1. What type of reel do you prefer actors post?
Top Secret Primetime Casting Director, C.S.A.
I think a strong comedy reel and drama reel are good to have, if
possible. Sometimes, we may show our Producers a reel and we'd prefer to
show them the comedy reel (obviously, since we primarily cast comedic
shows) so it's best to give them something that they can see quickly and
efficiently. Show clips are good too.
Jamie Castro, C.S.A.
I like one reel or a drama and comedy reel. I only like individual show
clips for actors who have an enormous body of work (i.e. multiple Series
Regular and Guest Star credits). If there is not a ton of work to sort
through, keeping it all together is better.
Eileen O’Farrell, Eileen O’Farrell Personal Management
It depends on the credits the actor has. If they have strong scenes for
both genres, then two separate reels, comedy and drama. If they have
mostly comedy and a little drama, I might suggest they still try to do
both by adding some less comedic scenes pulled from the comedy reel to
help create or add to their drama reel.
I'm not a fan of clips unless their vocal (singing) or languages or a special skill like Martial Arts.
Julie Dove, ActorEditing.com
This is where I defer to what the reps want to use. It takes more work
for a rep to go in and select individual clips per actor when doing a
submission. If they aren’t going to use clips, then I say don’t pay to
post them on Actors Access, but if the actor loves individual clips then
put them on IMDBPro for free.
If actors don’t have a rep I say separate
the comedy from the drama in two reels even if that means the comedy
reel is just one clip. I think it’s important to easily see that the
actor has footage in both genres.
2. Should actors use taped auditions in a reel or in place of a reel?
Top Secret Primetime Casting Director, C.S.A.
I don't prefer to see another taped audition in lieu of a reel. The
actor must have something that they can show...unless they are truly
starting out and have never shot anything on film. Short clips are
fine...anything that is recent and can present them in a good light.
Jamie Castro, C.S.A.
If the actor has no footage, I can understand why they would put a
self-tape up but I don't think it's necessary nor do I really watch
them.
Eileen O’Farrell, Eileen O’Farrell Personal Management
I sent a good audition tape to a casting director for an actor today. So
it's one of those things where you do/use what you have.
Julie Dove, ActorEditing.com
I strongly discourage this even if you have no other footage.
3. What is a good length for a reel?
Top Secret Primetime Casting Director, C.S.A.
It doesn’t matter if the material is good.
Jamie Castro, C.S.A.
It doesn't matter much if we are able to click ahead, but keep it around 5 minutes or less.
Eileen O’Farrell, Eileen O’Farrell Personal Management
I have one actor who works often, he has a 2.5 minute reel and what we
call a long reel. Depending on the actor's credits, I like a short reel
for casting and a long reel for directors and producers. We send a long
reel for Offer Only actors. But for everyday submissions, up to 2
minutes is good.
Julie Dove, ActorEditing.com
I think less than five minutes is good. Actors Access is the most
important place to post your reel and it’s $22 a minute. LA
Casting/Casting Networks has a maximum length of four minutes so I often
tell actors to keep that in mind. I think it’s also good to have a
longer reel for producers if you have a large body of work.
4. Should you have a montage of scenes to music in a reel?
Top Secret Primetime Casting Director, C.S.A.
Not advised, sometimes we will see that in the first 10 seconds of the
reel...like a pop of clips to music...then it will fade to black and
then the reel will start with dialogue, etc.
Jamie Castro, C.S.A.
Unnecessary.
Eileen O’Farrell, Eileen O’Farrell Personal Management
Not advised.
Julie Dove, ActorEditing.com
I don't think so, it reminds me of an 80s movie.
5. What’s one thing you want to share with actors when it comes to your thoughts on acting reels:
Top Secret Primetime Casting Director, C.S.A.
Always have something updated to show. Even if it's for a student film,
web series, something you have shot in your friend's backyard...whatever
we can see you doing is great. Selecting an actor to audition for a
role by just a headshot is something I don't prefer doing...I will
always view their reels/clips whenever possible so that we don't waste
anyone's time in the audition process.
Jamie Castro, C.S.A.
Make sure to add the title of the project at the start of each clip.
Even if it's a short film we have never heard of, we might be interested
in seeing more so it's good to know what we are watching instead of
leaving us to guess from your resume.
Eileen O’Farrell, Eileen O’Farrell Personal Management
I want to use my final time to talk about self-taping. There's no reason
for working actors not to produce professional taped auditions. If the
actor needs to order a taping kit/rig from Amazon. It's an investment of
between $100 to $200 bucks for a good setup, including mic, tripod,
lights & backdrop. Either get great at that or be ready for pay for a
taping session. This isn't going away anytime soon.
Julie Dove, ActorEditing.com
I have several final thoughts that I hope will help my fellow actors:
A reel needs to focus on the actor and not
how others are reacting to your acting, which means it’s important that
each scene starts and ends with the actor if at all possible.
If an actor doesn’t have any footage,
paying to film even one scene with a professional reel creation service
is a really good actor investment. When I worked as a talent rep at
least five of my actors booked their first jobs with reels from CreateYourReel.com
Student films are not a great way to get
footage as the wait time is usually many, many months and often sent
without sound and color correction. Clips with bad sound are not ever
worth putting in a reel or posting.
Keep your reel current. If an actor hasn’t booked anything new then consider a new edit of the old reel to give it a fresh feel.
I have had clients pay for expensive
consultants to give them reel feedback. Once a consultant said I needed
to make the reel have more of a Netflix feel to it, but the footage was
all from network TV and webisodes. I have had many clients with all
co-star credits be upset the reel doesn’t seem like they’ve done a guest
star. I don’t know any editor that can make someone’s footage something
that it’s not. I also don’t think actors need to worry about these
things.
There
is no one answer or set of instructions that will lead to acting
success. If there was then I would definitely give them to everyone I
know for free.