260605 Reels.txt
English (US)
00:00:00.000 — 00:06:40.810 · Speaker 1
Time to talk about your real. Real is a collection of highlight clips from projects that you have been in. A self tape reel is the same thing, but for self tapes, one of the number one questions I get asked is it okay to combine the two in the same reel? No, it is not. Do not combine a self tape reel with a professional reel.
Why? As soon as someone sees a self tape background, their expectations fall through the floor. They're like, okay, this is just an audition setting. My expectations for production value are very low. The focus is on the performer and the imagination that is being conjured through the minimal props and location and costume that is in the self tape.
The professional reel is going to have a whole different standard of production value costumes, background furniture, maybe other people lighting. So you just don't want to mix the two, because then the viewer is going to be jumping from expectation to expectation, and probably falling short when it comes to the self tape part of things.
So make sure to keep them separate the right length for a real. My opinion 2 to 3 minutes. People are busy. You can't guarantee that someone's going to watch past that. Now the solution is in addition to your reel you can have different clips. So for instance you can have like a rom com clip, dramatic procedural clip, sci fi, intense clip, horror, monster clip.
So you can have different sections that people can go to. Let's say that they're casting a horror film. They're not going to care about your rom com work. They don't want to see your comedy reel. They want to see you in a horror film. So you present maximum pieces of footage labeled accordingly for maximum efficiency for the casting director, because the more time they're kind of scrambling, trying to find the right thing to look at for you.
The less likely they are to extend an offer for the audition. You want to make it really easy for people to find exactly what they're looking for. I have a lot of strong feelings about how to edit your reel, what to include, what not to include. The short answer is it should be very simple, but if you want to hear my full thoughts on acting reels, you can go to episode number two of my podcast, where I go in depth on what to do, what not to do for your acting reel.
In summary, keep it simple. No montages, no crazy VFX, no fade to black in between clips. Just one scene after another scene after another scene. Very straightforward. So with your reel, you're going to want to put your biggest credits first. You can expect that whoever's watching will watch at least the first 10s, but there's no guarantees after that.
So make sure your most impressive thing is at the very top of the reel, and that will encourage somebody to keep watching. So if you had a scene with, I don't know, Denzel Washington or you were on a Netflix show, whatever is the most impressive, try to put that at the top and then put the second most impressive thing after that third most impressive thing after that, you really want to front load your reel so that the best clips are first.
I don't need your name as a title card in there. I certainly don't want at the beginning, but if you absolutely really want to put it in there, I would put it at the end. Lower thirds are also helpful if you have any sort of significant credits like a Netflix series or, um, scene with a famous actor, you can put that in the title in the lower third so that people know, oh wow, this was on a streamer or whatever.
If you do not have a lot of footage, please don't be precious about your bookings. There is no shame in doing a student film for free if you're going to get good footage out of it. So you really are going to want to try to get at least 2 or 3 projects under your belt so that you can get that footage onto your reel.
Or real is incredibly helpful for people seeing how you're going to look on camera if they hire you. So if you don't have any indie films and you're trying to get cast in larger budget TV and film, for gosh sake, book the indie film book, the student film book the no pay, and just get that footage so you can add it to your reel.
Make sure that you build into your agreement that you get a copy of the footage when you're done filming. It's called copy and credit. You get credit on IMDb and you get a copy of that footage. You're going to need that so that if they're dragging their feet, getting you the final product, you could point to your contract and say, hey, look, you promised me, I need it for my reel.
Please send it now. The other thing that you can do is if you have a friend with a camera, you can just shoot something quick and easy where you're improvising dialog in daylight so that it's a fairly nice looking image. Make sure you get a mic like this or something that is going to give you a decent audio quality, and then edit it together.
You've got yourself a scene. It is amazing how democratic filmmaking has become. Basically, anyone with a couple of hundred bucks can get a decent camera now and film something that is going to be relatively passable. So there's entire feature films that are being shot on iPhones now. There's no excuse not to have a reel, even if you have to film it yourself.
When you're finally ready to put your reel out into the world. I would put it on Vimeo or YouTube and make it publicly accessible. You never know who's going to be trying to look for it. And oftentimes I have a hard time finding an actor's reel. You can also put it on IMDb on your page. And basically if you've cut it, put it out there, it is an incredibly useful marketing tool and you want it to be findable.
