On a resume, should I list all of my principal credits, even if I’m relatively new? I’ve been told that if I have a lot of listings (even nonunion), casting directors may think I am expensive and that if I have fewer credits on my resume, they may think that I am more apt to work for scale or less. What’s true?

There’s a great question you’re not asking here, but I’m going to take the opportunity to answer it (in addition to your actual question) right now. The main issue regarding casting directors seeing a lot of credits on a resume is congruence. When we see credits that indicate an actor should be a member of SAG, but the actor is not, we wonder about those credits. Especially in the case of actors listing their work in union projects as “featured,” we know they can’t remain nonunion if they have in fact done much featured work in studio features or network television shows. If they’ve done extra work, however, often they can remain nonunion. So, that’s one issue of congruence we’re looking at.

Another is the absence of a demo reel. When we see many principal credits (heck, not even “many,” maybe just a few) but the actor has no demo reel available, we question the credits. Shouldn’t there be tape to back up the work at that level? Of course.

So, to answer your original question: Do we worry about your quote when we see many credits on your resume? No. Very infrequently do casting directors worry about an actor’s quote or availability, when making initial casting decisions and short lists. It’s only after casting lists have been whittled down to the final two or three actors for each role that those issues come into play, for most actors in consideration. We assume that EVERY actor will be affordable and available, when making our first round of lists. We then begin paring down using criteria ranging from the director’s needs to availability during shoot dates, from the casting budget to matching the look of other actors cast, and from the work done in auditions to that magic “it” factor.

With all of that said, there will definitely be times when you should edit your resume to remove years-old work, characters of a range in which you no longer fall, and projects that are out of the league of the more prestigious work on your resume. Once you have a few studio features, you can bump off some of the non-union features you did prior to joining SAG. Once you’ve been a series regular on a sitcom, you can bump off some of the co-star gigs you did on shows that have been cancelled. Once you’ve originated a role on Broadway, you can bump a workshopped performance you did for one weekend in a black-box space. You get the idea. Trust that we’ll know whether you work for scale based on our conversations with your agent and the level of your credits (not the quantity of credits you list).

Keep doing good work, and thanks for the question!

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/000246.html. Please support the many wonderful resources provided by the Breakdown Services family. This posting is the author’s personal archive.