The second staging of ‘Inside Hollywood: The Business of Being an Actor’ was a huge success. Sunday marked the third and final day of the weekend-long workshop which featured industry experts from Jamaica and the United States, who presented on various topics at the AC Hotel Kingston.

“It was amazing. The feedback I’ve been getting from before we even finished defies words. The experience was definitely upped from the one in May, with everything, and I’m really happy and proud that the participants got such a wonderful experience,” actress Sundra Oakley, event conceptualiser, told the Jamaica Observer.

The workshop was broken up into various sessions, which allowed the main speakers to deliver their presentations, followed by interactive question and answer sessions.

The presenters included actors Sterling K Brown and Ryan Michelle Bathé, Alex D’Lerma (acting coach/film-maker), Katie Elmore (producer/writer/show-runner), Pete Chatmon (TV/film director), Diane Houslin (NYC-based Jamaican producer), Nia Ashi (actress who played young Rita in Bob Marley: One Love), Storm Saulter and Sosiessia Nixon-Kelly (Jamaican writers/directors), Jackie Jackson (Jamaica film commissioner), Natalie Thompson (Jamaican producer and head of Cinecom), and Kareen Blake-Chin (Jamaican casting director, founder of KBC Casting).

Oakley added that the presenters each exceeded expectations.

“All of the speakers had such an impact that … I wasn’t expecting. Just by the participants’ questions and how you could see them engaged and what you heard them saying in-between the breaks [the impact was clear], whether it was about somebody locally or one of the international guests,” she said.

The first staging of the workshop was held in May. Due to an influx in requests for another staging, Oakley returned in less than five months. She said that the initiative will recur in the future.

In the meantime, she is encouraging other film industry professionals to play their part in paying it forward to aspiring creatives.

“It only benefits us all when we take what we’ve been given and pass it along so that everybody grows. You’re prepping the next crop coming up, but then you’re also growing as an individual within your capacity… I just think, for humanity, it’s just beneficial when we give back. If we’ve been blessed, especially in an industry like this, where it’s so hard to get into as it stands — it’s a beautiful thing to give back,” she said.