A certified coach with almost two decades of experience in the entertainment industry. I demystify the process of how to become a working professional in the entertainment industry with tools, strategies and processes to help performers feel empowered as they build their career, hone their craft and cultivate more confidence.
Most actors crave more auditions and one way to work towards getting more opportunities is to create strong branding.
Something I hear OFTEN from actors is, “Where, oh where are my auditions? And why do they feel so hard to come by?”
You’re trained. You’re repped. You’re awesome.
So what the heck is the problem?
Through yourself or through your representation.
And everyone is using the same online casting profiles to try to get you opportunities.
^^^This is what casting directors are seeing when you’re getting submitted for auditions.
They get a quick peek at your headshot and if that catches their eye, they’ll give your reel material a watch.
Actor’s Access, Casting Networks, Casting Frontier, Backstage, and every other casting site are designed for the ease of the casting director. They’re created so a casting director can quickly look through a sea of talented actors and decide who they think could potentially become the character they’re looking to cast.
The way casting profiles are designed is great for casting directors to zig and zag quickly through the uniformed platforms, snapping up the talent they want to audition– but the design is not so great for actors.
Because how the heck do you stand out…
In a platform that makes everyone look the exact same??
I’ve recently been working with a lot of actors specifically on re-designing their casting profiles with a strategy that’s focused not only on your marketing materials but on your BRANDING.
And if you’re thinking… Okay…. but what’s the difference? You’re not alone.
Branding is like the red-headed stepchild hidden in the closet of an actor’s career.
People detest the buzzword aspect of it, so it gets easily discarded. Yet, it’s insanely necessary.
I recently learned there are 1.3 million actors with accounts on Actor’s Access… branding is what helps you start to stand out within the limitations of the casting sites.
Branding is what takes you from, “Oh, yeah, they’re a good actor…” to, “Oh, yeah, let’s bring them in to audition because this character I’m casting needs the thing that THEY have.”
Branding equates to your CASTING POTENTIAL.
Your casting profiles are your sales tools. They’re what you and your rep use to sell you as an actor. Your brand is the essence of what you’re selling.
I’m so glad you asked!
Marketing… is the tools, strategies, and processes used to actively promote you.
Your marketing materials consist of your casting profiles, headshots, resume, reel, website, bio, comp card, and portfolio. You, and your representation, use your marketing materials to help get you noticed in the highly competitive market.
Branding… is defining what makes you special and unique. And OWNING it.
Your branding equates to your casting potential and gets infused into your marketing materials. Your branding highlights your strengths, revolves around your beliefs and attitudes, and is your uniquely special sauce. What type of storyteller are you? And how does that hook casting directors, directors, and producers?
It’s vital to get specific with your branding in order to stand out in a sea of talented performers.
There are roughly 1.3 million accounts on Actors Access.
It’s not enough to get cute headshots and throw them up on your casting profile and expect to get auditions and get noticed.
Specifically defining your branding allows you to declare the type of storyteller you are and own your special sauce that makes you undeniably unique.
Making more sense?
Your brand is you showcasing who you are as a storyteller to casting directors. The process of defining your branding starts with you defining who you think you are as a storyteller and then offering that to the entertainment community.
Also – your branding changes as you do. As you evolve as a human being, your branding evolves with you. As you grow as a storyteller, so does your branding.
Recently, a few actors said to me, “But I don’t want to get typecast and pigeonholed into a specific type of role.”
1.) You won’t, I promise.
2.) You just gotta get your foot in the door. And it’s easier if you give casting something to work with.
Think about it like this…
If I’m your manager and I’m on the phone pitching you to a casting director, trying to get them to bring you in for an audition – what’s more powerful:
Option one: “They’re perfect for this character. They’re like a young Aubrey Plaza meets the heart of Rachel McAdams. Challenging to read and seemingly disinterested, but with a deep sensitivity and empathetic nature that shines through… just like the role you’re currently casting.”
Or
Option two: “They’re perfect for this character. They can do everything. Drama, comedy, you name it. They’re your person for this project. I assure you. Anything you throw at them, they got it.”
^^^You know how many people are trying to get in the door with option 2? Way too many. And guess what, I already forgot about them. Because there’s nothing specific to remember.
