I once had a client...who shall remain nameless not from a sense of delicacy but because I can’t remember it...say to me, "None of my friends have headshots like these." To which I replied, "And that’s...bad?"
Some Nasty Facts:
A few years ago, SAG statistics were:
- 60% of union members make $0 at union work in a given year.
- 80% make less than $5000.
- 95% make less than $25,000
- 0.7% make MORE than $100,000
Those stats may have improved but I doubt it.
That’s the boat we are in as actors. Question: Is that a boat you don’t want to rock?
What follow are not eternal truths. Just opinions I have formed over the years and from which I work. But...they are not lightly held and I was on the debating team in high school for three years. You have been warned.
OK. Headshots. Not portraits. Not ego props. Headshots.
Headshots are tools. Marketing tools. They have to do a job and do it very quickly. The tool works or fails to work in about a second and a half. If the casting director or assistant is actually looking at hard copies and yours spends more than two seconds in their hands, you’ll probably be called in. If they’re looking at thumbnails on a computer screen and they decide to click on yours, you’ll probably get called in.* If they’re dealing with hard submissions, they’re looking at hundreds for your role; if the submissions are electronic, thousands. How do you get yours to work? How do you stand out from the crowd?
First, know what you are selling. Are you selling quirky humor, solid trustworthiness, sensual promise, youthful innocence, damaged vulnerability, danger, strength, weakness...what? And don’t forget you have to follow the shot through the door. If the folks in the casting session don’t look up from your pic and think, "Ahhh! Just what we ordered", they’ll feel disappointed, cheated or lied to. Not good.
Second, the best photos produce an emotional reaction. How do you want casting people to react? The crazy thing is that even a negative reaction can get you called in as most headshots produce no reaction at all from someone who is looking at hundreds of them at a sitting.
Third, you’re competing. You’re competing first for ATTENTION. Then, for the role. So your picture has to get attention and suggest that you can act.
Finally, it should make the viewer curious about you. A shot that piques the interest. Interesting is often more useful than beautiful.
Your tool has to do a lot of jobs, do them well and do them fast. The bad news is there is no formula that guarantees these results. It’s a crapshoot. A shot that is unique to you and different from "what’s popular" and your mom hates and your manager is scared of just may kick ass. It’s worth remembering that you are in a business that offers virtually no security, has no rules...but rewards the risk takers. It helps if you and your agent/manager and your photographer are on the same page about what you are trying to do.
If you like the pics and I haven’t scared you off, give me a call and we’ll schedule a meeting. I don’t shoot anyone I haven’t met and interviewed. Some say interrogated.
*Since this was written, I spent forty minutes with a commercial casting director as she preped a session for the following day. She used a laptop with a 13" screen. Her submissions appeared in three rows of five thumbnails, each about 1 1/2' tall. In the time I was there she did not enlarge a single thumbnail or open a single gallery. I asked her why and she replied, "I'm lazy". (To be fair, most commercial casting is done with an average lead time of 48 hours from the time the casting director gets the job 'til the time you walk through their door to audition. Lazy casting directors have careers measured in weeks.) I have since spoken with two other casting directors who say that's how they work as well. Conclusion? The pic you post at LA Casting must...MUST...be a tightly cropped head. The crapshoot has gotten crappier.
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