We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Shannon Sturges a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Shannon, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. One deeply underappreciated facet of entrepreneurship is the kind of crazy stuff we have to deal with as business owners. Sometimes it’s crazy positive sometimes it’s crazy negative, but crazy experiences unite entrepreneurs regardless of industry. Can you share a crazy story with our readers?

In addition to going on set to coach, I also have a studio where students are enrolled in classes ranging from Technique, Improv, voice, staged combat and three levels of scene study. One night while teaching a scene study class I had two intermediate actors presenting a scene from “Law Abiding Citizen” it was a tough scene and the actors did an admirable job and I asked them to bring it back the next week. The actors left the stage to go and change out of their wardrobe, the actor who had been acting the Gerard Butler role was in chains and a prison jumpsuit. The next scene started to set up, when the actor in the jumpsuit rushes back in and says “Gerard Butler is here, can I do my my scene again for him?!” I thought he just wanted to do the scene again, but I went out to the lobby and Gerry and a friend were there and he said he saw our sign when driving by and decided to stop in. He was surprised to be greeted by an actor in an orange prison jumpsuit and chains, telling him that he’d just played him and would he stay and watch him do the scene again. I let the other actors do their scene and invited Gerry to give notes, then the Law Abiding Citizen scene was up. We used it as an example that scenes that might seem simple can be very difficult to do. Gerry was kind and really helpful in the notes that he gave. He them took pictures with the students and went on his way.
Later he hired me to work on Den of Thieves, and he was telling the story because the timing was so crazy.

Shannon, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I was a working actor for about 20 years when I was asked to coach and teach actors. Many of the notable coaches discovered that they had a gift for teaching prior to booking work as an actor, I’m a bit of an anomaly in that I’ve had a long and successful career as an actor first. I really can understand their journey and also assist them as they become more successful and famous.I grew up in the business as both of my parents were working actors and my grandfather was legendary academy award winner, writer – director Preston Sturges My former coach was Aaron Speiser and when he wanted to step away from teaching he asked me to buy the studio from him, knowing that I was the best person to continue the legacy of the studio, when I taught for him I’d increased student enrollment significantly. I’ve now owned Speiser Sturges Acting Studio for 10 years and I’ve got the best job and I believe we are the best studio. We weathered the pandemic and now offer online classes in addition to our in. person classes
Typically when I go on set it is for a week or less, but on a couple of occasions I’ve worked 3-4 months out of the country. It is difficult to be gone from the studio for that long. I have wonderful teachers, but students come to study with me, they want the “Sturges” from Speiser / Sturges. Letting my students know that they are always my priority and that they will always get an opportunity to study with me but wanting them to feel secure and confident in the teachers that I’ve trained.
We focus on film and television acting as opposed to film and our process is for the actors to work without rehearsal as you get very little to no rehearsal when working on a film or television set. My approach is to aak the students questions so that they discover their intuitive process and I want my students to be able to work artistically without me, I want to empower them.I do not believe in breaking a student down, in using trauma to produce vulnerability, I believe that many coaches are destructive to the creative process when doing this, I’m tough on them to do the work, but humiliating students is not what I will ever do, I believe you must feel safe to risk and perhaps fail. I absolutely have the best job, empowering actors to pursue their dreams.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I’ve had a lot of experience with pivoting! I my life the most fateful was when I pivoted from being a working actor to a coach. I quickly discovered It was my calling and really my what I was meant to do, My students were getting results and were crediting me with a renewed love and study of the craft. Working with actors as a coach is a very intimate and special relationship, there is trust that I will hold space for them in this journey, kick their butts when needed and comfort them when they have disappointment. For the business pivoting during the pandemic was necessary and strategic. I quickly took all of our classes online with Zoom, figuring out how to use the platform for both our teachers and our students. then not only were we able to reach and teach our students that we had when we shut down but we got a whole new pool of students from all over the world; Khazakstan Spain, Bolivia, Philippines, Sweden, and Germany to name a few. We reopened in person classes slowly and created a safe environment for our students and teachers. Losing key employees is always difficult and scary, you’ve invested in the teachers and created an atmosphere where the students trust them. Sometimes the employees then want to go out on their own, it’s disappointing when they take clients but I look at this as a success too, I gave the students and the teachers the confidence to do it without me. I know that I created an effective learning environment. It’s difficult to replace those teachers, but not impossible, I believe in what I teach and that my studio will always be successful I teach my students to not think of other actors as competition and therefore, I don’t think of other studios as my competition, I’m striving to be the best I can be to help my students.
As a small business owner I must embrace change, being open and flexible and unafraid makes it easier.

Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?

I launched a YouTube channel this year that has helped more than I even expected. At first I was worried about giving away all my tools, but I found it is bringing people to me and the studio. It’s fun to answer questions and to be able to give my advice to students who don’t study with me. Social Media; Instagram and TikTok are other ways that I’m able to stay in touch. And I’m really excited about a short film contest that we are launching at the studio. A former successful student has pledged $15K and I’m putting in $5K so that we have money for our students to go our and shoot their projects! This is something that we want to do to give back and help students fund their dreams.

Contact Info:

• Website: SpeiserSturges.com
• Instagram: @speisersturges
• Facebook: Speiser Sturges Acting Studio
• Twitter: @speisersturges
• Youtube: @SpeiserSturges
• Yelp: Speiser Sturges Acting Studio
• Other: TikTok: @SpeiserSturges Threads: @SpeiserSturges

Image Credits
TheoandJuliet