An Actor's Journal - Headshots, Reels, Resume

You might hear casting directions say that having a headshot and a reel along with a slateshot(actors access exclusive feature) will put you at the top of the list as far as submission. That’s just to be seen not considered. With that said the first thing casting sees is your headshot, which is not to be confused by glamor shot(which I may or may not have). When I had my first inkling of wanting to become serious about being an actor I went to a mall in Atlanta and got some glamor shots taken. I figured a picture was a picture but boy was I wrong. A theatrical headshot as I’ve come to learn is heavily focused on the eyes. If you can see the photographer’s reflection within your eyes then you have a really good headshot. 

The only issue you might have if you are of the color like myself, is that most people don’t know how to light melanated skin. That mixed with the wrong make up will make you look like a little debbie snack cake. After you find someone who has the lighting down then you need to save up because good headshots are worth every penny but they are pretty pricey anywhere from 150 - 500 dollars. You will get the choice of a few looks which are clothing changes and if you brought clippers you can do a quick trim with facial hair. Since you want something that is easily able to translate to your current look it’s best to keep it simple. I kept the same haircut for 5 years straight for that reason alone. 

Most times a casting director won’t mind a slight hair length or style change as long as you don’t come in with locs, after submitting a fade headshot. For that reason it’s best to keep your pictures up to date but if you don’t want to spend the money, it’s cheaper to just keep the same style unless you look drastically different. I got chicken pox at the ripe old age of 27 years old. Luckily the scars weren’t too noticeable but it did change a section of my forehead so…new headshots. 

Theatrical vs Commercial 

Theatrical headshots are the ones you see often, the serious dramatic look. They should often reflect your type which takes a while for you to figure out. There is the type you think you are and the type you get submitted for. Rule of thumb, if you don’t want to get submitted for a certain type then try to get a second opinion usually from the photographer. 

Commercial headshots are more lively and bubbly, consisting of a smile. I personally have had the worst luck with commercial auditions and submissions but I do know that you need high energy for them and the headshots should reflect that. I don’t naturally have high energy and I need to warm up but good thing that headshot photographers take multiple photos. 

Once you get the 100’s of images you will need to pick around 2 - 4 for your profiles with 2 being the default for your theatrical and commercial profiles. Again, you might want to get a second opinion on what your best headshots are. Staring at yourself for a long time you might start to disassociate with what you actually look like vs what you think you look like. Everyone has taken a picture and said, “I don’t look like that…or is that what I really look like?” Bottom line is the picture is the first thing the casting sees when they see your submission so why not have the best option available. Once you get an agent they will most likely recommend you either take new headshots or let them see the entire shoot from your most recent. 

Back before everyone went green you would need to get these printed on a 8x10 with your resume printed on the back. These would run you around 10cents per copy if you printed in bulk, but just for a few you could spend around 10-15 dollars for a few. It was also a good idea to have them printed separately in the event that you booked something and needed to update the resume. That way you could just staple the updated resume on the back. With everyone going green it’s become a lot easier and cheaper for the actor. The print shop people are usually the nicest people you meet so if you can go there to print out some sides or a script they would be glad to help, I know they took a big hit during the last 3-4 years. 

Roll the footage

A show reel is a 1-2 minute video of your best footage on film with the best in the beginning. When you haven’t booked much work it would most likely just be 1-2 clips. In a previous blog I talked about going to get a reel created, which is good for a few clips. From what I’ve been told by casting, they don’t normally go through the entire reel as they have multiple submissions to go through and to keep them as short and simple as possible. In recent years it has gone in the direction of clips which is better in some instances. Say you’re auditioning for a comedy but only have one comedy clip which is near the end of a long dramatic reel. They most likely wouldn’t see it given the statement prior but with clips you can just label it comedy and submit just that, short and sweet. For the longest time me and my friends struggled to get footage for our reels. You needed to work to get footage for the reel, but you needed a reel to get brought in for a chance to work; it was pretty mind boggling. There were also times where you wanted to put background work on a reel to pad it, but that was an “extra” bad idea… Majority of my footage was from student and short films, which in lieu of pay was the big selling point to doing them. 

Clips are also good for displaying different skills you have. Dancing, precision driving, swimming, sports. I’ve had auditions where they asked for an accompanying video of some dancing or even shadow boxing so that just gives you somewhat of an idea. 

Resume and Credits

Resume’s might be your saving grace in the beginning especially if you have some theatre credits to add. Church productions, school productions, community theatre, showcases, all valid. I remember first moving to LA and having just 2 film credits, both fortunately came with footage so I had a short reel in the beginning. I did have a good bit of church plays, some school productions and one showcase so my resume wasn’t great but it wasn’t bad. I definitely enjoyed looking at it more than my “real” job resume. After getting more roles I was able to not have to use such large spacing and pad the bottom with every last special skill I had, including but not limited to listing each and every last one of my hobbies. Nothing felt better than going into the print shop to get an updated resume printed with the new credit on it. Especially when the nice people at the printshop noticed and congratulated you. I personally as a form of manifestation sometimes update my resume immediately after an audition…only to go back and erase it later. It got old pretty fast however, but I still do it from time to time with auditions I feel really good about. 

Another level to that would be getting IMDB credit. That was at the top of my list for a good chunk of the first couple of years in LA. I’ve done some projects that were really good but not able to give IMDB credit and I’ve also thought about padding my credits with background work that i’ve done but decided against it. Although I was featured in an episode of a show where they dubbed my voice with one of the main characters…weird but also hilarious.

Once you have some headshots you’re happy with, a reel and a workable resume, you can start submitting to more work but most importantly representation which is another big step.