How to Instantly Elevate Your Reel Material

Tell me if this sounds familiar…

A while back, you told yourself you were *finally* going to re-design and update your reel material.

But then, life got in the way. You got super busy with work/school, your social life has been bustling, or you even just needed to take some time and get some much-needed rest.

And filming new reel material kept falling to the bottom of your to-do list. Hey, it happens – I’ve totally been there!

But here’s why there’s no better time than now to update your reel material, so it’s stellar.

Your reel material is one of the main things that your rep uses to submit you and casting directors use to decide if they should bring you in for an audition.

Your reel material is your number one marketing material. It’s your main sales tool. It literally is the evidence of you being able to act. So it better be effin’ good.

Remember, at the end of the day – this is a business.

You are the product.

Your reel helps sell the product to potential buyers (casting directors, producers, directors, writers).

SO many of the opportunities you can receive are directly tied to your reel material and its strength.

It’s the “evidence” of your talent and acting ability. Your headshot can only do so much to get you in the room. Next, it’s all about your ability to actually… act.

THIS is where your reel material can do the talking for you. It’s showcasing your talent when you’re not even in the room.

Sometimes casting directors will use the material you have on actors access during decision making producers sessions if they’re having a hard time deciding between actors.

When I’ve cast some of my own projects before, if we loved someone’s look but clicked on their reel and either were bored or thought, “yikes – lets skip ahead a bit and hope this gets better.” 10/10 times we didn’t call that person in or ask them to tape.

So yeah, a great headshot is necessary – most of the times it will be the first thing that catches a casting director’s eye – but the next thing they’ll do is click on your reel to see if they should remain interested.

You’re honestly not competitive without it. Whether you’re looking for new rep or just trying to get more auditions – you’re competing against so many other actors (ones who have great reel material) you need awesome reel material to back you up. It’s one of your essential sales tools.

And some casting directors go instantly to reel material without giving the headshot much weight at all. Because they know – a picture is great and all, but can you walk the walk.

Look, your reel material will continue to evolve as you do. The more you grow your actor toolbox, the more you’ll have to showcase in your reel. You can and always will update it.

But this should be your number one priority through the rest of the year – to make sure that your reel material is strong, showcases your strengths, stands out in a sea of talent during the submission process, and effectively sells you to decision-makers. 

Questions to ask yourself to instantly elevate your reel material 🎬

1.) Is my current material showcasing my strengths?

Is it acting as evidence that I’m a good actor? Am I featuring the things I know I’m best at as an actor?

2.) Is my current material showcasing a variety of ways I can be cast? Is it showcasing different slices of characters I can play?

Or is it all a little bit one note? Is my reel material the same in tone and style? Essentially featuring the same, or similar, characters in all of my clips?

3.) Are the scenes starting on my face?

Casting directors want to see YOU act. Don’t start on the face of a celebrity to show that you’ve worked with them and don’t start on the other actors face so that the “story” of the scene makes more sense – that’s not the point of the reel. The only point is to showcase your acting ability. That’s it.

4.) Am I showing the meaty parts of the scene or do I need to trim the fat?

Most of our reels our too long – we want to showcase the entire scene, again, for the sake of story – but casting directors usually end up watching a bit of a scene and then skipping ahead… so having a full minute, two-minute plus scene isn’t necessary.

5.) Do I have separate comedy and drama reels?

If someone is casting for CSI, they don’t need to scrub through your comedy stuff – deliver them exactly what they want and need. Make it easy for casting directors to access the material that’s most important to them.

And if you’re thinking – but I don’t have footage of each. Self-tape. It doesn’t matter how it gets delivered. You have a phone, you have a self-tape setup. There’s no excuse to not have certain footage if you KNOW you need it.

6.) Am I relying too heavily on footage from projects I’ve booked to show that I’ve worked before?

Some actors feel like having self-taped material on their casting profiles makes them look amateaur. So they’ll rely on footage from some projects they’ve worked on in the past – typically short films, student, films or low-budget projects.

Sometimes the footage is great. Sometimes it’s… not. And really shouldn’t be seen by anybody who is potentially wanting to cast you.

Just because the footage is from a project that’s professional and is on your resume – does not necessarily mean it will do a good job to sell you for future projects. It would be so much more beneficial for you to have two or three super solid clips that are in line with yoru casting and show off your skills – rather than some subpar footage that’s “professional”.

A few quick examples!

I once saw a girl who had a clip from a horror short film that was just her running through the woods acting scared for 45 seconds. What did I gather about her acting from this clip? That she could run… and had been cast in a horror short film. I gathered literally nothing about her ability to act.

Another casting profile had all these very adorable and bright headshots – super young, fresh, very commercial. And the reel material was two short clips from a short iflm about VERY dark subject matter. Literally completely opposite of her headshots. And that’s all she had…. There was zero variety in her footage. She was selling one very specific niche aspect of what she could do as an actor.

Your reel is hands-down your most important marketing material It doesn’t need to be fancy.

It doesn’t need to be from professional projects.

But it needs to be damn good, show-off your acting ability, and cut right to the chase of what you’re trying to showcase and sell.

Now I know what you’re thinking: “I just don’t have time to find material, prepare, film, edit, etc; OR I honestly have no idea what to even film and make sure it’s GOOD”.

That’s where I come in!

With my 4-week branding intensive, you’ll be able to…

Create a brand that highlights characters you can be cast as TODAY

Film 3-4 scenes that work as professional reel material and acts as evidence of your talent (plus makes you competitive in undoubtedly the most competitive industry)

Completely re-design your casting profile so that it shines in a sea of talent and gets you the audition opportunities you deserve

…all without the stress that comes with DIYing.

Sounds pretty great, doesn’t it? Set up a consultation so we can chat through your reel/marketing needs!