Kevin Spacey will teach you how to act for $90
Wanna learn how to do a Frank Underwood accent? The man himself will teach you for $90.
Masterclass is an online education service with a twist: all of the teachers are household names in their chosen subject. The website launched with an acting track that included five hours of video coaching from Hollywood royalty, Dustin Hoffman. Now, however, the company has decided to add another two-time Oscar winner to its stable after signing a deal with Kevin Spacey. He'll be offering five hours of pre-recorded clips across 29 lessons as he takes a group of students through his process, plus guidance from Masterclass' slightly less famous online coaches.
As the price of college continues to skyrocket, it becomes difficult for people from less well-heeled backgrounds to improve themselves academically. Online education is seen as a way to widen access to knowledge so that people who would have otherwise never thought about studying at Harvard. If there's a problem with the system as it stands, it's that services like Masterclass and edX can't be traded in for any sort of credit without an extra fee. Still, it seems reasonable to say that $90 for guided study with someone of Spacey's caliber is a better first step for most people than selling a kidney to go to theater school.
