If headshots are your calling card as an actor, then a showreel is your pitch. Whether you’ve got a number of screen credits under your belt or you’re just starting out in the industry, a high-quality acting showreel is an absolute must for getting your acting potential seen. But what should your showreel include and how long should it be? Let’s take a look.
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An actor’s showreel, also known as an acting reel or a demo reel, is a short video compilation showcasing an actor’s best onscreen performances. It typically includes a couple of short clips from any film, television, or commercial projects that the actor has worked on, which have been edited together into one slick video reel.
The purpose of a showreel is to demonstrate an actor’s range, versatility, and talent to casting directors, film/TV/theatre directors, agents, and other industry professionals. When it comes to seeking representation from an agent, a showreel that plays to your strengths could seal the deal.
A short, engaging showreel allows casting directors to quickly determine your range as an actor and whether you could be suitable for a particular role. Thus, your showreel could be the key to getting called in for an audition. Casting director Ri McDaid-Wren says, “It’s so important to have a reel or even one clip to give casting directors a sense of who you are and your acting.… When there are several hundred suggestions for each role, which is common, having something we can watch can make all the difference.”
Additionally, showreels serve as a valuable online networking tool, making a memorable impact on social media that could lead to paid work.
You can upload your acting showreel to sites such as YouTube or Vimeo, and you can then embed the link on your website, IMDb page, casting profiles, and in emails to industry professionals.
1. Choose your material.
Whether it’s broadcast quality or a short student film, assess the material you have and decide which clips best showcase your acting skills. (If you are just starting out and don’t have any footage yet, scroll to the bottom for our top tips on creating your own footage.)
2. Create a title card and ident card.
Your showreel should open with a title card with your name on it and ideally your headshot. This can be a useful way of identifying whom the person watching your reel should be focusing on from the start. At the end of your showreel, make sure to include an ident card with your name and agent (or your contact details if you don’t have an agent). You could also include a link to your website or casting profile.
3. Edit your clips.
Your title card, clips, and the ident card all need to be edited into one single video. A professional editor will have the necessary skills to cut smoothly between scenes, edit multi-person frames to focus on you, and ensure footage is pacy and engaging whilst showcasing your best acting work. If you’re on a budget and need to edit your showreel yourself, there are a variety of easy-to-use, free video editing tools available, such as Apple’s iMovie and YouCut. Keep it simple with short, “fade to black” transitions between each clip, and make sure to export the footage in the highest possible quality.
4. Ask for feedback.
Ask your peers, mentors/teachers, or anyone else you know in the industry to watch your showreel and offer their objective thoughts, particularly if you have edited the reel yourself. Ask for specific feedback such as whether the opening grabs them, the order of the scenes flows, and the showreel showcases your talent as best it can.
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Agents and casting directors recommend keeping your showreel to three-to-four minutes as an absolute maximum, but remember: It’s far better to have a really tight 90-second acting showreel than an average longer one. Those who work in casting are extremely busy, so don’t make them dig to find your best clips. Keeping your reel to quality material presented succinctly improves your chances of making a good impression with casting directors and agents, who can quickly and efficiently assess your talent and castability.
- Have a strong opening.
Start with a strong, engaging clip in which you are the focus to immediately capture the viewer’s attention and make it clear who they are meant to be watching. McDaid-Wren says, “Most casting directors will just watch bits of a reel rather than the whole thing.… That’s why it’s important for it to jump straight into good dialogue.… It may sound obvious, but there are actually so many reels I come across where the actor isn’t speaking for a lot of it.”
- Showcase your natural casting.
Try to ensure this opening scene gives a sense of the real you by way of your natural casting type.
- Show your versatility.
Be sure to include scenes which showcase your range as an actor. Though McDaid-Wren cautions, “I generally prefer quite low-key, grounded clips rather than very charged, emotional ones, as these can feel jarring out of context.”
- Be selective.
Ensure all the material used plays to your strengths and favours your performance (casting directors want to see you, not your scene partner).
- Use high-quality footage.
Try to ensure the audio and video of your footage is of a professional standard, or at least decent quality.
- Keep it updated
Make sure your acting showreel features your most current work, as this will give casting directors, agents, and other industry professionals a good impression of how you currently appear and act on camera.
- Avoid montages, music, and quirky transitions.
Casting directors and agents want to see you act. Keep it simple and don’t layer montages of short clips, add music onto your reel, or use quirky transitions such as “ripple” or “dissolve” to cut between scenes, as frills like these can be distracting. Keep it simple, with a few strong scenes where we really get to see your acting abilities.
- Label scenes.
McDaid-Wren advises to “include the names of the projects your showreel scenes come from, and make it clear if it’s a recreated scene rather than a clip from the actual project, e.g. ‘self-taped scene from Happy Valley’ rather than just ‘Happy Valley.’ ”
- Keep it short and sweet.
As already mentioned, your showreel should be no longer than four minutes. If you are lucky enough to have a wealth of material across TV, film, and commercials, and are struggling to condense it all down into one showreel, then you might want to consider creating separate acting and commercial showreels.
- Upload and share it.
Once your showreel is primed and ready to go, it’s time to get it out into the world. Upload it to a site such as Vimeo or YouTube, embed it on your casting profiles and website, and start sharing it with prospective agents and casting directors who are open to receiving submissions.
If you are just starting out and don’t have any footage yet, fear not! McDaid-Wren points out, “I would personally much rather see a self-taped scene than a clip from a high-profile project that you had only one or two lines in.” They recommend that “if you’re interested in screen work, choose dialogue over a monologue – there are plenty of TV scripts [you can find] online, e.g. [on the] BBC Writers’ Room Script Library.” Though McDaid-Wren stresses, “Make sure you do not publicly upload any confidential material from past self-tape auditions.”
Commenting anonymously, another agent tells StarNow, “If you don’t have broadcast or even short film material, write a very simple scene to perform with a scene partner you know you have great screen chemistry with. Great dialogue and an engaging performance is what the viewer cares about.… Keep the drama edgy or quirky, rather than anything melodramatic, and make sure the writing plays to your strengths.”
With features such as 4K video recording, modern mobile phone cameras now rival traditional filming equipment in many respects, so you don’t need to worry about spending money on a high-quality camera. Just record your footage as you would a self-tape: in natural light, against a plain background. A self-tape-style scene can be a great placeholder for a showreel whilst you’re getting going.