The inaugural class for the Richard Lawson Studios is finally a reality.

It is a comprehensive on-camera audition and cold reading class.

Its pilot season again. It's the time of year when we as actors are hoping and praying that we'll get a call from our agents, sending us out to audition for the pilot or film that could inevitably change our lives. It's a time of year when tensions, expectations and heart rates are elevated. A sense of "must-have" is in the air. Every meeting, cold reading, audition, callback, producers meeting and network reading becomes a potential source of Hari Cari or Seppuku (a form of ritual disembowelment, practiced by Japanese samurai, especially to rid oneself of shame). Sometimes, great actors walk into those rooms and fail to deliver the potential of their talent. Some part of us is left out of the room. Some choice is not fully committed too. Some idea that flashed across our minds like a brief and fleeting beam of light was ignored. Some "note" be it solicited or not, sits at the forefront of our consciousness and has become the filter through which our impulses flow. I could go on, but we all know the variables of fear, embarrassment and the expectation of failure.

With the help of video and computer equipment, we document the progress and growth of an individuals ability to come into a room with enough intention and life force to cause the energy in that room to change. The ability to audition or interview for a job starts long before the actual meeting itself. Few people enter a room expecting to win. Most people enter a room trying not to lose. Their attention and focus revolves around trying to avoid mistakes rather than delivering what their intentions and choices are. This class is about changing attitudes and routines that lead people to the same disastrous results.

It is my intention to create substantial change in the way we approach ourselves and the audition process. It is my desire to create a game that will be fun to play because we are as prepared as we need to be, to play it successfully. Understanding of course, that successful is relative to process and not result. (Relative: 1. Dependent on or interconnected with something else; not absolute.)

The purpose of this class is to help the actor:

• Learn to make better choices in the audition process.
• Learn to trust yourself to make quicker choices.
• Learn how to create "good room".
• Understanding yourself as a "product" and how to deliver it.
• Understanding the difference between who you are and what you do.
• Demystifying your relationship with the camera.
• Confronting the fear of auditioning.
• Developing a winning audition work ethic.

Class meets once a week, on a Saturday or Sunday depending upon the class you're in. There are assignments to accomplish during the week. It is an eight week course with a requirement of four weeks.