Making an Acting Resume

I can tell a phony resume at a glance. - Mary Spencer, Theatrical Agent

Hand someone a resume and photo, and you're presenting them a package. Both are your trademarks. Both make a statement about your professionalism. If you're spending hours over your pictures and ten minutes dashing off your resume, you're wrapping only the top part of your package.

APPEARANCE



Here's the most neglected area of resumes, and it's just as important as what's on it.

Some suggestions:

• Don't use cheap paper. That'll make you look cheap. Good paper is 20- or 24-weight rag bond, and costs only about two to three cents more than ordinary bond paper. (Just ask the printer to show you a sheet.)
  
  
• Type it on a good word processor. Or have it composed and typed by someone who knows the industry. (Acting resumes are different from business resumes.) The small fee you'll pay will be well worth it. And never submit a resume with something handwritten on it.
  
  
• Have it nicely copied: With the advances in photocopying machines, you can photocopy your resume and it'll look terrific, or have it offset-printed. There's no need to typeset the resume. Granted, typesetting looks beautiful, but it's expensive and permanent-looking - as if the actor didn't intend to add any more credits. (Still want that look? Check out one of the desk-top publishing services in town - a computer and laser printer can do it.)
  
  
• Try a muted color. It's eye-catching. We like egg white.
  
  
• You submit a resume and photo by stapling the resume to the back of the picture. (No paper clips, glue, spit, bubble gum or tar.) Since the average piece of paper measures 8J4" by 11", cut it down to fit your 8" by 10" photo, or ask the printer to do it - before he prints the resume. Don't forget to allow space for this on all sides when typing the resume. Sound petty? Might keep your pic around longer. To quote a casting director: "Nothing drives me crazier than resumes that are slightly larger than the photograph. Filing them is a real pain in the neck."
  
  
• Your name: Is the first thing anyone should notice. If you think that's obvious, you'd be surprised at the number of resumes we've seen that make you hunt for that HI' item. How large should your name be? Make it the most prominent thing on the resume, but not so big you look like you've got an ego that dwarfs Mount Everest.
  

There are four ways to put a name on a resume:

• Have the printer do it. Easiest for you, but expensive.
  
  
• Have it done on a laser printer.
  
  
• Cut your name from the border of your photo, glue it onto the original resume, and make copies.
  
  
• Go to an art supplies or stationary store and buy rub-on (dry transfer) lettering. It's inexpensive and will give you a professional look that only requires the artistic skill of drawing a straight line with a ruler.
  

Finally, be sure everything is spelled correctly. If not, you'll look awefully stewpid.

SHOULD YOU PAD A RESUME?

Talking about the industry in general, television stage manager James Hamilton says, "Don't ever b.s. someone. These people are experts on b.s. They can spot it a mile away." Excellent advice - especially here. Pad a resume and you're setting yourself up like the Phantom of the Opera: sooner or later, someone will pull off the mask. But, if you're determined, use your noodle.

• New York credits: Some terrific theatre is mounted outside the Big Apple, but people in L.A. are often disproportionately impressed with New York credits. Fighting fire with fire, you could take a Dallas community theatre credit (say The Glass Menagerie) and move it to a New York off-off Broadway theatre. But, remember, off-off Broadway. Saying you played the lead in Les Miserables will get you a miserables reaction - especially if you also don't belong to Equity. And, if you engage in credit immigration to New York, at least be familiar with that city and the off-off Broadway theatres. Smart is nor listing New York credits and then telling the interviewer what a lovely strolling area 42nd Street is.
  
  
• Motion picture credits: Hoo boy. You might get away with it if you list an obscure potboiler like The Bloody Hand with the Greasy Hook That Speared Savannah, Sharp Productions, Atlanta. Even then, you'll meet someone who knows potboilers or Atlanta production and spots it as a phony. We're not kidding. As one agent puts it, "If you don't have credits, don't make them up. You don't know if I was on the set of 'Run Jerry Run' 14 years ago when I was in production."
  
  
• Television credits: No way. Absolutely no way.
  
  
• Industrials/student films: Here's your best bet for a little padding, if you must. Many cities have industrial film houses and/or colleges that do student films. Just be sure you know what you're talking about.
  
  
• Stage credits: Leave them in Podunk and you can pad to your heart's content - provided you at least read the plays. But frankly, if that's where you are, you're about as ready to do battle in professional acting as a baby is ready to do brain surgery. (You 18-year-olds are off the hook here. At your age, nobody expects you to have a resume as long as your arm.)
  

One other thing. Drop all mention of commercials on your resume - including "Commercials on Request." Current industry thinking is that mentioning commercials on a resume can only hurt. Film/TV people either don't care or might worry about you being "too big" for the camera (commercial acting is different than "straight" acting). And, when it comes to commercials, no sponsor is going to be ecstatic seeing all that experience you've had - advertising other people's products. (For more, see our section on commercials.)

Okay, now go to work, bearing in mind a quote we really like. It was on a sign hanging in the window of a resume typing service: "When they ask to see it, it better be good."