Hearts in Hollywood

I am very grateful to be a member of the Anthony Meindl’s Actor Workshop family and thankful for each teacher and fellow actor I have worked with or seen work. You inspire me and I am blessed to be in your company.

Conventional wisdom informs us that Hollywood is a cold cynical hell, a place where creative talent, dreams and passion fuel an industry that embraces a lucky few, while using and abusing the rest; a factory producing magnificent dreams while cannibalizing the dreamers. History is replete with stories supporting this view and the entertainment industry markets heavily to counter it by touting the philanthropic largess of its luckiest denizens. The culture as a whole eats up this narrative with an endless appetite, devouring a non-stop barrage of stories about the triumphs and tragedies of the gods, goddesses and villains of Hollywood. This narrative has remained unchanged if not amplified since my first stint here began some 30 years ago.

From the perspective of an unrepentant dreamer who has recently picked up his dreams and dusted them off after closeting them for 20 years working in the corporate software world, Hollywood reflects the changes seen in our world as a whole.

The rich have gotten richer and the rest poorer. There are more dreamers than ever, arriving daily from all over the world. The dollars of young aspirants are still willingly received by the myriad of companies who thrive on the development of talent.

Unions have consolidated and lost their power leaving an even smaller percentage of their members making a livelihood in the careers they love.  Low paying non-union acting work thrives while the union actor is asked to work for next to nothing under something called the “Ultra-Low Budget” contract.

Technology has been a double-edged sword wreaking havoc with the Hollywood film industry. Production has moved elsewhere because it can. Jobs have disappeared, as entire parts of the industry have been rendered obsolete. At the same time technological advances have expanded the creative toolsets of the filmmaker, freeing them from the bulky constraints of heavy cameras and lights and allowing them to create new worlds from nothing but pure imagination.

While outlets for content have exploded dramatically, there are seemingly fewer paying jobs to meet the demand. Fewer movies being made at the top of the feeding chain have driven movie stars to become television stars and everyone else climbing the ladder to move down a rung in turn. But, the dreams haven’t died and there are still charlatans posing as agents, teachers, managers and coaches willing to capitalize on the dreams of the dreamers.

There are also extraordinarily talented people everywhere you look: actors, writers, directors, producers and teachers. This is after all one of the primary beacons of light for creative artists worldwide.

One of the brightest lights in Hollywood today is hyphenate, acting coach-writer- producer-director Anthony Meindl.  His book  “At Right Brain, Turn Left” published in January 2012 quickly rose to be in the top 100 best selling self-help books and top 50 books about theatre on Amazon. In it he focuses on bringing out the creative artist in all of us regardless of profession.

His eponymous acting studio, Anthony Meindl’s Actor Workshop (AMAW), is a successfully growing business with studio’s opening in London, Vancouver and New York City.  His team has utilized social media masterfully in launching his book and expanding awareness of his brand. A videographer is never far away when Tony speaks. Short videos are very effectively used to build awareness, and what you see, is what you get.

Anthony (Tony to his students) is impossible to ignore. His energy seemingly knows no bounds and may be attributed to his regular practice of yoga and meditation. One suspects that the yoga and meditation actually serve to focus his energy. When he teaches, his lectures explode with enthusiasm, joy and passion. Ideas explode out of him like a geyser, demanding your attention. When he coaches he will stop at nothing to encourage his actors to find their own truth.  His mission is to help actor’s get out of their heads and into their hearts; to be willing to find and share their own truth as human beings. You may be forgiven for forgetting you are in an acting class.

Tony like all great teachers has a unique voice. His message echoes those of Deepak Chopra and Eckhart Tolle and many others living and dead; but the way the message is delivered is uniquely his own. His audience has found him and will continue to grow.

While the operation and packaging of the Anthony Meindl brand is masterful; Tony’s most amazing accomplishment is the culture he has created within his studio.

Acting studio’s live and die by their ability to attract actors; they are businesses.  They are challenging to expand because they often rely on the charisma of a guru-like teacher, who has the physical limitations particularly of time and energy inherent in a single human being. Training others to teach is a crucial step in the growth of a studio, most never outgrow their creator.

In the past six weeks I have regularly observed four classes and participated in one at AMAW. This has allowed me to see hundreds of actors being coached by 5 different teachers including Tony. What is remarkable to watch is the consistent quality of the class experience with or without Tony at the helm. This is due in part to the essence of the work that is done here; bringing actors back to their hearts, encouraging them to reveal their souls unique truth in every role they play.

This type of work demands that an actor be willing to see and accept who they truly are. No small demand. Tony and team honor and celebrate each actor’s humanity and individuality. They create and maintain an environment that allows the actor to feel safe and supported while working to pare away the layers of protection we may have developed to hide the truth.

Scene work at AMAW is a means to an end. Scenes are used like different machines at a gym, each allowing the actor to exercise a different emotional or physical muscle. The teacher will stop and start a scene as many times as necessary to help an actor find the lesson that’s there for them on any given day. Teachers encourage students to try anything that will get them out of their heads and into their hearts and bodies. The results are stunning to behold.

In one master class, I watched the transformation of an actor who had found something in the scene that just shut him down. As a result his initial performance (script in hand), was tight. This in turn gave his partner very little to work with. 

Because of shooting and travel schedules I watched this actor work this scene with multiple coaches. Each helped him look in a different place for the key to unlocking and exposing his truth in this role. These were not directions on blocking or line readings or suggestions for substitutions, motivations or elaborate back-stories about the character. Each week the scene morphed and became clearer. By the fourth week the scene was crackling with electricity, fraught with tension and grounded in an undeniable truth.  

Was this the result of great direction? Nope. This was the result of an actor being coached past something only he could name that was stopping him. The result was undeniably his and his scene partners alone. A living breathing slice of life that was riveting in its simplicity and power. Scripts still in hand.

The work at AMAW is fast. No wasted time spent in elaborate scene set up, or smoke breaks. Everyone works in every class, and there is something to learn about yourself in every scene you watch. This is not acting by the numbers. There is no technique cookbook. This is high-wire work; you have only yourself to depend on. This is working to realize that you are enough to bring life to any role, that in character only your name is different.

In addition to great teachers, Tony is also attracting a special group of actors. Every class I observed had a unique character defined by its participants as much as the teacher.  A particularly revealing part of each class is when each participant is asked to sum up what they took away from that days class. In some classes this summary is short and feels perfunctory. In most however, and noticeably in the master classes, the true soul of AMAW is revealed. 

These people have hearts, they have compassion for each other, and they root for each other. One of my favorites was an actor who in addition to thanking his classmates thanked the auditors in the class, clearly present to, and acknowledging that their energy contributed to the work done in that room on that day.

I am very grateful to be a member of the AMAW family. If you would like to join us I encourage you to audit a class soon.

Namaste,

Lon