You need a strong brand. How would I define my personality at its most basic level? Now, thinking about the answers to the above two questions, what current characters on television or in films could you see yourself playing?
Come up with at least 5 specific characters. Finally, what qualities do all five of those characters have in common? Once you figure out what all those characters have in common, try to narrow it down to about words.
A type is basically what you look like. Download our free Actor Types List here. The best way to find your type is to first think about your appearance. Are you young? Long haired? Short haired? Scruffy or clean shaven? All these aspects combine together to give you a look. Looking at yourself in the mirror, come up with a list of 5 different types of people you could imagine yourself playing. Be honest and think Or am I too young for that? Can I play a student?
An intern? A delinquent teenager? Or am I older and I could play a grandmother? After you come up with five ideas of character types you could play, send an email to at least 10 people you know ideally other actors or teachers, but they don't have to be.
Ask them to suggest three different types of characters they could see you playing. Ask them to be honest and to suggest characters you can play now, not 5 or 10 years from now. When you receive their responses, take a look through all of them.
What's the most common character type people wrote? Keep Your Brand Until it Stops Working for You Now that you know your type, you know exactly how the industry probably sees you based on what you look like.
The trick, however, is to combine your type with your brand. A simple single-angle shot on you looking off-camera or into the camera can work fine. Make sure the scene you choose to shoot fits perfectly with your brand.
Light it Properly When you shoot something for your reel, one thing that really bugs casting directors is the fact that the footage is lit terribly. You don't even need lighting or sound equipment! Here's what you'll learn:. But you can only have two. You can save money and time , but you'll have unprofessional footage. You can save time and get great footage , but you'll have to spend money.
The final option for great quality footage — fast — is to invest a little money in yourself to shoot a highly-professional, customized scene for your demo real. There are plenty of companies that offer this service to actors, but it's important to keep in mind that you're not fooling anyone with it.
Scenes like this shouldn't be filmed to trick casting directors into thinking you've been in professional projects. The sole purpose is to let casting directors see what you'll look like in professional projects, and to give them a sense of your acting ability.
Another service we offer for actors is called the Actor Screener Shoot , which provides high-quality footage for your reel. You can learn more about it at www. You'll get access to all your footage within weeks of the shoot fully edited, sound-mixed, and color-graded and you'll be able to start sending it out to casting directors immediately.
Once you've got your footage, it's time to edit it into a demo reel! In this section, we'll discuss some key things to keep in mind as you go about compiling your first professional actor reel.
To start, check out this video that goes into depth on how to create a great reel:. How long is a demo reel? Your reel should ideally be between minutes at most and contain a minimum of clips. Use your best stuff only — Remember that casting directors will generally judge you by your WORST clips, so be sure nothing on your reel makes you look bad. No fancy intros — Because of how busy they are, casting directors will never watch more than 5 seconds of your reel if you add a montage or something else at the beginning.
They simply want to see your acting ability, and anything that takes away from that will cause them to move onto the next actor. Include your contact Info — Add your name, headshot , phone number, and email address to the beginning and end of your reel. If you have an agent, you can include their info instead if you want, but that's up to you. It must be easy to see and hear you — Don't bother using footage that is too dark or has terrible sound quality if it can't be fixed during the editing process.
It should be branded while still showing your range — If you play specific characters or types, you should make sure to highlight them in your reel. This means if you often play cops, you should include a few clips of you playing cops. However, you should also show your emotional range by including a sad scene, an angry scene, etc. Learn more about branding here. Lead with your most impressive credits — Most casting directors will only watch the first 30 seconds of your reel, so don't save the best for last.
However, your first clip should ALWAYS show your acting ability, even if it's not your biggest and most impressive credit. Putting your single most impressive credit first at the expense of a better clip that shows your performance can make you appear desperate.
Edit out other actors so the focus is you — This is a trick that professional reel editors can use. By editing around the other actors and including reaction shots, they can significantly shorten a scene to keep the focus on you while still ensuring the scene runs smoothly. This can make your role appear much bigger in a scene. Include text at the bottom of each clips naming the show or film — This primarily applies to anything noteworthy.
If it was just a student film or unprofessional project, you don't need to include the title. Must have been shot within the past years — Some actors try using footage from years ago in their reel, and it just makes casting directors wonder where they've been all that time.
You can include those credits on your resume , but casting directors want to see recent footage in your reel. As long as you don't try to sell your footage or put a YouTube ad onto it so you can make money when people watch it, it's legal. Make sure whatever you include in your reel is either unknown or original writing. If you use a very recognizable scene, it will remind the casting director of the original actor, who was probably better than you, and make them think you're not that good.
Thinking you need to use something where your acting is over the top and melodramatic is only going to hurt your reel. As long as they can see your acting ability and get a clear sense of your genuine performances, your reel will work. Cutting out backstory also saves you valuable screen time. It's much better to use individual second clips in this case. It's almost always better to use an emotionally charged scene shot on a flat wall than a single boring line with the greatest production value ever because casting directors need to see your acting ability.
If you're not selling or making money directly from your reel, it's fine to use copyrighted material in it. Learn more about the legalities here. Some actors wonder, "Can I use any music for my showreel? Unless it's critical to the scene, music is generally not a good idea because it's distracting and can take away from your acting.
It makes it harder for a casting director to get a sense of your acting ability. It's better to separate them with something less comedic or sad — something in between.
This makes the reel easier and smoother to watch. This starts with a look. So your reel should contain scenes of your path-of-least-resistance kind of roles.
No one is born with an acting reel, they need to be created. The footage must come from somewhere. The more credible the footage, the greater the credibility you have. Buzzworthy, award-winning movies and TV shows 2. Well-known, but undecorated movies and TV shows 3. Professionally produced, nationally distributed studio- and network-funded projects 4. Pilots or pilot presentations which never got picked up 5. High-quality web series, self-produced or not especially if they have a lot of views 7.
Scenes from an acting class 9. Self-tape auditions. Because casting might still have questions about you. I hear you. Getting booked on a show is much easier said than done, so the reality is that it may take a while before your footage comes from the top half of that list.
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