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Haunt Owners! Who trains your actors?

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  • #16
    Geoff,

    By saying our expirience and training for our actors sucks, you're saying that you are the most expirienced on here. I'm missing your point. Did you just come on here to stir up some trouble? Are you trying to guilt us into your buying actor training products that you may have? Well guess what, we're not shaking in our boots.

    We run our haunts the way we want to run them, and that's it. Hauntworld is a great place to share ideas, and make suggestions, but you will never hear me say that I am more qualified than someone else.

    Empress has a very good point, not all haunts are created the same. In my haunt, there are two "acting" positions and the rest are scares. I feel two nights of training is sufficient enough. Our two "real actors" have previous expirience, they know what they're doing.

    Our haunt is volunteer also.
    Slash
    "If you fail to plan, plan to fail"

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    • #17
      Originally posted by Empressnightshade View Post
      The greatness of Geoff's work has not been the issue here -- it's the greatness of OURS that has been questioned.
      Er.. um... oh!

      Nevermind....

      (sound of Virgil going back to filling CD orders)
      Virgil: Master Of The Ethermuse

      Comment


      • #18
        Originally posted by virgil View Post
        Er.. um... oh!

        Nevermind....

        (sound of Virgil going back to filling CD orders)
        Forget this thread.....
        Can I come fill CD orders with ya?

        Comment


        • #19
          Originally posted by Empressnightshade View Post
          Forget this thread.....
          Can I come fill CD orders with ya?
          LOL!! Sure.. come on over...
          I can sure use the help
          Virgil: Master Of The Ethermuse

          Comment


          • #20
            Geoff

            Woah, woah, woah - I must jump in here and defend the Geoff Beck that I know. I think there are some over reactions going on here to some good points.

            Geoff may come across the wrong way to some people, but arrogant and mean spirited he is not. I don't even know how to explain things about Geoff, you just have to know him. His passion for this industry is second to none and his drive to want everyones haunt be the best it can be may just get him into some trouble sometimes.

            Please don't take offense to him wanting your actors to be brilliant and be the best they can be with their God given talents. It's not a cut on you as a haunt owner, its a perspective from the actors point of view. I understand that if you are a non-profit haunted house with Volunteer actors and actresses you are already broke and don't have the money to increase their abilities other than to train them yourself. I don't think this thread should apply to you, except that it is an interesting topic to think about if you are looking to make future improvements. I am sure you do a great job with what resources you have. I wouldn't expect you to take his comments personally if they don't apply.

            But if you are a Haunt in the business to make money, then there is little I can disagree with in what has been said. In the end the ultimate winner is the Haunt owner as their profits can soar with some investing in their actors. If you are a haunt owner who hires people to handle your ticket booths, your scene designs, your set construction, etc, then it makes perfect sense to hire someone that specializes in actor development.

            Here is hoping that no matter what kind of haunt you have, it is the best it can be this year and you have a wonderful safe and enjoyable season.
            Steve Martini
            Screamline Studios
            www.screamlinestudios.com
            steve@screamlinestudios.com

            Comment


            • #21
              I quite agree with Steve. Since I see things from far away all I can say please,
              please people calm down. I think it was not meant to insult actors or haunt
              owners in any way. I agree, if you read it first it may blow your top. But all
              Geoff is asking is: are you completely satisfied with the way your actors get
              trained. And I see from all the replys that there is a big world of YES out there.
              And that should make all of you who answered this question with a "why, I do
              it and I do it damn good" very proud. Because in the moment you read it, you
              got angry AND you were sure that you did everything right. And when you felt
              that you did it the right way, then everything is exactly the way you want it
              and YOU are the owner and YOU know your haunt and it's "show" and YOU
              know- and that is by far the foremost- know what your audience would like
              to see. So just lean back and relax cause this can't touch you and it certainly should not touch you at all All Geoff says is just if you read it and you get the feeling that you maybe should consider a consultant - just as you do with your music and your masks and costumes and props and what so ever, you should do so. Because
              and there again he is right, they bring it all to live - but I am quite sure you
              don't need me to tell you so. So please let's go and scare the costumers
              instead of the fellow haunters.

              Comment


              • #22
                Originally posted by Frankenhausers View Post
                I quite agree with Steve. Since I see things from far away all I can say please,
                please people calm down. I think it was not meant to insult actors or haunt
                owners in any way. I agree, if you read it first it may blow your top. But all
                Geoff is asking is: are you completely satisfied with the way your actors get
                trained. And I see from all the replys that there is a big world of YES out there.
                And that should make all of you who answered this question with a "why, I do
                it and I do it damn good" very proud. Because in the moment you read it, you
                got angry AND you were sure that you did everything right. And when you felt
                that you did it the right way, then everything is exactly the way you want it
                and YOU are the owner and YOU know your haunt and it's "show" and YOU
                know- and that is by far the foremost- know what your audience would like
                to see. So just lean back and relax cause this can't touch you and it certainly should not touch you at all All Geoff says is just if you read it and you get the feeling that you maybe should consider a consultant - just as you do with your music and your masks and costumes and props and what so ever, you should do so. Because
                and there again he is right, they bring it all to live - but I am quite sure you
                don't need me to tell you so. So please let's go and scare the costumers
                instead of the fellow haunters.
                Okay, Sweetheart.

