None of this advice is ours and the page says whose it is. Every point comes from a video indexed on Acting Craft, our free searchable library of acting advice on YouTube, and each links to the video it came from.
This page is short on purpose. There is less said about reels in the library than about auditions or marketing, and padding it out with loosely related advice would make it worse, not longer. Cutting an audition tape is a different job and lives on the self tape guide.
Why it matters more than the photo
A demo reel beats a picture every time. It shows casting how you sound and how you move, which a still image cannot. Source.
Footage matters most when casting has no time. When there is very little time to decide who to bring in, having something to watch is what gets you looked at. It is harder to have when you are starting out, which is exactly why it is worth prioritizing. Source.
At union level, no footage makes it very difficult. Fewer union roles post, the competition assumes professional level work, and getting auditions with nothing to show is described as fortunate rather than typical. Source.
What earns a place on it
Quality decides, not the credit. Musical theater actors often arrive with a pile of footage from shows they have done. Fine in principle, but the reel exists to portray you as a professional, and footage that undercuts that does more harm than the credit is worth. Source.
Cut the shaky video shot from the back row. Handheld footage filmed by a family member from the audience will not read as professional however good the performance was. Shaky camera work and poor sound tell a casting director about your production values, not your acting. Source.
Professionally captured production footage can stay. The test is whether it is the best possible quality for showcasing you, not whether the show itself was impressive. Source.
When nothing clears the bar, shoot something. A studio session puts a professional videographer and a sound designer behind you, whose job is making you look and sound your best. That is the alternative to patching a reel together from whatever happens to exist. Source.
Bad footage is worse than none
Passable acting on a self recorded clip works against you. It may seem obvious, and it is the single most repeated point across these videos. Weak material on a profile is evidence, and evidence is harder to argue with than an empty space. Source.
So get honest feedback before it goes up. At the non-union level a self recorded monologue or scene is acceptable, but the acting has to be good. Have somebody tell you the truth about it before you start submitting with it attached. Source.
One long file is the wrong shape
Break it into clips by genre or role type. Many actors upload one full reel. The problem is immediate: you submit for a comedic role and the reel opens with dramatic material, or has no comedy on it at all. Source.
Label each clip by the character, so a stranger could submit you from it. The good cop. The comedic sidekick. The quirky best friend. The well intentioned wife. Casting has limited time, and the label tells them which one to open. Source.
Broken out clips are specifically recommended over a single file for union actors. Professional quality clips are described as the edge when casting has limited time. Source.
A role type you keep submitting for with no footage of it is a gap. Go through what you have been submitting for and find the types you cannot show. That absence is the concrete thing to fix next. Source.
How long, and cut how
Ninety seconds to two minutes, cut like a trailer. Sam Christensen's argument: a trailer sells a hundred million dollar film in ninety seconds by ignoring chronology and scene context. Do the same. Casting does not want to understand what the scene was about, they want a sense of you. It should leave them wanting to meet you, not feeling they have seen everything. Source.
Where it lives
Actors Access wants the file, not a link. The upload runs off an MP4 on your computer. If your reel is on YouTube, sign in, open Creator Studio, find it on the dashboard or under View All, and download the MP4 first. Source.
Then Manage Media, and Add New Performance Video. If Manage Media is not showing in your menu, go through Manage My Profile and then Media. It lands on the same upload screen. Source.
Your own site should carry the clips too, alongside a current resume and any press. An agent's list of what a site needs, with a note that a resume kept genuinely up to date beats one kept nearly up to date. Add a short note when you book something, so the site shows movement. Source.
And it is one tool, not the tool. A reel on its own will not get you hired, any more than a headshot or a website will on its own. Source.
If the work is voice, the demo is a different object
Three separate tracks, not one reel. Ten or fifteen years ago narrators submitted a single file with three pieces on it. Publishers now want distinct tracks. Build three that show the genres you actually fit, ninety seconds to three minutes each. Source.
Pull the material from books published in the last five years. And make sure each sample genuinely demonstrates the genre it is selling. If you are pitching romance, the excerpt needs romance in it, not a conversation between two best friends. Source.
Treat the room before you shop for a microphone. A quiet space comes first and treatment can make a loud one workable. Only then choose a mic. Her business partner's line: microphones are like shoes and the same size does not fit everyone, so skip the prepackaged kits. Source.
Watch the sources
The videos are on Acting Craft, searchable by what is actually said in them.
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The rest of the materials are on marketing yourself, and the recording setup is on the self tape guide. Host your reel free.
Everything above is attributed and none of it is ours. Upload screens on third party sites change without notice, so treat the click paths as a description of how it worked when the video was made. If we have summarized somebody badly, tell us.