site.btaA Glimpse Behind the Curtain: Actor Georgi A. Bogdanov on His First TV Series, NATFA Education, State of Theatre and Film Arts in Bulgaria

In 2022, actor Georgi A. Bogdanov was nominated for Best Debut Performance at the Ikar Awards for his role in SHOPPING AND FUCKING, and this February he made his breakthrough into television with one of the lead roles in the new series, Alpha, on bTV. In an exclusive BTA interview, he talks about the challenges facing young actors studying at the National Academy of Theatre and Film Arts (NATFA) and the differences between theatre and film in the country. 

After the first three episodes, the TV series is now airing on bTV Action.

Alpha's plot introduces us to a lecturer in the Department of Criminal Justice who is preparing his return to work as head of the newly formed Serial Crimes Unit. Four of his students enter a competition for one of the positions on the team. Due to the specifics of the plot, the cast features not only well-known actors such as Ivan Barnev and Stefan Valdobrev, but also young talent such as Bogdanov, Valentina Karoleva, Violina Dotseva and Spartak Pantaleev.

They are now in the spotlight but it was not easy to get to that point. "I do not think there is an established path for young actors. I have been to a lot of auditions, and I have failed many times. It is a matter of luck because whether you get selected is super subjective - whether you are going to be a right fit for the person who has the idea, whether they see someone exactly like you in that role. You can be a very good actor but not be right for this particular role," he explained.

NATFA

In 2018, Bogdanov graduated with a degree in acting from NATFA. He pointed out that the focus of education at the Academy falls primarily on theatre, while film arts are somewhat neglected.  

"There was one discipline, Film and Television, which we studied for one or two semesters. We did short pieces, monologues and dialogue scenes, but it was not a major discipline that required much time or attention. The nice thing was that people in the Film Department, who were studying directing and cinematography, were encouraged to work on their tasks (short films and remakes of scenes from famous films) with NATFA actors from the Theatre Department. That way you get to know people in films. I have been involved in a few such projects. It was interesting. They do not know everything either, they are not as experienced and you learn together," Bogdanov said.

However, this process lacks direct feedback to the actors from the professors. "They give feedback to the director and the director eventually gives feedback to you.”

NATFA students go through some of the toughest learning processes in terms of intensity. They have classes on weekends, rehearse constantly and with all the regular assignments, they are busy from 9 am until 10 pm. Each course is led by an artistic director who guides students through their four years at the Academy.

"They lead you into theatre, you absorb their taste, they teach you all sorts of things. Some artistic directors are actors and others are directors. Mine was Prof Margarita Mladenova, who is a director. Each of them has a different teaching technique, stands for different things in the profession, pays attention to different things. For that reason, I cannot give general feedback about education in NATFA. From my experience, I would not change it, I am happy with what I have taken from it," said the actor.

As a teenager in Varna, Bogdanov attended the acting school of Stoyan Radev. "I learned a lot from him. What will always stick in my mind as a lesson from him is that you have to do your best to find meaning in what you do, not just go with the flow. Stoyan is a brilliant actor and has great energy, I adore him. He is an Actor. There can be no mistake, you can never say he works in an office - just by seeing his face, you already know he is an actor," Bogdanov said.

In Alpha he worked with other established names in the industry. Stefan Valdobrev plays the role of his lecturer and the head of his team, while Barnev plays the father of Bogdanov's character. While pointing out that he has learned from this experience, he has not asked them for tips and tricks regarding the profession.

"I have heard that some colleagues think of acting as a craft, but I do not see it that way. I got that perception from my NATFA professor - being an actor is not a craft, it is not a technical skill that you have to learn and apply to your work on stage. It goes deeper than this. You have to work with your sensibilities, your emotional buildup, your intellect, not just some skill set," he stressed.

Theatre vs. Cinema

Prior to joining Alpha's cast, Bogdanov performed in a number of theatre plays. During his first year at NATFA, he was invited to perform in Varna Drama Theatre's play The Caucasian Chalk Circle. Roles in several Sofia theatres followed, as well as in Plovdiv Drama Theatre's play Odysseus.

According to him, there is no such thing as a transition from stage to screen: "I see them as two completely different tracks - acting in theatre and films is different. At least this is how I felt about them from my humble experience. I have a favourite line from Marcello Mastroianni, who was [renowned director Federico] Fellini's favourite actor and starred in many of his films, a legendary Italian actor. He says that the theatre is the school, and the cinema is the holiday. In films, you give less in physical terms. In the theatre you have a stage that you have to cover, to take over, to fill it with your energy. In cinema, everything is more minimalist and restrained. Also, theatre is live - you do not get a second chance there,” Bogdanov pointed out.

Working Process on Alpha

His first experience as a TV series cast member in Bulgaria is a positive one, although he has heard negative comments about the filming process in the country before.

"What pleasantly surprised me is that the whole team took work on the series very seriously. I have heard this is not always the case and sometimes the mindset is ‘There is no time, no money, let's shoot, ready or not, go ahead'.”

The cast and crew held table reads - something Bogdanov defines as a luxury when it comes to Bulgarian TV series. “I have heard that most series do not hold table reads. In theatre, the director and the actors, and sometimes the set designer, get together at a table for a month - a month and a half. An analysis of the whole text is done to realize the director's idea. That pays off, as it does here. For Alpha we did a similar process, albeit quite scaled down. Lately I have noticed less time spent on making sense of the text in theatre, I have noticed a tendency to pay more attention to the visual part there as well. But table reads account for 70% of the work on a play,” he explained.

The working process on Alpha was divided into several filming blocks of 15-20 days with table read blocks of 5 to 10 days in between.

“We have read the whole episodes several times, we have commented on why something is said, what it means. We have commented a lot on character lines - how they develop and where they are headed. That has been a really big plus, and I hope it shows that these characters have been worked on, and they are not just some schematic and written character lines the actors have failed to make their own,” Bogdanov said.

He also highlighted that the actors on Alpha had the freedom to discuss their lines with the scriptwriter. "Personally, I have changed some things about my character purely as a way of speaking - I have changed words and phrasing to make it sound more like what we have talked about. I have noticed that directors and scriptwriters are open to an actor changing words and other cosmetic things so that they can feel more comfortable and sound more natural," he noted. 

The working process does not proceed without difficulties - a week before the filming of the second episode, Bogdanov tore knee ligaments, “I was just praying I would not limp. It hurt, but I did not limp,” he recalled.

The actor had high praise for director of photography Alexander Stanishev. “A special thing about the series is the way it was shot. Sasho Stanishev has his own aesthetic that is easily recognized. As someone who is very much into photography, when I see a photographer who has such a strong aesthetic of his own, I get very impressed because it is so hard to achieve. This is quite obvious in the series. He used wide lenses, the light balance is quite bluish, it presents the city in a different light - you cannot tell it is Sofia when you are watching it,” Bogdanov said.

The “A.”

While the other actors and crew members featured with their first and last name in the credits, he was displayed as Georgi A. Bogdanov - and that has its backstory. “I don't know why I want it to be that way. My father's name is Atanas. When I was in high school, I used to write the letter 'a' in my notebooks all the time. While listening to the teacher, I would write my A's. I don't know why - I just did it all the time. At some point I decided I wanted that A in my name and I wanted it to stay there, I like the way it looks,” he explained.