October 2026

Hello!

Hope you’re well.

October has flown by. We’ve been back in the room, running workshops, teaching, auditioning and generally getting stuck back into the work after the summer. Although this past week I’ve been laid up with flu. Awful! Hope you’ve managed to avoid all these ‘bugs going round’.

Workshops

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October was another great month in Manchester, with CMA’s fave casting director Sheraz Ahmed returning to lead the weekend alongside George. We followed the same format that worked so well in London the previous month: Saturday was spent working practically on scenes from television projects Sheraz has cast, before Sunday moved into individual self-tape reviews and detailed feedback. Sheraz has always been a huge champion of actors from the North and it’s one of the reasons we love having him back at CMA. He genuinely wants northern actors to be seen, supported and given opportunities, and his generosity with everyone across the weekend was brilliant.

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In London we were with producer Barrington Paul Robinson, who joined us for two days of scene work using material from The Responder.

One of the things I always enjoy about these weekends is seeing how differently a group of actors can approach exactly the same material.

Same words. Same circumstances. Same basic information. Completely different performances.

That is one of the things I love most about acting. There isn’t a single answer you eventually discover and then you’ve “solved” it.

There is always another choice. Another way into the scene. Another actor opposite you who changes everything. This was something Barrington really focused on - giving the actors the space to play. Everyone was encouraged to try characters they’d never normally read for. To push the boundaries of the genre, to take risks in a safe space. Joyful to watch!

Thank you to Barrington and to everyone who joined us. As always, brilliant commitment and generosity in the room.

My Ideas

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The acting books I actually use

I’ve read a lot of acting books over the years. Quite a few of them have eventually blurred into one another.

That’s partly because so much modern actor training ultimately comes back to Stanislavsky. Different terminology, different exercises, different routes in, but often very similar principles underneath.

Every now and then though, you find a book that genuinely changes something about the way you work.

These are five I keep coming back to.

1. Secrets of Screen Acting — Patrick Tucker

It’s one of the few books I’ve read that really concentrates on the technical craft of acting for camera.

It also challenges one of the most common misconceptions about screen acting: that it is basically stage acting with everything made smaller.

“Do less.”

“Be more still.”

“Keep it all in the eyes.”

There’s obviously some truth buried in some of that advice, but it’s far too simplistic.

Your performance has to work for the camera and the particular shot you’re in.

It’s a book I’ve returned to again and again.

2. Auditioning for Film and Television — Nancy Bishop

A really useful practical book.

There’s excellent advice on preparation, auditioning, self-taping and working on set, alongside exercises you can actually try rather than simply theories about acting.

One detail I particularly like is the importance of knowing where you are in the story.

Are we meeting your character for the first time?

Have the audience already spent forty minutes with them?

Are you on page three or page fifty-three?

That information changes things.

3. The Complete Stanislavsky Toolkit — Bella Merlin

If you want an accessible way into Stanislavsky, this is probably the book I would recommend.

Stanislavsky’s original writing is hugely important, but it can be dense.

Bella Merlin takes those ideas and turns them into something actors can actually pick up and use.

Objectives. Given circumstances. Imagination. Actions. Character. Preparation.

It’s one of those books you don’t necessarily read once and put away. As my wife can attest, she is fed up of seeing it round the house! You go back to it.

4. Actions: The Actors’ Thesaurus

This isn’t really a book you sit down and read cover to cover. It’s a tool.

If a line isn’t working, or you’re not quite sure what you’re doing to the other person, give it an action.

To provoke.

To reassure.

To intimidate.

To charm.

Suddenly you’re not trying to “play angry” or “play upset”. You’re doing something to somebody. For me, that is far more useful.

5. The Director’s Craft — Katie Mitchell

Technically a directing book, but there is so much in here for actors. Facts and questions. Circumstances. Place. Character biography. Understanding the whole story. It also gives you something actors can sometimes forget: the director isn’t only thinking about your character. They’re looking at the entire piece.

The better you understand the story you are helping them tell, the more useful you can be inside it.

There was one thing that made me laugh when I was putting this list together.

Part of me almost didn’t want to tell people about Secrets of Screen Acting. Which is ridiculous. But I think actors can sometimes do that.

The industry is competitive, so when you find a brilliant book, teacher, technique or piece of advice, there can be a little voice saying: Keep that one to yourself.

