Dan is a multi award winning Film director known for his dynamic and thought provoking style. He comes from a professional dance background and uses his physical knowledge to help tell stories in innovative ways using a selection of powerful cinematic tools. Dan has directed features films, short films and numerous dance films, music videos, commercials and concept films. In the world of Movies Dan is known for 'Thats Just Me' starring Pixie Lott, 'Hubris' starring Andrew Koji, 'Becoming Everything' starring Steve Leeds and 'The Book of Laws' feature film. In the world of movement Dan is known for EGO, Northern Ballet, The Burning Building, The Royal Ballet, KIN, Northern ballet. In the world of commercials Dan has directed spots for Pimms, volvo, Kylie cosmetics (Kylie Jenner and Harris Scott), Blackberry, Bon Prix, Freemans and other blue chip brands.

In the world of Music Dan has worked with Pixie Lott on her yet to be released Music & Mahalia at the V&A

on a music film.

Marie has worked as a professional actress, singer and dancer for many years. Performing internationally and on live TV with many world renowned artists including winning the BBC one show Dance X and supporting Rihanna on her UK tour. Marie choreographs TV commercials and live performances. As an actress she has featured in numerous commercials, various soaps and been cast as the lead in both feature and short films recently winning awards for her lead role in the short 'that's just me'.

Marie has also worked as a casting assistant for numerous years across the country whilst also casting her own projects and teaching acting to camera classes to all levels and ages. Marie is the co founder & director of The Audition House Studios which has had the privilege of hosting Instinctual Acting for a number of years.

Marie and Dan are also co founders of House Of Create Films, a full service production company working with established and emerging writers & directors to help bring their ideas from paper to screen. With a multitude of feature films, short films and commercials on their slate.

Marie and Dan ave both worked extensively in front and behind the camera and thoroughly enjoy working with the IA actors. They look forward to many more years of creativity to come!

Marie McGonigle -  Actress | Singer | Dancer | Choreographer +44(0)7969 323 528 / www.mariemcgonigle.co.uk

Originally from the south of France, Thomas Brandy is a dedicated cameraman and cinematographer looking to elevate emotion and performance through sensitive camerawork. He studied cinematography in Goldsmiths University, from which he received the MA Filmmaking in 2022. He currently works in London, alternating between narrative and documentary projects. Thomas likes to work closely with directors to conceive a pertinent visual approach that lifts up the story and carries it's poetry meaningfully.

Liam is a young Director and Editor with strong ties to the music, corporate and commercial world. During the pandemic he launched a production company called Klaxon Creative and now has his aims set on branching into the world of drama through working with Instinctual Acting.

His enthusiasm and easy-going demeanour allow actors to feel comfortable on-set and give their best performance when the cameras are rolling.

liam@lasmithmedia.com

Alex has always loved creating images, first with a pencil or brush then with a camera. After learning to edit and tell stories through moving images it became obvious what he should do for a living. He started working on film sets then moved to production & post production.  

Alex is a huge people person and currently enjoying creating video content for various clients "The productions are always different and I find the combination of problem solving & creative autonomy to be very rewarding."When he is not working, you may find Alex travelling around or spending his hard earned money on making various films.

Josh is an award-winning cinematographer and creative director with his work screened and published around the world. In 2018 he was nominated for the Emerging Cinematographer Award by the British Society of Cinematographers. His portfolio comprises of work with a diverse range of clients including, Benefit Cosmetics, Wagamama, Grey Goose, Diesel clothing, The Ivy Restaurant and Parkinson's UK.

Oscar Fouda is a Cameroonian-Swedish filmmaker and videographer based in London. Originally an actor, Oscar began his filmmaking career when he moved to New York and worked as a videographer and video editor in brand marketing. He is now a freelance video producer while he continues to write and direct his own short films. He has a strong passion for storytelling and the craft of acting, which he attributes to his international background and love of cinema from an early age.

email: instinctualactinginfo@gmail.com

Contact No. 07947 864909

"As the creator of Instinctual Acting, I'm so proud to list the following people as being a huge part of our ever growing success story and to have the very best of talent in their own particular fields of expertise and knowhow to work with benefits our Actors and Actresses in a way they will never forget. This class of 2023 is our greatest strength to date." Michael Duvall

Eloise has been working for IA for just over 3 years and deals with all of the bookings for each workshop whilst also doing some of the general admin duties!

Eloise is an actress who has been with IA for four years. After graduating from The Poor School in 2015, she wanted to carry on her training and learn more about the business.Through word of mouth she heard about IA and has been with us ever since.

MICHAEL DUVALL - INSTINCTUAL ACTING 129a Whitfield Street The Audition House  London W1T 5EQ

This website designed and powered by The Cracking Good Design Company - 07956 562118 Created for: Instinctual Acting / Michael Duvall

All material and images copyright Instinctual Acting, and may not be used without permission.

