It’s gonna be a long one, strap in.

Growing up as a kid I never did much in terms of creativity. My house was a “football family” I was a bigger kid and did offensive line through elementary, middle, and high school. I never really felt like I could do the creative stuff I wanted to. I am in college and I am studying computer science, I got a job at a company and have been basically going through the motions. In the last month the quote, “ a man has two lives, the first starts when he is born, the second starts when he realizes the first is going to end” (or something like that). I’ve always wanted to try acting and never really gave it a full shot. I went on here, read the FAQ and the rules. I finally went to my first acting class two days ago. As we are finishing up the coach pulls me aside in my head I’m like “shit he’s gonna tell me I’m not cut out” and the first thing he says is, “if you never comeback to this acting class, please keep doing this. There’s a spark there.” I nearly teared up, I’ve never had someone mention I have a knack for something or seem to have a “spark” so to say. I cried in my car after the class for 20 minutes. He’s honest but in a fatherly way, he’ll tell you, you suck and he’ll tell you when you do good. I don’t know if that’s a normal thing to say to every new student and to be honest I don’t want to know, haha. I just wanted to let you guys know that, you might’ve changed my life. I appreciate all that you guys do for the noobies I suppose, I wish you all a happy Halloween weekend.

hello friends!!

I am just starting to take my acting career seriously after many years of find excuses about why the timing wasn’t right, I didn’t have the right resources, etc. I am finally taking charge and making things happen!! However, the learning curb is steep and so I am humbling turning to the incredible and diverse cast of people within this community (and subreddit) to ask for guidance!

I have been confronted with the reality that I need to put together a reel of some of the recent work I have done. Fortunately, obtaining footage is not an issue here. Can anyone advise what is the standard for a video reel? BONUS POINTS IF YOU SHARE AN EXAMPLE!

To be a bit more specific:

• How long should it be?
• How many clips should one include?
• For MT, is it better to include clips that showcase both acting/singing/dancing in one reel or should they be separate reels?

Editing is obviously more subjective as some of the following questions depend on personal preference, I imagine.

Editing Questions:

• Do you include a title card?
• Are you using transitions?
• Should each clip be introduced with a title card?
• What software do you recommend? (I usually use CapCut for self tapes but if you know of something better, I’m open!)

Ideally, I would like this to look as polished and professional as possible at this stage in my career.

I sincerely appreciate any and all feedback that you can provide!

Thank you for taking the time to read all of this! Sending much love & prosperity to y’all! 💖

I'm looking to make a new reel. I have some tv credits but the footage doens't showcase my true strengths or range as an actor so I want to really go all out since I have good management. I'm going to write and shoot myself based on criteria i have in my head based on my inspirations. purpose of this is for manager to pitch package to higher tier agents, as well as sell myself as leading man to CDs/Producers.

just curious for those of you that went this route, if you had any tips for how to maximize impact for this endeavor so that the final product is enticing to those that matter, the producers.

write myself how I want to be seen, keep it 90 seconds for reel, otherwise individual clips, high production value, and obviously your best acting.

what else?

21 year old male. Just booked my second non union commercial with the new agent I signed with back in April. I’ll make the most money out of any production I’ve done ($1000).

My family is not satisfied with this, saying I should be making millions and doing famous movies. It’s true but it’s very difficult to book anything. How do you guys deal with family expectations? Seems like when you’re not familiar with the business it’s easy to talk.

I went into casting for a new CD and he literally told me that, my vibe is either getting cast for lead or not cast at all, I'm not a good fit for supporting roles. I thought he was crazy but thinking back on my resume, I do mostly tend to get cast only as lead if even cast at all. It sounds completely ludicrous but I want to fix this since getting lead is like a needle in a haystack. I'm potentially missing out on so much work. But I don't even understand what he meant. Isn't it just fitting a role or not? What's vibe is there to be different? If anyone understand, please translate TT.

I got an audition for an industrial and the audition is calling for a "corporate monologue". I tried all the suggested methods for finding something "corporate", but haven't had any luck. Apart from finding a business-like monologue from a movie/play/tv show, I was thinking I could just find a video of a CEO talking about their corporate culture, or something, transcribe that, and use it.

Just curious if anyone else has had to do a corporate monologue and if you had suggests on how to find/approach it. Thanks!

has anyone heard of them? im based in los angeles county and im going to have a zoom interview with them next week

Hey everybody, I'm a relatively new teenage actor.

