Acting Opportunities - What You Need To Know!
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.
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.
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.
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.