katz. https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/fake-mustache-studios/industry-standard-w-barry-katz/e/56193230 https://player.fm/series/industry-standard-w-barry-katz-1792963/ep-288-lesly-kahn-part-2-of-2

John Rosenfeld on “Speak LA.” https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/speak-la-the-podcast/e/55787744?autoplay=true

Billy O’Leary on “Box Angeles.” https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/mike-box-elder-2/box-angeles/e/54931118

Stan Kirsch on “Outlander Rewatched” in which he mostly talks about his time on that show but gets into detail about what he now does at his studio in the last 10-15 minutes. https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/highlander-rewatched/e/50742185?autoplay=true

I’m not even in college yet, but am so interested in what you’re saying. I’ve already begun looking at possible summer programs, especially for on-camera, as most programs don’t usually offer more than a semester or two of this, and I really need more practice along with my training. Best of luck to you - and I’ll let you know if I find any amazing programs!

Thank you both for the responses! Anything posted by @Gyokoren is always really helpful, so thank you so much @anastasiasmom for pulling that up for me. After my son graduates, his plan is that he’ll head to LA at some point (may apply for a 10 or so month long young professional theatre company first to get more pro experience and finish up points for his equity card–that way he’s SAG eligible through a sister union agreement a year after he joins AEA, if he gets cast at least once as a principal performer). Learning more about those studios in LA and the training programs producing working actors will be really helpful information for down the road, so thank you again for sharing. He got a lot out of his college on-camera class this last semester, but as you said, @futureactress19, he’d like more practice and critique time to refine his work. If I find anything for summer on-camera programs for college students I’ll be sure to share, but if you’re still in high school , I know there are summer programs for hs students. I saw that UCLA has a two week Camera Acting Summer Institute that targets students your age. Good luck and thank you both again!

@sugarpiehuneybunch @futureactress19 I stop looking here for a couple of weeks and come back to all this love! haha Somebody else asked this question in 2018, so I will repost my answer from then that includes more class options along with some additional thoughts.


@frontrowmama Sure. The teachers that I always recommend to new graduates coming to LA are Lesly Kahn, John Rosenfeld, Billy O’Leary, and Stan Kirsch. They’re all part of the same teaching lineage and are kinda specialists at getting college trained newbies acclimated to what we really need to be able to do in the market. That is why they’re often called finishing teachers. John, Billy, and Stan used to work for Lesly before they branched out to start their own studios with slightly different takes on things. I know that John has had college students study with him over breaks and I’m pretty sure that Billy would allow it. I don’t know as much about Stan and Lesly might be a little too tough for somebody still in school although she has a branch studio in Santa Monica where one of her senior assistants is the main teacher, so there is always that. However, I would honestly recommend that you maybe save any of them until the summer after third year because they’re more effective the more solid one’s foundation already is.

For after first and second year, I would recommend a good basic on-camera class which is something I think college programs should begin first year and don’t. A great one for that would be Annie Grindlay since her intensive classes are twice-a-week although she will probably pass a younger student on to her assistant, Carla, who I’ve heard is excellent in her own right. Some other good ones to look into are Margie Haber Studio, Tess Kirsch, Saxon Trainor, Christinna Chauncey, and Robert D’Avanzo although I imagine that Robert has a mile-long waiting list after all the props that Jenna Fischer gave him in her new book.

Now some schools might frown on doing this or even forbid it and I’m not gonna say to do it anyway and just not tell them. haha However, something no school should have a problem with is improv. UCB has the hot hand with that right now and The Groundlings and Second City are great as well. I’m not as familiar with how the schedules at the latter two work, but at UCB, you could do one level per summer and then when you graduate, there would be one left to go before you would be eligible to join a team and that is always a good tribe to be a part of starting out - besides the beneficial effects it can have on one’s acting in general.


From reading that, I’m now smacking myself across the head for not thinking to recommend commercial auditioning classes as well. The best place in town for that is Killian’s Commercial Workshop. Stuart K. Robinson, Shaan Sharma, and Judy Kain also have good reputations. Plus, a newer place that I have heard is good for theatrical auditioning is the on-camera classes at BGB Studio.

Just remember that most of these classes meet once a week even if they are called “intensives.” They basically entail three or four long days in a month to six weeks. So maybe think about taking one of each type simultaneously if you are going to be in LA solely for the purpose of training. John and Lesly expect daily outside rehearsal for their classes, but that would still leave you with an awful lot of time on your hands if you are not also working a regular job or doing an internship of some kind - which is another thing to think about if your school’s alumni network can hook you up with something.

I guess I should point out that I didn’t do any of this. I spent my summers in my college town waitressing and making films with film majors and members of the local filmmaking community I had befriended which played a huge part in me getting a fast start after graduation. If you’ll listen to the first snippet of the podcast interview with Lesly Kahn, what she says about today’s industry favoring content creators is 100% spot-on. Todays triple threat in Hollywood is the Actor-Writer-Producer and the more legitimate hyphens you can add onto that, the better. It’s empowering to know that you can make your own rain instead of simply trying to position yourself to be hit by a drop or two from somebody else’s storm even if you aren’t making any money at it. Another truth I hold dear is that one of the best ways to learn to work on-camera is to spend some time behind it. So maybe think about taking some kind of filmmaking and/or screenwriting intensive one summer if you can find a good one. I started with it by just reading books on filmmaking, picking peoples’ brains, and learning by observation. But, to avoid bloviation, I’ll just link a post in which I went into a little more detail about how I went about doing things. http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/20573528/#Comment_20573528

I wish I knew more of what to recommend in NYC other than knowing that Bob Krakower is the king of on-camera there. Several friends who started out in NYC studied with him and say great things. His regular classes are really hard to get into, but he does a two-week summer film acting intensive on Long Island as part of the Manhattan Film Institute where every actor plays leads in two short films under his tutelage. So that is something to look into if you can get your application in early enough. Some others from my school have studied with Vance Barber who is one of Bob’s designated coaches and say good things. UCB actually started in NYC as well, so you can definitely get improv covered there.