The Chubbuck Technique

The 12-step process behind the actors you admire.

Charlize Theron. Halle Berry. Brad Pitt. Jake Gyllenhaal. Eva Mendes. Sylvester Stallone. Aubrey Plaza. Beyoncé. Different agents, different studios, different careers — one technique.

Halle Berry thanked Ivana from the Oscar stage. The next day she called her and said: “It’s your Oscar, too.”

Join the Intro here →

Ivana with Halle Berry and Kate Bosworth

The sciences of how we live every day

Ivana has done the hard work for you.

Psychology is the scientific study of the mind and behaviour. Behavioural science builds an understanding of how people react psychologically and respond behaviourally to interventions, environments and stimuli. Cultural anthropology is the study of how people who share a common cultural system organise and shape the physical and social world around them, and are in turn shaped by it.

These are the sciences of how we live every day. Basing the technique in them not only makes it unique in actor training but, especially, easy to follow and use.

Essentially, Ivana has done the hard work for you — boiling down the mathematical equations of human behaviour and creating systems to follow, so you, the actor, can really go there, organically feeling what your character is feeling. Really feel the bruise. Really feel the gunshot wound. Your hairs stand on end, your cheeks blush, or you feel the rush of the high as your heart beats faster.

The whole technique in one sentence: instead of sitting in the pain, you turn it into drive.

Ivana Chubbuck — on what separates great actors.

The technique

12 steps. 4 phases.

AnalysisWe’ll break down the script just like a detective examining a crime scene, using psychology and behavioural science to understand exactly who your character is, what drives them, and why they make their choices.
PersonaliseUsing Ivana’s proven exercises refined over 35+ years, we’ll build a step-by-step connection between you and the character. By the end, you won’t just play the role; you’ll embody it so naturally it feels like it was written for you.
Make It RealActing often means living experiences you’ve never had — whether it’s being high on heroin, giving birth, or surviving / not surviving a gunshot wound. This phase makes those pivotal and demanding moments feel real to you, so they feel real to the audience.
Let It GoThe most challenging step is letting go of all the prep and being fully present in the moment. This is where the magic happens; when you surprise yourself, you’ll surprise your audience too.

The twelve steps

Twelve tools, each advancing on the last.

1. Overall Objective — what your character wants from their life
2. Scene Objective — what they want in this scene, and how it serves the overall
3. Obstacles — everything in the way
4. Substitution — someone from your own life you genuinely need that objective from
5. Inner Objects — the pictures you see when you speak and listen
6. Beats and Actions — the shifts, and what you’re doing to win each one
7. Moment Before — what happened in the seconds before the scene starts
8. Place and Fourth Wall — where you are, and what it means to you
9. Doings — the physical behaviour that comes out of all of the above
10. Inner Monologue — the thoughts underneath the lines
11. Previous Circumstances — the history you carry in
12. Let It Go — the preparation is done, so you stop steering

Steps one to five are the foundation, and they’re what you learn in The Chubbuck Intro. The rest is built on top of them in The Studio Class.

Ivana Chubbuck — how Eva Mendes used Overall Objective in Training Day.

Actors in class with The Power of the Actor

The book

Ivana’s own description is three words long: it simply works.

The book is where she explains why. The Power of the Actor — an L.A. Times bestseller — is essential reading for any actor serious about their craft. To attend class you’ll need to have read the first four chapters. The revised and updated edition came out in April 2025, with new stories and fresh exercises. Get that one.

Get the book →

Common questions

Is this method acting?

No. Method acting asks you to become the character and stay there. This asks you to use your own life as fuel for what the character is going after, and then put it down at the end. You go home as yourself.

How does it feel when you’re actually doing it?

Every actor here says the same thing: the structure is what lets you stop thinking on the floor. You make the decisions before you speak, and then you can let go and surprise yourself. That’s Step 12, and it’s the point of the other eleven.

How personal does the work get?

Personal, but safely. We work with unresolved issues, not trauma — a frustration, a heartbreak, an apology you never got. Something with a live charge that hasn’t been settled.

Do I need to understand the book first?

No. The book tells you what to do. Experiencing exactly how to do the exercises, on your feet, on your own scene, is what makes it click. That’s what the Intro is for.

What will feel new about this?

A repeatable order of operations for a script you’ve never seen, with a deadline. Most training is built around exploration; this gives you the process to go with it.

Who teaches it in London?

I do. Ivana invited me into her teacher-training programme in 2021. Meet Rich →

Learning it in London

One teacher, every class.

What you get here is the format: Ivana’s monthly L.A. studio system, six actors, a full hour on your scene every week — one teacher, every class.