BS: I want to be a director

Subject: BS: I want to be a director
From: GUEST,Cleo - pattie
Date: 27 Feb 05 - 05:49 PM

Hi -
I stumbled across your website and thought I'd ask you for some tips as you seem to know about EVERYTHING!
I am 17 and I am really really interested in becoming a director. I have done some (a very little) directing at college and I'm studying drama and english, I also am involved in local theatre groups so I have had the opportunity to work with several different directors.
I am fascinated with how different the approaches have been of the directors I have worked with, and I have very much enjoyed putting a few short pieces together at college. Unfortunately for my final exam there is a design and acting option but no direction option so I can't develop this further at college - and I don't want to have to wait until I go to uni.
Does anyone have any advice or tips on how to get involved with directing and how to go about getting started?

Cheers!
Cleo-pattie.

Subject: RE: BS: I want to be a director
From: Amos
Date: 27 Feb 05 - 06:34 PM

Jeeze, Cleo, you posed a tough one, especially since this is a folk-music forum, not a fillum forum.

Suggest you start with small, radical, left-wing extremist art groups -- they are always looking for direction.

With a little experience you can offer your services to those who really need it!!

A

Subject: RE: BS: I want to be a director
From: Peace
Date: 27 Feb 05 - 06:42 PM

One person's view

Subject: RE: BS: I want to be a director
From: GUEST,CarolC
Date: 27 Feb 05 - 06:42 PM

Just theater, or are you also interested in directing films?

Subject: RE: BS: I want to be a director
From: Rapparee
Date: 27 Feb 05 - 08:17 PM

I am a director. Of a public library. It's no bed of roses, believe me.

Subject: RE: BS: I want to be a director
From: dianavan
Date: 27 Feb 05 - 09:21 PM

Put some time in as a volunteer. Its good for your resume. Being a stage manager or working on the set is excellent experience. You need to learn every aspect of production before you can be a good director. Remember, most of what you learn is from experience.

Subject: RE: BS: I want to be a director
From: GUEST
Date: 27 Feb 05 - 09:23 PM

Have you asked the directors you have come into contact with for tips?

Subject: RE: BS: I want to be a director
From: open mike
Date: 27 Feb 05 - 10:00 PM

google this:
drama direct act
and get this:
http://www.studentcentral.co.uk/Drama/more3.html
http://www.coursework.info/603/
are you thinking about theatre or film or??
try new york film academy
--the link below this page points there.

Subject: RE: BS: I want to be a director
From: Rapparee
Date: 27 Feb 05 - 10:02 PM

And a good post-undergrad education, perhaps at someplace like Yale Drama. My late friend, Roy Brocksmith, ran a theatre out of his home in California. He had a BFA in theatre, and had worked for many years in NYC and later in California (he's the critic in the dinner scene in the movie "War of the Rose" and he also appeared on TV in "Picket Fences"). To direct well you need to be able to act well.

Subject: RE: BS: I want to be a director
From: alanabit
Date: 28 Feb 05 - 02:56 AM

I did some directing and got some excellent tuition on the subject at Crewe and Alsager College in the early eighties. I think that this is now part of the City of Manchester University. If the Creative Arts (Combined Studies) degree is still running, this could be a place to start. Choo Keng was there at the same time as I was. She now has a new name, a new career and I believe a new date of birth (publicists can fix that sort of thing) and has gone on to be a James Bond girl an star of the Asian cinema. Others made a bit of a name for themselves too, as writers, actors, musicians and various sorts of artists. It's worth a crack if you really are interested. Of course, you could end up as a peniless musician in a German city, but I am sure it will all work out better than that!

Subject: RE: BS: I want to be a director
From: Jeanie
Date: 28 Feb 05 - 04:29 AM

Are you in the UK, Cleo-pattie ? (I think you must be, because you wrote "theatre" and not "theater" !) If so, then take a look at what Rose Bruford College has to offer. (Rose Bruford - one of the Conference of Drama Schools that gives automatic Equity membership etc.) They run a B.A. degree purely in Directing (whereas a lot of the drama schools only run a post-grad one year directing course - e.g. RADA). Details of the course here: Rose Bruford - BA (Hons) Directing
Rose Bruford run regular open days for prospective students and I'm sure that if you contacted them, they would be happy to give you advice. As you will see, theirs is a 3 year course in directing, culminating in a London Showcase.