Your casting potential is the sweet spot of how YOU view yourself as a storyteller and how OTHERS view you as a storyteller.
Are they aligned? If not… Let’s fix that ASAP.
If you think you’re sarcastic, cunning, and could totally play the teenage daughter that is totally OVER IT and sulks the entire family vacation just to torture her parents for forcing her to go…
But casting directors think you’re as sweet as can be and are as cute as a cupcake topper and you probably volunteer at a retirement community in your spare time…. You’re probably at a career standstill because what you’re selling to casting directors is not what they would buy from you.
The point of branding is to create specificity in how you market yourself to make it easier for the casting director to say YES to bringing you in for an audition.
You want them to come across your casting profile and the headshots and reel content that you have presents them with specific characters you’re PERFECT for. It showcases who you are as a storyteller and has specific consistency throughout.
You’re handing them your secret special sauce in a dish made of 18 karat gold for them to lap up like a famished stray cat.
So how do you start figuring out your branding?
The first part of it is honestly really simple….
You need to take into stock your physical appearance and how people perceive you and the essence of who you are. What are people’s experiences with you like?
Now’s the time for the honest evaluation and inventory… I’m going to let you in on a very bite-sized version of the initial process when I’m helping someone uncover their brand.
1.) List 3-5 adjectives that you’d use to describe you…
2.) What do you bring to the table as a performer that’s unique…
3.) What are three shows you could be cast on tomorrow, no questions asked.
Now these same questions you just answered for yourself… pick 3 different people to ask these same questions too. Do not share your answers with them until after they’ve answered so they can answer completely honestly. You want to try to gauge the experience other people have when they’re around you.
Ok – whoa, right. Is how you view yourself the same as how others view you?
Regardless of if it is or isn’t… this information is the tip of the iceberg. This information we then use to design specific characters that you could easily play and showcase to casting.
You’ve done your honest evaluation of how you see yourself and how others view you, so we know more about your specific casting potential.
Now we get to break that down into “types” and then break it down further into “characters.”
Are you the queen bee?
The affable jock with a heart of gold?
The highly anxious go-getter who loves their job more than their dog?
Based on the information you just collected in phase one, write down 8-10 different types you can play. Don’t worry if some of them are similar, that’s ok!
Now, take all your types and group them into four different sections.
Any of the types that have similarities in their personalities and how the world perceives them can be blended into the same character.
Do you have your four solidified types?
Now let’s create some characters.
For each of the four types you have for yourself, dedicate a specific show or movie you think they could be a part of.
This is to give them a world to be a part of. If one of your types is on the tv show Grown-ish or Chicago Fire… they would exist completely differently in both of those worlds. Which world does your type exist best in to show off your special sauce?
Once you’ve dedicated a show or movie for each of your types, ask yourself the following questions:
1.) What are 3 personality quirks of this character?
2.) How does this character play to your strengths and exude your special sauce?
3.) What would a brief character breakdown look like if a casting director sent it out?
4.) If this character was a guest star on (The show or movie you chose) what would their storyline be if they were a guest star?
^^^
Examples of storylines can be: My character is the new girl in school and instead of trying to fit in, she tries to take over the social circles, wreaking havoc in the high school.
Or my character witnessed the most brutal crime and is protecting his mother’s alibi because family is the most important thing to him. Something that showcases what they would WANT.
You’ve just completed a simple outline for 4 characters that are PERFECT for you!
So all the good work I’ve outlined for you guys in the past few emails is simple but wildly important.
We’ve taken an honest evaluation to see if how you see yourself aligns with how others experience you, which gave us great insight into your casting potential.
We’ve broken that down into specific types you can play and created four characters that could be cast in four specific projects.
Now for the golden question….
Are any of these characters being reflected on your casting profile or in your marketing materials?
If I was a casting director sifting through your casting profile – am I able to see the characters you’re perfect for? And if not, what characters am I seeing from the materials you currently have there?
As we go forward the focus will be how to expertly align your casting profile with the characters we’ve created that perfectly align with your casting potential.
Your main sales tool that you and your representation use to get you noticed by casting directors and invited to audition.
