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Truth Before Technique
Great on-camera acting begins with truthful behavior.
Technical knowledge is essential, but it should never replace genuine human experience. Rather than teaching actors to "act for the camera," this course teaches them how to allow the camera to capture truthful behavior under imaginary circumstances.
Students explore the practical realities of film and television while strengthening the same skills that define exceptional acting in every medium: concentration, imagination, listening, responsiveness, and emotional truth.
Developing an Independent Process
Professional actors must know how to prepare without constant direction.
Throughout the semester, students develop a personal process for approaching screenplays, analyzing scenes, and preparing film and television material independently.
Working through individual exercises, monologues, and increasingly complex scene work, actors strengthen their ability to make specific choices while remaining fully responsive to their scene partner.
Students also learn to review filmed work critically, using playback not as a source of judgment, but as a tool for artistic growth and greater self-awareness.
Mastering the Self-Tape
The self-tape has become one of the most important professional skills an actor can possess.
Students learn how to create clear, professional self-tapes while understanding that the purpose of the audition is never to demonstrate technique. It is to reveal truthful behavior.
Throughout the course, actors develop confidence both in front of the camera and in the practical demands of today's audition process, including independent preparation, technical setup, and professional presentation.
OUR CLASSES
Acting for the Camera
The camera sees everything.
From Classroom to Set
As the semester progresses, students work collaboratively on increasingly challenging scenes, applying the technical and artistic principles developed throughout the course.
The emphasis gradually shifts toward greater independence, encouraging actors to balance disciplined preparation with the spontaneity, adaptability, and collaboration required in professional film and television production.
By the end of the course, students understand not only how to perform truthfully on camera, but how to enter auditions, rehearsals, and film sets with greater confidence, preparation, and artistic clarity.
The Camera Reveals the Truth
At Maggie Flanigan Studio, we believe the camera is not something to be conquered. It is something to trust.
When an actor's body is free, the voice is connected, the imagination is alive, and attention rests fully on the other person, the camera captures what audiences are ultimately searching for:
Truth. That is the purpose of Acting for the Camera.
Understanding the Language of Film
Actors entering the film and television industry must understand the technical vocabulary of the camera as well as the artistic demands of the medium.
Throughout the course, students develop a working knowledge of:
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Shot size and framing
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Camera marks
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Eyelines
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Continuity
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Adjusting performance for different camera setups
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The differences between stage and screen performance
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The actor's relationship to the lens
Rather than becoming distracted by technical demands, students learn how to integrate them naturally into their acting process so that craft remains invisible and behavior remains truthful.
CONTACT
Address:
147 W 25th St 5th Floor
New York, NY 10001
Phone:
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Unlike the stage, where performance must reach the back row of the theatre, the camera magnifies thought, behavior, and human truth. It captures the smallest shifts in attention, the slightest change in relationship, and every moment of authentic experience. The camera rewards actors who are fully present and exposes those who attempt to perform.
At Maggie Flanigan Studio, Acting for the Camera teaches actors how to adapt their craft to the unique demands of film and television while remaining rooted in the same truthful acting principles developed throughout the conservatory. Students learn that acting does not fundamentally change for the camera—the circumstances do.
ACTING STUDIO NEW YORK NY
The Maggie Flanigan Studio is the leading acting studio in New York City where professional actors train for long careers. The acting programs at the drama school are based on the Meisner Technique and the work of Sanford Meisner. The two year acting program includes acting classes, movement classes, voice and speech for actors, commercial acting classes, on camera classes, cold reading, monologue, playwriting, script analysis and the Meisner Summer Intensive.
Call to Schedule an Interview
STUDENT TESTIMONIALS
“I was placed in the intense reigns of Charlie Sandlan. I became a better artist, actor, friend, sibling and daughter because of the studio. Even now, I crave the studio every day. What I learned is present in my work every day. I truly believe in everything they stand for.”
Jes Macallan
“Maggie taught me that I could control my work, my acting, and to throw all of the bullshit out that I had in my head about ‘what I should be doing’ and to just listen and respond honestly, in the moment. She gave me a craft. She is, quite simply put, THE BEST.”
Leslie Bibb
“Maggie Flanigan taught me the true meaning of artistry, passion, and professionalism. I am certain that I continue to work as an actress because of my training with Maggie. At every audition and every performance, her guiding voice is with me. It is a gift beyond measure.”
Andrea Anders
Acting for the Camera
The camera sees everything.
ELIJAH MARTINEZ
As an actor, Elijah has worked in film, television, on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and at leading regional theaters across the country. Alongside his professional career, he is deeply committed to the craft of acting and the development of emerging artists.
