Hollywood's Top Acting Coach On Teaching Via Zoom

I'm an actor and my amazing teacher, the renowned Marcie Smolin of The Actor's Circle, was so quick to adapt to Zoom, I was astonished. She created a community that has really kept creative people going during the pandemic. I sat down with her, virtually, to find out how she did it.

1. What was the first thing you did when you heard a pandemic was coming in terms of your business?

I knew that we were going to have to cancel in person classes a few weeks before the stay at home order. I have some close friends who were working with Covid patients and they were keeping me informed. We actually moved our classes to Zoom a few weeks before the actual stay at home order. My students were feeling like they wanted to do that and I listened. It was a pretty easy transition for me because I have a lot of private students all over the world so teaching online was comfortable for me.

2. How did you get the word out?

Well I started with our existing classes here at The Actors Circle. I would say that 95% of the students transitioned easily to Zoom classes. A few took some convincing and they were skeptical. So what I did was to offer the first few weeks for free so that everybody could at least give them a try. This was back in March! I had no idea we would still be doing this in September!

3. What happens in your Zoom classes? For adults? For kids?

The classes are not all that different, really. I had to adapt some of the exercises to work in the Zoom format…but I found it has been possible with everything that we do in person. We do improv, scene study, cold reading and audition technique.

4. Tell us about other special events you do remotely.

We have been doing weekly play readings, improv jams, original works, and this weekend we are filming a webisode that was created in Zoom. This is the way the industry is right now. The more ways that we find to be creative in Zoom, the more everybody works.

5. Did you keep your studio? If yes, do you still use it in any capacity?

I have kept my space. The Actors Circle has been here for 17 years and we love our space. I personally drive here for every class and Zoom from the studio so that everybody still can see their familiar acting class space.

6. What are some benefits that you have found doing the classes by Zoom? Will you keep any of this Zoom acting class active once the pandemic has passed?

Well I personally have fallen in love with the Zoom format. We teach film and television acting classes here so Zoom is great for us. If you think about it, you are on camera the whole time. I get an insight into how people look on screen. We get a more intensified look into that and can work on improving camera skills. I think there is a higher level of focus. We can see everybody on camera the whole time, so doing things like looking at your phone or generally spacing out became very obvious.

One other bonus is that I have students from all over, able to join group class now. I will always keep that going. Even when we are back doing in-person classes, I will always have a couple of Zoom classes available. It will work not only for people in other cities (or countries even) but even for this people who are stuck at work and can’t drive over, are having health issues, or who just feel more comfortable in the online format.

7. What are some of the funniest, most memorable, most moving moments you have discovered with Zoom classes?

Oh the hilarity never ends. We have had the pants-less roommate walk by more than once in the same class (we secretly suspect he planned it). We have people who take phone calls and forget to mute. Yes those viral videos of people taking their Zoom into the bathroom are real! Oy vey!

8. How has the Zoom experience changed/embellished you as a teacher?

I work twice as hard. Every exercise I do has to be adapted to Zoom, so the planning of the curriculum takes time. I feel a responsibility to my students to work extra hard to take them to the next level. This is such a difficult time for everybody and I want to make sure that everybody gets a silver lining out of it. That silver lining being huge creative growth! Just as my students have to be more focused…so do I. I am there on camera the whole three hours. My students get all of me. I have also made myself accessible to everybody through the week if they want to work on extra stuff. I truly feel that we need to make the best out of this time!

9. Are you finding you are getting students from other time zones?

Yes I have students from all over the world. Earlier today I had a class that had people from L.A., New York, Vegas, Japan, London and India!

10. What do you think the future for actors will be once the pandemic has passed? What will castings look like?

I think a lot of new protocols that started during Covid may stay. We were already moving towards the majority of auditions being self-taped and this will continue. A lot of commercial auditions are Zoom auditions now. Gone are the crowded waiting rooms. Now you wait in Virtual waiting rooms! I think it will be a long time before anybody will want to be in a crowded room so I do feel that as we move into the future more and more things will be happening online.

Just sort of recap…I love teaching in Zoom. As the months have gone by we have become more and more creative. Students are coordinating backgrounds for their scenes so it looks like they are in the same room, they are going all out with costumes and makeup, they are writing more and creating more. The level of focus and drive has continued on. The capability to tape in Zoom is something we utilize a lot. It is a good way to do self-tapes because you can always have a good reader with you. The camera quality is excellent.

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