Acting Basics: Create Your Acting Showreel

Are you an aspiring actor looking to build a career in film, theatre and TV?

In this short class, I'll teach you to fast-track your career by creating a professional acting showreel that markets you to agents, casting directors and producers.

Here's some of what you'll learn:

• What exactly an actors showreel is, and how they work.
  

• How to structure your actors showreel in the industry standard way.
  

• The biggest DO's and DONT's when it comes to actors showreels.
  
  
• The three best ways to get footage for your showreel.
  

• My personal pro-tips from 10+ years of professional acting
  

• How to go and create your own professional acting showreel.
  

And finally, in our Class Project…

I’ll invite you to share your showreel (or whatever material you have) with me here on Skillshare, where you'll get personalized feedback on your work and extra advice to improve your showreel.

Why Showreels?

As a working actor of 10 years, I've learned first-hand that having a professional actors showreel is ESSENTIAL to getting seen for auditions, and cast in the roles you most want.

Your showreel is the best way for agents, casting directors and producers to see your acting and cast you in their productions. But SO many actors when starting out, either don't have a showreel, or have one that markets them in an amateur way.

So getting your showreel together is critical for success, and getting it done correctly isn't always easy or obvious when you're first starting out.

About Your Teacher:

I’m Ed, a professional actor with 10 years’ experience starring in award-winning film, professional theatre, TVCs and Voice-over. I’ve performed professionally in the UK, USA and Europe; and trained at the Manchester School of Acting.

I entered the acting industry with zero skills, experience or contacts, and along the way I’ve had to learn many lessons (often the hard way!)

The acting industry is notoriously complex, competitive, and difficult for “outsiders” to get into. 

So in this course, I’ll be distilling my 10 years of professional experience to give you everything you need to know about starting your career the right way, and marketing yourself effectively by creating a professional actors showreel.

Who This Course is For: 

If you’re brand new to acting or still finding your feet, this course will teach you fundamentals of the “business side” of the acting industry, and allow you to understand what makes a great showreel, before you go out to create your own.

If you’re already a working actor, this course will help you to analyse your current showreel and improve your chances in auditions by marketing yourself in the best possible way.

The principles in this class can be applied to any acting industry, so whether you’re working in the UK, Europe, USA, or elsewhere, implementing this advice will benefit your career.

Necessary Skills / Terminology List:

No advanced knowledge or skills are required to take this course, but we’ll be using certain acting terminology that you’ll need to be familiar with. Here’s a quick list to help you out:

Agent - Someone who works with you as an actor, to find you auditions and submit you for castings.

Casting Call - A brief description sent out to agents and actors by casting directors, letting them know about specific roles they are looking to cast and inviting them to submit.

Casting Director - A casting director is responsible for finding and auditioning actors for a production. They are usually hired by the production company and work closely with agents.

Showreel - Short clips of an actor's work, used to highlight their talent and casting type.

Headshot - Professional head-and-shoulder images which actors use to market themselves.

Submissions - When an agent puts forward one of their actors for a casting call.

Get Started and Say Hello!

You can use the Discussions tab to ask any questions, introduce yourself, or share any thoughts or feedback you have on the class.

Are you ready to create your own acting showreel and start building a succesful acting career?

Let's begin!