"ACTING FOR ANIMATORS" CLASS/SIGGRAPH
I will participate in a panel discussion and teach an Acting for Animators workshop for the San Francisco chapter of SIGGRAPH on Wednesday, Oct. 24th, 6:30 to 9:30. The event will be held at the Fort Mason Center, FireHouse in San Francisco. Admission is $5.00 for non-members. The panel, so I hear, will include prominent members of the Bay Area animation community. Be there!

ADVANCE ORDERS
Amazon.Com is taking advance orders for two of my soon-to-be-published books: "Acting for Animators" (Heinemann) and the revised 3rd edition of "The Audition Book (Winning Strategies for Breaking into Theater, Film and TV)" (Backstage Books).

TWO NEW Film Demo WorkshopES!
Register now for the November Film Demo Workshop! This workshop, co-taught by director Gregory Burke and me, is for the actor who wants to develop film acting technique. Actors rehearse scenes for a showcase reel, shoot them on digital video and edit them. It is a busy and highly productive eight-week program. Tuesday night class starts November 21st, and Wednesday night class starts November 22nd. There is space in both of them right now. If you've been looking for a good film class, this is the one. These classes are limited to ten actors each and will fill up, so raise your hand sooner rather than later. For more info, contact Ed at edhooks@best.com.

CHECK OUT THESE LINKS
A big cyber-thanks to Jayson Matthews for the excellent interview he conducted with me for Internet.com. Take a look: http://siliconvalley.internet.com/news/article/1,2198,3531_468251,00.html

Also, Jens Kafitz designed a dynamic and colorful website in connection with my upcoming Acting for Animators workshop in Frankfurt, Germany. Click on my name when you get there. http://afa.creatorstudios.de

ED'S YEAR END SCHEDULE
I'll be out of the country Oct. 26 - November 19, in Singapore, Germany and Italy. I plan on posting the November Hooks Newsletter from somewhere over there.

REGARDING CLASS INTERRUPTIONS
Actors in the San Francisco scene study workshop will miss only three sessions due to my travels. There will be no class on Oct. 30, Nov. 6 and Nov. 13. The classes resume Nov. 20th. Actors in the Palo Alto class will miss five sessions because Thanksgiving falls on the Thursday after I return to San Francisco. Therefore, the Palo Alto class will resume Nov. 30th. Note to all scene study students: Make certain that you have scene assignments to work on while I am away. I want to hit the deck running immediately when I return.

UPCOMING CLASSES
Commercials Workshop -- Dec. 2-3
Scene Study (San Francisco) -- Mon, 7-10:30pm, ongoing
Scene Study (Palo Alto) -- Thurs, 6:30-10pm, ongoing
Acting for Animators -- Saturday, Jan. 20th
Film Demo Workshop #1- Tues, Nov. 21st, 7-10:30
Film Demo Workshop #2- Wed. Nov. 22nd, 7-10:30

CLEVER GIFT IDEA
Got $200 to spend on a Christmas present for a kid? Me neither. But if I did, I would be sorely tempted by the "Virtual Movie Studio" being sold at the Store of Knowledge. Here's a link: http://www.storeofknowledge.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/ExecMacro/SOK/main.d2w/report?bversion=N4

HOOKS ACTORS WORKING
JEANETTE HARRISON (f/tv - '00) is working in the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival school tour. She's doing "Digging Hamlet" by Trevor Allen--which condenses the epic to about 30 minutes! BRETT ROSENBERG's(Director's Lab - '00) play "Disengaged" was featured as part of the 2000 Fringe Festival this year. ANDREA ST. CLAIR (comml - '98) is in rehearsal "Singing in the Rain" at American Musical Theater of San Jose, running Oct 29-Nov 12. Brian James, Lisa Wiseman and Sara Betts all appear in "Picasso at the Lapin Agile" for Palo Alto Players, closing Oct. 1st. RAY RENATI (s.stdy - current) shot a principal role in an Oracle industrial, for Oracle's Open World Conference in October at Moscone Center. ANNAN PATTERSON is appearing in "Hot 'n Throbbing" at Venue 9, October 5- November 4, 2000 8 PM Thursdays-Saturdays. Tickets: 415-289-2000. It's about something...ummm...sexual. ANNIESCOTT ROGERS (s.stdy - '96) is in an indie film, "Wine, Mon Amour", a commercial for Paperless Portal and a Sun Microsystems industrial video. LISA WISEMAN (s.stdy - '94) shot an industrial for Playback Media and Ecicero-one. RAY RENATI (s.stdy - current) shot industrial videos for Playback Media and Interlane Media. BABY! BABY! BABY! Congrats to MARINIA DE FRISCO(f/tv - '00) and her husband Steve on the birth of a new baby boy, Milagro Thomas. (Nickname: Milo!). Born September 4, 2000, 6:28 p.m., Milo and mom are doing great.

