It’s important for an actor to have a demo reel to market themselves and showcase their work.  With the world moving online, more so than ever, the necessity for a digital copy of your work has risen.  So get started today, because it takes a while to develop, collect, and edit a body of work.

Generally actors have two demo reels: Commercial (showcasing their commercial work) and Theatrical (showcasing film and television work).  If you have enough professional footage and are dynamic enough you might even have 2 Theatrical Reels (Comedy and Drama).

1.  Start by collecting copies of all your on-camera work. (ie any television episodes, feature, independent, student films, short films, commercials, industrials, etc).  Separate your commercial clips for your commercial reel and theatrical work for your theatrical reel/s.

2.  Sort through all the scenes in which you appear and choose your best scenes to put on your reel.  Make sure you are prominently featured in the scene and the filming is of good quality.  Contrasting scenes are great to show your range.

3.  Order is important.  Hit them with the most notable work first. What’s going to grab the viewer’s attention because often casting directors do not watch entire reels.  Please don’t save your best work for last.

4.  Short & Sweet = Sexy.  Try to keep your reel under three minutes. Hire a professional editor to put your reel together, or if you have film editing software knowledge, you can compile it yourself. Your name and contact information should be featured at the beginning and end of your demo reel.

5.  Seek help and opinions.  Try to get an objective view of your work.

DON’T Get too fancy with reels.  A long intro will probably get turned off.  Or crazy transitions and effects.  Keep it short and sweet.  Let the work speak for you.

Hiring a professional to craft your reel is helpful.  But not necessary.  Especially if they have a hefty price tag.  These days, children are video editing.

– TV, Bitch!

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