Your casting profile is a part of your “marketing materials” and it houses all of your other marketing materials (Headshot, reel, resume) in one easy, accessible place.
When a submission for a new role gets released, your representation selects one of your pictures and one of your reel scenes to be sent to represent you as an actor. The casting director gets hundreds, if not thousands, of profiles submitted and needs to choose what actors they want to bring in for their initial round of casting.
Do your headshots and reel material represent the four characters you designed for yourself?
Do the marketing materials you have showcase your true casting potential?
The key to having a super streamlined profile is having one headshot and one small reel scene that represent each one of your characters.
That way, your representation (or yourself if you’re the one doing the submitting) has a headshot that instantly captivates the casting director because it’s in the ballpark of the character they’re casting, and you have a reel scene to back up you can actually DO the character your headshot is suggesting you can.
The actor in the profile above, Philly, is a good friend of mine. Some of his reel material listed on his profile are “Rom/Com Nice Guy” scene and “Cool/Guy Douchey” scene. He gets called out to play these two characters ALL THE TIME. And guess what? He’s perfect for both of them. He has headshots and reel footage to showcase these two characters, he can knock out of the park.
A few reasons.
There are a ton of decent actors in their 20’s that look like Philly. If I’m a casting director and I am deciding between two guys – both tall, dark, and handsome. Same age range, super similar looks – and one has a 30-60 second reel scene showing me he’s the character I’m looking for, and the other person just has a photo…. if I’ve only got 50 audition slots to fill … I need to make sure all of those 50 actors out of the thousands that have been submitted are on the money.
By Philly having those reel scenes attached to his profile he’s SHOWING me he can do it. Another guy who’s probably just as good as Philly (Maybe even better), might not get the audition slot because I don’t have any proof of his acting ability.
So, your next steps are….
Making sure your casting profile’s match the characters you created for yourself.
You don’t need a bunch of headshots and reel material thrown on your casting profiles.
Look at your headshots with a new eye. When you look at them, do they represent the storyteller you are? If you were a casting director, what character do you see in your headshot? This is the eye you need to look at your marketing materials through. “What character/storyteller am I presenting to casting with this shot?”
Once you know the pictures you have on your profile represent that – move on to your reel scenes. Pick a super simple scene for each of them from TV shows you know you can be cast in. They don’t have to be long or anything crazy. Just enough to show the casting director you can put your money where your mouth is and actually show up as that character when it matters.
So – it starts with doing an honest inventory to uncover your essence and define your types – you take that information and make characters that showcase your strengths and your unique castability. You then use that information to design marketing materials that shine with your special sauce and can stand out in a sea of talent. THIS helps you catch the eye of casting directors as they’re going through the submission process – which helps you get invited to come in for more auditions. Because you have sales tools working on your behalf that empower you and help introduce you as the storyteller that you are. Your sales tools are your first introduction to most casting directors and are what your representation have at their disposal to do their job – you need to make sure they’re stellar and that they’re dripping with your special sauce.
If you want some help in defining and designing your brand as an actor…
I know when you’re in the beginning phases of starting your career you’re flying by the seat of your pants hoping you’re doing the “right” things or partnering with the right team, or just testing everything as you went… relentlessly pursuing the goal of getting your foot in the door and starting what you hope becomes a long-lasting career.
The thing is, sometimes you’re a bit too close to the biggest problems and you can’t quite see the path in front of you. Or you don’t have access to the tools or resources you need.
Working with me is like having someone show you the sidewalk you’re on and zoom out to see all the possible places you can end up.
Together, we will build your career, hone your craft, and cultivate more confidence. And we’ll create it all based solely on what you want. Not what worked for me, not what worked for your competition, but fully custom to you.
Set up a FREE 30-minute consultation so we can work through your goals, design a plan that you’re excited about, and unpack the details of what working together would look like. Or if you want to dive in immediately and get started – check out my online course Create Your Casting Potential – which walks you through my signature program to design your branding and re-design your marketing materials to stand out in a sea of talent and ensure you’ll be getting the auditions you deserve.
A certified coach with almost two decades of experience in the entertainment industry. I demystify the process of how to become a working professional in the entertainment industry with tools, strategies and processes to help performers feel empowered as they build their career, hone their craft and cultivate more confidence.
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