Course details

Diploma in Drama (Screen Acting)

About the course

Through a steady stream of practical filmed projects, we broaden and challenge the scope of your development as an actor. 

This two-year diploma provides in-depth and practical training through developing your toolbox: voice, body, imagination and collaboration. We allow time for your physical and vocal practice to become embodied. You will explore multiple acting techniques for screen and live performance, and develop your own critical and creative thinking. Alongside this core training, you will get real experience of how film and television departments collaborate through a steady stream of practical filmed projects. We broaden and challenge the scope of your development as an actor by providing opportunities for live performance; this serves to deepen your craft and self-knowledge as a performer, to help you to carve out a sustainable and lifelong acting career.

You need to be committed, disciplined, wildly passionate, empathetic, punctual and hardworking to succeed in this industry, therefore we support you to build the resilience, rigour and creative drive that you need by creating a positive, challenging campus environment. South Seas tutors are experienced industry professionals who have worked on many screen projects such as Shortland Street, The Brokenwood Mysteries, Outrageous Fortune, Eagle vs Shark, In Dark Places – to name a few... and through this experience, we're able to help you build necessary skills and knowledge.

We also guide and advise you on how to form industry networks – a crucial part of maintaining relevance in this ever evolving film and television industry. 

Successfully complete this course and you’ll receive the New Zealand Diploma in Drama (Screen Acting) (Level 6) - Skills Active Aotearoa Limited.

Entry requirements

The course is open to all New Zealand and international students.

  • International applicants must be 18 or older
  • International students must demonstrate English language proficiency equivalent to IELTS Level 6
  • All applicants must complete the course application form and written requirements
  • We will invite suitable applicants to attend an audition workshop at South Seas

The audition workshop involves applicants taking part in a series of exercises observed by South Seas On-screen Acting tutors, who assess the applicant’s suitability for a place on the course. Tutors will invite some applicants for a 'callback', to complete more exercises and submit to an interview. The tutors then contact all applicants and advise whether they will be offered a place on the course or not.

About the provider

Yoobee Colleges officially formed in May 2019.

The creative minds and legacies of South Seas Film & Television School, Animation College, Yoobee School of Design, AMES – The Institute of IT and Design & Arts (Canterbury) joined forces to become Yoobee Colleges, an interdisciplinary college with seven campuses located across New Zealand.

The colleges all have rich histories, dating back 30 years in some cases, and they have been working collaboratively for several years to offer complementary pathway programmes.

The official joining of these forces under one umbrella strengthens these relationships, enabling greater pathway options for students and stronger educational outcomes, as some of the best creative educators in New Zealand come together for the joint purpose of training the country’s top creatives and IT professionals and getting them into rewarding careers.

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