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Directing Actors

Eliciting Authentic Performances Under Pressure

Taught by Multi-Emmy® Award-Winning Filmmaker Shane Stanley

Monday, July 14, 2025

Time: 10AM to 11:15AM PST (Los Angeles Time)

Who Should Attend

• Film students eager to understand the art of working with actors.
• Independent filmmakers seeking to build confidence in directing performances.
• Professionals aiming to refine their ability to guide actors effectively, even under tight schedules.

Overview

Directing actors is both an art and a science, requiring a deep understanding of character, emotion, and collaboration. This webinar explores practical techniques to help directors elicit authentic and compelling performances, even under challenging circumstances. Whether you’re new to directing or looking to enhance your skills, this session offers tools to build trust, communicate effectively, and create an environment where actors can thrive.

What You Will Learn

• Techniques to build trust and rapport with actors.
• How to interpret and communicate character motivations.
• Strategies for balancing creative vision with actor collaboration.
• Methods to adapt direction under time and production constraints.
• Tips for managing challenging situations on set.

By the Time You Finish This Webinar, You Will Be Able To

• Effectively communicate your vision to actors in a way they understand and can act upon.
• Build a positive and collaborative working relationship with your cast.
• Adjust your directing style to suit different actors’ needs.
• Create an environment that fosters authentic and dynamic performances.

What Our Community Had to Say:

“Shane Stanley & StudentFilmmakers.com bring it yet again! Invaluable real world craft from an established filmmaker. The stuff you don’t find in the books.”

“I’ve been writing and producing documentary television (news, entertainment, studio and field) as well as promos, commercials and long format shows since 1980, shooting and lighting since 1999 and editing since 2004. Nevertheless, I watch these webinars… enjoy them… and learn from them. Keep up the great work!”

“So glad I found Student Filmmakers. I have learned so much more about making films from them and Shane Stanley.”

“Shane is always a pleasure to listen to, for his enthusiasm, candor, and wealth of experience and information.”

“Shane is great at sharing tips to make us better filmmakers. I appreciate him immensely!”

“I always get great tips when Shane does a webinar. I usually take notes and post them (using giant sticky notes) on my kitchen cabinets…”

“The webinars are always interesting and instructive even for me who is not an English speaker and have difficulty following the lecture carefully. The lecturer’s very knowledgeable and good at explaining. I must thank you.”

“Excellent information from Shane, as always.” —Tom Marshall

“It’s always good to hear Shane willing to take time and talk shop. Thanks again for offering these.”

“Shane has a lot of knowledge to share.”

About Your Instructor and Mentor:

SHANE STANLEY – Producer/Director

• Two-time Emmy Award-Winning Filmmaker (nominated four times)
• Produced the #1 Box Office hit Gridiron Gang starring Dwayne Johnson
• Director/Producer of Night Train, Hulu’s Longest Running #1 Hit
• Director/Producer of Double Threat, Netflix #1 Global Hit
• Consulting Producer for the #1 Cable TV Show “Rock of Love”
• Best-selling author, recognized internationally for his film expertise
• Winner of over two dozen prestigious international film & TV awards

 Shane Stanley is a multi-Emmy® Award-winning filmmaker and best-selling author who grew up in/around “the biz” in Hollywood. As a childhood actor he had appeared on-screen in over 100 projects with Hollywood legends which included June Lockhart, Lloyd Haynes, and David Arkin. By age ten, he was comfortably running an Arri 16mm camera and Moviola and fell in love with the filmmaking process. Along with his father, Lee Stanley, Shane produced The Desperate Passage Series. The docu-drama series ran on KTLA with world-wide syndication from 1988 to 1994, was nominated for 33 individual Emmy® Awards and won 13 statues. Two episodes of the series went on to become successful feature films. Gridiron Gang was acquired by Sony Pictures and became the #1 box office hit starring Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson.