But knowing something isn’t the advantage. Actually putting it into practice is. Twenty actors could read exactly the same book and take completely different things from it.

Which leads onto something else I’ve been thinking about recently.

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You can finish a take convinced you’ve just done something incredible.

You felt every emotion. You were completely inside the scene.

Then you watch it back…and it’s far too much.

The opposite happens too. You finish a take thinking: I didn’t really feel anything there. Then you watch it back and it completely works.

That is one of the strange things about screen acting. What you experience while acting and what the camera actually records are not always the same thing. Ultimately, the performance has to communicate through the screen. Which is why one of the best things you can do as an actor is very simple: Film yourself and watch it back. Regularly. Not to sit there deciding whether you are a good or bad actor. Watch technically. What read? What didn’t? Was the choice clear? Was that moment too much for the shot? Could I see the thought? That feedback loop is incredibly valuable.

Don’t only ask: “Did I feel it?” Ask: “Did it read?”

Free CMA Resources

If you want to work on this in more detail, we now have two completely free CMA resources available.

Nail Your Next Self-Tape in 5 Easy Steps

Our short free course takes you through the process we use when a self-tape arrives, from the initial preparation through to recording and sending it.

Get the Free Self-Tape Course

Screen Actor’s Guide to Shot Size

Our free guide looks at how the camera shot affects your performance and why screen acting is much more specific than simply being told to “do less”.

Long shot.

Medium shot.

Medium close-up.

Big close-up.

Get the Free Screen Acting Guide

Want to go further?

If you’ve already worked through our free self-tape mini-course and want a more detailed process to follow, our full Self-Tape Success Toolkit takes things much further.

It breaks the self-tape process down step by step, from receiving the audition and analysing the script through to performance choices, filming, reviewing your work and sending the final tape.

The course is split into short chapters so you can work through it at your own pace and come back to individual sections whenever a new tape lands.

You’ll also get our recommended self-taping kit list, with the equipment we use and links to the setup we recommend. Plus there’s a free preview. 

View the Full Self-Tape Success System

COMING UP IN NOVEMBER

LONDON

AZHUR SALEEM

We’re delighted to welcome director Azhur Saleem to CMA London. Azhur’s credits include Outlander: Blood of My Blood, Doctor Who: Flux and Anansi Boys. A London Film School-trained director with a particular passion for large-scale genre storytelling, Azhur will select television scenes for the group and work with you across both days, offering detailed direction and feedback on your screen acting.

21st & 22nd November
10am–4pm
University of East London, Stratford
£90

FINAL FEW SPACES - BOOK LONDON

MANCHESTER

GEORGE BUKHARI

On 14th & 15th November, George will lead an intimate weekend of scene study in Manchester. This one is all about the acting process: getting back in the room, working in detail and adding more techniques to your toolkit. No pressure to impress. Just come ready to work.

14th & 15th November
10am–4pm
Parrs Wood High School, Manchester
£90

FINAL FEW SPACES - BOOK MANCHESTER

Insights

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Naval Ravikant on knowledge:

“Knowledge only you know or only a small set of people knows is going to come out of your passions and your hobbies, oddly enough. If you have hobbies around your intellectual curiosity, you’re more likely to develop these passions. If it entertains you now but will bore you someday, it’s a distraction. Keep looking.”

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Michael Chekhov on becoming other people:

“Try to experience or assume the psychology of persons or other eras by reading period plays, historical novels or even history itself. While doing so, try to penetrate their thinking without imposing upon them your modern points of view, moral concepts, social principles or anything else that is of a personal nature or opinion. Try to understand them through their way of living and the circumstances of their lives.”

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Whoopi Goldberg on acting:

“If there wasn’t something called acting, they would probably hospitalize people like me.”

CMA Actor Spotlight

Manchester regulars Narinder Uppal and Thom Donnelly are in a lovely northern based play called Our Maz. They will be performing on Friday 20th November @ Seven Arts, Leeds and on Monday 23 November @ Carriage Works Theatre, Leeds. Tickets here.

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London regular Bill Michos is currently taking part in Flying Ducks, a surrealist-absurdist play. It's at the Bread & Roses Theatre from Tuesday 10th to Friday 13th November. You can find more details about the production and tickets here: https://app.lineupnow.com/event/flying-ducks

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Thanks for reading,

— Majid