Resumes That Work

February 26, 2009 10:27 AM Filed in: Career Tactics

Whenever you go to an audition, you are expected to leave the casting folks a headshot card, not just a snapshot, but an 8 x 10 headshot with your name pre-printed on the front side. Everybody knows that, but what a lot of people don’t think about is having a resume to accompany that headshot.
The acting business is a highly competitive field and your resume is a very important piece of information that can truly make the difference in getting selected for a part . . or not. If a choice comes down to two similar looking people who have comparable “reads” in an audition, and one leaves a resume and the other not, the odds favor the selection of the one with a good resume.

The acting business is a highly competitive field and your resume is a very important piece of information that can truly make the difference in getting selected for a part . . or not. If a choice comes down to two similar looking people who have comparable “reads” in an audition, and one leaves a resume and the other not, the odds favor the selection of the one with a good resume.
Your resume should fit on one side of a sheet and should be attached to the backside of your headshot card. Most people simply staple the resume to the headshot at the four corners. You often are asked for two headshots and each should have a resume attached so that the information all stays together. Don’t walk in and hand the casting folks a headshot and a separate resume, expecting the casting people to keep up with both or clip them together for you. You do it before you get there.
A sure way to keep your resume with your headshot is to have your resume run off on the back of the headshot. Just run a few headshot cards, backside up, through the copy machine with your resume on the copy plate. Then you have a headshot with your current resume printed right on the back.
Let me caution that you only run maybe 4 headshots at a time this way. Why? Your resume may need to be changed and updated frequently. If, before your next audition you get a commercial or attend a workshop, your resume needs to have that new information on there . . . and here you are stuck with 25 headshots with less than current info on them. It only takes a minute to run just a few and it is also easy to update your resume sheet, so you can see where I’m coming from. Don’t “waste” those headshots, but DO make the very best use of them by always having your updated resume attached.
What does a good working resume contain? —READ the next Blog: A Good Working Resume—Just the facts, mam.