Pictures and Resumes
PICTURES
Your picture as an actor is simular to a business card for a businessperson. It is the thing that needs to get you into the door so that other professionals will take a look at you.
If the talent is a child under five years of age, because they change so rapidly, they do not need professional pictures, a good snapshot will do. Make sure that the snapshot is one that truly shows your child's personality. Make copies of the snapshot on quality paper and those will be sent to prospective clients.
For a child five and older or for an adult, you will need professional pictures.
Your pictures should be done by a professional photographer who is familiar with the entertainment business. Ask to see some of the headshots and comp cards that they have done for other actors. If you are happy with the professional quality, check their prices and make sure that they are reasonable.
Try to stay away from any agents that require that you buy your pictures from them as a condition of representing you. Many times these pictures are of marginal quality and the pictures are a main source of their income. If these agencies thought that you were so great to begin with, they would not have to use this tactic to make money.
If you are basically interested in acting, a BLACK AND WHITE
headshot will do. Key: it should not be in color, but BLACK AND WHITE. It should show a close-up of your face, down to your shoulders. It should show you in a relaxed mood, with a beautiful smile. Make sure that the smile is natural and not forced. Believe me, it will show if it is not natural. The headshot should show your true personality because if you are selected from that headshot, the person that they meet in the room at your audition needs to be the one that they see in the picture.
If for whatever reason you change your hair color, cut your hair, get braces, or get braces taken off, or in any way shape or form change the way you look from what is in the headshot, make sure that this is stated in your cover letter. Casting directors and producers hate when they call someone who they think is a perfect fit based on their headshot, only to find that the person standing before them no longer looks the same.
Also, your name should be printed on the bottom of the headshot.
Below, you will see what a good headshot should look like.
If you are interested in doing modeling as well as acting then you will need a comp card. (Again, for a child under five years of age, snapshots will do.) It would be nice if you could have both a headshot and a comp card, but usually money is an issue for a performer, so if you want to both model and act, get a comp card done.
A comp card (or zed card) should have on the back about three color poses in different types of settings. (For example: one could be in formal wear, one in casual wear and one in beach wear.) Make sure that these pictures cast you in a good light. and you should look great in all poses.
On the front, if you use a close-up, you may want to do it in black and white, but color is not out of the question. If you do choose to use color over black and white, make sure that the color is natural and not blotchy. Also, the light on your face should be even and not casting shadows.
A good, professional photographer will make sure that it is done right. Remember, you get what you pay for, so don't go too cheap with the photographer.
Food for thought: Don't get carried away by modeling agencies who tell you that you must get a expensive (over $600) portfolio to get into modeling. This is not true. I have known models who have made tremendous amounts of money and they started out with snapshots!
I recommend that you start out with at least a headshot, if nothing else, and build your portfolio from shoots that you do. This is a less expensive way of building a professional portfolio.
RESUMES
Your resume should adequately describe yourself and your experience in the show business field. If you are working with an agent or manager do not put on your resume any personal contact information such as your telephone, beeper, voice mail, cell phone number, home or e-mail address, or website. This information can go on the cover letter that you send out. And NEVER put your social security number on any correspondance. Your social security number should only be given to a definite employer. Don't put on your resume the jobs that you held working at the fast food restaurants or at the local office building. We don't need to know what elementary, middle, high school, or college you went to unless you are describing a production or acting classes that you acted in, for the school. (An exception would be if you are trying to impress the producer or director of a huge project that you are trying to get on, and you know that you went to the same school that he or she did.) Rule of thumb is that if you want to put on your resume about school projects, only go back about three years. Anything before that is ancient history.
Same thing for your objectives. We don't care that you want to be a hair stylist after you graduate college. This resume is for acting jobs, so your objectives should show that.
Your special skills should reflect skills that you are able to do well that might get you a job in a production. Be serious (don't put that you can make funny noises while burping. It might be funny on a sleepover, but it won't get you a job), casting people are looking at these.
When you get to the section where you put your agent's and manager's (Seaysuccess!) names, if you have more than one agent, and are too lazy to make multiple drafts, don't pre-print the agents name in the appropriate spot. Rather, if you have a computer, buy labels from the local office supply store and print your agent's name, address and phone number on different labels and affix the proper label in the agent area of the resume depending on which agent needs your resume. On the resumes that you send to your manager (Seaysuccess!), leave the agent's spot blank.
Finally, there are several different thoughts on this subject, but I believe that you should not staple your resume to the picture. Rather, use a paper clip and attach both together. Both your resume and picture should have your name on them, so if they are separated they can easily be reunited. Also, do not print your resume on the back of your picture. There are two reasons for this. One, if you get two hundred pictures done and you do a major production and you want to put it on your resume, you now have to hand print the info on the resume, and it looks unprofessional. Secondly, many people like to put the picture and resume side by side as they are looking at them. If your info is on the back of the picture, this is impossible. I know that this may sound like something small, but believe me (or your mom if she said this) the devil is in the details. Small things make a big difference.
As you go through the sample resume that is below, look for the comments in pink. They will give you helpful hints.
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