I've already taken acting classes from the most trusted comedy teacher in Atlanta, about to get my headshot PROFESSIONALLY done next week for the first time, all I have left to fix on my resume is to update the headshot, and I'm about to re-do my demo reel with monologues. I've already worked on a student film, of which we finished filming around a month ago (which I have put on my resume), which I got from Backstage.

After I get all of these things I just talked about worked out, should I continue self-submitting for roles, or should I try and submit for an agent? I'm asking because I met an actor who is my age, who now is a really good friend of mine, on the set of the short film, who said this was his first acting role, but he already had an agent. I looked at his IMDb page, and all he had was one part on a play, and he had a monologue from Beetlejuice on it. And he DID have an agent.

So, should I try and get an agent, or should I try and get some roles before? Or maybe both? Thanks!

So, I was thinking about this just now, when I was asked to self tape for a student film and the only scene they gave me is the most intense one at what I suppose is the climax of the shortfilm.

I think they should give you options or at least not try to secure the most complex scene right away in the first audition tape.

(Given that my example is coming from a student film I think it's a bit harsh to call it "red flag", but you get me)

Do I need to have a lot of money saved up to pursue acting?

Does anyone know any drama schools that you can apply to directly without using UCAS (like Guildhall)?

I'm particularly interested in Musical Theatre and Actor Musician courses but I'm open to Acting courses as well.

Hello all, I 40f, want to start taking acting. Ive tried a lot of things to help me refocus, and become confident again. I just don’t really want to become an “actress.” Im afraid if i join a class I will be seen as wasting a spot for someone else. At the same time, I lost touch with so many people during covid, and therapy only goes so far. I feel like if I could act out conversations this will help me in my life. And just being around people! Is this something that other actors don’t care about. If I don’t really want to act for a living, just participate in the workshops? Thank you for any advice :)

I've gone my entire life loving, believing and looking up to spiderman. I truly feel as if I can say that the one hero in any universe spiderman has truly been a hero in the real world. I gave up that dream as it became a common theme for spiderman to be a teenager but now spiderman Nour is coming out I feel for the first time ever I could have just a sliver of a chance to play the one hero that has affected my life in such a real way. I hope that the one thing I could ever do as an actor is to succeed in such a goal that when I leave this planet I could take on the role of inspiring others to become there own spiderman.

Hey so I’m a 15 year old newly beginning actor, and well so far I’ve been taking some acting classes for screen acting which has gone really well so far, and just recently I signed up for an audition for a Talent agency, as talent scouts are coming here to Dubai to look for talent, so how should I act? How do I make a good impression, especially since this agency has worked with Disney, Netflix, Nickelodeon the whole lot- and this is my one shot at getting into an agency as this one is international which is sorta what I’m aiming for as Dubai’s film industry is Almost non-existent, checks every box I’m looking for, and I don’t wanna mess it up. Advise would be appreciated.

Hello! Is there anyone familiar with film industry in the UK / Vancouver? I’m a 21-year-old Japanese actor with two years of training in Japan, where I’ve appeared in stage productions and short films. Over time, I’ve grown disillusioned with Japan’s entertainment industry, which favors influencers and viewership over acting talent, prioritizing looks and popularity over skill. Many productions cater to commercial interests, adapting shallow stories like shoujo manga rather than creating genuine art. While this may not be unique to Japan, the standards here feel especially low.

These experiences have fueled my ambition to work abroad with people I respect. I’m aware of the challenges, including language barriers, being Asian, and understand it may be unrealistic. Still, this is my one life, and I believe it’s worth pursuing meaningful experiences that I’ll look back on with pride.

With that in mind, I’d like your advice: for an international acting career, do you think the UK or Vancouver would be better? The UK offers a two-year stay with a YMS visa, while Canada allows two years with a Working Holiday and RO visa. My English is at a B2 level.

Thank you for reading all the way through. I’d be very grateful for any advice you can offer.

Jessica Chastain shared a video on her Instagram going over parts of the Interstellar screenplay.

At one point, she finds a page with crossed out parentheticals and scene description. She explains that sometimes she does that to give herself more options on the day of shooting. I know other actors can be much less kind about parentheticals and the like, to put it mildly.

This got me thinking - as a screenwriter, sometimes I get caught up in what's interesting to write, rather than considering what would actually be helpful to an actor.

What are some things you hate that you commonly find in screenplays? To dig deeper, what do you wish screenwriters would keep in mind when writing?

