Arek Zasowski (Photo by Deidhra Fahey @DEIDHRAFAHEY Los Angeles)
Arek Zasowski started his acting journey when he was about five years old, when Arek had the pleasure to perform in a play on stage for Christmas. The role, that he now hardly remembers, was the very first moment that subconsciously sparked his love for acting. This love as he recalls has been around him, but somehow, he only managed to realize and have the courage to pursuit it many years later.
Over three decades later, after many years dedicated to developing an fulfilling, successful career in financial services, Arek decided to develop his creative side: “my acting career”.
In January 2016, Arek signed up for a three-months acting and drama course with a great acting coach, Valerie Dent, at the Bishopsgate Institute in London. The course, he now recognizes as a foundation on which he continues to build on.
Preview. Our new #shortfilm “The Cure” written & directed by Jeff Dutra #nyfa #actorslife #filmmaking Coming soon! https://t.co/BhQWXN9Jz9 pic.twitter.com/IHzrJZYbBj
— Arek Zasowski (@ArekZasowski) June 19, 2017
It is difficult to single out the one particular moment in time that triggered my passion for film acting and I think it is rather a combination of events and experiences accumulated over the years, however, I still remember very inspirational speech given by one of the most acclaimed directors of our time, Steven Spielberg, that I was fortunate to watch and which helped me to recognize what I would like to do in life.
During his speech, Steven Spielberg pointed out that sometimes our dreams do not often come in front screaming at us “this is what you should do or this is who you should become”, but would often come from behind, gently whispering in your ear. Therefore, if you can learn to listen to your instincts and your intuition, and if you realize there is something that you think, you would want to do to the rest of your life, then this is what you are going to do to the rest of your life.
When I heard those words, I felt that was it that was some sort of a missing key that helped me to see the big picture. All of a sudden, I saw that acting and being in movies was exactly what I truly wanted to do to the rest of my life. All of the individual puzzles joined together to create a beautiful big picture which marked my future path on which I have embarked on.
indieactivity: Do you take courses to improve your craft?
Arek: In my opinion, acting is one of the arts that has to be constantly worked on and developed to ensure that we continue to be at the peak of our form given that an actor cannot be certain at what point of time the right opportunity will present itself, therefore constant work on our craft is vital to help us simply be prepared for the unknown.
So to answer your question, yes, I constantly work to expand my acting skills and knowledge, and search for new ways to diversify my experience primarily here in London but also in Los Angeles and in Florence, Italy. Over the past eighteen months, I have had an immense pleasure to work in London with an experienced actress and great acting coach, Valerie Dent, from whom during countless acting and drama classes and private workshops, I have learned a lot about acting techniques, improvisation, projection, movement, voice, script analysis, performance and other stage techniques.
I developed my voice and movement techniques at The Method Acting Classes London and at the New York Film Academy in Los Angeles where I worked on evolving relationship between voice and body, creatively expanding physical and vocal actions, and expanded my on camera skills at the City Academy in London during Screen Acting workshop with Philip Wolff.
In addition, I continued to develop my acting skills at the acclaimed New York Film Academy (NYFA) in Los Angeles and in Florence, Italy, where I took part in excellent very practical hands-on Acting For Film intensive workshops. I had an immense pleasure to learn from some of the best actors, acting coaches and film professionals in Hollywood and New York, as I worked on: Acting for Film with Christopher Cass and Michael Bershad, Scene Study with George Russo and Michael Connors, Acting Technique with David Robinette and Carol Stanzione, Text Analysis with Debra Dragotto and Dig Wayne, Comedy and Improvisation with Suzanne Kent, Business of Acting with Ken Lerner, and Developing Scenes and Monologue with talented Anna Maria Cianciulli, just to name a few.
indieactivity: Tell us about the work you have produced/
Arek: The biggest successes that I have had so far, as a director, was when my first ever production romance/drama “Let Go: The Prelude”, where I portrayed Henk (an archeologist struggling to come back to his normal life after losing love of his life) was officially selected by The Cyprus International Film Festival “Golden Aphrodite” (ranking in the top 100 best reviewed festivals among 5500 film festivals worldwide) and was screened in Pafos (2017 Cultural Capital of Europe) in June 2017.
