Five Ways You are Ruining Your Headshots
Watch this video for tips to improve your headshots, and a few things you may be doing wrong…
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How to Prepare for Your On-Location Headshot Session
On-location headshots are very popular right now – and with good reason! They can look very natural and offer multiple different background options in one session. If your photographer has suggested an on-location shoot, here are five things you can do to prepare to make your photo shoot go as smoothly as possible:
- Plan, plan, plan. This goes without saying, as you should always plan your outfits for a photo shoot, but in the case of on-location shoots it is even more important. It can be inconvenient to dig through a suitcase full of clothing without anywhere to hang them or spread them out, so know in advance what outfits, accessories, and makeup you will want to use and group them together in an easy-to-access way.
- Wear comfortable shoes. People often don’t think about it, but your shoes will rarely be seen in your headshots! It’s important to be able to walk around comfortably so you have as many location options as possible, so make sure to wear comfortable shoes, or at least bring a pair of slip-on shoes that you can change into between locations.
- Wear an undershirt. With location shoots there is not always a convenient bathroom to change in between every look, so you will save yourself a lot of time and energy if you wear an undershirt or sports bra that you can keep on and change your top without needing too much privacy.
- Bring a mirror! Your photographer may bring one, but they may not, and you’ll probably want to be able to check your hair and makeup between photos, especially if you plan to change anything at all during the shoot.
- Bring everything in an easy to carry bag or roller-bag. Don’t just bring your outfits loose on hangers – you will need to set them down while you are being photographed, and there may not always be somewhere convenient. It’s much nicer to bring everything in a garment bag or neatly packed in a rolling suitcase so you will be ready to go between photos.
I hope this helps you feel a little more prepared for your on-location headshot session – and remember, as with every photo shoot, the most important thing is to relax and enjoy yourself!
How to Find a Talent Agent, Part 2
By Master TV Host Teacher IDalis De Leon
Let me start by saying there is no one way to get an agent. Everyone has different journeys and different talent brands. So let’s say you’ve been so busy “doing the work”, building credits like you are supposed to, and you haven’t had a proper agent relationship in a few years. It’s time to buckle down and put you on the market as a hot unsigned talent looking for representation.
- FIRST things first-Make sure before you look for an agent you have three things:
- A STRONG REEL: Evidence of your work and talent brand abilities
- CREDITS (jobs and training) for actors: Inde projects, web projects and student films,
for hosts: journalism (writing )credits, live event credits, red carpet, movie junkets, and local tv station credits - GREAT HEADSHOTS to get you in the room
- Get your Online Presence together: Revamp your Facebook, build your Twitter, and launch your Youtube Channel: Take off the photos of you doing jello shots at your cousins bachelor party, replace them with great photos of yourself on set, on a red carpet with a mic in your hand. Commit to your talent brand as a business. A big Twitter following is essential for hosts, it was the second question a Dick Clark Productions Executive posed to one of my hosts who was applying for a job to cover the red carpet for the Oscars. How many twitter followers do you have, he asked as he waited for her response? At least 10,000 and above is apparently respectable. Launch your Youtube Channel for your video projects, demo reel clips, class scenes, student films indie film scenes and begin to build an online presence that says working actor, working host, working reporter or new media journalist. When they Google your name, what will they find?
*An agent can only be as good as you as marketing material you give them to work with.
- Research IMDB PRO: Find you own method of research here, whether its looking up your favorite shows and and seeing who casts them, or credits you can acquire through which casting director or what agent represents what actors and what style of genre and actor they are normally looking for. Invaluable resource for actors, directors and writers.
- COLD CALL: Make a list of actor friends & hosts who work. Write a personal email to each one indicating that you’ve done your homework and you think that their agent might be a right fit and if you could just use their name when you submit your material you would be very grateful. As long as you have a referral, a cold call becomes a warm call. Call the agent assistant and say “ Hi, I know one of your clients “so and so” and I am looking for representation, I am a working actor/host. What’s the best way to send you my material? Then send your material, wait a week, if you don’t hear from them follow up.
- Go to Idalismedia.com for a list of Host Agents. Now Casting, Backstage, LA Casting have PDF downloads of agency listing for actors. These listings are everywhere. Stop and create your own list from your research. Make a list of your top 20 choices and then another 20 you wouldn’t say no to. These 40 are the agents you should focus on and just go down the checklist as you research and approach each one about representation. Takes notes and keep track. Someone will sign you especially if you are staying busy.
