Résumé Tips

Here is a very informative video from Erica Arvold, a casting director in Virginia, about some do's and don't's for your acting résumé.  She answered a lot of my own personal questions!  To be honest, there's not a specific format that everyone has to follow (google "acting résumés" and you'll end up with a lot of different results!), but there are certain guidelines that should be observed, and Erica touches on a lot of those.

Keep in mind that different casting directors have different preferences.  Erica says she doesn't need to see production company names, but I'm going to leave that information on my résumé until I find out that the majority of casting directors don't care or don't want to see it.

I was also told by a long-standing professional in the acting business that casting directors don't care about your credits as "extras."  They really only care about your speaking credits.  So once you have enough speaking credits to take up some decent space on your résumé, it's probably to your advantage to delete the extras credits.  Sure, I was an extra in Spielberg's Lincoln film, but I didn't have lines or interact with Spielberg, so who cares?  One exception might be if you are hoping to get cast as an extra by a casting director who previously cast you as an extra in something else -- then leave that other credit on your résumé.  Honestly, though, whether you take those credits off or leave them on - it's up to you.  I'm just sharing a word of advice that one professional gave me recently.

Was this helpful to you?  Do you have any information or advice about acting résumés that you'd like to share?  Or specific questions that didn't get answered?  Leave me a comment!  I'd love to hear from you!  I want this blog to be an interactive experience.  :-)