tea cup reading faith, hope and joy

Stop Judging Yourself for Where You are in Your Acting Career

/0 Comments/in /by

I was going to write a different blog today– but recently I have seen a huge increase in the need to say this.

ACTORS: YOU NEED TO STOP JUDGING YOURSELF

Wish you felt like you were further along in your acting career? Miss a job booking goal deadline you gave yourself? Think you are behind your peers in credits? Concerned that you had a life detour and are just beginning your dreams now? Thought that because other people have succeeded by now that you can’t? Just plain ole expected everything to move faster than it has?

I OFFICIALLY GIVE YOU PERMISSION TO STOP APOLOGIZING FOR IT AND JUDGING YOURSELF FOR IT.

This is a weird industry. One success formula just doesn’t work universally. One road to success will work for one person but not for the next. You need to bob and weave time and time again to find out what works for you.

Now I need to warn you…

fast track adThere is ONE thing that WILL hurt your progress, your mindset and your heart every single time— and that is all that gross self judgment brew-ha-ha you have kicking around in that head of yours.

Those thoughts of self doubt, bogus comparisons and lack of time is funneling your brilliance & your energy BACKWARDS.

Your circumstances have artfully crafted a fabulous human. A human with intellectual and emotional depth. A human with heart. With insight. With originality.

You can not expect to succeed until you acknowledge the evolving perfection that is YOU.

You’ve heard it before—-This business needs your uniqueness…not your sameness. Your auditions crave your radical creativity, not hum drum predictability.

Your life has carved and crafted an expert at being YOU. Thank yourself for the incredible training that only YOU received to be this current and growing version of yourself and start bringing that in the room. Bring that into your emails. Bring that into your work.

Your future needs you to stop yelling at your past— stand on it’s shoulders and climb to the next rung of the ladder already!

Colleen Finnegan Kahl is an accomplished Theatre Arts Educator, author of this article, and President of Actors Connection. Colleen is an expert helping aspiring actors find their path through acting classes, workshops, and seminars. 

actors behind a camera

How to Create Your Film/TV Demo Reel: An Actor’s Guide by Tony Nation

/0 Comments/in /by

If you’re a film/TV actor, your demo reel is one of the most powerful tools that you have besides your headshots and resume to market yourself to agents and casting directors. By choosing the right scenes for your demo reel and ordering them correctly, they can help you to find representation, auditions and even bookings.

What is a Demo Reel?

actors behind a cameraAn actor demo reel or sizzle reel is a 1-3 minute edited video collection of your best performances. Talent agents, managers, casting directors and producers, view demo reels when searching for new acting talent for representation or their projects.

Once you’ve landed representation, your talent agent and/or manager will submit your demo reel to casting when submitting via Breakdown Services, Casting Networks or when pitching a casting director.

Casting directors will view demo reels to get a sense of an actor’s range and abilities and if they are right for the projects they are casting. Your demo can help or hurt you based on how you’ve created it.

Creating your Demo Reel

When you start compiling your demo reel, there are some things you want to think about.

First, it’s a compilation of your best on-screen work. This is your time to be selfish and your demo needs to showcase your acting abilities, not other actors.

You will start with your graphic title card with your name and headshot. (5 seconds)

Then your BEST SCENE FIRST. It might be all that is watched so make sure we get 5 seconds of your graphic title card and then right into you speaking/acting.

No montages, no MOS (motion omitting sound), no video of you dancing, no soundtracks unless it was edited in with the piece you were doing and lends itself to the credibility of your scene.

filming your demo reelAll notable work should be titled as we go into each scene.

From there, your scenes should show acting range. If you are repeating the same type of character in the same situations, stick with one scene.

Your demo should be no longer than 3 minutes and preferably around 2 minutes. It can even be as short as 1 minute with just two scenes.

End your demo with your Graphic Title card with your name, headshot and contact/agent info etc.

In creating your demo, I’d recommend that you hire a demo reel editor to help you look your very best. If you are technically skilled, iMovie is one of the simplest editing programs to work in.

If you’re missing certain types of roles, you can always create a short film and then edit out the best part for your demo.

  • Don’t use scenes from classes, taped monologues or auditions that you’ve self-taped.
  • No outdated or low quality footage. If the sound quality is an issue in a scene, don’t use it.
  • Also, don’t use any stage work in your film/TV demo. Create that as a separate demo or as a clip.

Speaking of clips, you should also have all scenes from your demo clipped out and titled i.e.

  • Lead in Indie Rom Com
  • Villain in Horror feature
  • Lawyer in Indie Drama etc.

Sometimes you will find that you or your representation will only want to submit a specific scene/clip for a project. When casting directors don’t have a lot of time, it helps to narrow what they want to watch from what you are offering online via Actors Access, Casting Networks, your website etc.

All clips should be 1 minute or less.

As you build your credits and role work over time, you’ll want to keep improving and updating your demo reel so that it currently represents you.

Don’t forget that your demo reel is one of the most powerful tools you and your representation have to get you in the door. Make sure that it’s your best!

Here are some good examples of quality demo reels:

James L. Ward | Lori Hammel | Roger Hervas | Regina Schneider

This article was written by Tony Nation, a partner at the Actors Connection.  Tony is a professional Actor, Acting Coach, expert in Demo Reels, and helping aspiring actors succeed at their craft.