So You Want To Act On Screen?

An essential handbook for anyone who wants to act on television and film - by a leading teacher of screen acting.

For any aspiring screen actor, the challenge is to combine all the components of your craft with an ability to handle the technical demands of acting for the camera within the often bewildering environment of a film set.

Michael Bray takes you step by step through all the challenges you'll face, demystifying the processes you'll encounter, and helping you develop the necessary skills, including:

How to approach the script and prepare your character
How to maintain your concentration and learn to relax on set
How to deliver your lines and improve your vocal range
How to master continuity, eye lines, and hitting your marks
How to tackle auditions to ensure your best chance of getting the job

Full of invaluable advice, extracts from screenplays, numerous illustrations and practical exercises - which can be undertaken on your own, using the camera on your phone - this book is an accessible and authoritative guide to developing a successful career as a screen actor.

Auteur

Michael Bray trained as an actor at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, before working in theatre, television and film as an actor, including six years at the National Theatre, where he also wrote and directed his first two plays, The Rhythm of Love and The Back of the Bus Girls at the National Theatre Studio. He then moved into writing and directing for television and film. He wrote and directed The Sea Change, which was chosen for the Sundance Film Festival, and starred Ray Winstone, Maryam d'Abo and Sean Chapman. After that, he joined Winchester Films and worked on numerous films including The Killing Joke, Black Powder (Ealing Films), The Possession of Julie May (Gaumont) and The Commitments 2, and his screenplay for Maggie won the Producers Alliance Award in 2004. Most recently in 2018, Michael was Executive Producer on Where the Skin Lies for Signwriter Films, which had successful distribution in America and has been screened at major film festivals worldwide, and is an executive producer and board member of Dog Star Films.

Michael is currently Course Leader of MA Screen, Acting and MA Screen, Directing, Writing, the film-making courses at Drama Centre, Central Saint Martins, part of the University of the Arts London. He also teaches screen acting at Guildhall School of Music & Drama. He was also Head of Film and Television for Arts Educational Schools London, and then Director of the School of Acting for nine years, creating and directing over three hundred films that were screened at BAFTA in London, New York and Los Angeles. He also created a range of new film courses at ArtsEd including the first BA in Film Acting in the UK, and an international screen-acting course at the Hong Kong Baptist University.