September 2026

Hello!

Here is the CMA newsletter - a dedicated space for our latest news, acting tips, life reflections, inspiring quotes, and updates from our talented actors.

Aaaand we are back! September has been a brilliant month of getting back in the room, seeing familiar faces and meeting plenty of new ones.

We were in Manchester at the start of the month with producer Barrington Paul Robinson, followed by our London weekend with casting director Sheraz Ahmed.

Both weekends reminded me why George and I started CMA in the first place. Get a group of good actors in a room, give them challenging material, bring in somebody with genuine industry experience and spend two days working. Process not performance. We are here to help you develop your craft.

September also marked the beginning of our new partnership with the University of East London, with a number of CMA workshop places made available to final-year Acting for Stage & Screen students and graduates. It was great to have the first UEL actors join us this month and we’re looking forward to seeing more of them in the room over the coming year.

Thank you, as always, to everybody who came along.

My Ideas

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Treat your acting like the gym

I realised something slightly embarrassing recently. I tell actors all the time that you have to practice. Then I thought about how often I actually sit down, get a script out and practice acting simply for the sake of getting better. More importantly, simply for the sake of enjoyment! The answer: not enough.

The strange thing is I would never approach exercise in the same way. I don’t wait until somebody invites me to the gym before I train. It’s built into my week. I have a set schedule so that when I wake up in the morning, I know what I am training that day.

So I started thinking about what the acting equivalent could look like.

Nothing enormous. Ten minutes a day:

• Monday: Body. Semi-supine, physical release, bit of music maybe, have a dance!

• Tuesday: Voice. Vocal warm-up, few tongue twisters.

• Wednesday: Review. Watch a recent self-tape (yours or another actor) and analyse. Improvements? What works?

• Thursday: Script. Read a scene, make some rapid fire choices.

• Friday: Camera. Put that scene on camera. Do two takes.

• Saturday: Study. Watch a performance you admire and really look at what the actor is doing. Netflix is homework!
  

That’s one hour a week. Over a year, that’s 52 extra hours spent working on your craft. 10 minutes is the minimum, not the maximum. Quite often the hardest part is starting. Once you’re doing it, 10 minutes becomes 20. 52 hours becomes 104 hours.  The point isn’t to turn acting into another chore. It’s to stop waiting for an audition before you decide to be an actor.

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One question I’ve started thinking about more when preparing scenes is: what is my character hiding? 

It might be that they love the person opposite them. They might hate them. They might desperately want something from them. They might know something they’re not supposed to know. They might simply be terrified of showing how much they care.

You still need the fundamentals. What’s happening in the story? Who am I? Where am I? Who am I talking to? What do I want? What are the stakes?

But asking what am I hiding? can suddenly give a scene another layer. You don’t necessarily need to show the audience everything. Sometimes it’s much more interesting watching somebody trying notto show us something.

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I’m a big believer in preparation. When I look back at the self-tapes that have led to jobs, I generally prepared properly. I spent time with the script. I made choices. I put myself on camera before filming the final version. I watched it back.

But there is a point where preparation can start working against you.

Years ago, a friend of mine prepared for a major theatre job so thoroughly that by the time rehearsals started, everything had already been decided. He wasn’t able to take new ideas on board or change anything he had rehearsed. You’re not preparing so that you can arrive in the room with all the answers. You’re preparing so that you can arrive with possibilities.

The director will have ideas. The other actor will give you something unexpected. The camera might require something completely different from what you imagined. Prepare enough to make strong choices.

Then leave enough space to change them.

Free CMA Resources

We’ve also been working on something slightly different over the last month.

Our free Nail Your Next Self-Tape in 5 Easy Steps mini-course is now available. It takes you through the key steps I use when a self-tape comes in. If you feel like you don’t have a clear process for tapes, start there.

Get the Free Self-Tape Course

We’ve also released our free Screen Actor’s Guide to Shot Size, looking at one of the most important parts of screen technique: understanding how your performance changes depending on what the camera can actually see.

Long shot. Medium shot. Medium close-up. Big close-up.

Screen acting isn’t simply about ‘doing less’.

Get the Free Screen Acting Guide

COMING UP IN OCTOBER

On 10th & 11th October, we have workshops running in both London and Manchester.

LONDON

BARRINGTON PAUL ROBINSON

Barrington is a producer on The Responder and A Thousand Blows.

Actors will work on scenes from The Responder selected by Barrington, looking at preparation, process and scene work before receiving notes and feedback directly from him. Assisted by yours truly.

10th & 11th October
10am–4pm
University of East London, Stratford
£90

MANCHESTER

SHERAZ AHMED

Sheraz returns to Manchester for two days focused on television casting and self-taping.

Saturday will centre on working TV scenes with Sheraz. On Sunday we’ll move into self-tapes, reviewing work and getting direct feedback from a casting director. Assisted by George.

10th & 11th October
10am–4pm
Parrs Wood High School, Manchester
£90

FINAL FEW SPACES - BOOK MANCHESTER

Insights

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Jed McKenna on money:

“She knows that money is just something that flows; that it comes and it goes and that if you don’t disrupt the flow there’s always plenty. It’s me who sometimes forgets.”

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Russ Harris on avoiding unpleasant feelings:

“Suppose you’re a professional actor and you love your work. Then one day, quite out of the blue, you develop an intense fear of failure just as you are due to appear onstage. So you refuse to go on (stage fright). Refusing to go onstage may well temporarily reduce your fear, but it also stops you from doing something that truly matters to you.”

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Nancy Bishop on making your own work:

“This is the most valuable advice that I teach my actors. Make your own work. If no one is casting you, if there is no one making a film or play with a role that is right for you, then make one for yourself. Write a play about you, directed by you, produced by you, with you in mind. Create the perfect role for yourself. If you don’t like to write, then find material. There are plenty of good plays out there.”

CMA Actor Spotlight

London regular Adie Mueller is touring her solo show 'Another Goodbye' in October (starting on the 1st). Dates and further details can be found here: https://www.adiemueller.com/anothergoodbye.html

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Manchester regular Eve Phillips is in Comment is Free by James Fritz a play on the 11th, 12th and 18th of October at Lions Den in Manchester. She is playing numerous ensemble roles representing comments from social media. More info here: Comment Is free

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Please keep us updated with what you are up to - we would love to shout about your work in the newsletter.

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Thanks for reading,

— Majid