Aaron Marcus explains what actors miss on resumes that cost them jobs. List teleprompter skills, name your acting coaches and what you studied, and be specific about special skills like the type of horseback riding or dance you know.
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Hey, I'm Aaron Marcus, and what I want to talk with you about today is something that many people forget to do on their acting resume. And without this information in your resume, it could really hurt your chances of getting an acting audition or even an acting job. So here's what happened. I had been hired by a company to do a number of training films. Great experience. Love working with these people. I've also done some voiceover work for them as well. They were working on a new project and they contacted me and they said, oh look, I know you have connections with a lot of actors in the area. Would you be able to help us out and try to find some actors for a new project? I said sure. So I thought that would be a great experience for me. And plus, look, I I want to help them out. They've been really good to me. And I also want to be able to help out fellow actors, which is really incredible. And that's why, um, you know, if you haven't done this already, you might want to consider being on my email list. And what I'll do is I will place the link below so you can see it and you can sign up and it's free. You can be on my email list. And that way, if I ever hear of an audition or a job in your area, I can send you a notice. Actually, you can just go to howtoactandmodel.com/home and then you can sign in to be on my list and just put your name and your state and email address, and that way I can put you on the list. So anyhow, the thing that was really interesting with this project is everything was on a teleprompter. They needed 3 different actors and everybody has to be Teleprompter proficient. So, went through my list, sent out emails, and I made it really clear, you know, this is what I'm looking for. These are the types, these are the age ranges. And I also mentioned you have to be teleprompter proficient. Send me your headshot and resume. Once I get it, I'll take a look at it. And if I think you're right for this, then I'll send you the sides. You can record it and then send it directly to the client. So this is the interesting thing. A bunch of people did send me their headshot and resume. And once I looked at the headshot, if I thought that they were right for this particular role, then I checked out their resume. Now, some people were just getting started in the industry, really didn't have that much experience. And I was okay with that as long as they physically look right for the part. But then what I would do is I needed to look at their resume Pretty closely. And the next thing I needed to see is what kind of training have they had. So even if I know they're just getting started, but they've taken some really good classes, and maybe I know who the instructors are, that would make me think, you know what, I know they're just getting started, but they've had some really good training. Yeah, I'll send them the sides and then they can shoot the audition at home. And then we'll see whether they're right for the part. There were some people who had a lot of theater experience. And as you know, acting on a stage is very different than acting in front of a camera. When you're on stage, you've gotta be able to hit the back row. I mean, everything is just bigger. I mean, look, great acting is great acting, but you use different techniques when you're working in front of a camera. Right. Which means everything has to be much, much smaller. So if somebody had a lot of theater experience, that's great. That's telling me, yeah, they can act. But I also need to know, are you proficient with a teleprompter? So one of the things that I also look for, along with education, to see if they've taken any classes with teleprompters, teleprompter training, is the special skills section. And this is an area where a lot of people really don't spend that much time. And that is crucial. I can tell you it made the difference for me as far as who I invited to audition. If there were people that did not show me they've had any kind of training with a teleprompter, they didn't write back and say, yeah, I've, you know, I've worked with teleprompters before, I'm fine with them. Although I would have seen it, I would think if I saw they did a bunch of training films, they might have used teleprompters there. So if I didn't see that, I wouldn't have invited them. And if I didn't see it in their special skills, because that is something you definitely want to list in your special skills section, because there were people, once again, very little experience, but they, they were proficient with using a teleprompter. I sent them the sides. So, so when, when you are creating your special skills section, make sure you add things in there That can help a casting director. That also holds true for, for an agent as well. You know, maybe they're looking for somebody who has certain types of skills, and you want to make sure that you list them. And it doesn't have to necessarily just be an acting skill. You know, maybe you can drive a 5-speed, maybe you are a precision driver. And also make everything specific. And I know I'm jumping back into training. But when I was looking at education or training for some people, you know, if they would say introductory to acting class or acting— well, see, that doesn't tell me anything. I don't know what you learn in that class. So make it really specific. If you took a class that was auditioning for film and television Okay. State that. Don't just say acting class. Say audition for film and television, and then I know, okay, so this person has had some training. And then certainly I'm going to check out to see who they studied with because that's also really important to me. It's got to be somebody who I respect, somebody who I know about. And the other thing too is, let's just say even horseback riding. Has nothing to do with acting. But that's a really interesting special skill, and I'm jumping to special skills, but that's just how my mind's working this morning. But for special skills, don't just say horseback or horseback riding. Make it specific. Do you do Western? Do you ride English? Do you do dressage? Can you jump? Make it specific. Even like sometimes I saw on resumes, people would put dance. Well, that doesn't tell me anything. What kind of dance? Do you do hip-hop? Do you do classical? Do you do jazz? Do you do tap? Make it specific, because when you do that, it not only makes it sound like you know what you're talking about, but it also makes it easier for people to know whether they can bring you in for a certain kind of project. So anyhow, I just wanted to share that with you. Make sure that in your special skills section, you list all the things that you are proficient in. And the same with training or education. Make it specific. So, I hope this was helpful to you. 2 quick things. If you have not subscribed yet, make sure you click the link below and that way You will, you know, always be able to watch these videos. The other thing too is click the little bell, the notification button, and that way every time I upload a new video, you will receive a notice letting you know that it's out. Very last thing, as you can imagine, I spend a lot of time putting these things together. I have people helping me with this. So if you could make a donation, that would be wonderful. Please, you know, be a part of this channel. Thank you. And making the donation would be wonderful. There is a PayPal link below on this YouTube channel. And just click it and whatever you can afford, that would be wonderful. I'll leave that up to you, but I would love to have you be a part of this channel and supporting it. And that would be very helpful to me. And feel free to share this link with all of your acting and modeling friends. I really am working very hard at building a community of people who are trying to help each other in the industry. I'm Aaron Marcus. And I can't wait to talk with you again soon. See ya.