It seems to me that you are giving yourself a lot of good all-round practical stage/tech experience in school AND outside school, which, as others have said, is the best preparation. Have you enquired at your local regional theatre ? As well as needing volunteers for all kinds of tasks, a lot of them have "studio spaces" or foyers which they hire out at a very low rate for one-off showcases on Sunday evenings, for example. I know for a fact that the Queen's Theatre, Hornchurch (London Borough of Havering) does this - and I'm sure other regional theatres do this too, to encourage local writers/performers/directors. That would be great experience for you to get a group of friends together for a one-off. Then...for bigger adventure... the Edinburgh Fringe ?

Another place to contact: the National Youth Theatre (www.nyt.org.uk) which has a technical as well as an acting section.

(Forgive me if you know any of this already !)

All good wishes. Let us know how things go.

- jeanie

Subject: RE: BS: I want to be a director
From: sian, west wales
Date: 28 Feb 05 - 04:55 AM

What Jeanie said.

Except that, of course, you could be Canadian and spelling 'theatre' correctly, of course.

Sometimes it depends on what you want to direct. If film, get in as a runner. If theatre, ASM first (Asst. Stage Manager) then SM then Director. Alternatively, many actors become directors, but then, many actors start off as ASMs so ... Opera is slightly different as you have both the staging director and the musical director.

I used to work in pro theatre (-tre: Canadian!) and I gotta tell ya that youngsters who just turned up and announced that they wanted to direct were numerous and generally treated as annoyances. So it is VERY important that you do what others here have suggested: pay your dues by doing the menial stuff, learn all the nitty gritty that way, and then start doing scenes in workshops, amateur stuff, etc.

But best of luck.

Oh - and marry rich if possible.

siân

Subject: RE: BS: I want to be a director
From: JennyO
Date: 28 Feb 05 - 07:03 AM

She could also be in Oz. We spell theatre that way too.

Subject: RE: BS: I want to be a director
From: Rapparee
Date: 28 Feb 05 - 08:43 AM

So do I, and I'm in Idaho.

Subject: RE: BS: I want to be a director
From: Amos
Date: 28 Feb 05 - 10:16 AM

I want to be a director too -- preferably of a really large R&D corporation with a huige budget for exploring.

A

Subject: RE: BS: I want to be a director
From: GUEST,MMario
Date: 28 Feb 05 - 10:19 AM

find a good source of income from something ELSE while working on the directing - and be prepared to travel, work for very little money and work HARD for years.

Subject: RE: BS: I want to be a director
From: GUEST,CarolC
Date: 28 Feb 05 - 10:55 AM

My son is a film student at his university. But he didn't wait until he got to university to direct films. He's been directing short films since he was around fifteen years old (he's 21 now), and he has already directed most of a full length movie. You don't need to wait until someone gives you permission to direct a movie. You just need to have a vision, and then go do it. Of course, it helps if you have people around you who also have a passion for making films. But it's not necessary.

Subject: RE: BS: I want to be a director
From: GUEST,CarolC
Date: 28 Feb 05 - 11:01 AM

By the way... that's what I used to tell him before he started making films. I said, "don't wait until someone gives you permission... just go do it." And he did.

Subject: RE: BS: I want to be a director
From: GUEST,Cleo-pattie
Date: 28 Feb 05 - 01:57 PM

Hi,
Thanks for all your tips (especially as you are, as Amos said, a folk forum!) I'm in the UK yes, and I'm mainly interested in theatre directing rather than films.
Jeanie - I was actually looking at that RADA post-grad course on the internet the other day - they only let two people in a year or something like that!

So you think I should just go for it and get stuck in to everything I can?

cheers!
Cleo-pattie. x

Subject: RE: BS: I want to be a director
From: Jeanie
Date: 28 Feb 05 - 03:37 PM

Yes - go for it ! Get a group of friends together, do some devised work around a particular theme, get it set, book a really cheap performing space (or first of all your college drama studio one lunchtime for free, maybe ??) Getting stuck into everything you can is going to give you the kind of CV that people will look at twice.

