Demo Reel

Well, I finally obtained footage from two of my films that are out on DVD and cut together a demo reel!  The goal was to show a wide emotional range and keep the video to 3 minutes.  After all these years, I'm glad to finally have a reel, and I look forward to the release of some of my other films - especially The Senior Prank - so I can use footage from them.

It's amazing how long it took me to put the reel together.  The point of a reel is to show your best acting, to keep it focused on yourself as much as possible, and to keep it fast-paced and interesting.  To that end, I chipped away at the scenes that I used, cutting out any unnecessary dialog from other actors while maintaining the flow of the scene so it still made sense.  I cut a few seconds here, several seconds there, and kept reviewing it objectively ("you know, that whole part really doesn't have to be in there...").

It was a challenge, but I finally cut away as much as I thought I could and got it down to 3 minutes.  I also cleaned up my resume quite a bit, made some improvements to my website, created a channel on Vimeo to feature my reel and other performance videos, and FINALLY submitted an acting application for the Kendricks' new movie.  Yesterday was quite productive!

If any of you want some information about putting together a demo reel, I found this article to be VERY helpful.  I also watched the demo reels of some friends of mine who are professional actors, and took points from each when deciding how to do mine.

Anyway, if you want to see my reel, here it is...