cv

The single most important factor an Actor needs to bear in mind when putting together any self-publicity material is the audience who will be viewing this material - in short, people like me. The end-user will be very pressed for time and will also have a great many similar CV's, headshots, showreels and websites to trawl through. You need to get your message across as quickly and professionally as possible in order to stand out.

To this end, here are some tips to better your chances of getting spotted:

CVs


Regrettably, in Acting, the Standard CV is expected to be stripped right down to the bare minimum information - don't ask me why, that is just the way it is. Creating an Actors CV is actually rather easy as the best thing to do is follow the Spotlight way of presenting information. Here is an example Spotlight put on their website:
http://www.spotlightcd.com/misc/internetcv.html

Put your name and specific details at the top (height, playing range, accents, skills etc), a photo on the top right hand side is OK and also your training if relevant. Then below, you list the productions you have been in are usually laid out in three or four columns, i) Production, ii) Part, iii) Production Company and iv) Director. If you've theatre, tv and film experience, it often helps to have different headings, FILM AND TV, THEATRE, etc. and you may wish to put your Agent's details in the Footer rather than as a separate heading - which ever looks neater.

Don't use fancy paper, fancy fonts or any of the sort of things Graphics Designers excel at in communicating written information. These sort of devices are just seen as gimmicks and are therefore more harmful than good. Keep it simple, elegant even, and remember the target market is an overworked Casting Director who has a mountain of CV's to wade through.

The CV is best kept in this INDUSTRY STANDARD format and it is in the covering letter that you get to sell yourself.

OK, so one of the biggest problems Actors have when they start out, or have taken a break for a while, is GAPS IN THE CV. What can be done about this?

I would NEVER suggest you lie in your CV. To do so is dumb as you stand a chance of being found out. If you find yourself with perhaps only one credit (or less) per year, then this is a problem. Long gaps suggest that either the Actor in question is either:

Now if this is so on your own CV, you have to ask yourself two questions:

  1. Why is this?
  2. How do I fix this?

So why are there long gaps in your CV? Some reasons may be legitimate (stopping acting for a while to raise a family, enforced long stays in prison etc) but you MUST have a good reason for this break or else you are in trouble.

If there is no other reason apart from the fact that you didn't get any work, then what in God's name were you doing all that time? If you don't have a good answer to this question then you have no one but yourself to blame.

I have a great many suggestions as to what to do if you are NOT working (and therefore how to avoid getting long holes in your CV) on my WHAT ELSE CAN I DO TO HELP MY CAREER? page.

 

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COVERING LETTER

This is where you sell yourself to the part and is an opportunity missed over and over again.

Believe it or not, I've had covering letters scrawled in a hurry on paper torn from a shorthand notebook, gimmicky trash covering letters in shocking pink and drenched in cheap perfume (as if I was ever that cheap!) and even a covering letter written in what looked like crayon!

PLEASE type your covering letter, use decent paper, be as professional as possible and staple it to the headshot.

The internet is the best research tool in the world - learn to use it. Why waste your covering letter? Why not research the project you are applying for and tell me in the covering letter why I should be auditioning you?

Your covering letter is your chance to flesh out your CV, really sell yourself to the project. Don't waste this opportunity!

 

 

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