                Comment


                • #23
                  Actor Training

                  Hello, as my friend Steve Martini suggested earlier, I am not saying that non-profit haunts should blow money they might not even have on actor training. Empressnightshade, your 25 years of theater sounds to be a great asset in training your actors, and Lord Barnabus, the meeting with your acting team two months in advance of your show, and then the additional meeting two times per week sound very good for your staff, as well as the meetings with all the other important staff members you have. That is what I was originally asking-"how much time do you spend training your actors?" I also was making a general statement that actors can never have enough training. And it is always good to talk to other haunt owners and see how good their haunt is and ask how much training they put into their actors. So, those of you mentioned above, keep up the good work! Now, for Slash, I never said that all haunts that don't do things the way I do suck! But I will say that "No, my intent is not to stir things up", but Slash, sometimes stiring things up is not necessarily a bad thing, especially when it comes to training actors (your bread and butter). It just seems to me that "in general", a lot of haunt owners seem to think of the topic of "actors" with a very narrow mindset. Why would you only train two of you staff members to be what you call "real actors" while you consider everyone else in your haunt to be "pop-out scares?" It doesn't make any sense. And if my comment here stirs you up, then good! Why not take the time to teach them to be "real actors" too. That way, after they pop-out and get the initial scare, then they will have the tools to perhaps do a little dialogue and improv? That is what costumers expect, and that is what the "big boys" do. Any haunt owner who looks at their actors like performers, and not just pop-out scares has an edge in the market place. Now, you can play it safe, spend your two weeks training, and tell me to jump in the lake, and cook smores over the camp fire with your crew at your next gathering and feel the "warm bubblies" in the presense of each other's company. Just be relieved that you're not in the same market as the other haunts who really give their actors the appropriate tools to be performers, and not just another kid jumping out of a hole in the wall saying "boo." By the way, if you pick up on the cynicism in my voice, I ask that you take it as humor. This is not personal. Most haunters I've ever delt with are nice, and good-natured people. I am too. I just happen to be very passionate about acting. Don't accuse me of saying "You suck, and I know everything", when at the heart of that reaction is really just an inability to realize that maybe someone suggesting that you do more to make your haunt better is a good thing, and not
                  a personal attack, or an attempt to make you feel defensive and lash out. Please don't burn my house down! I hope at the very least, this thread has shed a little more light on the topic of actor training. If this means that I have stirred things up, then I am (happily) guilty as charged! I hope that all haunters continue to make their actors the best, and not just in their makert place, but in the whole haunt industry. If you don't aim for the stars, you'll never make it to the moon!

                  Geoff Beck
                  Acting/Makeup Coordinator
                  Morgan Manor, Waukeshaw, WI
                  Last edited by geoffgbeck; 09-27-2007, 12:37 AM. Reason: mispelling
                  Geoff Beck is an acting and makeup veteran of 13+ years who has been involved in educational seminars and has worked as a coordinator for many different haunts. He has directed PLAYING WITH FEAR, and HAUNTING MAKEUP VOLUME ONE.

                  Comment


                  • #24
                    I think Geoff's point might be made with a couple quick questions...

                    How much did you spend on this year's new haunt props?

                    How much did you spend improving your actors?

                    Perhaps this question is more interesting when answered by the larger haunt owners. Some of them might well have thought nothing of dropping a quick 20K at Transworld for the latest greatest Scarelator Deluxe Karioke animatronic -- a toy that will explode into smoking wreckage the first week of use. Yet that same haunt owner might well cringe at the thought of investing two or three or five grand to provide training seminars for their entire crew -- training that will last them their entire career at the haunt (along with increased job satisfaction and potentially reliability).

                    This is not meant to be a criticism. In fact, I will answer the questions myself. We spent almost nothing on new toys for this year (we are changing locations and don't have any money to spare). Regardless, we also would not have spent anything on actor training -- and our actors NEED it. Nor do I suspect that we will have much time to provide it.

                    Perhaps our haunt is the exceptrion, but I doubt it. I have heard many haunt owners express the sentiment that the chief attribute they look for in an actor is a pulse. Heck, I often feel the same way. I try to design around (to put it bluntly) incompetence.

                    I think it's easy to forget that what we are doing is show business. I doubt that I am the only one here who sees the haunt as a collection of panels and props, artfully assembled and decored into a linear progression of story and scare -- a giant machine that processes customers efficiently. Yet it is show business, or it aught to be, and I believe that it is easy to lose sight of this. Imagine a movie or a play in which no one rehearsed their lines, their wasn't even a script, and the actors were whoever happened to show up that evening, and instead all the producers were concerned with were how pretty the sets were.