Shane served as Vice President of Sheen/Michaels Entertainment where he produced several motion pictures starring Marlon Brando, Mira Sorvino, Thomas Hayden Church, Donald Sutherland, Marisa Tomei, Sean Penn, John Travolta and Charlie and Martin Sheen. During that time, Shane made his directorial debut with his own screenplay, A Sight for Sore Eyes. The film was honored with the Special Jury Award at WorldFest Houston, won two Telly Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Film & Television, as well as winning top honors at the International Family Film Festival along with Walden Media’s The Chronicles of Narnia. It went on to win dozens of prestigious awards and was invited to screen at Cannes in 2005.

Shane has also directed countless music videos, many which have aired on VH1’s Top 20 Video Countdown, including two that went #1 and another that made the network’s list of Best 100 Music Videos including “Go That Far” with Bret Michaels. The Michaels’ video was used for the television series Rock of Love, where Shane also served as a consulting producer. His other directing credits include Mistrust, starring two-time Golden Globe® winner Jane Seymour as well as Break Even with Tasya Teles, Steve Guttenberg, and Golden Globe® nominee, Joanna Pacula. In 2022, Shane produced and directed the action-comedy, Double Threat starring Matthew Lawrence and Dawn Olivieri (Yellowstone, 1883), which The New York Times listed on their Top 5-Action Movies to Stream Now and was the sole indie feature amongst Hollywood blockbusters on Amazon Prime’s “Top 10 in the US” list remaining there for two months, peaking at #4. The film has enjoyed similar success on Netflix’s world-wide charts, ranking #1 in 16 countries the week of its debut and remained on the platform’s Top 10 most watched film this summer.

Shane’s action-thriller, Night Train, starring Danielle C. Ryan and Diora Baird premiered on HULU where it reached #1 on the platform and remained in the top spot for an astonishing four weeks. Night Train is the story of a single mom struggling to make ends meet as a Hollywood teamster who evades capture by a ruthless FBI Agent while running black market medical supplies in her legendary souped-up pickup truck. It also stars Joe Lando, Ivan Sergei, and Joseph D. Reitman.

Currently, Shane is in post-production on Six Days in Evergreen a music-drama starring Dawn Olivieri, Penelope Ann Miller, A Martinez, and a star- studded cast which he produced, directed, and co-wrote. The film is presented by legendary producer, Mario Kassar (Terminator, Total Recall, Rambo, The Doors, Basic Instinct, Chaplin, LA Story) and will release later this year.

Shane’s book, “What You Don’t Learn in Film School,” a best-seller earning a 4.5-star rating across the board was listed by CNN, FORBES, and BOOK AUTHORITY among the Best Filmmaking Books of All-Time, which covers filmmaking from concept to delivery. It has landed on required reading lists at several universities around the world and is endorsed by some of the most respected names in Hollywood including Producer, Neal H. Moritz, (Fast & Furious, S.W.A.T., 21 and 22 Jump Street) and Paul Williams, Oscar®, Golden Globe® and Grammy® Award Winner and Hall of Fame songwriter.

In addition to his Emmy® Awards, Stanley has received 11 Telly Awards, 2 CINE Golden Eagles Awards, 5 Aurora Awards, 4 WorldFest Remi Awards, and 28 International Film Festival Awards. He has spoken at several prestigious film and art institutes around the country including The Screen Writers Expo, the world’s largest tradeshow for screenwriters, alongside Oliver Stone, Michael Goldenberg (Harry Potter franchise) and Adam Herz (American Pie) about the secrets of marketing to today’s youth. He is on several advisory boards for film schools and art programs across the country and is a contributing columnist for Student Filmmakers Magazine and NoFilmSchool.com as well as an instructor on Stage32.com, FilmCourage.com and IndieFilmHustle.com and SXSW. In April 2021 he testified before the US Library of Congress on behalf of prestigious universities to help amend a 1978 copyright law that made traditional learning difficult for film school students during the COVID/virtual learning era.

He and his wife, actress Val Barri, are active in charities supporting cancer research, restoring hope for inner-city youth, and animal rescue. They live in Los Angeles.

Please visit shanestanley.net and whatyoudontlearninfilmschool.com for more info.