January 14, 2005

• RESUME 101

  
  

  Okay, another one of those: Lesson-for-aspiring-actors-but-will-also-hold-the-interest-of-the-casual-passerby.

  
  

  Besides your headshot, your resume the other half of your calling card.  This is pretty much the standard format divided up into Film/TV/Stage.

  
  

  So when you first start out, you obviously won’t have a lot of credits — so what’s an actor to do?  You’ve gotta lie.  Yes.  There, I said it.  A lot of people (casting directors, producers and agents alike) will strongly disagree with this but honestly… they’re lying.  All those people don’t go through the same day-to-day that actors go through, so it that prospective comes from a real cushy and removed position when they say that. 

  
  

  Now don’t get me wrong, if you’ve done absolutely nothing proactive to further your career and have just blatantly lied – you’ll eventually be found out anyway and won’t be able to back up what you say you can do and be wasting everyone’s time – including yours.

  
  

  When I say to lie, I mean to embelish.   If you’re a secretary, you’re going to put down “Administrative Assistant”, right?  Same here.  You’ve gotta find a way through the door of that agent/casting director/director to show him/her what you’ve got.  And them seeing a blank sheet of paper won’t help you very much. 

  
  

  
  

  But if you’re really serious, chances are you’ve done lots of college or community plays.  Don’t put the college or town name down.  It’s more impressive to list the name of the theatre instead (like I did with “Biloxi Blues”) which I did in college.  If you haven’t done a lot of plays, at least have read the play you claim to have done – casting people/directors may ask you about the storyline. 

  
  

  If you’ve done student films, put the name down of the student director’s production company (or his name as Director) instead of listing “USC Student Film”. 

  
  

  Some people who’ve done extra work, can put “Featured”.  It’s not uncommon for an extra to get bumped up on the set into a minor role and given a line or two and then get cut out later.  Just don’t claim to have been in big films or TV shows if you aren’t even in the Screen Actors Guild Union (SAG).  Or worse, claim to have been in a project that the casting director you’re reading for… casted.  Over time, you’ll slowly phase out your fake/embelished credits with real ones.  It was a cool moment a few years ago where I realized, “Hey, all of these are real!” 

  
  

  In the “Television” section, “Guest Star” is a major role on the show.  “Recurring” is more than one episode on a show.  “Co-Star” is 5 lines or under.  “Series Regular”, self-explanatory.

  
  

  Then list any lanuages or special skills you possess.  Anything that might be that something extra to book you that specialized role.  And then at the end of the “Special Skills” section, I always like to put a fun tidbit to get conversation started in a room.  I can’t tell you how many Casting Directors/Producers ask me to recite the alphabet backwards before I start the audition.

  
  

  Your agency representation/manger/contact info goes in the top left corner.  Your stats go in the top right corner (height, weight, eye color, hair color).  I usually opt out of the stats because I’m Asian and you can assume I’ve got black hair and brown eyes – that and I’ve got a color headshot.  So the only thing potentially hindering me would be my height.  Let them see my photo, credits and bring me in.  Let me show them what I’ve got instead of  the casting director reading: ” 5′ 7″ “ and dismiss me right off the bat.   

  
  

  If you have no TV credits, don’t put a “Television” section and leave it blank.  A section with only “Theatre” is just fine.

  
  

  There’s no shame in having no credits when starting out but there is shame presenting it in poor fashion.  ’Cuz that you CAN control.    

  • 12:33 pm
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