How to Shoot your own Showreel

Happy new year!

Let's kick off 2020 with some proactive productivity. Today we're discussing how to shoot your own showreel.

It's an age-old conundrum that many actors I've spoken to have faced. A chicken-and-egg question...actor style!

You need to be in professional productions to gain showreel material.

You need showreel material to be seen by those professional productions.

But what’s the point in giving you advice that I wouldn’t feel comfortable following myself? So today I'm going to break down for you how I filmed my own professional showreel and saved myself a lot of time doing so! I’ve been there, done that and I can show you what to do and what to avoid.

Disclaimer: Obviously my situation will be different from yours, and yours will be different from the next person's, but please take this and adapt to make it your own.

I'm going to break down the process into six key elements - the why, who, when, what, how and the where?!

Ready?

Let's go!

1) WHY FILM YOUR OWN SHOWREEL?

Why should you shoot your own showreel? Well it's all about being proactive. I’m passionate about this because a lot of the time, I see actors waiting around and honestly, I find it somewhat painful. As an actor, you will already spend time waiting. Whether that’s waiting on set, waiting to hear back from an audition, waiting for a script to be mailed out…And what you do in the time between, whether you’re proactively recording monologues and shooting scenes to create a reel, or lounging around in your underwear and watching Netflix, has huge consequences on the future.

So why shoot your own?

Well perhaps you're a recent graduate who hasn’t got their hands on any short films or student productions yet.

Or perhaps you’re an acting veteran, and you've performed in several professional theatrical productions, toured, etc. However, you don't have much film footage. This is something I know many actors have faced.

Casting directors just want to see that you can act. So if you can get together a quick reel that focuses on your PERFORMANCE...that will work wonders!

2) THE WHO

This couldn’t be any easier. You likely already know fellow actors, directors and writers. It’s all about getting good at gathering people for a shared vision. Find other actors who also would look footage for their showreel. Head to social media and find videographers, editors and sound operators eager to help out on projects for their own reels.

Keep an eye out on for further information/tips on finding other like-minded creatives like yourself.

3) THE WHEN

It can be pretty difficult to organise a group of creatives to be available on one day. My advice is to use a platform like Doodle, which allows you to create a calendar survey, where people tick when they're available. And it’s free!

3) THE HOW

There will be some logistics involved. Set aside a day or two for filming the scenes. You will need:

a) a good location

b) a shot list

c) filming equipment

d) props and costumes

4) THE WHAT

This is all about the meat of the script! What will the scenes contain?!

Firstly, make sure you get some strong writers on board. Have a think about your acting type and choose scenes that fit accordingly.

My advice would be to steer clear of anything that could lend itself to melodramatic writing. Unless you’re confident you can pull off a highly complicated fight scene, car chase or death, stay away from these, especially if you're trying to film on a low budget.

6) THE WHERE

Keep the locations simple and the scripts short and sweet. Better to display your acting talent in a quick one minute exchange, than a five minute expose with a fellow actor!

Keep the locations singular and accessible. A living room. A kitchen. A car. A back garden. A pub garden. (Ask permission to film if you’re filming outside or on business premises though!)

Top tip: If you're a film student, you can to create a promotional video for a local pub, in exchange for using their space to film.

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Once you have these things in place, all that's left for you is to film and edit these scenes.

Hiring an editor might be the biggest expense, but if you have a strong editor, it’s worth it! And if everyone involved in the project pitches in, you’ll have yourself a pretty inexpensive process.

It should still cost much less than doling out £600 to a showreel company!

Don't forget to have fun!

If you have a showreel, please post it below! I really love to watch other peoples' showreels and you never know who might see it…

See you next time for more inspirational blog posts for creatives!

Nicole xxx