The Digital Tool Kit: Resumes
As crazy as it may seem, we are officially in the final month of 2020! This year has been difficult for everyone, and particularly so for those of us who work in the performing arts. However, we want to focus on the positives in life and as of right now it seems like Broadway and other theatre may be returning soon! While we all wait patiently for the vaccine, now is the perfect time for performers to begin getting their digital houses in order. What exactly does this mean? We will tell you!
In this digital age, your online presence as an actor or performer is a key component of your success. While talent and hard work are certainly important too, having your information online will help creatives and casting directors get to know you. It can be overwhelming to begin the process of making sure all of your media is correct and available online. In light of this, we’ll be taking the next few weeks to help our readers get their digital houses in order. Today, we are going to start with one of the basics: the resume!
If you are reading this, you most likely have a resume. If not, check out our previous blog post about the basics of a resume. Getting your resume together is difficult enough, and often people begin to neglect their resume after a few weeks. Since a lot of us have been “MIA” since March, now is the perfect time to go through and be sure all of your information is accurate and up to date.
Start with your stats! Has your height, weight, or age range changed since the last time you edited your resume? This is particularly important for our child actor clients, and walking into an audition (or zooming in, as the case may be) with incorrect statistical information on your resume is a no-no. In addition, don’t forget about your casting profiles too. Actors Access, Casting Networks, and Backstage all should be up to date and match each other. In fact, most Casting Directors these days will look at your online resume before your paper one.
While you may have many credits, make sure your paper resume is kept to one page. Anything longer is unnecessary, and considered to be against industry standard. If you have participated in any zoom or online performances this year, be sure to add those to your resume as well. CD’s will like to see who has remained active in the arts in 2020.
We have all kept ourselves busy in quarantine in different ways, and we know some of our clients have taken the extra time to develop and learn new skills. This is a great thing to add to your resume! While you are at it, maybe take this time to remove anything that is no longer relevant.
Have a website? Throw it on there! We’ll tackle updating your website in a later post, but if you have a site make sure whoever is reading your resume can find it.
PRO TIPS
1- Never list a physical address (that includes locations of schools for our young actors)
2- As you update your resume, save a NEW version. That’s easy to do by adding a date to the resume file name. For example: SmithMary_resume_122020
3- Save the resume in word (or pages) and in PDF format. ONLY send PDF’s.
4- If you are an under 18 actor, be sure to note that you have a Child Performer Work Permit. These are issued for NY, CA and GA (if you are booked to work). If you don’t .. or if it’s expired … contact us for help on getting that in order too!
