5 invaluable tips for your acting career
Our Casting & Acting division has been growing massively. We have lots of amazing talent on our books and our actors and background artists have secured and auditioned for roles in Ackley Bridge, Eastenders, Emmerdale, Peaky Blinders, Last Tango in Halifax, The Bay and the next Marvel feature film to name a few!
We regularly attend Agent Panels in acting schools to scout new talent and next month we are holding an Acting Workshop within our background division to find some hidden talent for possible representation on our Acting Division.
As we understand acting can be a difficult career choice. We had a chat this week with our Acting Division to give all you wonderful actors out there some of our invaluable tips that we hope will help you in your career.
1. Your Showreel
Showreel’s are an important element of your CV as you want to show off your acting ability to casting directors and to potential agents you wish to seek representation from.
Your showreel should be sharp & snappy and last no longer than 3 minutes. The most important things you need to remember when creating a showreel is to have variety! You will be getting put forward for a variety of roles and you need to show you can play different characters. If you don’t have work material to make a showreel, there are companies who specialise in making showreels where they will write you different scripts, film and edit a professional showreel for you.
2. Self-tapes
Self-tapes are growing very popular in the world of casting and are great because it means not having to pay and spend time travelling to an audition. You also get the comfort of doing it in your own home, or a space you feel comfortable, which is why you should make the most of it! Self-tapes are a pre-audition and we get actors on a weekly basis securing roles from self-tape auditions. When making a self-tape the key things to remember are; introduce yourself, make sure there is no background noise, ensure there is good lighting, include everything that is in the brief & send it back to your agent before the deadline in case there are any amendments needed.
3. Headshots
First impressions are very important in the world of casting and if you don’t have a decent, professional headshot your CV & showreel won’t even get a look in by the casting director. Invest by getting professional headshots taken by an industry photographer who knows what they’re doing. Your agent will know who is best suited for you so contact them to get recommendations.
Always remember to keep your headshots up to date, if you change your appearance like dying or cutting your hair – get new headshots! Your agent and casting directors need to see a true representative of what you look like.
4. Communication
It’s very important to keep your agent up to date on your availability, if you do not book out and your agent books you on a job or a casting it looks unprofessional on everyone’s part to cancel, therefore always let your agent know when you’re not available.
It’s also important to let your agent know what you want from your career and what you are comfortable doing, for example; if you can’t swim, this is something you would need to let your agent know so they don’t put you forward for jobs that involves swimming or if you’re allergic to anything, don’t want to smoke for a role, not comfortable doing nudity etc.… these are just a few examples of what you need to communicate to your agent.
Keep your agent informed of any skills you have, any new training you’ve been doing and any sport you play etc. This is very beneficial for your agent to know in case a role comes in that requires an actor to have a certain skill.
5. Be proactive
Acting can be a difficult job with a lot of waiting for the phone to ring, that is why you, yourself, should stay proactive. Examples of how to do this can be; attend acting classes/courses, network with people in the industry, take the odd un-paid bit of work here and there to expand your credits and develop your craft.