Did you have a look at the Rose Bruford 3-year course ? I know that they do take on more than 2 people a year ! (but not as many as on their acting course). Another great source of advice and information for you will be The Directors' Guild of Great Britain

Keep us posted !
All good wishes
- jeanie

Subject: RE: BS: I want to be a director
From: jeffp
Date: 28 Feb 05 - 04:34 PM

The best time to get started is when you are young and relatively unencumbered. I wish you the best of luck. Unfortunately, that's about the extent of the advice I can offer.

Subject: RE: BS: I want to be a director
From: Chris Green
Date: 28 Feb 05 - 05:44 PM

I can only second what Jeanie has said. My mate and I started a theatre company when I was 20 and he was 21 (this was only a few years ago, in case you think I'm talking about the 60s and 70s when getting arts funding was like shooting fish in a barrel!) We'd book a small am-dram theatre, use mates to act, rehearse in whatever space was available and do our own publicity. The budget (for which we received NO funding!) was generally around £1000-£1500 of which half was theatre hire and the rest was sundry expenses. Obviously a lot of this could be offset against potential revenue! We'd generally look at doing a five-night run with tickets at £5 a head in venues holding about 150, which meant that to break even we'd have to around sell half of the total seats. We generally sold a minimun of three-quarters, which made a decent profit which was shared between those who'd taken part. My mate is now at E15 in London on a post-grad course. I, sadly, am a now musician, as I decided I liked playing more than acting and directing!


If you are thinking of taking this approach, here's a couple of suggestions!

Keep the cast as small as possible - increased profits, decreased logistical problems of trying to get loads of people together for rehearsals. Use mates wherever possible - it makes it a far more social experience. Don't be afraid to have actors doubling or tripling parts - we did Hamlet with a cast of eight!

Use a theatre that aready has its own publicity network - that way they sell your show for you! Hiring a theatre sounds daunting, but most towns have at least one am-dram theatre that is relatively inexpensive to hire (We used to pay £120 per night, which included light, sound, front of house and bar staff!)

Pick a play that people know - people like what they know. Then do something completely different with it. We edited Hamlet down to two hours, and our production of Canterbury Tales was basically a mediaeval Carry On Film!

Have fun! Don't lose sight of the fundamental idea of putting on a play - to tell the story in a way that will entertain the audience. If they like it, they'll come back to see the next one with their mates!


Hope you make a go of it, CP! If there's anything else in the way of advice you think I might be able to give you, drop us a line at [e-mail]

Cheers

Chris

Subject: RE: BS: I want to be a director
From: GUEST,Cleo-pattie
Date: 28 Feb 05 - 05:49 PM

Hi again -
thanks. It's all just a bit daunting! I don't feel 'grown-up' enough to be organizing things!
Thankyou for your tips and useful links - actually there is an am-dram theatre in my town as well as the pro one. I've never been there though - all the shows I've done have been at the main theatre. I'll look em up and see if theres anything going that I can do.

Cheers!

Cleo-pattie

Subject: RE: BS: I want to be a director
From: DougR
Date: 28 Feb 05 - 05:51 PM

If you're talking about film, go to a good university that has a good film program. In the USA, USC, and UCLA are among the best.

If you're talkng about the stage in the U. S., as someone already suggested, Yale is the place to go.

DougR

Subject: RE: BS: I want to be a director
From: Amos
Date: 28 Feb 05 - 05:54 PM

NYU in Greenwich Village has one of the best known film schools in the world.

A

Subject: RE: BS: I want to be a director
From: CarolC
Date: 28 Feb 05 - 08:22 PM

There are many fine film programs in the US that are not in California. The ones DougR mentioned are very difficult to get into, and are not necessarily all that much better than what can be found elsewhere, although they are the most well known.

My son goes to the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. It has a very good film school that is very closely tied with the Sundance Film Festival. Another very good film school is at Emerson in Massachusettes. All of this being rather off the topic of your theater interests, but I just thought I should put that info out there for anyone else who is reading and who may be interested.

