Off Script: The 'No' April Fools Episode

Summary
In this Off Script episode of the Late Bloomer Actor Podcast, I reflect on past April Fools' Day pranks and for the support I received. I also announce the integration of Off Script episodes into the main podcast and invite listeners to suggest topics for future episodes. I then discuss my experience attending a three-day masterclass with actor Les Chantery in Sydney in February. I discuss how intense the training was but that is was transformative.  

Takeaways

• April Fools' Day pranks can backfire, and it's important to consider the impact on others.
• Off Script episodes are now integrated into the Late Bloomer Actor Podcast, and listeners are invited to suggest topics.
• The positive results of training with Les Chantery.
• Regular commitment to acting training is essential to keep the skills sharp.

Find all information about Les Chantery, including his book and course.

Transcript

David John Clark: 0:00

Hey everyone and welcome to another off-script episode of the Lake Bloomer Actor Podcast. Today is April the 1st and, as much as I did contemplate it, there will be no April fooling in this episode. fools can can backfire sometimes. I remember a few years back that I posted on Facebook that I had a contact in the USA and through that contact I announced that I had been given a small role on the new upcoming Terminator movie. Now, as many of my friends know, I'm a huge fan of the Terminator series, even the later movies, and having actually met Arnold Schwarzenegger once, this gave the story a little more credibility. So perhaps it's the gullibility of Facebook or just people glancing over posts and not really thinking about it, but I got a lot of very positive feedback and congratulatory messaging on the post, which made me feel really bad when I had to announce it all wasn't truthful, that it was just an April Fools post, but I was really thankful and appreciative of all the support. The very fact that so many people took it as being real, that they thought it all very possible that I could land such a coveted role, was a great feeling to me and made it all the more harder to tell them it was a joke, so no April Fools from me today.

David John Clark: 1:17

Firstly, I wanted to thank you all for your understanding of the changes in the Offscript series. The Offscript offshoot to my late Loomer Actor podcast initially started out as a separate podcast in late 2023, with the initial weekly Monday episodes commencing in late November and included some great, albeit quick, episodes over Christmas and the new year from the USA. I was very fortunate to be on a three-week driving holiday with my family, traveling from New York at Christmas to Roswell, new Mexico for New Year's and finishing up on the West Coast, san Francisco and then finally Los Angeles, hollywood. But in hindsight I felt the Offshoot podcast was a poor cousin of the main podcast, but the concept of the Offscript episodes was still very exciting and possibly a great inclusion to the primary podcast rather than as an offshoot. So here we are with the Offscript episodes now as bonus episodes within the Late Bloom Rector podcast. So if you're not aware and haven't listened, you can go back to the earlier Offscript episodes and have a listen if you like. They were directly recorded on the ground in the US, so very worthwhile, I promise. And they will release on Mondays, but not every Monday. They will be ad hoc, as necessary when I have something worthwhile to put out. So if you have anything you'd like brought up in an Offscript episode, please let me know via social media messaging or email me at thelatebloomeractor at gmailcom. I'm sure I'd love to have you on board and we can talk about something. Whatever that comes up. So please reach out and let me know and we'll get an episode out there special for you.

David John Clark: 2:49

Now to the crux of this episode. I've had a bit of a gap since the last Offscript episode in January. It's been a chaotic start to 2024, but I wanted to talk about a fantastic course I completed in February a three-day masterclass with the wonderful Les Chantieri. Les is just wonderful. I've been following him for a few years now, after being very fortunate to have been an audience member on a Zoom interview with him. And then last year the Equity Foundation the Equity Foundation being the professional development arm of the MEAA, australia's Actors Union had a one-day special event with Les in Sydney that I just could not miss out on. So a great excuse for a couple of days away from home. My wife and I drove down and had a wonderful eight hours introduction to the training techniques of Les Chantry while Kelly ran around and caught up of one of our favourite cities, sydney.

David John Clark: 3:42

Les is a NIDA trained actor and now trains other actors at NIDA, as well as his specialised audition techniques through his Les Chantry studios in Sydney. Les got his big break in acting opposite Vin Diesel in the cult sci-fi music Pitch Black, and then went on to work with Robert De Niro, al Pacino and Australia's Nicole Kidman, amongst many others. Les also holds a degree in the Bachelor of Economics, where he studied in neuroscience, psychology and behavioral economics. Now this sounds pretty heavy and outside of the acting realm, but this is where Les' approach is different and he blends all those learnings into an audition process how an actor can move from being an actor to being a real person on camera. Essentially, before I got to see his approach in the flesh, I read his book. Life in a Midshot Says it all Life in a Midshot, how to make it work in that space. I thoroughly recommend the book. It delves deeply into his process and will give you a great boost to how to make your scenes real and book the job from your self-tape or in-room audition.

David John Clark: 4:47

After the one-day introduction to Les last year, I knew I had to have more and I signed up for the three-day intensive, which is everything the word intensive alludes to. It was pretty fun, but certainly eye-opening. And without giving away any of his secrets, I walked away a better actor. I feel the concepts and approaches that Les delivers are just mind-blowing. Without overselling it much, you start off on day one at one level and you go on a journey of self-discovery and by day three, three, you have a whole different outlook on your approach to audition prep and scene delivery. So my two cents worth for this off script episode is I really recommend you look into Les Gentieri if you haven't already, purchase his book as a starter and seriously consider his courses.

David John Clark: 5:33

Now I'm not being looked after in any way. This is my recommendation as an actor and as a student that has followed him. So I'm continuing my training this month with a four-week follow-up to the intensive just to nail down some of the concepts more fully. So check him out. Links will be in the show notes of this episode and hopefully sometime in the future we have to have him on the show for a chat, because that would just be fantastic Part of my journey as an actor. My paths have now crossed with Les, so hopefully we can bring him on and talk about how our paths have crossed and what I've got from him. So thank you for listening in.

David John Clark: 6:12

I've got a busy month ahead of me with a two-day course here in Adelaide with the wonderful Lou and Angela Heesom from Heesom Casting some one-on-one acting training in the room. So I'm really looking forward to that and it's going to be great to catch up with them as well. With the strike action last year and then proceeded before with the COVID virus and everything that went. I haven't seen them for a while, so it'd be great to catch up and get some training with them and see how things are going. And then I'm following up with the four sessions for four weeks or less. So a busy, busy month of training. When you get the chance, you need to have that regular commitment to keep the acting muscles in place, so to speak.

David John Clark: 6:50

So, guys, that's it for today. Offscript is back. We've had that little bit of a break. I hope you enjoy these short, quick episodes. Thank you for listening.

David John Clark: 7:00

I hope you've taken something away from today and, as I said, look me up online if you've got any questions or anything you want talked about in the future. We certainly can run it. Make sure you subscribe and follow on your podcast players that you're using and on YouTube if you're watching the YouTube channel. I really appreciate your support. We do need to put a call of action out there for you. I need to get for the algorithms.

David John Clark: 7:25

If you can like and subscribe and leave a review on Apple or Spotify, the two primary ones where you can do that, that would be really, really appreciative of me for you to do that. That would be fantastic. So thank you very much. So all the best for the rest of the year, guys. It's April already, as you can see. I've got my gym shirt on, I've come straight from the gym, so I'm keeping up that going as well. So busy, busy, busy. So all the best, guys, and look out for the next episode of the main podcast releasing on the 15th. As usual, we will see you at either the next episode on the 15th or the next Offscript. So cheers, guys, and I'll see you on set.