about me
I'm Scott Alan Moffitt, an actor and dialect coach, originally from Texas. After earning a BFA in Acting, I moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career as an actor and voice artist.
For the past decade, I've focused my passion for dialects and accents towards teaching fellow actors (and non-actors) to acquire new dialects, or modify their everyday speech.
my philosophy
I know firsthand how stressful the entertainment industry can be. Actors constantly tell me about the anxiety they get when they have an audition requiring a dialect, or even in the decision to add a dialect to their resume.
My goal is to give actors the tools to analyze, criticize, and self-learn dialects any dialect or accent. Ultimately, I want to help people view their voice as a unique asset, and not a liability.
my approach
I love helping actors discover the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) and how to use it to teach themselves any dialect or accent they wish. It removes the guess work, marrying the science of linguistics to the art of performance.
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For some, the IPA may be too intimidating -- and that's OK. I can help you master your targeted dialects or accents in a manner that's comfortable to you.
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For non-actors seeking Accent Modification, my experience teaching dozens of dialects and accents to actors of all backgrounds has given me the skills necessary to tackle your specific problems. There is no one-sized-fits-all solution when it comes to this type of work, and my training as an actor gives me the necessary empathy and flexibility to suit your individualized needs.
WHAT IS THE IPA?
Are you an actor interested in learning dialects? Have you been unable to learn through typical “mimicry” techniques? Perhaps you have a pretty good ear for picking up a dialect, but lack the ability to put what you're hearing into words?
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I can help with that.
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My approach to dialect coaching centers on unlocking the power of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), which is a series of symbols that represents all sounds used in spoken language. This specificity helps actors to identify changes that are made when we switch from one dialect (our own) into another (our character’s).
For instance, in General American IPA the phrase “To be, or not to be, that is the question” would look like this:
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[tu bi | ɔɚ̆ nÉ‘t tu bi || ðæt ɪz ðÉ™ kwÉ›st͡ʃnÌ©]
That may look like hieroglyphics to you now, but after we work together you will be able to not only read that text, but translate it into a different dialect or accent. Eventually you will be able to pick any dialect you’d like to learn, apply the steps I will teach you towards that dialect, and write down the target dialect directly on the page. With enough study, you will be able to teach yourself any dialect or accent.