by Dov Kornits
With his pioneering Youth Acting And Screen Studio, YAS Studio set to open in Melbourne early in 2026, actor and creative educator Daniel Fischer is ready to guide young students in developing their love and passion for the screen and stage arts.
“I’ve worked as an actor for 15 years, and you’re always told to find that stable job that can give you money as well,” says Daniel Fischer. “I landed in higher education. I’ve spent the last 10 years in higher education at creative industries colleges across Melbourne, where I’ve been doing a lot of school outreach. I’ve been liaising with young people and their parents and teachers and trying to encourage them to take that leap into the creative arts. I spent a lot of time developing these programs for young people to take part in. I’ve been involved with industry partnerships and events as well. And then I had a light bulb moment this time last year.”
That lightbulb moment prompted Daniel Fischer to create The Youth Acting & Screen Studio (YAS Studio), which will open its doors in Melbourne’s Kensington in February 2026. YAS Studio is the first multi-disciplinary youth screen studio that offers acting, filmmaking, animation and photography all in the one convenient location, almost functioning as a one-stop shop for young people keen to embrace the arts. Up until now, young creative aspirants in Melbourne have only had limited access to filmmaking, animation or photography training, with most education in the arts not getting started until the tertiary tier. From early next year, that will change.
“I’ve had a lot of questions over the years from parents about where, for instance, can their 10-year-old child do animation,” Daniel Fischer explains. “And I’m like, nowhere. Where can my son go do filmmaking? Nowhere other than high school workshops. I did a lot of research to determine if I was right in saying that there’s nowhere, or have I just made that up because I don’t know what it is? I researched what was around in Melbourne. I was especially surprised that there was nothing for animation filmmaking and photography. We obviously know a lot of acting programs for young people out there, but nowhere where they can flex their muscle across both. I have got so many friends who were actors who are now filmmakers.”
Daniel Fischer – who has appeared on screen in the likes of Love Me, Summer Love, The Clearing, Dear Life – collected his thoughts and research, and then opted to take it to the next level. “I just had this epiphany… maybe I should do this,” he says. “I spent six months developing a business plan to make sure I didn’t get bored of it and to make sure that it was something that could work and something that the industry needed. I spoke to a lot of people about it. That’s where YAS Studio was born.”
Even with the proliferation of online learning, and the plethora or acting tutorials currently available, Fischer doesn’t see that as a force working against his new studio. “Feedback is a huge thing in learning,” Fischer says. “I can watch an actors’ round table a thousand times with different people and learn technique, but if I don’t show somebody else my work, then how do I get feedback to know if I’m actually doing that right? How can I improve? That’s a big part of it. Everyone has a story to tell which is unique, whether you’re an animator, a photographer, a filmmaker or an actor. We want to help young people discover what their voice actually is. You can’t discover what your voice is by watching a YouTube video because you are learning from somebody else’s voice of what their voice is. We are trying to build bespoke classes with small classroom sizes that can give that one-on-one attention, so our tutors can really unlock what that young person’s voice is. Perhaps after a term of someone doing acting, we might ask if they’ve ever thought of filmmaking? They may have a really amazing eye, and they might start to consider that a lot earlier. There’s something really powerful about mentorship, and having a mentor that you really rely on. I still connect with a lot of my mentors from when I was a young actor studying. There are people that I still hold really close to me… there’s a power in that.”
If you’re thinking that YAS Studio might be some kind of assumed breeding ground for future superstars or those just seeking to drum up an online presence, think again. YAS Studio is about the craft of acting and creation, and creating a community around that. “If you go on our website, it’s got what our values are and what our mission is,” Fischer explains. “I really want to make sure that I create a community that is there for the right reasons. I don’t want an Abby Lee Miller style studio with ‘dance moms’ and stuff like that. I’m not interested in that competitive nature. I want to create a collaborative atmosphere where we support each other. I’ve tried to be really firm in that because I knew that there would be the other thing; I know that young people do want to be famous, and that’s a big thing at the moment because you make a silly video and you become famous and you don’t even know what you did. Good on you if you want to do that, but this is probably not the place for you, and I’m okay with that. This isn’t the right place for you if fame and fortune is all you’re after because maybe 1% of actors are famous and live off it. That’s the reality of the situation. You’ve got to really love it to want to keep going. I want to instil that as well, because that’s a huge part of this industry. If any institution promised fame and fortune, I would just run the other way. No one can promise anything.”
And if a young person’s time at YAS Studio doesn’t result in a career, or even a prolonged interest in the artform, Fischer ironically sees that as a plus too. “We’re here to help them figure out what it is that they love,” he explains. “They’re young. Some people might be 10 years old when they come to us… they’re very young. YAS Studio is about helping them discover what they love. They may discover that they don’t love acting and filmmaking. That’s actually great… how good is it that they get to discover it while they’re young, before they have to go to uni or decide what to do next or all of those types of things. We see that as a positive.”
The structure of the classes at YAS Studio is designed to fit in around school hours and make it as easy as possible for students to attend and develop their skills, which will be tended to by a variety of industry guests, as well as educators connected to that industry. “It’s really important for me to make sure that our teachers are working in the industry,” Fischer explains. “I like to think we’re all still young creatives, even though we’re approaching a certain age. We’re still making things, and we’re still auditioning. All of us are. We’re still working in the industry. The industry moves at a really fast pace, and it’s really important for us to have people in there that do have their fingers on the pulse. They’re auditioning by day or on set by day, and then coming to teach at night. There’s something really exciting about that as well. Bringing that knowledge to the classroom will be like gold for our young students.”
With a major tech fit-out underway, major sponsors being scouted, business structures and education models in place, Daniel Fischer is champing at the bit to combine his love of acting and higher education, and inspire a passion for the craft in his young students.”
For all information, head to the YAS Studio official website.
