Aaron Marcus, a casting director and actor, explains what resume details cost performers auditions. He stresses listing special skills like teleprompter proficiency, languages, martial arts, and instruments. Casting directors skip resumes missing these specifics, even when actors have the talent.
Hey, I'm traveling right now. I'm giving workshops around the country, so I'm shooting from the hotel. In this video, I'm going to share with you what casting directors really hate actors skipping on their resume. I also have a really good bonus video for you at the very end. It's how to calm your nerves when acting. 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. I've been really fortunate. I've done a bunch of industrial films. Those are training films, educational films. Sometimes they're called corporate films. I've done hundreds of these things, and some of them are really interesting. I've learned a lot, especially doing some for the IRS and learning what to do, what not to do. That's been very interesting for me. And a couple years ago, there was a company that I had done some voiceover work for, also some on-camera work for, and also narrations for. And it's a financial company. And at one point they contacted me and they said, look, we know that you have a lot of contacts. Would you help cast a project that they were having? Because they couldn't use me for that one. I said, sure. And that has turned into, I don't know, 25, 30 castings that I've done. And by the way, this is another great reason you should really get onto my mailing list at howtomodel.com. And that way, when projects do come up, I will send a blast out to everybody in that particular state letting them know that there is an audition, and then I will give you all the particulars. This is where the interesting part comes in. I started seeing things from a casting director's perspective, which was— it was eye-opening for me, really helpful. Everything from sometimes people— and these are experienced actors— People sending me resumes because I would ask for a headshot and resume just to take a look at it first to see if I thought they were really right for the role. And then I would send them the sides, they would record it, send it back to me, and then I would upload it to the client. Sometimes I would get resumes with no contact information. That's not what I'm going to talk about though here, although that is something that's crucial. I mean, you've got to have Contact information. Now, for me as an actor who was doing some casting, I did things that perhaps some casting directors might not do. Sometimes I would follow up, I would try to get a phone number. I just kind of thought, look, I guess they just didn't know, and so I would do that. Now, for all of these projects that I was casting, The actor has to be teleprompter proficient, meaning they can read teleprompters really well. And I can tell you that because sometimes it was funny. One person once wrote to me and said, well, I've never used a teleprompter, but once I had to read off of a couple of cue cards. And I wrote back and I said, you know, that's great. But the problem is, for some of these projects, like one that I worked on not that long ago, it was 100 pages on a teleprompter. And if you don't know how to use it properly, this is what it's going to look like. And which is not a good look, especially if you are a host or you're the on-camera narrator and you're, you know, Asking questions to somebody. That's not a good look. Or, you know, you're saying your lines and it might go like this, and then Mr. Jones asks this question. How many— so those things just don't work. Here's what I'm getting to. In the special skills section of your resume, or in your educational section of your resume, you absolutely have to have the words teleprompter proficient, or where you took a teleprompter class. Because otherwise, I'm going to assume that you don't know how to use a teleprompter properly, in which case, I'm not going to send you the sides. I don't want to waste my time. I don't want to waste your time as an actor to have you go through all this and then find out that I can't possibly submit you because you can't read a teleprompter. So always, always, always in the special skills section and in the educational section— maybe you didn't take a class, maybe you just practiced— you know, there is a program called CuePrompter. And actually, I'll list it in the description here for you, which is an opportunity for you to practice on your own. You can just bring it up on your computer and you can get really good at reading a prompter without taking a class. Or there are people who teach these classes, but make sure you have that information because otherwise a casting director might not bring you in. Or offer you the opportunity to audition. And that holds true for a lot of special skills, which is a really important part of your resume. Do you speak a foreign language? Do you do martial arts? Are you a gymnast? I mean, there could be a million— do you play an instrument? There are a million different things that you can put in there that could make the difference between you getting offered to read for a part or not. So anyhow, If you have any special skills, please let us know. It would be interesting. There was a woman I was doing a private session with. She lives in Australia, and she told me that she can contort her body and fit into a suitcase. And I said, you should lead with that in your special skill. There might be a TV commercial, you know, it's travel, airlines, luggage, I don't know, and it shows somebody inside a suitcase. That could be incredible. There was a woman who I also did a private session with, really very talented. She had a great commercial look and she boxed. I said, you need to lead with that. Nobody would think that you are into boxing and that could really open up some doors for you. So, or you speak a foreign language that you're fluent in. Not, not, you know, you took one in 2nd grade and now you're 60 years old. So yeah, the special skills is really, really important. So always make sure you list them so that casting directors know what you can do. Hey, if you haven't done this yet, don't forget, subscribe, click the notification bell so you always know when a new video has been uploaded. If you like the video, please give it a thumbs up. That's very helpful. And share, share the link with all of your fellow actors through your social media programs or platforms, through emails, so that way we can continue building a great channel with actors helping each other. I'm Aaron— oh, I almost forgot! Here's the link. Oh boy, that was a close one. There's the link for how to, how to handle and calm your nerves. While acting. Hope you enjoy it. I'm Aaron Marcus and can't wait to talk with you again soon. See ya. See ya.