Subject: RE: BS: I want to be a director
From: skipy
Date: 01 Mar 05 - 05:20 PM

I want to drink Directors!
Skipy (with a can of John Smiths)

Subject: RE: BS: I want to be a director
From: jimmyt
Date: 01 Mar 05 - 09:25 PM

come to my theater and start directing right away I am in rehaersal for a show that opens in 2 daqys and my director is dumber than a box of sticks. Seriously. I don't know the format for UK theater programs (community theater) but in the US, all you need to do is volunteer in local theater companies and offer to be assistant director or stage manager. Offer to do all the scut work for the director's agreeing to allow you to input or totally direct a scene or 2 in the show ( don't show the director up or you will not get the offer again ) but this is a great way of getting your feet wet. Whatever you do as a director, tell the actors what you WANT not what you don't want. Learn directing with broad strokes and allow your performers some interpretation. Know your show, don't waste actors'time by blocking incorrectly and reblocking over and over.   Understand what the play is saying at all times and learn to tell your actors what you want scene by scene. be open to input, but make sure your people know what you want. don;t let the actors have to guess. I guess I am venting becaues in 2 days I have a show that opens and the troglydite that is directing should be parking cars somewhere instead of directiong!   have fun, be original and off the wall. give your audience some credit for having enough brains to follow what is going on!   jimmyt

Subject: RE: BS: I want to be a director
From: GUEST,Cleo-pattie
Date: 05 Mar 05 - 06:59 PM

Hows the play going? Hope it turned out ok, even if I didn't hop over the pond to step in, lol.

Thanks for all your tips and advice everyone!

cheers,
Cleo-pattie x

Subject: RE: BS: I want to be a director
From: jimmyt
Date: 05 Mar 05 - 11:02 PM

play is going smashing, will sell out the rest of the run, but it could have been outstanding with just a little amplification. Hard to do harmony music with the cast spread out over thirty feet of stage! anyway, thanks for asking. Just got home from the theater and have a matinee at 2 pm tomorrow. Always hard to play the Sunday matinee as the audience is usually senior citizens who have just had lunch and are sort of a sedate audience!   jimmyt

Subject: RE: BS: I want to be a director
From: GUEST,Azhar
Date: 14 Mar 05 - 05:22 PM

Hi,
   I'm basically new into this field of production...i hav also worked with few (experienced) Director's...i mean i assisted them...and also worked at a well known channel...but as a beginner i hav learned quite few things which in my point of few no other person had learnt...i think im capable of learning things which best suits my interest..so im really very very interested in becoming a Director...so i just wanted to know best of the best tips for becoming a good director...so would any1 help me out..Thankz..:)

Subject: RE: BS: I want to be a director
From: GUEST,Cleo-Pattie
Date: 12 Apr 05 - 01:24 PM

I've just found a place inLondon - Drama Centre London, where you can do a BA (honours) Directing.
It sounds like a great ourse with a good combination of english literature and play analysis and practical work with the BA acting students - but I don't know much about the actual college.
It's not on of the very well known ones - so does anyone know anyone who's been there/goes there/works there? Whats it like?

ANy info very much appreciated!
Thanks!

Cleo-pat xx

Subject: RE: BS: I want to be a director
From: Jeanie
Date: 12 Apr 05 - 01:59 PM

Hello again, Cleo-pat. The Drama Centre is a *decidedly* proper place to train. It is now part of the "University of the Arts" in London, which includes such other highly regarded colleges in other fields of the arts (such as Central St. Martins for art and the London College of Fashion). It is also a Member of the Conference of Drama Schools, which gives it a highly regarded status in the professional world. Former students of acting from there include Paul Bettany, Pierce Brosnan and Colin Firth.

Go for it ! Their website will probably have details of open days when you can talk to students on the course - and also you can go and see some of their student productions to get a feel for the place.

- jeanie

Subject: RE: BS: I want to be a director
From: GUEST,Cleo-pattie
Date: 12 Apr 05 - 02:14 PM

Excellent!
I've just looked up some open days and things - I didn't really want to be in London but it sounds like an excellent course so I'll go to an open day and see how it feels!

Thanks Jeanie.

C-Pattie xx

Subject: RE: BS: I want to be a director
From: GUEST,Cleo-Pattie
Date: 12 Apr 05 - 02:30 PM

What I really want to know is whether doing a BA (hons0 Directing would be better than doing something like.. I dunno - an English lit degree and then a post-grad in directing.
But all the post-grad courses are SO competitive! I've looked around and the most people i've seen in in a year is about 20 - working down to TWO admissions a year at RADA.
And the Directing BA sounds great - ohhhh - I'm so undecided!
As I said, any advice or info very much appreciated!