Remember, you can always update it as new footage comes in and then update the links. But you're going to want to publicly accessible way for people to find your real. I personally love Vimeo. I just think it's a nice user interface and very professional. You don't need to make it downloadable. You can make it so that it's a view only, but make sure you get it out there.
I've included a friend's reel who allowed me to use it to illustrate what a good reel looks like. So here's one example of how to cut a great reel, and I hope it's useful to you. I hope you enjoyed this actor's work.
00:06:42.010 — 00:06:57.850 · Speaker 2
Playlist. Born in Maine, me born preacher. Good morning. Will I miss Mamie Hubble? You're leaving Chicago too soon? You will only hear a few days. I didn't need no more days than that. I got to see some family, a few friends, maybe get you to come down and see us. I like it just fine out here. All right.
00:06:57.850 — 00:06:58.129 · Speaker 3
Now
00:06:59.370 — 00:07:01.290 · Speaker 3
where's Bobo? He's in there.
00:07:02.410 — 00:07:05.160 · Speaker 3
See me see the Bubba Watson. Sir.
00:07:05.600 — 00:07:11.840 · Speaker 2
You ain't a white man, Bobo. You want a bust? Hey, leave him alone, Morris. Mrs. Brown must have kept it to herself. No one has to know.
00:07:13.720 — 00:07:14.559 · Speaker 4
Hurry
00:07:15.960 — 00:07:22.200 · Speaker 4
up. Are ten dead my way?
00:07:23.040 — 00:07:24.240 · Speaker 2
Are you? Are you fucking.
00:07:24.240 — 00:07:25.920 · Speaker 5
Kidding? I didn't know it was Copper Ramirez.
00:07:26.040 — 00:07:31.320 · Speaker 2
But you're too fucking dumb to realize that he was finessing you. But his two murders on me.
00:07:31.440 — 00:07:33.840 · Speaker 5
Okay, if I knew what was going on, I would have been able to protect him.
00:07:33.840 — 00:07:34.760 · Speaker 2
Because I always.
00:07:34.760 — 00:07:40.240 · Speaker 6
Tell you what you need to know. Always. And you're playing this shit like it's a game.
00:07:41.320 — 00:07:41.720 · Speaker 2
No.
00:07:43.240 — 00:07:46.520 · Speaker 6
You need to tell your fucking dad to go get you a job.
00:07:46.560 — 00:07:49.640 · Speaker 5
Don't stand here and act like your dad isn't rich and well connected to.
00:07:50.600 — 00:07:51.440 · Speaker 2
You're out.
00:07:52.000 — 00:07:56.120 · Speaker 5
I've been here since day one. We built this. Yeah.
00:07:57.280 — 00:07:58.560 · Speaker 7
And the fuck out of my sight.
00:07:59.400 — 00:08:07.630 · Speaker 2
Yo. Yo, dude. Hell yeah. Bro. Hey, Pop's working late, so. Hey, yo, let's invite some ladies over. You might even get lucky. You feel me?
00:08:08.870 — 00:08:10.670 · Speaker 2
Come on, bro, let's go. Man. Let's go.
00:08:10.710 — 00:08:12.390 · Speaker 8
Reese, did you finish your history?
00:08:12.430 — 00:08:13.830 · Speaker 9
Yeah, I'm study hall.
00:08:14.190 — 00:08:15.430 · Speaker 2
I'm still working on mine.
00:08:15.990 — 00:08:17.070 · Speaker 9
Are you gonna finish that?
00:08:17.670 — 00:08:18.230 · Speaker 2
No.
00:08:18.470 — 00:08:20.590 · Speaker 9
Thank you. Tonight I'm coming with.
00:08:21.030 — 00:08:23.750 · Speaker 2
I don't have a car. You sneak out.
00:08:23.790 — 00:08:26.190 · Speaker 10
I think it's really adorable that you asked your mom, though.
00:08:26.230 — 00:08:31.990 · Speaker 2
Let's meet at Hulu Street. Bus stop at 11. And nobody else who agrees. Madam.
00:08:32.270 — 00:08:33.830 · Speaker 11
Could you please give us a minute?
00:08:35.310 — 00:08:37.390 · Speaker 11
I'll flip it back over when we're ready for you.
00:08:42.870 — 00:09:03.550 · Speaker 12
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