Read an Excerpt

Chapter 1
Your first headshot

It’s much better to look good than to feel good.
—A makeup artist to an actor

Everyone’s heard the urban myth about somebody’s second cousin who happened to be walking his dog in Des Moines and was “discovered” by a traveling casting agent who just happened to be driving by. Mr. Dog Walker was then put on an airplane, flown to Los Angeles, featured in a TV commercial, and retired wealthy beyond measure. The catch: It didn’t happen. That’s why they call it an urban myth. Lana Turner wasn’t really discovered at Schwab’s Drug Store. (“Who’s Lana Turner?” you ask.)

Don’t get me wrong, there have been lots of ordinary folks who’ve actually been picked off the street to be in TV commercials, but we’re talking about apples and oranges. You’re reading this book because you want to make a living as a commercial actor, and that means doing a lot more than one job. Throughout the country there are many smaller markets where you can submit yourself for a commercial job and land an occasional spot, but you won’t make a living in commercials. To do that, you need a commercial talent agent to submit you to casting directors for auditions and then represent you once you do get the job. (We’ll talk more about agents in the last chapter of Part One.) Your agent is the vital link if you want to work often and make substantial money doing so. (We’ll assume that you do.)

In order to get that all-important talent agent, you need to submit a headshot of yourself. And to be successful in landing that agent, you need a really good headshot.

OKAY—TO GET AN AGENT I GUESS  I NEED A REALLY GOOD HEADSHOT

Yep. It was worth repeating!

The name of the game is advertising. And that means that you need to advertise yourself better than your competition. The average commercial agent is mailed, e-mailed, or hand-delivered hundreds of photos, snapshots, and JPEGs each week, either from aspiring actors hoping for a career in commercials, or from actors who already have an agent but are looking for new representation. The truth is that it takes that agent (or usually an assistant) about twenty seconds to sort through the hundreds of choices and select the four or five actors he or she feels might be worth taking a look at.

Your aim is to make sure your headshot is one of the chosen few, not one of the many that end up getting deleted, tossed in the circular file, or fed to the shredder. Before I go any further, I will say that it is most imperative that your headshot be an exact portrait of you and how you look right now. One of the key gripes from talent agents and casting agents is that the actor standing in front of them ?doesn’t even look related to the actor whose headshot they’re holding in their hand.

BUT I DON’T LIKE TO HAVE MY PICTURE TAKEN!

Then you’re looking at the wrong career. Get over it. This is a business of getting your picture taken—and sometimes at twenty-four frames a second. When I hear someone say she doesn’t like to have her picture taken, it usually means one thing—she thinks she’s not going to like what she thinks she’s going to see.

So before you hire a photographer to take your headshot, it’s a good idea to do the following. Put on some clothes that you like and that you think might be acceptable to wear if you were cast in a commercial. Then take a good, critical, objective look at yourself in a full-?length mirror. Now make a list of those things you’re not particularly fond of about the way you look, and then divide those things into two categories.

1. The things you can’t change.
2. The things you can change.

First, immediately forget about those things in category one. You can’t change them. If you’re six-foot-ten in your stocking feet or four-foot-eight with high heels on, that’s the way it is. So if you are the former, your goal is to work more than any other six-foot-ten person! On the other hand, if you’re proud of the fact that you’re four-foot-eight, and you carry yourself proudly, you’ll be fine. Remember that these things are the things that make you the unique you that you are.

The second category consists of the things that you’re not comfortable with, that you can change, and that you would like to change. Take a look in the mirror again.

WHAT SHOULD I BE LOOKING FOR?

Look at your figure. Most folks these days are packing a few more pounds than they should. That’s not to say that you’re not going to work if you’re more rotund than svelte, but you are limiting your casting options. Keep in mind that the camera adds ten pounds to everyone, and if you’re not completely comfortable with your weight, it will show in the way you carry yourself. So if you don’t like what you see, and you think you’d feel better about yourself if you lost some weight, then do it. Walk more, skip the french fries, work out, and tighten up. You certainly don’t need to be a bodybuilder to be in television commercials, but some muscle tone looks good on everyone, and you’ll probably feel better about yourself if you’re a little buff.
On the other hand, if you like the way you look, then you’re fine the way you are. The days of every actor looking like a runway model are long gone. Folks are bigger these days and advertisers know it. The commercials they write, produce, and air reflect the cross-?sections of our population.

Take a look at your hair. If you’re a fellow who is follicularly challenged, my advice is to put that in the “can’t change it” category and be happy with it. Bald is fine and much better than a comb-over or a bad hairpiece. If it’s a question of style, take a look at the actors and actresses in your age bracket who are doing most of the commercials you see on television. If you’re sporting a spiked, multicolored Mohawk, you’ve definitely limited yourself to a very small category, and you’re probably not going to be featured in too many Procter & Gamble spots. If an ad agency wants a twenty-year-old who sports green hair, they’ll usually just hire an actor who fits the role and color his hair. Just keep in mind that styles are constantly changing and your hair should look contemporary.

Tattoos and body piercings? Your choice, but a sparkler in your nose, a ring in your lip, three rings in your eyebrow, and a Raider Nation tattoo on your neck will probably not get you a job. Usually, if the advertiser is looking for an actor sporting a tattoo or an earring, they’ll have makeup do the artwork or have wardrobe come up with a temporary prosthetic for the actor. Remember that a tattoo is a long-term choice that is very difficult, painful, and expensive to remove. For the purposes of TV commercial acting, I’d stay away.

And if you do have a tattoo, it would be a good idea to mask it as best you can before you have any meetings with agents or have an audition. You should also remove problematic earring(s) and cosmetically wax over any hole(s). For women, one earring in each ear is fine, as long as they are not distracting.

