Acting : Reels by Brendan Thatcher

Hi, I'm in the UK and assume casting directors on both side of the pond need the same thing. I've done a lot of research before compiling my latest showreel, that I'll be releasing this week. Here's what I've discovered : -

Showreels are for casting directors first, agents second.

Casting starts with your 'Photograph' if that appeals 'Showreel's' come next then CV. It's not how much you've done but the quality of what you have that counts.

Casting directors seem to agree, 'less is more'. A showreel of three minutes or less is more than enough.

They will decide on you in the first 30 seconds so make that count and keep them wanting more . . . if you can . . . they are busy and that might be all they can see anyway, time wise!

A three second caption at the front is enough to slate the reel. Include your name, picture, agent and Spotlight or equivalent industry website details,. They can always freeze a shot if they need to so avoid fancy graphics.

If you're great in one 30 second clip and not so hot but okay elsewhere, just the 30 secs is enough!

They want the first shot to look like your picture so they can recognise 'YOU' in the rest of the reel and relate your picture to your performance. That includes you using your own accent too.

They prefer a scene where you are reacting to others rather than a straight to camera monologue as they want to see your emotional spontaneity at work. If you don't have that, then a monologue will be fine as long as it sells 'performance' not just 'story'.

Sound is as important as picture quality. Good, well recorded sound makes you instantly look better and, in a stream of showreels, can often make you stand out from the crowd.

Jury is out on captioning the clips. Most say 'don't do it' and some like to know.

I'd say, do it consistently, if at all, and only if the credits are impressive.

Montage of shots to show your range is really UNhelpful at the front of the reel. It wastes time. If you are a character actor, leave that for the end if you must include a montage at all. Seeing you in different costumes etc. isn't the point. Can you act??!!

That's all they are testing you for on a showreel, so a scene is more attention grabbing than quick shots over music.

Don't put in a piece just because you're standing next to a 'star', if you're not the main feature of the piece/clip, why include it? They can see who you've worked with from your CV, if your showreel acting grabs them enough to move on to that stage.

Personally, I have also cast people using showreels only, for a screen writing competition that ran for four years. I had time to look through 3 minute reels but after the 5th even that was overwhelming.

Some people left their best shots till last . . . really not helpful, and one of the best actors I found, out of the 150 I must have looked at, only had a 30 second commercial. It was enough. I cast him along side a very quirky girl who, again, only had one clip that made her look like a real fruitcake of a person but the chemistry was perfect! They've gone on to do more and their showreels are longer now BUT those two short clips are all I need to remember them both by. I've forgotten all the footage on the longer reels to be honest except one, this character actor shrugged his sholders in a resigned manner, just like the script I needed to cast indicated in the first shot. I couldn't get that out of my head and he got cast.

I remember all the other actors only from the abilities proved on the day and the directors compliments.

So, one perfectly 'in the moment' shot is what I found memorable.

As an actor, we'll never know what that 'memorable' shot will be. So the best we can do is put the 'strong' moments in the reel and hope one will fit. Leave every thing else out.

In my new reel, I've glued two pieces of a scene together to create one consistent piece of dialogue and the scene now tells a totally different story line to the actual plot BUT it allowed me to show two memorable acting performances in a short space of time. Showreels are about you and your ability to show human emotions in a natural, spontanious fashion, that is 'story' enough.

Lastly, I am of the opinion that, as a character actor, many tiny showreels may serve better than one general one, given the technological platforms available now and the way we go for work.

I'll have my 'general' one this week and I'm going to make one minute reels to cover, commercials, comedy scenes, nasty ladies, sweet ladies, action hero scenes and a reel of shots each with a different accent, as I do six really well. That, for me, will cover my range and be 'specific' for certain jobs. The general reel will then become an 'if-you-want-to-see-more' reel, as well as the usual, 'this-is-what-I-can-do' PR reel.

Times are changing and this suggestion has proved very popular with my agent so maybe you'd like to consider this as an option for your clients too.

Waffled on a bit but I hope this all helps.

Good luck with your new venture.

Awesome Sara Dee! This is some really valuable insight into reels. I appreciate the detailed response!

Please it helped. I've just published my new reel if it helps for reference. It's at the top of my vimeo channel https://vimeo.com/saradee and if you scroll down (past the 'more' command) there's my old one at the end on my vimeo channel that has a montage, is over three minutes, is captioned and . . ., well . . . breaks the new code if you like. Might be a helpful contrast of styles to study. Your call. BTW You might notice I've done a seperate Commercials showreel and a seperate ADR reel too. Casting directors only want to see what they are intersted in and these disciplines can be seperated easly

Good luck with your venture.

I stumbled across this video about what to include in an actor's reel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeFlJCgxN-A

It seems to cover most of the things I would have mentioned - keep it short, start with your strongest stuff first, make sure it looks good/sounds good, make sure there is a lower third to tell us the title of the production (and ideally year, format, and genre), and show the stuff you want to get more work for (i.e. don't show comedy scenes if you don't want more comedy work).

They want it professional, they want it impactful and they want it short

I culled all of my clips from You tube, edit them myself using the Videopad Editor. It lasts 2 mins. and features 5 characters. The first minute gets watched twice a week from people in my city!

Thanks all for your input! I'm planning on putting together my reel editing services in 2021.