Hey guys, had my drama school showreel showcase last month and it was all non PMA agents that reached out to us from that (the school sent out an online link) I decided that I wanted to email other agents in the PMA and luckily a few have got back to me. Now the issue is - the non PMA ones wanted me to audition/ send a tape in however the PMA ones have just asked to meet and chat with me. Surely if you’ve seen my showreel why would you need me to do more? Just a bit confused and wondering why non PMA do this?

Anyone else here have a corporate day job in tech? If so, how do you manage taking time away for auditions?

I’m a bit nervous and unsure about how to deal with auditions. When I took the job I thought it would be more flexible, because it’s fully remote and we work independent from our teams. But a) we have to clock in and clock out, b) they can track when we’re active, and the work can’t be done on mobile, c) it really seems like they want us to only work 9-5, which complicates making up hours later, and d) they want 2 weeks notice for any non-sick time off requests.

I took a partial sick day about a month ago and was able to take a few hours off to rest in the middle of the day and then finish my hours after 5. But because of how we all work parallel to each other, it will be obvious if I’m missing like once a week and finishing my hours after everyone else is done working.

Yes, I could lie and say I’m sick, which wouldn’t be that much of a lie because I’m chronically ill. But I want to consider ways to either be upfront about it, or only tell them what they need to know without lying. Any ideas? TIA.

I loved the film especially the performances but holy smokes she screams bloody murder for like 1/4 of the film so excellently idk how she did that for multiple takes without permanent damage. Maybe I'm idolizing too much but it didn't seem like ADR and Sean Baker seems like he'd prefer the actors to scream. They also didn't have an intimacy coordinator which I find shocking. Go see the film it's absolutely incredible! Lot of stuff to dissect acting-wise.

This is definitely just more of a rant, but does anyone else get annoyed with the HORRENDOUS grammar within the vertical series sides? Every time I get a request for one I find myself having to rewrite it, even though I’m not sure that they even appreciate that. I received a request for one the other day where they specifically said I have to read the script verbatim for one take and then I can make it “more natural” for another. I don’t know about you, but I will definitely be rewording it regardless because saying a sentence with zero sentence structure just makes no sense to me. I know it’s my choice to submit for these but, god, I hope they figure out how to write scripts that aren’t obviously just poor translations soon.

Hello All, Can anyone recommend a course or video on beginner teleprompter use? To fill time and build my lean resume, I want to do industrials. My initial searches haven’t yielded much. Maybe it’s just a practice skill? Thanks. Jay

Best teacher there between Camilla, Adrian and Tessa? Please share experience with each! Torn on who to take

I'm taking stage craft 1 per the requirement. It's going ok..but my prof said consider tech as a day job. It's good to build network and get referred for acting jobs.

I can't see myself do anything tech theater...maybe as a designer..but even that seems like a whole new set of problems to worry and pursue.

I'm trying to get my on camera career ready to start pursuing..

Thoughts?

So a few years ago when I was submitting to different agencies, one of them got back to me and asked for a tape. I sent them one back and didn’t hear from them for a while. Then a month or so later, a different agency gives me a call and says they were interested in signing me on. Got repped by them the next day after they looked over my materials. On that very same day, the first agency got back and said they’d sign me on but I told them I had already signed with a different agency but that I was grateful for the offer.

Fast forward to today: the agency I went with, I dropped them over a year ago. I had submitted to other agencies here and there with no bites, but took a break to focus on school. Now that I’m graduating at the end of the year, I’ve been debating reaching back out to that other agency and seeing if they’d wanna reconsider me again. I originally wasn’t going to but I had a couple different acting teachers who told me that it might be worth looking into. Wanted to ask everyone’s opinions. They’re currently not accepting submissions so I’ll keep a close eye on them. This is an agency that, according to their consideration email to me, that this is not an agency where you ‘shop around’ and stuff like that which is why I have reservations.

I have some visible tattoos, and covering them up with makeup shouldn’t be a problem, right? I just don’t want to be passed on because of my tattoos. Is it fair, though? It kind of feels like lying, but then again, it shouldn’t really be a problem.

Didn't realize even my profile with credits would disappear once I cancel my membership lol. I've gotten so many deals for it imdb half off & what not, I want to repurchase it but does anyone have any tricks on how to get it cheaper? I think Black Friday they do half off or something like that

Is anyone familiar with the Disney open call for kids ages 9-17 that's run through Actors Access? The legit one, it's not a scam. I think its official name is the DBT Discovers YOUth Talent Search.

Obviously, this is a huge wide wide net. Does anyone know if it's sent to literally everyone between those ages on AA? Is it sent to like 10,000 child actors? Or is it sent to selected child actors they have seen headshots or previous auditions from?