Last February, I did an article on Relationship Over Resumé. So many actors focus their attention on the things they can accomplish — booking a role, getting a SAG card, attaining a coveted agency logo on their resumé, getting IMDb credit for recent gigs — that they ignore (or undervalue) the relationships they’re building (or not building) every day.

This week I’d like to comment on a trend I observed in 2010, and it’s one in which a reel is becoming more and more important, if you don’t yet have the relationship to get you in the room.

Now, I’m not talking about actors whose work is known. If you’re “a name,” somewhat namey, a qualified name, or you’re an actor coming across the desk of a casting director who has cast you before (or for whom you’ve come close), a reel is handy but not required.

But let’s say you’re an actor I’ve not yet met — or we’ve met but I don’t know your work — and you’ve not included a reel with your electronic submission on a role through Actors Access. Here’s what happens. As you learned in my Order of Operations piece a couple of weeks ago, I rank actors based on how right they are for the role (which is based on what I know about them and their work). If I don’t know your work, I may think you’re the right type, but your REEL is going to make all the difference, when it comes to getting you into the room.

Especially if I’m looking at a resumé with on-camera credits, there had better be a reel showing me some of that footage you’re saying you’ve shot. Having trouble getting your footage? Remember the Copy Provided form from Holdon Log. Use it. Don’t work with people who refuse to guarantee you will get copies of your footage.

What I saw happening in 2010 — on three different projects I cast — was a huge tendency on the part of the director to only consider actors whose work he could prescreen via reels attached to submissions. Obviously, if I already had a relationship with an actor, I could get that actor into the room even if he or she didn’t include a reel with the submission. But for actors with whom there’s no relationship (either with the director or with me), directors would look at reels to decide whether actors should be invited into the room.

I attribute this to several things: One, there are too many actors in the running for us to open every single resumé and review credits. Two, some actors lie, inflate size of roles, list one-time workshops as ongoing training, etc. The risk is too high that we’re not going to get what we ordered, to use a restaurant analogy. Three, footage is more informative than headshot and resumé alone. We hear you, see you connecting (or not), experience your craft more fully than if we’re just looking at a list on a page. Four, you have no excuse to not have footage in an era where self-produced content is considered “acceptable” and technology is so inexpensive.

Sure, I’ve mentioned that there’s no need to rush to amass a reel if you’re still very early on in your journey, learning the craft and improving your on-camera abilities to a huge degree, daily. But if you’re feeling good about your craft, if you know your type and how to cast yourself appropriately, get yourself a camera and show us what you can do.

Collaborate with others who are also in need of footage. Create a group, write for each other, cast yourselves correctly, everyone grab a piece of equipment and SHOOT! Show us what you can do. There’s great power in this. And you can make it happen TODAY.

Sure, replace early, self-shot footage with amazing “real” footage from bookings as soon as you can, but self-taped on-brand footage that showcases exactly what you can do is a really nice thing to have, alongside that one-liner from a top network sitcom. Build, build, build.

And if collaborating with a group of other self-starters isn’t your thing, consider a service like Create Your Reel or Reel Cutting or Reel Star Makers to get some footage that can supplement the gritty student films and high-profile one-liners in a way that showcases you in your best light.

Again, relationships trump almost everything in this business, so focus on connecting with great people as you enjoy this pursuit. The connection you make with people can get you farther through the casting process than your tools may get you, many times. But it’s important to have everything working for you that you control. So, get your reel together! Start today.

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/001285.html. Please support the many wonderful resources provided by the Breakdown Services family. This posting is the author’s personal archive.