This is long overdue as I took this class in 2019. I've teetered on posting this because I know it will be a topic in his class, or Facebook, where he will defend it or possibly claim that I never took his class. Either way, I'm ok with any potential backlash.
Ryan is very entertaining BUT it doesn't work well for the class structure. Like the other reviewers mention, Ryan was late to the classes each week. It ranged from 30 minutes to 1 hour with my session. The class is to start at 7:30pm and end at 11:30 pm according to his instructions and website; however, the class realistically starts at 8:00pm and goes until just pass 2:30am.
I don't think I would have minded the long class time if we were acting or watching others do warm up and scenes; however, that is not what typically happened. For one warm up scene, it takes an average of 45 minutes for one group. Ryan will talk about random stuff for 20 minutes before the first warm group would get started, interrupt them, then talk randomly again for 15 to 30 minutes and then allows them to return back to the exercise. He will initially tell them how to correct themselves but he starts getting into stories about anything that crosses his mind. Again, his stories are great. I like them but they are eating up our time in class. So taking an example of 5 groups of 4, we would continue to do warm-ups until typically 12:30am because of the excessive stories that Ryan goes through.
After warm-ups, we do scenes that we have previously rehearsed with a partner. Again, that starts at about 12:30am and each scene will take a long time to get through because once again we are listening to Ryan's stories. Most nights, I was not able to get all the way to the end of class. I normally lasted until 1:30am and then I would just feel wiped out. The third week, I was not picked to go up in the first couple of slots so I didn't get to perform my scene because I had to leave at 1:30am. I was just too tired and I had a drive of over 35 miles to get home.
My goal for this class was to see myself on camera and get critique for my acting and blocking. I really wanted to focus on this aspect of my acting and had high hopes for it. Unfortunately, when another student asked about him filming every class, as it was well noted on his website, he brushed it off that he no longer does that. The following week, it was removed from his website.
One of his arguments about staying so late in class was that changes are made on set all the time so get used to it. That set times can and will run late where you are just waiting and waiting around and they can go into the twilight hours. Or, that they don't tell you how to act on set and that you just have to be ready. Yes, I completely agree with all of that and would not have an argument with you about that. But, this is a class, not a set. I'm paying you, not getting paid! When someone is paying me to stand around on set, I will stand around on set for as long and as late as they want me. My goals for this class was to learn; instead, I sat in a class for 6 hours every week for a month and did not walk away anything in return. I learned nothing new about acting or acting skills.
"So why did I not speak up if Ryan was rambling on too much?" Coincidentally, it was brought up in class not by a new student but by Ryan. He talked about how he put two people in their place just a month prior for speaking up in class about his style of teaching and that they wrote bad Yelp reviews (which are now either removed and/or at the very bottom of these reviews under "not recommended reviews.") When I looked around and saw the other long term students smiling, nodding, and laughing about it, I realized that would be a battle that I could not win. He went on for quite some time how he put those students in their place and how he doesn't deal with "egos." Also, all "glowing" reviews on here are from long-term student.
The demo reel that I got at the end of class, which took over a month for him to upload, was not good. The film quality was great but my acting sucked. I remember my scene partner, a long term student, told me that my "...first demo reel with him will not be a good one. That it's always the first reel that doesn't come out well." After seeing it, I realized that Ryan could have helped this be way more successful with better direction. After all, we are students trying to learn and to showcase the best and at the same time represent his class. In our scenes, it felt like he was eager to go home and I felt rushed. When I look at the raw footage, it was just average. I could have done better with some facial expressions and/or maybe give more gesture, and with one line I could have adjusted my tone a little better. He claims to be a famous director; yet, he didn't give any directions to our scene. It could have helped us more if did and made this class more of a successful experience.
Thank you for reading this. The choice is now yours read more