Earlier this year, I also portrayed leading characters in four other short films that were filmed in Florence (Italy), Cyprus, London (England) and Los Angeles (CA).
In Florence, I took part in thriller / drama “The Cure” directed by Jeff Dutra where I had a pleasure to work with talented: Alicia Segiba, Roberto Boi, Giulia Mosca and Melina Dutra. I portrayed a father that was willing to scarify his own life and trade it exchange for a life saving medical treatment for his daughter (Melina Dutra). “The Cure” is currently in post production and should be out this summer.
In Cyprus and London, I worked with Sha Peng who wrote and directed “Chinese Angel”, a beautiful and touching story about a financial consultant Spencer Thompson (Arek Zasowski) who suffers depression and who meets Angela (Cynthia Dou), the Chinese Angel, that will a have great impact on his life. In post production, coming soon!
I also had also pleasure to take leading parts in two other short films filmed this summer at The Universal Studios Backlot, Hollywood, during the New York Film Academy workshops. In “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere” directed by Rosemary Thoburn (starring: Arek Zasowski, Tilifayea Griffin and Aura Garrido) I portrayed a professional who after heavy drinking night out with his mates found it difficult to find a way to his own house. In “Blurry Hope” directed by Alexandru Palada I had a pleasure to work with Tilifayea Griffin and portray a husband and father who is about to learn some important family news.
My other work also filmed in Hollywood last year, include: a short comedy “April Fools Day” directed by Kevin Luther Apaa where I portrayed Calvin, a rather funny character with a peculiar sense of humor when it comes to proposing to his girlfriend (portrayed by Julia Johnsson), and a short drama “You Can Heal Your Life” directed by Sha Peng where I played Ben, a song recording manager who was trying to overcome his weaknesses from his troubled past
indieactivity: How did you get into the film business, and what is your filmmaking process?
Arek: To certain degree, I was inspired by question and answer session with Seth Rogen that I had pleasure to attend at The Warner Brothers Studio and The New York Film Academy in Los Angeles last year.
During the Q&A, Seth Rogen, in certain way helped me to realize that there is a choice of options that actors have at their disposal to express themselves and to channel their creativity. One of the choices would be to start producing our own independent short films and other projects with friends, filmmakers, directors, writers and fellow actors. So, if we have an interesting story that we would like to tell, we can use our skills, time and energy to create and direct our own films.
During my first time at The New York Film Academy in 2016, I was fortunate to meet and work with few talented and creative writers and directors, including Sha Peng, and over time, our cooperation and friendship has grown to the point that we embarked on a filming project “Chinese Angel” which was filmed this spring in beautiful Cyprus, currently in post production and will be out this summer.
What is my process? Well, I am still in process of refining it but so far it resembled a lot of similar elements of the project management techniques used in business with a lot of moving parts, stakeholders and unexpected sometimes turns and twists that you need to overcome in order to bring the project to a successful completion.
Photo by Sha Peng” In the photo: Arek Zasowski, Julia Johnsson, Kevin Luther Apaa
indieactivity: Did you study what you do?
Arek: I would say yes, or at least to certain degree yes. I mean, all my current knowledge is primarily based on mixture of the courses, workshops and master classes that I have taken over the past eighteen months.
Having said that, my knowledge is also supported by countless movies and TV shows that I watched and analyzed, books, publications and industry specific press such as: Backstage, Hollywood Reporter and/or Variety, that help me to stay on top of the latest news and trends. My experience is also underpinned by online research, articles, video tutorials and other resources that are freely available for anyone who has desire and time to immerse into this creative art.
I have also received few certificates / credits from The New York Film Academy in Los Angeles and in Florence, Italy, confirming a successful completion of the (fantastic) short comprehensive and very intensive Acting for Film Workshops, which I plan to continue to take in the coming months.
