Hi Bonnie!

Best wishes,
Lina Reed Shukla

Thanks, Lina. I am such a fan of the events that the SAG Conservatory puts on and wish more great actors would take advantage of them. (The submission window is now closed, but I recommend actors set up Google Alerts for future notification. It’s the best twenty-five bucks going!) Thank you for having been a part of the mini-Self-Management for Actors Seminar I put on there a few weeks back. I was really inspired by the level of questions and the great feedback that has come through.

Now, as to your question about “personality slates,” I’m guessing these are those “so tell me about yourself” clips that people have been posting up when they don’t have demo reels of actual footage in work they’ve booked, as a way to stay in the mix, right? Like some casting directors won’t consider submissions from actors who don’t have tape. So, to be sure there’s footage attached to an electronic submission, actors will have these short vids in which they talk about themselves, they share a bit about their quirks or eccentricities, they’ll give an overview of who they are, hoping to “show” more than what exists in a photo and resume. They become more “real” somehow, right?

Well… sure. I see the draw. I see where actors can be convinced that “something is better than nothing,” and certainly for some casting directors, that would be considered true. But for most casting directors, it’s the footage of actual acting work that’s going to work best. Here, if I had to rank the types of footage, it would go like this (most useful to least useful):

• footage from professional, paid, studio-level work
• footage from professional, paid, indie work
• footage from spec, copy-credit-meals, indie work
• footage from student-level or self-produced work that doesn’t quite reach the above category
• footage from a class, open mic night, play, or other staged work, no matter how high-end
• non-booked work just to show potential buyers how you come across on tape

Er. That means what you’re asking about is the least-desirable type of footage to have, and that means I’m going to encourage you to skip the “personality slate” and get to shooting a scene with friends. Shoot something that shows you doing what you do best, in character, as you would book (whether commercial or theatrical) right now, were you only given the chance!

Show potential buyers what your WORK looks like and you’re going to be taken far more seriously. Sure, seeing any tape may be better than seeing no tape, but what having no tape may do for you is get you on a list of “not yet ready” in your target offices.

That said, if you are hell-bent on adding a piece like this to your toolbox (totally fine, just not the best tool to which you have access), I’d say it needs to be all about helping us get you. We need to be sure we understand your logline, your type, your brand — basically all that you are and what we’re going to get when we invite you in the room. So, what you say becomes far less important than how you say it and how it helps us “get you.” Does that make sense?

I’d say, pick some text that has nothing to do with acting. Grab an article from today’s paper. Pick up your favorite non-industry book. Read it in the voice that sells the youness of you. Then, whatever you decide to say, present, or share (in anything from a “personality slate” to a networking encounter) will be on brand.

Bonnie Gillespie is living her dreams by helping others figure out how to live theirs. Wanna work with Bon? Start here. Thanks!

Originally published by Actors Access at http://more.showfax.com/columns/avoice/archives/001391.html. Please support the many wonderful resources provided by the Breakdown Services family. This posting is the author’s personal archive.