By Solomon Wood
In this quite special blog, we are not addressing acting tips or tricks but in fact I am writing for parents. In this blog, I would like to address the problem of finding your child’s perfect acting school, and the requirements of NFD as a school.
At NFD, we see many calls come through about children wanting to join, and each child has a different story. But the three main parents to call are these:
1) The Recommended Parent- Can I just say that’s it’s delightful that we get recommended as it shows that we’re doing something right! Now, this parent is happy that the child has a place at NFD and is really happy to do what is required.
2) The Unclear Parent- This is the parent that calls saying “Oh, My DARLING is a STAR! He’s had main parts and is a COMPLETE NATURAL! He loves the stage!” and this is great! But Film and Theatre are slightly different. Parents like this need to research Film and Theatre and see which criteria your child best fits into. You may find that with children like this you need to look for a theatre group, but sometimes NFD is the perfect place to understand the other side of the spectrum and help them persue different type of acting.
3) The “wants the best” parent- This parent is not happy with the school the child is at and wants more for the child. This could be a challenge for the child or to gain more skills, but if I’m honest they usually come to get more auditions. My advice to this parent is to talk to school the child is at and sort things out, get to the bottom of the issues with the school as moving children disrupts continuity and can lead to a very confused child! If moving is an option, look for a place that turns out exceptionally high standard actors (like NFD!)
My advice to all parents is to really research and look at all your options. Also, what are your requirements? If your child simply wants to gain confidence then find a group that does that. Don’t take them somewhere that will push your child so far out of their comfort zone they become negative towards acting. It’s all really about sitting down and really thoroughly researching different classes. It’s also really beneficial if you talk to the people running the school and if your child likes a school enquire about a taster session which is really helpful as your child can find out if it is the school they really want to go to.
NFD requirements:
Apart from the normal “make sure you turn up on time” and those requirements, NFD have some other requirements your child should know, here I think are 3 most important so here we go:
1) Work! Be prepared to work, slacking off isn’t tolerated at NFD
2) Be prepared for criticism- you must be ready for criticism, or else how will you grow as an actor
3) Come out of your comfort zone- don’t worry! We won’t push you into the deep end! But you have to come out of your shell and try everything!
Why choose NFD?
I think this is a really good question, why choose NFD? And what separates them from all the others? Well, at NFD we don’t hide behind a front. We don’t tell you we do all these things and then we don’t do it. Also, some classes charge a ridiculous amount of money because they are “professional”. I’ve heard of one school that wanted £5000 before you could even enter. So, what separates NFD is that we ARE professional. We help students (like myself) really get out there by putting them on the NFD Agency, Spotlight and if they are involved in the films that we make here they can achieve credits on an IMDb page. That leads me onto another reason to come, we make our own professional films! Our last film, Crooked Billet, has won several awards such as an Oscar equivalent from South Korea and has been shown at Film Festivals in London. So our success rate is high!
