Blog Post #125: The Many Reasons Actors Don’t Need a Reel

I apologize in advance if I offend your pre-construed sensibilities, but as usual I am going to put one of the tenets of having an acting career on it’s silly head. To quote Confucius, “If a thousand people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing.” What do I mean by that? Well as with many popular folk tales and expressions, the masses rarely get things right. If they did, they wouldn’t be the masses. They would be the massive successes we all dream of becoming.

Here are many reasons you do not need an acting reel.

Reason One – Imagination is far more powerful than reality.

When someone doesn’t know you, they can be convinced you can do anything and in fact, they may well imagine you can do anything. Once someone sees your reel, that’s what they think you can do. Your comedic reel makes people believe you can’t do drama. Your dramatic reel makes people think you can’t do comedy. People like to put things in neatly wrapped boxes, actors included. The more you show, ironically the less they think you can do. The imagination is an amazing thing. Let people use theirs and then you can show them what you can do.

Reason Two – Your credits speak for themselves.

If you have professional credits, that’s all they need to know. Every industry professional knows how hard it is to get even the smallest network television or feature film role. The casting office is literally murderers row. To get called in, CD’s and producers just need to know you got hired, did the job and didn’t get fired. For example. One of my first roles was on CSI. You’re probably impressed just by hearing that. That’s the point. It was a very important but small role and there wasn’t much to put on a reel (but you know I tried!). I get a lot more mileage out of telling people I was on CSI than by showing them what I did on it.

Reason Three – They give you a false sense of security.

When we are on our way up the acting ladder, there seems to be an ostensible checklist of things we have to do to get to where we want to go. Everyone has a reason they can’t sign us, hire us, meet with us, take our call or respond to us. They give us reasons like, you’re not in the union, you need new headshots, you need a reel, etc. We figure if we get all those things, our life will change, but it doesn’t. Open one false door, and another takes it’s place. What matters is what people really know of us, personally. They give us these roadblocks to be polite or to avoid telling actors the truth because we all know that “Hell hath no fury than an actor scorned.” The only things that really matter in your acting career are the ‘real’ things, not the ‘reel’ things; skills, industry insight, relationships and above all perseverance in the face of intense fire.

Reason Four – You are far more interesting than your reel.

While many of us have been scared half to death of approaching anyone in the industry, a single face to face meeting, even for a few seconds, is more powerful than the greatest reel on the planet. Everytime we meet and talk to someone we are building personal equity with that person, otherwise known as goodwill. Someone who cares about you, even slightly will be far more likely to call you in over someone who has only seen your reel. This business is largely built upon trust and faith. No one knows what you are doing to do each audition. The more you can lead them to believe you are ‘cool’ and a pleasure rather than a nightmare, the more they will call you in. Even if you aren’t an awesome actor, you will get far more chances from your ‘friends’ in the worst of times than from strangers in the best of times. One or two fairy godmothers is all you need. If a single top CD or producer sings your praises, you don’t need anything else. Trust begets trust begets trust.

Reason Five – They are always out of date.

By definition, something recorded is in the past and since we are usually better now than we were then, a reel is always going to haunt us in some way or another. It can only represent what we did ‘way back when’. You could be ten times better now than you were then or your capabilities or focus might have completely changed. Why let who you were in the past dictate what people think you can do now? How do they know what you can do? You have to show them. Make your case with compulsion and passion and you’d be surprised at what people will let you do.

Reason Six – It might hurt you more than help you.

If your real abilities can’t live up to the ‘hype’ of reel abilities; if you can’t do what’s on the reel with very little preparation time, you are actually moving in reverse. Most newer actors have no idea how fast the business moves, and hence actors with it. If what is on your reel is not reflective of what you can do given a few hours notice, don’t let people see it. You will get their hopes up and then let them down.

Further, If the material on your reel is not from professional/recognizable works or it is not awe inspiring, it might hurt your chances of getting called in. Bringing you in for an audition is a huge risk for the professional casting director. Since there is no way of knowing exactly where your material came from, it is impossible to judge your abilities by watching your reel. It could be from a student film or maybe it is not a reel at all, but a home-made scene created to look like a reel. There is a difference. It may not seem like cheating to you because you can’t figure out any other way of getting material, but faking it is not the same as making it.

Reason Seven – It’s almost impossible to get people to watch them.

When I volunteered in casting, we were deluged with reels. I can count on the fingers of one hand how often I saw a CD watching one or talking about one. Think of it from their perspective (which you should always do before making any move), if you watch brilliant actors all day long, why would they want to watch amateur reels of new actors? Why put a CD through the living hell of watching yet another scene from yet another student film when they can just call you in and experience that living hell in person. Ask for auditions. CD’s know and you should know that it takes almost the same amount of time to audition you as it does to watch your reel and then they still have to call you in. Why do both? Can’t get called in? That’s not your reel’s job anyway. That’s you or your agent’s job. Grow a pair and pick up the phone or hit the bricks. Don’t want to offend people? Are you really that offensive?

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