Matthew's track record for strong visionary direction includes a number of action adventure docudramas for Animal Planet's inc FATAL ATTRACTIONS – one of their most successful series. SITUATION CRITICAL for Nat Geo was a hard-cutting, eye-witness docudrama series exploring some of the most gripping stories of the day.

Matthew Wortman recently directed TV movie: WHAT THE DAMBUSTERS DID NEXT for Ch5/Nat Geo reconstructing the secret missions of the Dambuster bombing raids.

Matthew's other high-profile credits include SKY's 3D film – STORM CITY. A flagship series to relaunch SKYs 3D channel. In 2019 Matthew created TV series format 'CAR CREWS' with SUPERCAR BLONDIE – turning Alex Hirsch one of the world's biggest social media stars, into a hugely successful youthful brand. 'Car Crews' charts Alex's journey in search of the drive tribes of America.

Matthew Wortman is currently preparing to direct his first independently financed feature film: FRONTIER: The Fight for the Amazon – Those fighting to save it and those fighting to take it. The battle for Brazil's interior is a modern day, epic, western cowboy movie. This is a tense action-packed environmental drama. Matthew Wortman believes this frontier story of Brazil's interior is one of the most engrossing epic tales of our time.

After an international career as a leading actor, Shelagh stepped behind the camera. Her debut feature film as writer/director/ associate producer Astronaut stars Academy award winning actor Richard Dreyfuss. Astronaut was selected for Best of the Fest at Edinburgh Film Festival and after a North American & European theatrical release, Hulu & Sky purchased the film. After being awarded best director at the UK National Film Awards (2021) her subsequent screenplay Nexus was shortlisted for Sundance Screenwriter's Lab, selected for Meryl Streep's Writer's Lab & won top prize at Vail Film Festival (2022).  Writing, directing, and producing across genres, her short films have won at several film festivals.  She's now attached to direct the feature film Wolf at The Door and her own project - The Visit, which is a PAGE award finalist. Shelagh has Canadian/ British citizenship.

shelaghm@clara.co.uk Tel: 07831203003

AWARDS AND HIGHLIGHTS

Edinburgh Film Festival – Best of the Fest (Astronaut)

Vail Film Festival – Best Screenplay (2022)

LA Film and Script Festival – Best Narrative Short (2022)

The National Film Awards, Best Director, (Astronaut) (2021)

Meryl Streep/Nicole Kidman Writer's Lab, official selection (2018)

Sundance Screenwriters Lab Finalist

JETS, Berlinale, Winner 2017

PAGE Screenwriting AWARDS – Finalist 2020

PAGE Screenwriting AWARDS – Finalist – 2021

Meryl Streep/Nicole Kidman Writers lab – Finalist 2021

Directors UK, BAFTA, SAG, WGGB, Equity, ACTRA member.

Agents:  Canada: Jennifer Goldhar. UK: Richard Bucknall.

Katia Shannon writes and directs heartfelt stories about love and adversity for Film and TV. Her award-winning films have received international accolade, playing at Oscar, BAFTA and BIFA Qualifying festivals including, HollyShorts, Carmarthen Bay and Underwire, among others. Her first short, Standstill, is on Omeleto with 50K+ views, and 3M+ views on Tiktok after a Canadian Screen Awards qualifying festival run. She is currently in post-production with her latest BFI NETWORK funded narrative short, Us & in Between, starring David Hargreaves and Kika Markham. Katia holds a BFA in Film Production from the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema in Montreal, where she was recognised with an award for outstanding achievement in filmmaking. In 2020, she was selected for the Netflix x BANFF Diversity of Voices Initiative.

She has also led the film commission for the region of the Laurentides and edited award-winning feature documentaries with her work broadcast across the USA, Canada, the UK and in festivals internationally.

Katia is also a keen photographer and uses her grandfather's canon AE-1 to experiment aesthetically, informing the visual landscape of her films.

Katia Shannon@4tia | katiashannon.com

07736 612675

Carolyn Saunders is an award-winning writer and director of fiction films and documentary. Raised on air force bases around the world, her work frequently explores themes of identity and home.

Her sci-fi feature script Island West was selected for the 2020 Meryl Streep/Nicole Kidman Writer's Lab. Her short On Island West, set in the same world, won the 2020 Challenge Alexa, sponsored by ARRI and Directors UK, and is in post-production.

Carolyn wrote the critically acclaimed Amazon series Ted Bundy: Falling for a Killer, and story-edited the 2019 Richard Dreyfuss film Astronaut. Her feature Starfighter Baby advanced to the second round of the 2020 Sundance Screenwriter Lab.

Carolyn wrote and directed her debut feature, The Wasting, in 2016. The microbudget won Best Feature at Vittorio Veneto Film Festival, was released theatrically and is on VOD.

Carolyn is an alumna of the prestigious Women In the Director’s Chair (WIDC) program, and a member of Directors UK and the Writers Guild of Canada.

As a script analyst at the Harold Greenberg Fund for 13 years, Carolyn gave notes on some of Canada’s top films. Before turning to directing, Carolyn wrote, developed and creative produced documentary television series, including Mighty Ships, Yukon Gold, Outlaw Tech and Forensic Factor.

