Short Film Acting Class in Auckland

Learning Screen Acting by Making a Film

There is a limit to what a rehearsal room can teach about screen acting. Hitting a mark, matching an action from one take to the next, holding a performance while the crew resets, taking a note from a director and changing the next take: these are learned by doing them. The short film class at Elena Stejko Actors Studio is built around doing them.

The studio describes the class this way: actors work alongside filmmaker Alex Farley to take scenes through the filmmaking process, exploring the material, rehearsing, receiving direction, making adjustments and ultimately putting the work on camera. A highlight of each term is that you shoot an original short film during class.

The Stages of the Work

1. Exploring the material

   Reading the script as an actor: what the scene is for, what your character wants in it, and what the atmosphere of the scene is.

2. Rehearsing

   Building the character and the relationships before the camera turns, using the Michael Chekhov tools taught across the studio.

3. Receiving direction

   Hearing a note, understanding what the director is asking for, and translating it into something you can play.

4. Making adjustments

   Changing the performance on the next take without losing what was already working.

5. Putting it on camera

   Shooting the scene, so that the term produces a piece of filmed work rather than only a memory of a good class.

A Class With a Screenwriting History

The short film class has drawn on working screen professionals before. In late 2025 the studio announced a short film term with writer and director Stephen Sinclair, a co-writer of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, writing and directing original short films for eight selected actors. Sinclair also wrote and directed Russian Snark, the feature film in which Elena Stejko played the lead.

Who Should Take It

The class is for actors who want to understand how a set works from the inside and to finish a term with work on camera. It sits well beside one of the intermediate or advanced acting classes, where the technique is taught in depth, and beside the Friday self tape class, which covers the audition side of screen work. If you are completely new to acting, the Monday beginners class is the place to start.

Dates, Fee and Booking

The short film class runs on Thursdays from 6.30pm to 9.30pm for the seven weeks of the term, in person at Studio 3.2, 1 Cleveland Road, Parnell, Auckland, with no more than 12 actors in the class. The fee is $695 per term including GST, and Equity New Zealand members receive a 10% discount. Term 5 2026 starts on 19 October 2026. Places are limited. Send a booking request and the studio confirms your place by email.