CRAFT NOTES
"Colleen's Big Break"

Colleen Haskell, the cute girl in the bikini in last summer's hit television show "Survivor", has been cast in the lead role in a movie. She will play opposite Rob Schneider in the Columbia Pictures film "Animal", due for a June 2001 release. I am happy for Colleen because she seems like a nice enough sort, but this kind of development unfortunately feeds public misconceptions about acting. The casual observer might easily conclude that acting must surely be a snap, something that requires no training or experience, if even cute beach-nik Colleen can do it.

Colleen's big break coincidentally occurs during the longest labor strike in Screen Actors Guild history. Media has lately been focusing on SAG, its relationship with its own members and with non-union actors. The Guild has widely publicized that it will gladly accept as new members any non-union performers who are willing to put in eighty hours on the picket line. No training or experience as an actor is necessary. The Guild will also accept as members anybody who wants to work as an extra on a few SAG-approved movies. Extras are of course not actors at all and, again, no training or acting experience is necessary. In other words, in the year 2000, you do not have to be an actor to be a member of Screen Actors Guild. Acquire a SAG card and voila!, you're an actor by definition and default, no fuss, no muss.

Is it any wonder that the American public has so little understanding of and respect for the ancient art of acting? In our culture, art and commerce have become intermingled, undistinguishable from one another. If Colleen Haskell gets cast in a movie, then she must be an actor, right? I mean, you don't get leads in movies unless you can act. Right? In the minds of many, she defines the craft. Celebrity = acting = fame = the American Dream. Does anybody care that acting at its best is modern-day shamanism? Does anybody care that there are individuals who actually take pride in calling themselves actors? To paraphrase Texas Senator Lloyd Benston in the vice-presidential debates some years ago, "I know actors. Actors are friends of mine. You, Colleen, are no actor."

Acting is an interpretative art, one that seeks our commonality as humans. An actor says to the audience, "I understand this about this character." When the audience applauds, it is saying, "I see what you mean!" Acting speaks to the issue of what is required to live successfully on this planet. It is an art many thousands of years old and, until the 20th century, it filled an important function for most cultures. Despite the membership policies of the Screen Actors Guild and the implications of Colleen's lucky day, acting as an art form requires a high degree of intelligence, energy, passion and dedication. It is not a skill you sort of pick up on a south sea island while avoiding insect bites on your legs.

We are living in an era when the visual image itself is a form of currency. "If I am on television or in a movie, I must matter," goes the reasoning. Acting for an individual who is oriented this way is not an art, but "a form of flattery." (Joseph Chaikin, "The Presence of the Actor"TCG Books, 1991) This kind of narcissistic self-involvement is a sad signal of America's cultural decline in the 21st century and testament to our psychic neediness. It is also a wake-up call to the actor who is proud of his craft, the actor who considers acting to be an honorable profession.

Colleen Haskell is only the most recent of the "Survivor" veterans to find a niche in show biz. All sixteen of the contestants have made appearances on television shows. Gervase Peterson appeared on the sitcom "The Hughleys"; Sean Kenniff showed up on the soap opera, "Guiding Light." Richard Hatch, the $1 million winner, has his own radio show now and is writing a book. I presume they have all become members of the Screen Actors Guild.

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