So to start off with, I want to say this: Lying is not sexy. To a prospective date, to your friends and family, definitely not to a potential agent, manager or casting director.
Knowing that, though, I will give you the straight up honest's truth that not many people will tell you. The chances of you getting cast in something with nothing on your resume are straight up slim to 0. That's because everyone - every major film director, every low budget pilot casting director, every aspiring student film producer - want's something sexy in their project. You're not sexy if you haven't done anything that makes them, tangentially by casting you, look good.
It's a huge catch 22 because doesn't everyone start somewhere? And why should only the people who've been acting since the age of 2 and been doing theater or tv/film their whole lives get to lock down an entire industry?
So before I give you the ways around this, know that I learned most of this from an amazing commercial casting director who said to us all, "You won't get in the door without this, and I want you to get your chance to get in the door. What you do once you're in the door, though, is entirely your responsibility. Wow them."
Confessions:
1. You have to have a little bit of something in every category - except tv. If you're just starting off nobody really expects you to have tv credits so no-one will think anything of it. Your categories should include: Film, TV, Theater, Commercials, Training, Special Skills.
2. DO NOT - I repeat DO NOT say you have appeared in something that will be recognizable to anyone, anywhere, unless you have actually done that project (in which case, it wouldn't be padding your resume, it would be actually listing something on your resume). This includes and leads me to a big big no no, it gets its own point:
3. DO NOT list background work as "featured extra," credited or any other such nonsense on your resume. If you list you were on a tv show there is an 80% likelihood the CD will ask about that show and they can tell by your fumbling response, "umm..I played a waiter in a scene" that you did not actually book that role.
4. DO feel free to expand things you may have done in the past. IE: if you shot a video tape with a friend from home when you were 16. This is a great opportunity for that video to get named as, "Johnny Starbucks" in which you played the "Lead" "Dir. Your Best Friend's Name." Similarly, your local church holiday show could become a theater credit as "A Christmas Story" in which you played "Various" as produced by Christian Community Theater. Follow?
5. DO feel free to move things around. If you've done an internet project, nobody's going to know or care if you run it under your film section. I personally believe, anyway, that internet: webseries & sketch are the new "film" and excluding features, you'll see that category dominate more and more over the next few years.
6. DO feel free to list "List available upon request" under commercials. I hate when people say that's a cop out way for actors to say they've done none. "List available upon request" became a way to ensure that actors wouldn't get screwed out of work just because...say...you'd booked a Pepsi commercial 10 years ago. You shouldn't have to list that on your resume and automatically screw you out of consideration for a Coke commercial today. Lucky for you, though, it is a cop out way if you haven't done any. ;)
7. DO NOT lie about your training. Training is the only thing you have 100% control. Take your money, put it into a class. If you have no money, take free improv classes with Monkey Butler Comedy (www.monkeybutlercomedy.com) and take less than $100 acting classes at the local LA community colleges. No excuse. I have mixed feelings when I see people list their BS in Engineering on their resume. If it doesn't relate, I think it's better to just leave it off. Unless you're going in for a role to play an engineer or something... I'll leave that point up for discussion.
8. DON'T get ambitious with your special skills. There are WAY too many horror stories about people who said they could ride bareback and couldn't. Or said they were a great gymnast and got blacklisted by a CD and Director when they showed up on set and just couldn't. Basically everyone can do yoga, ride a bike, swim. But don't say you're an expert unless you are. And don't list everything you've ever done ever, just the things you could do convincingly on camera. (IE: I'm only advanced in swing and yoga, but I can lindy hop and do pincha mayurasana. Know that if you say you're advanced, you better be able to talk advanced.)
9. DON'T forget where you've fudged. Just like having a fake id, having a padded resume means you need to play the actor that you are and create a back story for everything. If you said you've played Ophelia, you better damn well have read Hamlet (and it wouldn't hurt you to take the time to memorize a monologue or 2 gosh darnit.) CDs like to ask you about things on your resume as a way to pass time, be friendly, ease tension, and keep themselves from getting bored. DON'T feel like you need to own up to everything, though. Short, polite, well thought out responses are WAY better than trying to overcompensate with long made up stories. Remember, you're only using this as a way to get in through the door. To book the audition you're there for (that you're completely prepared for, right?)
10. DON'T get carried away. You only need a few credits in each to make your resume look nice.
11. DO feel 100% confident in yourself that if you're committed to your business as an actor, to studying, preparing, being a good person, you'll quickly replace all your falsies with realsies. I've been acting in LA for a minute over 1 year - with no formal previous training and now everything on my resume is 100% real.
You can check out my kooky, internet heavy, theater lite resume: www.lacasting.com/Judalina as an example of a way to format or my awesome roomie (who's one of those "acting her whole life gals" who came to Hollywood already wicked accomplished) -as an amazing example of a ready to print version
You can check out my kooky, internet heavy, theater lite resume: www.lacasting.com/Judalina as an example of a way to format or my awesome roomie (who's one of those "acting her whole life gals" who came to Hollywood already wicked accomplished) -as an amazing example of a ready to print version
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