C-pattie. xx

Subject: RE: BS: I want to be a director
From: GUEST
Date: 12 Apr 05 - 04:20 PM

Aim high. If you can get in, all the better. If you don't, you've not lost much by trying.

Subject: RE: BS: I want to be a director
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 12 Apr 05 - 04:33 PM

If you don't like competition, then ANY aspect of theatre/drama/performance is NOT for you...

Subject: RE: BS: I want to be a director
From: GUEST,Cleo_pattie
Date: 12 Apr 05 - 04:46 PM

I didn't mean I don't like competition. I just mean the chance of getting onto a course is much slimmer than doing a full BA in directing.

Subject: RE: BS: I want to be a director
From: GUEST,Cleo-Pattie
Date: 13 Apr 05 - 02:16 PM

Horaay!
I am going to be assistant Director in a show as from tomorrow! :0)
Finally - I've done something about it! Yaaay

Cleo-Pattie xx

Subject: RE: BS: I want to be a director
From: GUEST
Date: 13 Apr 05 - 02:22 PM

Congrats

Subject: RE: BS: I want to be a director
From: A Wandering Minstrel
Date: 14 Apr 05 - 08:15 AM

Cleo=pattie

I have some knowledge of the London Drama Centre. It is predominantly an acting school and focusses heavily on dance and physical theatre. The Directing course is extremely intensive as it is expected that candidates will do all the same classes as the actors (40 hours + per week) and then directing on the top.

The directing element is heavily influenced by the theories of one of the schools founders and is rather esoteric.

I wouold only recommend it to someone who is seriously dedicated to directing physical theatre but go and see their work at the Cochhrane Theatre and form your own judgement

Several Universities do BA courses in performing arts which are less intensive and acting oriented. Rose Bruford has already been mentioned and I would also suggest London Metropolitan, Manchester, Carlisle and London Goldsmiths.

Of course the best way in is just to start in and find a company that need a director. (you might need an equity card)

good luck

Subject: RE: BS: I want to be a director
From: GUEST,Cleo-Pattie
Date: 14 Apr 05 - 11:25 AM

Hi,

First - equity cards. Vicious circle. You need one to get a job but you need a job to get one! Aaargh!!!!

hehe, anyway - I've only found those two places (Rose Bruford and Drama Centre London) that do a directing course that isn't a post-grad though. I don't want a performing arts course. I don't want to be an actor.
Funnily enough there is a guy who lives on my road who teaches on the acting course there so I did have a word with him last night. He did mention that they are very keen on this slightly obscure founder (I've forgoten his name now) but that it is a good course for people who are dead set on becoming directors.

I did very much like the idea that in the first year the directors work with the BA acting students, but with a few differences (e.g. when they do voice coaching, the directors do text analysis). It also means that in following years you know what people's capabilities are for casting them.

I plan to go and look round and, if this guy I know can organise it, talk to someone who has just finished his first year on the directing course. And yes, I'll try and get to see some work.
Thanks for your help! :0)

C-Pattie. xx

Subject: RE: BS: I want to be a director
From: M.Ted
Date: 14 Apr 05 - 01:08 PM

Directors direct actors. For that reason, they need to study acting. If you read film, television, and theatre credits with any degree of dedication, you will note that many prominent actors wind up directing. No one has a better opportunity to study directing(and directors) than an actor, and then, of course, they have the advantage of understanding acting..

Subject: RE: BS: I want to be a director
From: A Wandering Minstrel
Date: 15 Apr 05 - 09:15 AM

M'Ted is quite correct if you intend to direct you do need a thorough grounding in acting. You will also need additional skills in the way of artistic, textual and literary interpretation, some knowledge of costume and its history. stage lighting, music and sound, set- building, man-management...

and deep pockets.

The university courses I mentioned are less acting oriented and will give you a much broader set of skills than a pure acting school will and will also enable you to try out film, broadcasting and television which will add to your marketability.

It's a tough profession, for every Olivier there are hundreds 'resting'. be sure of what you are getting into.