Do you love your headshot? Are you crazy about your resumé? Does your reel fill you with glee? Are you so freakin’ excited to send people to your website that you giggle as you provide the URL?
I suggested a couple of months ago that if you’re not lighting up when you provide your tools to buyers that you fix that situation immediately. So… you’ve had two months. Have you fixed your stuff? Are you now in love with it all?
While I was teaching a course in Self-Management for Actors for the wonderful actors of the Australian Institute for Performing Arts’ Professional Actors’ Masterclass not too long ago, I asked for a volunteer to let me show off his or her resumé. Specifically, I asked, “Who here is so batshit crazy in love with their resumé that they cannot WAIT for me to go through it in front of everyone?”
Enter: Alexandra Ryan.
Now, to be fair, Alex had a pretty good idea that her resumé rocked because we had just looked over it together a month earlier in a private session. But that moment in which she enthusiastically broke the silence and uncomfortable shuffling of papers by a room full of people looking down and hoping not to be selected? That moment was a thing of beauty.
And it served to underscore the reality that MOST of us are walking around, every day, with tools we’re less than thrilled to present to others. It’s headshots we’re aware look less like us than they should. It’s resumés with outdated credits and a lack of the newest, coolest ones added on. It’s a reel we KNOW isn’t doing us any favors. It’s a website with broken links and typos.
Why is it that we KNOW about these conditions but won’t take the time to make changes?
Fear? Laziness? Steven Pressfield-style Resistance? All of the above?
Sure, sometimes it could be a financial situation: It does cost money to print off new headshots and change ’em out at the online submission services — even if you’re able to use shots from your most recent shoot. If iMovie isn’t your friend, your reel will need a trip to an editor to get recut. If you’re not web savvy, you are looking to pay someone to change your HTML. I get all that.
But your resumé? You totally control that… for no money. And it should look AMAZING. It should *feel* like a party when you’re asked to share it with the world.
Not sure where to start? Head over to my column on resumés (complete with templates for several tiers of resumé types). Brush up on issues of billing here. Perform a little Resumé Feng Shui so that you are in love with this tool you use every day. And don’t forget to do the same updates to your online versions of this document!
Oh, so what makes Alex love her resumé so much? It is simple, clean, professional, and it focuses the buyers’ attention on the next booking, not all the previous ones. See it for yourself!
Yeah, yeah, yeah… your resumé is a list of your previous credits. I get that. But what I love to say is this: ALL of your credits tell the story of where you’ve been. Only SOME of your credits tell the story of where you’re GOING.
Revisit your resumé with an eye toward what helps you get cast NEXT. It’s not about proving “I’ve worked,” “I’ve worked,” “I’ve worked,” at every turn. It’s about dropping breadcrumbs down the path toward your NEXT booking, and enjoying how great it feels to have that *focus* within your control.
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/001672.html. Please support the many wonderful resources provided by the Breakdown Services family. This posting is the author’s personal archive.