The closest I ever came to a tattoo was almost getting USMC emblazoned on my arm when I was in the Marine Corps, just out of boot camp and on my first liberty in San Diego. After too many cervezas, four of us new Marines went into a tattoo shop (cleverly positioned next to the bar), and I watched as the other three got their arms jabbed with needles and painted with ink. One fellow even ended up with cyndi engraved on his arm...and of course a week later got a Dear John. I don’t know why I declined that night, much to the heckling of my buddies, but at least for my acting career, I’m glad I did. Still, I often wonder if my buddy ever found another Cyndi.

Your hands have to be clean and presentable. You may be handling product in some commercials, so clean hands and well-trimmed fingernails are important. If you bite your nails, stop. If you have ugly warts, get rid of them, and if you’re thinking about getting love and hate on your fingers, reread my thoughts in the section above that refers to tattoos.

Look at your teeth. They don’t have to be perfect, but make sure they’re pretty straight. Discolored or missing teeth are a no-no. If your teeth are dark and dingy, use whitening strips or get them whitened. If your teeth need some cosmetic repair, get thee to a dentist. If they are perfect, you may get a toothpaste commercial!

If you can’t see without glasses, think about getting corrective lenses or having laser surgery. Again, if the advertiser wants someone who wears glasses in the commercial for an effect, the wardrobe person will bring a selection of lens-less glasses to wear. Real glasses with corrective lenses are very hard to light and photograph because they bounce light into the camera lens.

Look at the clothes that you’ve chosen for your self-analysis. Are there really many actors in your age category whom you see on commercials dressed like you are? Do you always dress the same way and have one “look”? A good rule of thumb? When you’re in doubt about what to wear, always dress upscale, not down.

When choosing your clothing, colors are very important. The key is to find colors that accent and complement your hair, eyes, and skin tone in order to make your color headshot pop off the page and be noticed.

Are your clothing choices flattering to your body? That area of skin betwixt pants and top may really look great on a hard body, but a bare midriff bulge on most women is unattractive. Take a critical look at yourself, and then ask for a second opinion from someone you know who dresses well. (Everyone knows someone who dresses well.) Get his or her thoughts about both your colors and your choice of clothes. Some folks are naturally gifted in this area, and some are not. (My wife picks out all my clothes...)

Now, if your list of things you can change includes losing weight, doing your hair differently, no longer biting your nails, whitening your teeth, getting your eyes fixed so you can see without glasses, or spending some time rethinking your wardrobe, the time to address all those things is now, before you hire a photographer for that first photo session. Then you can start telling yourself that you’re going to like your photo session and you’re going to like the resulting headshot! Getting your picture taken is what this business is all about!

OKAY. I’VE MADE AN ANALYSIS OF MYSELF AND I’M WORKING ON THOSE THINGS THAT NEED ATTENTION. WHAT’S NEXT?

As already mentioned, at this point in your search for an agent, you need a terrific headshot. These days, eight-by-ten color photos are the norm. Your friends may say that three-quarters body shots and off-center framing are in vogue and the way to go, but, for right now, the most important thing is to make sure your face is in focus and is the focus of the picture. After you have an agent, you and he might change what your headshot will look like. Different areas of the country may prefer differently framed and different-looking, off-center headshots. New York headshots tend to be more avant-garde while Los Angeles tends to be more traditional. But no matter where you live, your focus for now should be on getting a great color eight-by-ten glossy with your face dominating the photo.

It helps to keep in mind that having your picture taken isn’t easy. It takes the best of us not to feel a little self-conscious and tense. Photos don’t lie, so if you’re feeling stress or tension, it will show. But the more you practice something, the easier it will be next time. In fact, if you have a friend who dabbles in photography and is willing to shoot some practice headshots of you, go for it. In this age of digital cameras, you can have a whole lot of shots taken without incurring any cost. If you do decide to use a buddy for your practice shoot, however, make sure you explain the framing and the other perimeters. Remember that every time you have a photo session, you’ll get more used to having your picture taken. And who knows? You might just end up with a pretty good-?looking headshot that a professional photographer can use as a guide.

SO, I SHOULD USE A PROFESSIONAL FOR MY REAL HEADSHOT SESSION?

No matter how skilled your amateur friend is at photography, you’ll most likely have to use a pro. There’s a big difference between an amateur photographer and someone who knows focus, framing, and lighting, and shoots headshots for a living. Above all, be very prepared for your photo session. Actors seem to squander more hard-earned dollars on never-to-be-seen headshots than on anything else. It’s your money, so spend it wisely.

WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY “BE VERY PREPARED FOR THE SESSION”?

This is where your practice session(s) will come in handy. You’ll know more about your most flattering angles and expressions because you were able to practice, and the more you know and practice going into the real photo session, the more relaxed and confident you’ll be. You’ll know what to expect and won’t be intimidated.

Make sure you meet the photographer before you pay anyone anything. You should feel comfortable and relaxed with him before you hire him to work for you. Make triple sure you’re satisfied that this is the right person for you. Don’t be intimidated, and feel free to shop around if you don’t feel exactly right about your relationship with the photographer or the photos you see. Otherwise, you’ll be wasting your money. Remember that you are hiring the photographer and not the other way around!

Discuss beforehand exactly what you want him to do and what the headshot is for. If you’re “seeking representation” (a fancy phrase for “looking for an agent”), then let the photographer know. Find out what his ideas are, where he plans to shoot, what clothes you should bring (colors, styles, number of changes), and what he suggests about makeup and hair. And most important, look at his book, which is a portfolio of headshots he’s already taken of other actors. You’ll not only see the quality of his work, but you’ll get some ideas about what you want your headshot to look like.