DIPLOMA PROGRAMS
We do things differently, that's why we get different results.
The Professional Actor
6-month diploma program
The Professional Actor Diploma program is a state-of-the-art hybrid of classic, core acting techniques, emergent cutting-edge skills, and business training that prepare students for professional careers in live-action and voice over performance for film, television, commercials, animation, video games, podcasts, and other emergent media.This program has been approved by the Private Training Institutions Branch (PTIB) of the Ministry of Advanced Education, Skills & Training.
These 6-months create the skills and knowledge required for a lifetime career.
Successful graduates will be able to dissect and identify the structural elements of a script. They will be able to access variations on command through grounded
performances and presence exercises. They will have greater control of their body and voice so they can create different characters and sounds through the different physical resonators and positions. Students will be able set, measure, and reset short term and long-term goals to ensure ongoing creative and professional progress.
To qualify for Story Institute programs applicants must have a strong work ethic and an insatiable willingness to learn. Applicants will be interviewed by a Director or member of the school’s admissions team where they will have an opportunity to exhibit their ability to take direction and showcase their preparation abilities via a prepared audition piece and written or video essay based on assigned homework for the interview. This program requires applicants to have graduated from grade 12 (or equivalent) or being 19 years of age before the start of classes. Applicants who do not have English as their first language and who do not master the language must be able to pass the IELTS test with a minimum overall score of 6.5, with a minimum score of 6.0 in each category for the Academic test.
Curriculum
The Professional Actor | Term 1
A professional actor is required to put as much energy into their business as they place into their craft if they desire long-term results. The responsibility of overseeing all aspects on the actor’s business from research and development to marketing to branding, to everything in between rests with the professional actor. While the professional actor will often work with other people throughout their career in the form of agents, managers, publicists, photographers, accountants, and many more they are effectively the CEO of their company and must be accountable for all areas of their career.
The craft of improvisation has become primarily known as a performance showcase based on games and short-form handles like we’ve seen on shows like Whose Line is it Anyway? In reality, improvisation is both a showcase format as well as a explorative tool required for both preparation and performance. This skill set allows the professional actor the ability to develop an understanding of story, character, and all foundational elements to a level where they can instinctually make choices without needing rehearsal or a script.
Voicing cartoons, video games, audiobooks and radio ads are but some of the wonderful way a trained, professional actor can create additional revenue streams and many choose to make these areas their specialties. This class helps actors find a diverse vocal range, create fun characters, implement strong mic technique, and analyze and prepare auditions and performances that allow them to work in this exciting part of our industry.
This module explores the classic foundations of acting in the form of words, actions, emotional life, and physical life. These are the building blocks in which all other modules refer back to in their development and exploration. Starting from grounding performances to emotional accessibility, to text analysis and character study.
The ability to interview for the job requires the same level of training and skill development as actually performing the job. Unlike job interviews in most other careers, the professional actor is often given 5 minutes or less to showcase their skills for the available job opportunity. The four key elements to every audition are be prepared, be efficient, be professional, and be capable of direction. This course will cover the technical aspects of everything from eyelines to performing multiple scenes with the organic elements of truthful emotional connection and grounded work.
The Professional Actor | Term 2
This advanced level program prepares the actor for the specific resources required to sign with a talent agent, create the professional materials (resumes, VO demos, show reels, headshots, cover letters) needed to book professional work, and a firm understanding on unions, working in LA, finding financing for your own creative projects, and a solid business plan that you can assess and revise throughout your entire career.
A skilled improvisor is able to trust their instincts and intuitions due to an enhanced understanding of the structure of story. This skill is vital in each step of the process, from preparation to audition through to the performance on both the stage and the screen.
The world of voice-overs allows many trained professionals to build studios, work from home, and audition every day of the week. This advanced term focuses on the technical elements of working with beeps for anime and other languages, building your own home studio, and creating an effective VO demo that will help secure a voice-over agent and create strong introductions to casting directors and producers.
The first term is dedicated to core foundations and now the performer is ready for more advanced techniques that allow the actor to have greater access to their emotions, turn fears into excitement, and behave truthfully under imaginary circumstances under the added pressure of lights, camera, and a film crew.
This term culminates into a professional audition demo reel for securing a talent agent, and focuses on both a deeper analysis of the text and emotional connectivity as well as the nuanced elements of taking direction effectively, using props and wardrobe to your advantage, and creating consistency and confidence with your performances.
6 Month Full-Time Diploma
Professional Actor Diploma
Questions & Enrollment
Tuition
Professional Actor DiplomaInternational Student Tuition: $12900 (Purpose Scholarship qualifies for $11900)
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Credential: Diploma
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480 hours
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Demo Reel
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VO Demo
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Agent Submission Package
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Lifetime Mentorship
SUMMER 2024 SEMESTER
Upcoming start dates:
July 2nd, 2024 - December, 2024
Vancouver & Prince George Campuses
Monday to Friday: 9:30am – 2:30pm
Vancouver Campus (alternative weekend option)
Saturdays and Sundays 9:30am – 6:30pm and Tuesdays 5:30pm – 10:00pm
FALL 2024 SEMESTER
October 1, 2024 - March 28th, 2025
Winter Break: December 16th, 2024 - January 3rd, 2025
The Working Actor
6-month diploma program
The Working Actor is where practical meets principle in a professional actor’s journey to self-produce professional work that results in additional, consistent revenue stream opportunities.
