Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Christine McKenna-Torella, a professional casting director with 10 years experience and the casting specialist here at Backstage. Welcome to Actor's Toolkit. In this series, we break down all the materials an actor needs to successfully find work in today's industry. We're going to start off with some of the most basic building blocks to help you launch your acting career. We all know that digital is more important than ever. Everyone is Googling names and reviewing projects online, allowing for a great opportunity for actors to gain more access and exposure, but less face-to-face means less conventional networking. So let's talk about the essential assets you need to make sure you're ready for when that online opportunity comes knocking. Enjoy the session, jump in with any questions you might have along the way, and let's dig in. Every actor is going to need at least one excellent headshot. This needs to be an 8x10 when printed, and it should have your name on it. There are slightly different styles of headshots, but here are the four rules you have to follow to have a professional headshot that is going to get you auditions. Rule one, do know what the standards are. A headshot is a cropped shot of your face from the shoulders up. It has to be in color and high resolution. The ideal print resolution is 300 dpi print size. Printed headshots should measure 8x10. Rule two, do go professional. Your budget might vary, but this is your calling card. It is totally worth spending the money on a picture you will send in for every job you apply for. Shop around for the photographer that fits you best. You should like their style based on what you've seen with other photos. Rule three, do make it authentic. It's tempting to go for a glamour shot or use a heavy hand with Photoshop tool, but that is not going to make a great headshot. A great headshot should look like you on your best day. There are two main types of headshots that you'll hear about. Legit shots that tend to be a serious look. Perhaps you aren't fully smiling. Photographers like to say it's a picture that looks like you have a secret. And commercial shots. They're smiley, bubbly, and you're ready to sell me toothpaste. Here's my never rule. Never pull something from social media. A headshot is not a selfie. It's not a great picture of you at a bar or hanging out with friends. It should never include multiple people. Follow the rule I've just outlined to achieve greater success with your headshot. It's literally the first impression when you apply for an audition. Put simply, your resume is going to be a list of your work. And it's important to note that a layout of an acting resume is very different from the layout of resumes for other types of work. It should be one page, a PDF when you send it digitally, and it should have all of the relevant performance experience included. I have four rules for you to follow in building your resume. One, do make it a page. A resume is a single sheet with your credits on it. It must fit the industry standard of an 8 by 10 sizing when it's printed. So for in-person auditions, it can be properly attached to the back of your headshot. Two, do tick all the crucial boxes. Your credits and experience will vary, but here's what you have to have. Your contact details. In particular, I need your cell phone and your email. And if you have an agent, include that there also. Your height, your eye color and your hair color, and your general location. Never include your actual address. I don't need to know where you live. Three, do make it clean and easy to read. There's a basic standard layout the casting will be used to seeing. Contact details on top, an organized grid with your credits in the middle, education and acting related training, and special skills will be at the bottom. Finally, never lie on your resume. Everything is searchable. You will get caught, and I promise you lying is a deal breaker in any casting office. This is an important aspect of your digital toolkit. A reel is a short playable video that will act as a showcase for your work, who you are. Your demo reel should be an accurate representation of yourself, your personality, experience and abilities. What do you need to include in your reel? Here are some of my top tips to get you started. Rule one, do make it high quality. Materials should be HD with clear audio and quality lighting. If I can't hear or see what you're doing, how can I connect with your performance? Make it easy to view. I call this the click and go. Unfortunately, no one wants to download your video. So keep it on a streaming service like YouTube or Vimeo, and embed it onto your acting profile or website. Rule two, do keep it brief. The casting team is looking for a taste of your talents and skills. Two to three minutes is the maximum amount of time you're going to keep their attention. If you have multiple skills you want to showcase, divide them up. Let's use a musical artist as an example. I would recommend you have a singing reel, a movement dance reel, and an acting reel to get you started. Rule three, do include your best work. A good demo reel can give you a real advantage when it comes to getting auditions. It gives casting and producers and the director a curated look at the best of your talent and abilities. You need to ask for advice on whether your reel is really your best work. Ask a trusted colleague for an honest answer. Finally, don't use footage just because you have it. Consider how professional it looks. If it's from an acting class or a live onstage performance, the audio and lighting will be compromised. If it's outdated, i.e. you've changed a lot since that footage was made, it's not going to work well as a reel because it doesn't represent you well. Everything that we've been discussing so far today is going to be the content of your website. You want casting professionals to be able to find you in a simple Google search. Here are additional essential points so you can start building your website and putting your best foot forward. Maybe you don't think you're ready to launch a website yet. Perhaps you are new to the business or budget conscious or you are building a website, but you're not ready to share it yet. Here's the great news. Your backstage acting profile is a shareable link where you can hide unlimited videos, audio, headshots, and resumes. And although I recommend that as you progress in your career, you do build out your own website, backstage is a professional way to present yourself in the industry, and it's included in your subscription at no additional cost. Rule one, do have an online presence. Whether it's an acting website with a personalized domain or your backstage profile complete with all the media a website should include, you want to be easy to find online. It's a reality, especially now that industry folks are working virtually, that you will be Googled and searched for online. You want to be found, and you want to control what they get to see. Rule two, do include the essentials. I recommend an about page that includes a personal bio, a resume, a gallery page that includes your headshot and possibly performance shots, a media page with the most up-to-date and best material you have on tape, and a contact page that is connected to an email you check regularly. Because obviously, but you'd be surprised. Rule three, do make your site mobile friendly. You want your site to be easy to navigate and easy to access. The majority of us are on our cell phones more than we're on our desktops, so make sure that you cater for the former when you're designing your website. Finally, do not make a website and forget about it. You want to stay current. When you book gigs, update your resume. If you get a dramatic haircut or you lose a noticeable amount of weight, for example, your material should reflect that. It's also a great idea to have a news section for when you book jobs. This is a living document, and it's an important marketing tool. You want to put the most accurate information up there. To review, your headshot, your resume, your website, and reel are foundational in your career as a performer. By improving these four essential assets, you will have more success in your audition application process right through to booking more jobs. Next, we're going to go live with questions from you guys. I want to hear what you've been thinking and any ideas that you have, and let's chat through some examples for how to improve these assets.