“…Viviane Vives turns Lorna the saucy Latina, a role that easily could have been an empty stereotype, into the film’s most radical character…”  City Paper, Baltimore, Anna Ditkoff

“…Vives ups the material’s psychological edge with her portrayal…” Hollywood Reporter, Sheri Linden

“… the standout of the movie is Vives as Lorna. She dominates the screen, combining grit-your-teeth sexuality with unbridled power. She is troubled, self-destructive, and manipulative, but like a siren, men are drawn to her. Vives is a presence in every scene…” Playback St. Louis, Bobby Kirk

“...Vives nails heir role perfectly. (…) Vives’ exotic femme fatale will leave you immediately wondering what other films you can see her in…” Filmcritic.com, Christopher Null 
 
Welcome to the group for acting and directing for film and television by developing scene work. This class is a combined weekly workshop for actors, directors, and writers led by Viviane Vives.

Why the three-prong approach?

This group works with directors, actors, and writers at the same time because that's how it happens in real life, it's how most applicable learning occurs, and because all three benefit and grow professionally and artistically from learning how to work together.

An obvious benefit to the members of the group is the opportunity to meet each other and form lasting working relationships.

Filmmaking is all about collaboration and the end-result project:

- Acting is an art and a craft that, in filmmaking, absolutely depends on a group effort. Eventually, the film actor has to work with the film director and the film crew; when he/she already knows how, the performance is all the more brilliant as a result.

- The benefits of directors knowing more about acting are obvious and maybe underestimated.

- Writers benefit from the scene work by receiving unique insight from the palpable performance of their work. What really works, what is "actable" in a scene? Writers must be the best "actors" of all because the whole production depends on it.

There are also many who work in more than one filmmaking capacity, it's hard to find a workshop that addresses them all at once.

How does it work?

You join as actor, director, or writer (you can rotate, or not, up to you)

We work mostly on individual scenes. Ideally, you bring your projects to the group, so we can make them better. Non-disclosure and release agreements are signed by all of us to protect copyright. All work performed, improvised, and created in class for your project is YOURS (the writer's or legal owner of the project) to keep.

You can also work on, existing, favorite film scenes. Small teams are formed for each scene, generally two actors, a director, and maybe the writer, they get together to work on their pieces during the week and present during the workshop. Cold readings, auditioning  and casting are also studied.

Viviane has promised she will bring the projects she's working on to class. She will cast the scenes, direct, and, maybe even play one of the parts! These are real projects that she's shopping around, one of these scripts was a finalist in a few competitions and was optioned. Both are represented projects.

What else will I learn?

You benefit from her 30 years of experience! Besides learning acting and directing and how to make a scene work, you acquire real tools for real situations in film and television productions. You'd be surprised by how many famous directors have no idea of how to work with an actor! (If you are an actor, she'll also teach you how to deal with that situation.)

Many actors are not used to work with interference, yet filmmaking is ALL about interference!  She can help you to reach deeper inside you (or an actor) than you ever knew it possible, yet, you will do it without agony! And do it many times, for every take! Viviane's mentor, Don Richardson, used to talk a lot about "acting without agony" and she does too.

The sessions are taped, she will teach you about every trick on the book that has to do with performing for camera, she can advise on practical details like make-up, wardrobe, and how to deal with the crew as an actor and a director so the performances are improved a thousand fold and are not just "safe" but mesmerizing and risky.

She will also teach you things like why it's virtually impossible for actors to give certain directors good performances but would do anything for others!  

Writers, watch your re-writes be FUN! (You heard me:-) Scene work by actual actors helps you write what is "actable" in a scene. Writers must be the best "actors" of all because the whole production depends on it. Be open, and reap! Viviane's last full re-write for hire won a Tororonto Film Festival Audience Award!

She can teach you how to find the tone, the rhythm and the structure of a scene so it's fresh, unique and believable every time, and fit it to the project's vision.

I'm in! Anything else?

Your investment is only $29 per 3 hr session to help cover for the space rental. Larger contributions are welcome.

No charge to belong to the meetup group! We will be posting open information and answering questions in the message board, come back often!

See you soon!

Viviane Vives
 has worked in the entertainment industry most of her life, starting in advertising and moving onto film and television. Her focus has been in writing, photography and directing, with a parallel professional career in acting. She has worked with Paul Newman, Jeff Bridges, Alfred Molina, Fernando Rey, Michael Mann, Jim Brooks, Mike Pellington, to name a few. She has been the lead of several films and TV shows and has worked all over the world, in countries like USA, UK, France, Spain, Germany, 
Chile...
 Please visit http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0900301/