Simon's interest in photography was piqued in 1995, after visiting Dubai.  It grew as a hobby, until 1999 when he left engineering to study photography full time.  After that he worked as a freelance photographer, and taught black and white photography evening classes. After several years he was offered a position in motor sport engineering, where he has worked since, and allows him to combine his twin passions of photography and motor sport. In that time he has continued to photograph, mostly for pleasure, but prior to the pandemic, had started taking on professional photography work again.

Zoli Esthetik is an Award Winning Hair and Makeup Artistry team with over 10+ years experience in the beauty and media industry. We specialise in everything makeup and hair for film and tv. We also handmade wigs from scratch and do one-on-one makeup and skincare workshops. Our team have worked with BBC and Sky Arts as well as other well known brands. We are known professionally as Kayla and Tanesha on our socials @zoliesthetikbeauty @mikhiprettyartistry. We are definitely your go to team when it comes to looking your best on set.

Alex is an actor, accent coach, and writer. He trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, and specialises in accents foreign to the British Isles. Alex has coaching credits in feature film, West End theatre, Shakespeare’s Globe, and a range of other theatres in the U.K.

Fiona Kingwill is a director who graduated from the University of York with First Class Honours in Writing, Directing & Performance - who specialises in new writing and form breaking work. Fiona co-founded Minerva Productions Ltd, of which she is Co-Artistic Director. With Minerva, Fiona has directed Waking Beauty at the Dublin International Gay Theatre Festival and The Ovalhouse in London, FOODIE at The Hope Theatre and Sacrament at Theatre Upstairs (Dublin), The Bunker and VAULT Festival. Fiona's work as a freelance director has seen her work with Theatre503 (In Motion) VAULT Festival (Madame Bovary's Communist After-Party) and The Arcola (World Without Work as part of Dare to Dream). She collaborated with Hartshorn-Hook on The Great Gatsby and The Wolf of Wall Street she has also worked with York Shakespeare Project on their production of Twelfth Night at York Theatre Royal. With Company of Angels on Heading to Higher Ground, where she assisted Sophie Lifschutz, also at York Theatre Royal, and with Actors of Dionysus on their UK tour of Antigone.

Mary has had the pleasure of acting for many years, a passion that was sparked during her tenure at The Alternative Drama School. She possesses a vast amount of stage experience in and around London. Presently, she serves as the Director of Finances at iA, where she takes immense joy in witnessing the successes of both current and aspiring actors.

Additionally, Mary is a gifted artist who graciously lends her creative talents to Instinctual Acting. Her unwavering commitment and dedication serve as a reliable source of support for aspiring actors on their journey to success.

Edith Nwekenta is a producer & director in Film, TV, commercials and music videos working across the UK, Nigeria and Ghana. Graduating from De Montfort University with a BSc in Media Production, Edith has produced and directed TV series, web campaigns, music videos, feature films and commercials both in Europe and Africa. She has worked on music videos for artists such as, Stonebwoy, Wande Coal, Patoranking, JHus and NSG to name a few and campaigns such as 'Schweppes', 'Club Beer' and 'Cam Dairies'. Her work over the years has always been collaborative as she is a strong believer that people are your biggest resource.  In 2012 she co-wrote and produced the award-winning short film "Unspoken". In 2013 she co-wrote and produced her first feature film, "Mum, Dad, Meet Sam" which premiered nationwide in Nigeria in 2015 before being streamed for two years on Netflix. She wrote and co-produced the award-winning short film "Prey" in 2015 about a young woman being stalked by a psychopath in a car park after a night out. After directing season 2 of "The Olive" for Accelerate TV she went on to produce the feature film 'The Order of Things' currently on Netflix.

Mark is a writer, producer and director who has worked primarily in short film and commercial video. His short films as a writer-director, Tea For Two and Squall, have played at festivals including BAFTA-qualifying Aesthetica and BIFA-qualifying Beeston Film Festival. As a writer and/or producer his films Bleep and Fellow Creatures have played at BAFTA qualifying Bolton Film Festival and London Short Film Festival, Oscar-qualifying HollyShorts and Cinequest, as well as Leeds International with is both BAFTA and Oscar qualifying.

Luca is an award-winning Italian director based in London. His latest short film, Warriors of Sanità, won Best Short at the Oscar qualifying Rhode Island Film Festival and at Giffoni Film Festival. It was acquired by Rai Cinema and picked up by Omeleto for release on their platforms, where it received more than 47.000 views at the time of writing. His debut feature script was UK winner at JETS 2023, within the Berlinale, where it was picked by major commissioners and sales agents for development.

Luca is a Directors UK member and has been trained by Miranda Harcourt (Peter Jackson, Jane Campion) to work with non-professional and child actors. He is currently being mentored by Bafta-winning director Jonny Campbell (Am I Being Unreasonable?) and is shadowing him in the edit of his upcoming feature film, Cold Storage.