Overview

Most casting directors will tell you that these days having a good showreel is just as important as having a good photo, if not more so. It has become a vital marketing tool for any actor.

Here is what the Emmy award nominated casting director Amy Hubbard said in a recent interview on the subject:

"Please, please HAVE a showreel. I have been through 1000s of submissions this week alone, and I prioritise those with a showreel. I need to get a sense of the actor in seconds flat. It needs to be done."

These days, showreels are watched not just by agents and casting directors, but also by directors and producers.

Each of them has a slightly different take on what constitutes a good showreel, so this needs to be taken into consideration when we come to edit your footage.

At Actorshowreels, we have developed a unique method for working on your showreel.

We have refined this process based on our client's feedback over the years and through our direct contact with some of London's top agents and casting directors who tell us precisely what they are looking for in a showreel.

Actorshowreels

Whether you are starting out in the business, or a seasoned professional, we want your showreel to be the best showreel it can be.

Unlike most showreel companies, we don't think that this will be achieved by having you sit with an editor in a single studio session and/or by charging you expensive hourly rates. In our experience, this method of working does not always yield the best results for your showreel. In the first place, actors can feel the pressure of having to make all the decisions about their showreels by the end of their session. If the showreel requires any further re-editing after the session, they are usually charged more.

More importantly, actors are also not given the opportunity to show trial versions of their showreels to their agents or anybody else, in order to obtain feedback, so that the showreel may be improved upon. If we want your showreel to really stand out, then in our experience, this stage is crucial. After all, you only get one opportunity to make that vital first impression.

At Actorshowreels, we want to take away all of the pressure of the studio session and its time constraints. We also want to provide you with a number of opportunities to revise your showreel so that we can get it into the best shape possible.

With this in mind, we have developed our new Showreel Package deal.

Showreel Package Deal

Step 1

We start out by editing your pre-existing clips according to your initial specifications and uploading a trial version of your showreel onto your own private page on our website.

At Actorshowreels we will take the time that is necessary to carefully sift through all of your material, in order to select the footage that is going to work best for you in the context of a showreel.

Once the scenes have been selected, some of them may need to be re-edited. We will do this if we feel that a scene re-edit will ultimately serve you and your showreel better.

We will aim to feature you as much as possible - concentrating on your screen time and dialogue. We may cut down on dialogue from other characters in your material as long as it doesn't interrupt the dramatic flow of the scene. Occasionally, we will radically re-edit an entire original scene in order to benefit you as much as possible.

Step 2

We now decide on a running order of scenes and which scene should come first. This is an important stage and is designed to maximize the impact your showreel will make on a first viewing - first impressions count.

The showreel should move fluidly and be compact. Every scene/shot should be selected for a purpose and we try not to repeat ourselves.

The first trial version is now ready to be posted onto your own private page on our website.

You can take as much time as you need to think about any changes you may wish to make to this trial version at this stage.

You will be able to send links to your agent or anybody else you choose and get their input.

Step 3

Once you get back to us with your changes, we will upload a revised trial version based on all your feedback.

You can take as much time as you need to think about any changes you may wish to make to this revised trial version at this stage.

We will continue this process of editing/uploading trial versions, until you are totally satisfied with the final result.

We guarantee that the extra time taken and all of the feedback received along the way using this method, will make all the difference to the final edit of your showreel.

Step 4

At Actorshowreels, we will guide you through each stage of the process.

We will help you to avoid all of the pitfalls when it comes to showreels - all of the issues that tend to irritate casting directors.

We will carry on working on your showreel until you are satisfied with the final edit and you won't have to worry about the cumulative cost of expensive hourly rates!

There are no time pressures and you will be able benefit from the feedback of your agent and friends.

Remember - this service is unique to Actorshowreels!

Finally, if you are a member of Spotlight, we will give you a discount.

Colour Correction

If some of your footage is not of the highest quality, there are a number of post production editing techniques that we will apply at Actorshowreels to ensure that the final output of your showreel is rendered to the highest quality. This video illustrates how some of these editing techniques can be applied.

Audio Enhancement

We may also re-edit the audio in your footage if we feel that it is necessary. In some instances, it may be appropriate to add a soundtrack to the scene material. A well chosen soundtrack can often help to enhance certain types of material once they have been placed in a showreel.