Furthermore, I would also be inclined to say that, as some people say “real world” experience, accumulated over the years, based on observing real life and other people behaviour, to certain degree, helps me to become and play a true character. After all, acting is about portraying “real life” other people’s truths and allowing yourself to become a vehicle through which, in imaginary circumstances and limited time, the written character becomes to life.
Tilifayea Griffin and Arek Zasowski in the “Blurry Hope” at the Universal Studios Backlot, Hollywood
With regards to filmmaking, I am at the development stage and I learn as I go along and work on new upcoming projects. Over the past year, I had great pleasure to take part in “Secret of Great Stories” Filmmaking Masterclass held by The New York Film Academy instructor award-winning writer director and producer Paul Brown at London’s famed Soho Theatre who inspired me to start producing my own work. I also joined Filmmaking Masterclass with Jonathan Whittaker who came from New York to London to run his Masterclass at The Arts Theatre.
What triggered my interest in filmmaking? Well, from my own perspective, it has been some sort of a natural progression. I really love to learn by practice, as I go along, therefore I find filmmaking as some sort of special vehicle that I can control, that helps me and fellow passionate actors / friends to proactively act and gain more and more film experience, helps me also to transfer our ideas into reality, and to put all of the elements that I have learned into practice.
Arek Zasowski on the filmset of “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere” at the Universal Studios Backlot, Hollywood
indieactivity: How do you combine acting and writing?
Arek: The main obstacle that I find in the process of writing and acting at the moment is to find enough time to do all that I really want to do during a day as there are only 24 hours to play with and I sometimes feel being limited to the priorities that I set, therefore, just like in business, time management, focus and task completion is very important.
Being clear in mind what it is that I would like to accomplish, having a vision and goals broken down into smaller achievable steps and being strict with myself helps me to combat time limitation and efficiently use time designated for acting, studying, practicing, filming and writing. In the process, I tend to reduce all sorts of distractions, switch off my phone and/or restrict notifications which helps to remain focused at the task in hand.
indieactivity: How do you turn an idea into a screenplay & do explain your writing process?
Arek: I am still in process of finding the best way to turn my ideas into a screenplay and to define what my writing process really is, or should be. Earlier this year, I wrote a short romance drama “Let Go: The Prelude” which was filmed in March this year (2017) in Cyprus. The short film was officially selected by Cyprus International Film Festival and screened in Cyprus in June.
At this point, my process seems to be rather simplistic and it involves purely writing and constant re-writing and refining the story as I go along with new elements being added almost daily in order to build up and refine the foundations of the story, establish the plot, deep underlying dramatic needs of the characters, conflicts and obstacles that the main characters would need to overcome. In my work, I take inspiration from some of the greatest Hollywood screenplay authors such as Syd Field and John Truby that help me to refine my technique and construct the story.
Screenshots from “Chinese Angel”
indieactivity: What writing tip or idea can you give young writers?
Arek: Make sure that you always have some sort of notebook and pen with you as you may find yourself in a situation where you may get the best idea in a moment when you least expect it and usually at the time when you are not actively working on your story (jogging on the beach, working out in your gym etc.), so it is always handy to have something to write on to note your thoughts and then let them grow. For me, my phone usually works best as I can quickly write my thoughts and put them into the professional screenplay format with a mobile version of FD Writer app which I found very handy.
indieactivity: What do you want to change about the film business?
Arek: I would not necessarily want to change anything in particular. I would rather see my role to contribute to such remarkable inspiring and creative movie industry. I am certain that over the next couple of years, I will add some meaningful stories and ideas as I organically grow and continue to progress my career further.
indieactivity: What do you want to be remembered for?
Arek: In acting, I think I would love to be remembered for truthfully portraying interesting characters in great Movie and TV Hollywood productions, and one day, be awarded an Oscar at the Academy Awards Ceremony. In future, I would also like to pass on my skills and knowledge to the young new generation of actors, inspire and help them do develop their potential in such a fulfilling and incredible industry. In filmmaking and screenplay writing, I would like to be remembered for creating meaningful stories that are worth telling and are capable to touch the audience, capture their imagination, emotions and reveal character’s inner private side.
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