Successful graduates will be able to create, produce, and distribute professional work opportunities both on camera and live for the stage, from original concept, budgets, marketing, operational and administrative needs, through to performance and revenue generation. The entertainment industry has a multitude of distribution platforms, cost effective equipment and software, and the educated and informed actor has unlimited opportunities to create their own professional work while also pursuing traditional mainstream projects.
To qualify for Story Institute programs, applicants will be interviewed by a member of the admissions team where they will pitch three creative, independent project concepts, and will be reviewed by the admissions team who will evaluate artistry and professionalism.
Applicants must be able to pass the IELTS test with a minimum overall score of 6.5, with a minimum score of 6.0 in each category for the Academic test. Not all students must provide IELTS test results. Those whose previous education is in English (whether as native speakers with Grade 12 from an English language system, or previous post-secondary) may use documentation of that as proof of English proficiency.
Applicants must have graduated from grade 12 (or equivalent) or being 18 years of age before the start of classes.
Curriculum
The Working Actor | Term 1
A working actor is someone who is paid for the efforts and many actors wait for the phone to ring, having their agent invite them to audition for opportunities. This is always a welcome call but actors do not need to wait to be invited in order to create paid work opportunities. Today’s actor needs to also create their own opportunities as they also execute the auditions secured for them by their agents. This course informs actors and gives them the skills to generate paid work they can hire themselves for while they pursue the bigger tv, film, and voice-over projects. This course outlines each step from creating concepts, to marketing these ideas, to performing them, all the way through to building these ideas into steady revenue streams.
Today’s technology allows actors to have unparalleled opportunities when compared to the generations before them. This course focuses on the concept of creating projects that are both interesting to the individual as well as being commercially viable. This class focuses on the creation and ideation stage, through to the structural stage of creating professional scripts, all the way through to pitching them to bigger platforms or self-distributing on your own.
The technical aspects of lighting, sound, cameras, editing have long been something actors have left to “the other side of the camera”. The working actor who learns how to do these jobs as well not only gives them a better understanding of how to create their own work but also be more effective when hired to perform as an actor. This technical side of the craft allows actors to deliver a concept to distribution without needing anyone other than themselves and they can do so on small and no budget projects they create from their own stores and ideas.
The Working Actor | Term 2
The second half of this diploma program includes regular live performances and the students in the program take what they’ve learned in the first part of the program and they deliver it into the professional world in front of live audiences.
This term produces the ideas developed in Term 1, giving the students an opportunity to build professional pitches, create a portfolio of work, and even self-distribute their projects for the opportunity to generate revenue on their own.
This part of the program is where students generate pitch decks, put practice into play as they write, shoot, edit, and distribute their projects and create opportunities to be content creators and not just a hired hand for the auditions they are pursuing. Actors who can create a pendulum between mainstream bigger projects that feed their independent projects, and vice versa create an inspiring energy that will have them be noticed and separated from those who are simply waiting for the phone to ring.
6 Month Full-Time Diploma
Working Actor Diploma
Questions & Enrollment
Upcoming start dates:
SUMMER 2024 SEMESTER
July 2nd, 2024 - December 2024
Summer Break: June 17th, 2024 - June 28th, 2024
FALL 2024 SEMESTER
Tuition
Working Actor DiplomaInternational Student Tuition: $12900 (Purpose Scholarship qualifies for $11900)
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Credential: Diploma
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520 hours
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Create Professional Film Projects
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Add IMDb credits
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Create Additional Revenue Streams while in school
October 1, 2024 - March 28th, 2025
Winter Break: December 16th, 2024 - January 3rd, 2025
The Professional Working Actor
12-months | TWO diplomaS
This is a combination of The Professional Actor and The Working Actor (programs above) . Apply for both programs at the same time and receive an additional discount on your tuition.
Tuition: $20,900 if you are accepted into both The Professional Actor and The Working Actor at the same time and pay for the program in advance.
* This includes $2,000 in Purpose Scholarships
Tuition: $21,800 if each 6-month program is taken separately for domestic students and $23,800 if each 6-month program is taken separately for international students.
The Professional Actor
The Professional Actor Diploma program is a state-of-the-art hybrid of classic, core acting techniques, emergent cutting-edge skills, and business training that prepare students for professional careers in live-action and voice over performance for film, television, commercials, animation, video games, podcasts, and other emergent media.This program has been approved by the Private Training Institutions Branch (PTIB) of the Ministry of Advanced Education, Skills & Training.
These 6-months create the skills and knowledge required for a lifetime career.
The Working Actor
To qualify for Story Institute programs, applicants will be interviewed by a member of the admissions team where they will pitch three creative, independent project concepts, and will be reviewed by the admissions team who will evaluate artistry and professionalism.
Applicants must be able to pass the IELTS test with a minimum overall score of 6.5, with a minimum score of 6.0 in each category for the Academic test. Not all students must provide IELTS test results. Those whose previous education is in English (whether as native speakers with Grade 12 from an English language system, or previous post-secondary) may use documentation of that as proof of English proficiency.
Applicants must have graduated from grade 12 (or equivalent) or being 18 years of age before the start of classes.
12 Month Full-Time Diploma
