Aaron Marcus says the biggest acting reel mistake is making it too long. Keep it to one minute, maximum 1:30, because casting directors have limited time. Use 10-20 second clips and separate reels for film, TV commercials, and voice-over work.
In this video, I'm going to be sharing with you the one biggest acting reel mistake that actors make. And if you watch this to the end, I'm also going to be sharing with you what you need to do to create an incredible demo reel, even if you haven't shot anything yet. I also have a special bonus for you. It's a great video, and it's all about this technique that I used many, many years ago when I was doing extra work. And it got me upgraded, and I want to share it with you. Okay, let's get started. Hi, I'm Aaron Marcus, and welcome to the Acting and Modeling Quick Tips channel and the Actor Career Center. If you haven't done this yet, don't forget, click the subscribe button, the notification bell, and if you like the video, give it a thumbs up. That's always really helpful. The number one biggest mistake that actors make when they are creating an acting reel is the length of the reel. Look, people don't have time to sit there and watch a movie. Typically, if you can, I would suggest that you keep your reel to 1 minute at a maximum. Like a minute and 30 seconds, but I would try to cut it back if you can because the reality is an agent or a casting director, they're looking at lots of videos and they're just not going to sit there. So you want to make sure that it's short enough that it allows them to see your work, it intrigues them, and it gets them wanting more. Now there's some other issues that actors make when they're creating a reel. Let me start with this one. Let's say you haven't done anything yet. And hey, and by the way, on a side note, look, when you're first getting started, don't stress out if you don't have a reel. It's okay. People understand. You know, you've got to start somewhere. And is it helpful to have a reel? Yeah, it is helpful. But, but look, you don't have to have one when you're first getting started. The other thing too is if you are trying to put one together and you're not in a position where, or in the location where there are many feature films or television shows being shot in your area, here are some things that you can do. And by the way, a lot of times people have, like me, I've got separate acting reels. I have one for TV commercials. I have one for film and television. I have another reel for voiceover work, for narrations. Some people have different ones for political spots, training films, or industrial films, or educational films. But look, when you're first getting started, you're just going to have one reel. Now, if you want to try to put together a film and TV reel and you're not in an area where you're going to easily be able to get those, here's what you can do. Contact some local colleges or universities, see who's teaching film classes, find film classes, just go online and see which classes have students actually shooting films for the class. Then you contact the instructor and you let the instructor know you're really interested in working on a student film. You can send in a headshot and resume, a short cover letter, or just upload information, and maybe you can get cast in a student film. That would be a wonderful way to start putting together material that hopefully you can use if the film is any good that you can use for your reel. You can also check out some Facebook groups and see if there are any filmmaking Facebook groups in your area. You can also check out— it's wifv.org, and I will make sure I list that in the description section. It's Women in Film and Video, and maybe you can become a member or attend some sessions, some meetings that they have, and you might be able to find some independent filmmakers in your area. Maybe you could even put together a group of fellow actors and fellow industry people. Maybe you know somebody who's really good at writing. Maybe you know some camera people, lighting people, sound people, some fellow actors. And you can put together a short film, maybe a 5-minute film, a 10-minute film, something like that. And hopefully you can take clips from, from, you know, those scenes and start building your reel. Now, you don't want to have just one clip lasting for 60 seconds unless it's all you. You know, you're really in this. There's a lot going on. You see a change in the character. That would be one thing, but most likely that really is not a good idea. You want to take short clips, 10, 15 seconds, 20 seconds tops, and, and, you know, allow people to see it and then allow them to see other things that you can do. There's some other things that you really want to be careful of when you're putting together a reel. Um, when you are doing editing, let's say you get a clip from something, you know, don't show the other actors that much? Yeah, sometimes you do. Like, like if you go to my website, it's howtoactamodel.com, you can see my reel there. Actually, you can see my reel, uh, right here on, on the YouTube channel. And you will see I do have some scenes where— as a matter of fact, there's one from House of Cards that I'm thinking of where you do see Ellen burst in first. Before I come in, it feels like it makes sense to me, you know, so there's some continuity. People understand what's going on instead of just cutting her out completely and just showing me. But you don't want to spend too much time on the other actors, like in Gotham. And I have a clip from that as well where it starts off with the other actor because it makes sense. If it just started on me, it just doesn't You wouldn't really get it. So yes, of course you can show other people, but don't linger on them that long. The other things that you want to really be careful about is personally— and it's not just me, I've spoken with casting directors— I guess if you have absolutely nothing else, but that's the only reason to do it, I would never have a monologue as part of your acting reel. I would never shoot something from a play that you're in and use that as your acting reel. Casting directors want to see you in the medium that they are casting in. So if they're casting for film and television, that's what you want to show them. And I know sometimes people have nothing else, so they will put in a, you know, add a monologue. Okay, I get it. But I'm just telling you, I don't think that's going to be great for you. And, you know, maybe you could have a separate reel for TV commercials at some point, and you can just show different clips. From the TV spots. So I wanted to ask if you have put together a reel or you're trying to put together a reel and you've got some questions, some thoughts, some information that would be helpful to us, please share it in the comment section. That would be really helpful. Once again, if you haven't done this, don't forget, subscribe, click the notification bell. If you like it, give it a thumbs up. And I'm giving you permission, Share this link with your fellow actors so we can continue to build a great channel of people who are helping each other. That's the whole goal here. Oh, I almost forgot. Click here for the bonus video. Learn the technique that I used that got me upgraded when doing some extra work many years ago. I'm Aaron Marcus, and I can't wait to talk with you again soon. See ya.
