There are many ways to gain experience and maximize your
acting opportunities, some of which we will look at
here, I think I have covered most of the bases so I hope
you will find it useful.
HAVING AN AGENT
Having an agent is the best way of getting your face
seen in as many places as possible. This will obviously
increase the likelihood of you getting work. But there
are many acting opportunities to be found without an
agent. Though Film, TV, Broadway and Off Broadway
productions will almost exclusively use agent
submissions, you can still find work without them.
Community and Dinner Theatre, student and some Indie
films will take unrepresented actors.
The more experience and skills you have the more
likely it is that an agent will take you on. An agent
makes money when you work, so they will be keen to sign
you up if you can show what an asset you will be to
them. There is nothing wrong with sending a Resume and
Headshot (more on those later), but the agent will still
want to see your work so it is essential that you send
follow-up cards letting the agent know where and when
you will be working.
RESUMES
Resumes help, not only in getting an agent but once
you have one, your agent will use it to get you
auditions. There are some golden rules for resumes,
these are are the major ones.
- Try to keep your resume to one page (8.5 x 11), if
it is more than that the pages might get separated and
vital details lost.
- Make it legible and neat. People have been known
to get around the above restriction by using a very
small letter size, that's a judgement call on your
part but if it's too small it will work against you.
- Make sure that the Headshot is recent, there is
nothing wrong with making the most of this
opportunity. Use a photograph that shows you at your
absolute best.
- Its vital that all your contact information is
correct, it's also a good idea to set up an email
address specially for your acting correspondence, it
help stop you mistakenly deleting essential emails.
- Most importantly, DON NOT LIE! We have probably
all exaggerated something on an application form at
some time, but you should be very careful about what
you say on your resume. Future acting opportunities
could be endangered if you lie and you will look
foolish if you have put horse riding down as a skill
and on your first day on set you have to admit you
made it up.
LOCAL COMMERCIALS
Most acting opportunities are focused around New York
and L.A. But there are other opportunities that can be
found closer to home some of which I mentioned in the
opening paragraph, but the most lucrative can be local
commercials. Advertising spots for local car
dealerships, restaurants and large local stores are
usually produced by local agencies.The local ad.
agencies will normally use local talent, it will be
easier and cheaper than flying in someone from L.A. The
director will still only hire actors with the relevant
skill, but you can improve your opportunities if you
have a diverse or ethnically ambiguous look, i.e. if you
can pass for more than one type of race.
Thanks for taking the time to read this article, I
hope that it has given you a few ideas on how to
maximize your acting opportunities.
Good luck.
