Having been on both sides of the camera, and involved in many aspects of production for years, I’ve found an actor’s reel can be their best friend or worst enemy. Nowadays it’s as basic as a headshot. Some castings won’t even consider submissions without one. And it makes sense. If a picture is worth a thousand words, a reel is worth a million times that. I’ve personally sorted through thousands of submissions for a single role, and found myself only looking at those with reels attached. It saves time in deciding who even gets called in, and streamlines the process.
But what in a reel helps get the actor called into a casting, or an agency meeting, or even directly offered a part? What keeps the viewer watching past the five-second mark? Because that’s really all it takes. The answer I’ve found is in remembering the reason why most of the people on a project (and those who are in a position to hire) have banded together in the first place: They’re here to tell a story.
We’ve all seen how most reels go. They’re usually a string of sporadic clips mashed together, often too long, and most of the time…boring. Yes, we see what you look like, but has
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