Getting high quality footage can be a challenge, so it's no wonder actors are asking about the value in hiring studios to produce your clips or demo reels. Demo Reel production studios tend to be more common in LA or NYC or Atlanta and other major hubs. There are some super reputable companies like ReelArc or JigReel or Relentless Filmworks that churn out scenes for actor reels. Many actors find great success in utilizing them to help create their reels. But it’s super essential to know how and when to use them.
WHEN MIGHT BE GOOD TO USE A DEMO REEL CREATOR STUDIO?
If you’ve got a solid reel, and a competitive resume, but seem to be missing a specific type footage, hiring a studio to fill in your existing reel can absolutely serve you. This is best utilized by the already working actor, who’s been in training for a few years, and who's just not been able to track down necessary footage. If this doesn’t describe the current situation—-it might be wise to hold off. (more on that later)
Depending on the market a 1-3 scenes should cost somewhere in the range of $1,000-$2,000 In an actual reel, each clip won’t need to be longer than 30 seconds. For Actors Access purposes , these scenes might run 1-2 minutes. Research these companies and check out samples of their work. Look at the quality of the footage, the writing and acting performances. Ask if their footage includes post production editing (color grading, foly ect). And make sure they are collaborators who are willing to make revisions -- if the script is bad or the edit doesn't feature you at least 60% then you’ve wasted your time.
Also: Be prepared to still hire an editor to incorporate your new clip into your current reel, and trim down anything that isn’t necessary. Remember with reels, the story doesn't matter, your work does. Each clip in your reel needs to allow us to see you, believably in the circumstances of a character is the goal.
WHY HOLD OFF ON HIRING A STUDIO TO CREATE REEL FOOTAGE?
THEY CAN BE EXPENSIVE
Some studios charge literal THOUSANDS of dollars per clip. At that point, you could self-produce a project, have creative control, get that film up on IMDb AND submit it to festivals. It’s more work -- but absolutely better worth it for the value it will have on your resume, and experience. Also remember: if you are experienced, trained, and talented enough to need a reel, you should be getting paid to work, not paying to get a reel’s worth of footage. (there is no way to pay your way through and by pass the full on-set experience /training)
THE WRITING DOESN'T ALWAYS MEASURE UP
Scenes written for actor reels will never be as strongly written as 100 page feature films. The workshopping and the development that goes into producing a film takes months (if not years). There is just zero way that a one minute scene (one page of dialogue) will hold the same value as a fully produced excerpt from a feature. Writing a situation is not the same as writing an integral scene as a part of a larger story arc. -- Characters from feature lengths will also be far better fleshed out. It takes some mega chops to make the most of a 1 page scene when the writing could use some work. And in a Reel we don't want to watch actors ‘making the most’ out of something, we want to see them thriving at what they do best.
LESS CONTEXT CAN MAKE YOUR WORK LESS COMPETITIVE
Simply put: our job in doing our preparation and script analysis is just harder when our script is only 1 page long. You’ve got less to go on, so you have to work 10 times as hard to make a comparable performance to the roles we see in your competing demo reels. Without access full screenplay, its harder to flesh out that character. Your 10-20 second clip is being measured against footage from fully produced projects (because thats ultimately where reels should come from). In competitive demo reels, actors have a fully stocked kit of resources loaded in that 100 page screenplay in which to craft their role. It's going to be a real challenge if you are to create the same calibre of work with like 1% of that information, direction, and resources.
THE CHARACTER TYPE MIGHT BE WRONG FOR YOU
If you don’t know who you are as an actor, it will be hard to know what roles and what footage will best serve you in a reel. Ideally, you should be well trained and have worked with a coach or your agent, or an industry professional to determine what kind of footage you need to market YOU as an actor, and the sort of roles you play well. But oftentimes, early in our careers we just have no clue. A reel studio might have written you the best romantic girl next door scene in the world-- but if that’s not what you usually book/ play/ audition for- it's essentially useless. You must understand who you are to best craft the story that your reel will tell your buyer. Just like you won’t accept a role in a film if it doesn't feel right for you-- your paid demo footage should help tell us how to cast you. If YOU don't even know how to cast you-- you will end up with poor choices of clips that feel off and confuse us.
INEXPERIENCE WILL HINDER YOUR REEL
If: you are at tier one as an actor, you’ve never been in a professional film before, you’ve never taken an acting class, you don’t know yet how to translate your theatrical training into on-camera work? You are wasting time and money you could be spending on training. You are actually paying someone to film how green you are. Casting Directors can look at demo reels and immediately know when that actor has hired a studio. They see your resume and find it disconcerting that you’ve done one film but you somehow have 10 projects on your reel. They can tell from your resume, you’ve not taken any acting classes. And unfortunately, your reel is unwatchable. And they knew that before they even clicked play. And after they do click play? Their suspicions are confirmed, this actor has never been on set-- and doesn't know what to do on-camera. They aren’t ready. And no amount of footage will change that. You cannot buy experience. It won’t serve you to purchase a reel before you’ve got the goods to deliver consistent work, and a competitive resume. It's also why, footage created by a demo reel studio should only be used to supplement a pre-exsiting reel. We the viewer, shouldn't be able to tell which roles were booked, filmed, fully produced features and which were one off demo scenes.
No reel, is better than a bad reel. Always and forever, we mean it. Because when you are just starting out, just getting your feet wet and training, we don’t expect you to have a reel, and that’s okay. But once you have a reel those expectations are high. Yes we need to see and hear you clearly, and see that it's been edited to feature you best-- but your acting has to be killer.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Nothing beats good old fashioned hard work and patience. It’s absolutely okay to be where you are in your career. If you are at a stage in your career where you don’t have a reel yet: embrace it. You have time. You can craft the artist that you are with training, and flesh out your on-camera technique with real life on set experience over the course of your next 3-5 bookings. The time spent building a reel, is well worth the outcome.
Your reel is a trailer of you at your best. And getting to your best takes time.
But: If you have a reel (link to reel blog here) and and a strong resume of credits, and feel like you really know what you are doing as an actor-- and really just need some comedic footage to level up your reel-- by all means: go for it! Do your research, don’t spend too much, and be sure to consult with your agent or coach to make sure you know exactly what your reel needs-- and then get that sweet savory footage.
Comments