- Traditional Methods still work: Targeted mailings, postcards, attending events, networking, making connections, showcasing your work on stage or hosting a live event red carpet or movie junket and joining organizations that keep your work in front of people.
How to Find a Talent Agent, Part 1
By iDalis De Leon
- First and foremost ask yourself AM I READY FOR A TALENT AGENT?
*Here is a guideline to determining if you are ready for an agent:
A) If you have demo reel footage of you speaking five lines or less, you are not ready.
B) If you don’t have great headshots, you are not ready.
C) If you don’t have a reel with evidence of your insanely unique, fantastic talent brand abilities, then you are not ready.
D) If you are not excited about your own talent brand, then you are not ready.
E) If you have no idea how to sell yourself as an ACTOR or TV HOST..then you are not readyIf you are not ready for an agent according to the criteria above then…proceed to tip #2.
- DO THE WORK- Do enough work that they come looking for you. The biggest misconception about agents is that they are the answer to getting you auditions and ultimately work. Actors and TV hosts get the auditions through a great presentation of marketing materials they’ve passed on to their agent. Namely your headshot, reel and resume. Securing an Agent is not a magic pill. Although talent is indeed submitted by the agent, in the end, the partnership of your great talent brand, marketing materials and your agents longstanding relationships with casting directors and producers gets the auditions. They have relationships with casting they’ve built for years. Yes they can help but the talents headshot, their acting abilities and tv host brand, the quality of their work, and reputation in the end really gets the audition. The truth is agents want you to book your 10 percent, to pull your 10 percent of weight- from the 100 percent of talents they have on their roster.
*Agents are praying that you will:
a) Be a great actor but more importantly be a great AUDITIONER.
b) Be a great actor but more importantly have great HEADSHOTS that get you in the room.
c) Be a great actor but more importantly have killer REEL that closes deals.
d) Be a great actor but more importantly have a real grasp of yourself as a HUMAN BEING & be easy to work with.
Agents need all the help they can get. Agents won’t and are not expected to do ALL THE WORK for 10% of your little paycheck. Do the work, show up and the agent will show up.
An agent wants someone who is booking. Get the work done ANY WAY YOU CAN. Do WHAT EVER IT TAKES to get it on screen. Get credits and get seen. Then and only then are you ready for an agent. When you show evidence that you are ready to go on auditions that are at a higher level then you are ready for an agent.
So if you are ready for an agent, proceed to Part 11 in the next blog- if not- get to work!
The Secret to Mastering Any Dialect
The Standard/Neutral American Dialect, The Minnesota Dialect, The Southern Dialect, The British Dialect, The Australian Dialect, The New York Dialect, The German Dialect, The Texas Dialect, The British South African Dialect, and The Irish Dialect with Donald The Dialect Coach (www.DonaldTheDialectCoach.com)
How to Make a Dialect Believable – PART 2
In today’s video, Donald The Dialect Coach teaches you what to focus on when learning a dialect so that it will be believable. He also shows you how to keep your line delivery from being choppy while performing with a dialect. Part 2.
You’ll Never Make It in This Town?
by: Joe Tremaine
Years ago in New York City, I auditioned for a choreographer from Los Angeles who was casting a series of variety shows to be shot in Amsterdam. I booked the job! The choreographer liked my work and when that job was done, he told me he would be choreographing a new TV variety series at NBC in “beautiful downtown Burbank” starring Jerry Lewis. This choreographer offered me a job on the project. I took it immediately and moved to Los Angeles one month later.
A couple of weeks into the Jerry Lewis TV show, another choreographer was watching our rehearsal. He later approached and informed me, “You will never make it in this town!”
Needless to say I was stunned by his frankness.
Is that what it was, frankness? Or was it jealousy? Stupidity? Bitterness?
I didn’t really know what his intent was, nor did I care because that statement “put me over the edge”! His simple statement, whatever the intent, may have been the thing that catapulted me into a very successful career in Los Angeles! Which, I may add, has lasted for over FOUR DECADES and is still going STRONG!
I am a hard worker and always have been. But somehow his single statement caused me to push a little harder and a little longer toward each thing I wanted in my career. I am now thankful for his input, whatever the intent.
Always remember, especially in this day and age, that people can say/text/post the “damnedest things,” but you must rise above them and continue on your positive path. Don’t let ANYONE derail your dreams in any way! Stick to your “love” of this business and GO FOR IT no matter what crazy things “they” may say or do!