                    Again, not meant as a criticism of anyone here at all. I understand that the respondents in this thread all have crews of highly trained thespians. But I am guilty. Thinking about it now I have seen Broadway plays in which there were no sets, just a single person on stage telling the story, and I was entertained. Amazed. That's the power of a great actor. An entertainer like that might be worth his weight in Buckies to a haunt owner who discovered that talent and developed it.

                    Comment


                    • #25
                      Actor Training

                      Thank you so much sreamshow for getting and understanding my overall point here! As you may have seen, I have been getting blasted by some haunt owners that have taken my question of "who trains your actors" as a personal assult, or a way to question their credentials or ability. But, my reason for asking this question is because I have never been a haunt owner, but I have worked for plenty of haunts as an actor, where the owners or people "in charge" didn't have a clue how to develop the talent of the most important and as you mentioned, the most cost effective element of their haunt, their actors! When I got into the field of actor/training, I really became more brutal as to what I felt was acceptable as far as the "standard" of acting should be at a haunt. As you mentioned, the big haunts spend a lot of money on big animatronics that may break down, but what about the acting? I ask the same question to haunt owners. One of the few "big" haunt owners you were eluding to that I have known and worked with as a consultant for the past 5 years is Ben Armstrong from Netherworld, and he definately treats his acotrs as performes and entertainers. Also, haunt owners like Tim Gavinsky from Morgan Manor, Eddie McClarin from The Woods of Terror, and Bob Turner from The Haunted Hydro understand what actors really mean to the overall show as well. That point that you made is what my main platform here is. Thank you screamshow! You seem to be one of the few haunt owners out there that also understand that we are in SHOW BUSINESS! Like you said, we tell stories, and the actors who tell these macabre stories are the element of a haunt customers remember the most! And, relatively speaking, they may very well be the most "cost effective element" of the show that a haunt owner can focus on, that with some tender love and care will effect the quality the most! One thing that I will say, and I dare anyone to challenge this is that a great actor's ability to perform and entertain will make the biggest impression on your customers! So, again, if you don't spend a lot of time training the most important element of your show (your actors), then you aren't offering your customers what they truly deserve! So, here we are (the first week of the haunt season 2007), and I ask you "what have you done this year differently from last year to make your actors better?" Thanks for listening.

                      Geoff Beck
                      Acting/Makeup Coordinator
                      Morgan Manor, Waukeshaw, WI
                      Geoff Beck is an acting and makeup veteran of 13+ years who has been involved in educational seminars and has worked as a coordinator for many different haunts. He has directed PLAYING WITH FEAR, and HAUNTING MAKEUP VOLUME ONE.

                      Comment


                      • #26
                        Originally posted by geoffgbeck View Post
                        Thank you so much sreamshow for getting and understanding my overall point here! As you may have seen, I have been getting blasted by some haunt owners that have taken my question of "who trains your actors" as a personal assult, or a way to question their credentials or ability. But, my reason for asking this question is because I have never been a haunt owner, but I have worked for plenty of haunts as an actor, where the owners or people "in charge" didn't have a clue how to develop the talent of the most important and as you mentioned, the most cost effective element of their haunt, their actors! When I got into the field of actor/training, I really became more brutal as to what I felt was acceptable as far as the "standard" of acting should be at a haunt. As you mentioned, the big haunts spend a lot of money on big animatronics that may break down, but what about the acting? I ask the same question to haunt owners. One of the few "big" haunt owners you were eluding to that I have known and worked with as a consultant for the past 5 years is Ben Armstrong from Netherworld, and he definately treats his acotrs as performes and entertainers. Also, haunt owners like Tim Gavinsky from Morgan Manor, Eddie McClarin from The Woods of Terror, and Bob Turner from The Haunted Hydro understand what actors really mean to the overall show as well. That point that you made is what my main platform here is. Thank you screamshow! You seem to be one of the few haunt owners out there that also understand that we are in SHOW BUSINESS! Like you said, we tell stories, and the actors who tell these macabre stories are the element of a haunt customers remember the most! And, relatively speaking, they may very well be the most "cost effective element" of the show that a haunt owner can focus on, that with some tender love and care will effect the quality the most! One thing that I will say, and I dare anyone to challenge this is that a great actor's ability to perform and entertain will make the biggest impression on your customers! So, again, if you don't spend a lot of time training the most important element of your show (your actors), then you aren't offering your customers what they truly deserve! So, here we are (the first week of the haunt season 2007), and I ask you "what have you done this year differently from last year to make your actors better?" Thanks for listening.

                        Geoff Beck
                        Acting/Makeup Coordinator
                        Morgan Manor, Waukeshaw, WI

                        Thanks.

                        To be honest with you, I have spent a great deal of time over the last week thinking about this thread. I am glad you posted it. I think that at our show we can and will do a better job in the future -- I might just start tonight if I can find the time.

                        Comment


                        • #27
                          Damn...he really talked his way outta that one. Does this mean no lynch mobs anymore? Geoff, it was a good question and im glad you asked it. Good points brought up by both parties and a good thread....however if you need a lynch mob i think im free
                          Jesus loves you, but everyone else thinks you're an asshole.

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