Showreels Australia

Promote Yourself Actively with a Visumé !

We trust you've had a successful year so far and it's time to upgrade/order your Visumé to our new white platform - click on the two examples below (Millie Rose Heywood's with live Twitter feed and Matt Doran's without). Feedback from casting directors is overwhelmingly positive and they have told us it's a great way to introduce yourself if you are freelance, or to keep them up to date in a clean, attractive, professional way if you have an agent.

The Visumé : a one-page Visual Resume. (We also host them on our Showreels Australia site for you)

As with any marketing tool, you get out of it what you put INTO it. But you also get out of it what you DO with it. What have you been doing with your Visumé this year? Have you been sending it to casting directors to let them know what you've been up to? Perhaps you've never met them and this is how you said hi! Visumé are great to post on Facebook groups and introduce yourself to up and coming directors or casting directors. Because the Visumé format is so sleek and short, they are easy to send to the same industry contact on multiple occasions when you have updated videos, personal information to change (hair colour, skills, training) and headshots (just make a screenshot like the ones below and embed it in an email!). Can you imagine a casting director sitting down to look at the twenty-three pages of your personal website again and again to find out what's new when they can see everything you send them, in one place, in under a minute on your Visumé ?

Combine your upgraded Visumé with a killer new Speed Reel (60 - 90 secs of only your best work) or a Trailer Reel (up to 3 mins of career highlights) - or our SPECIAL on both - and you are well ahead of 95% of actors in Australia in the self-promotion stakes.

(click the image to see Matt's Visumé )

A Visumé - as the name suggests - is a one-page Visual Resume, so make it visual! Pictures and videos are proven to gain interest quicker than just words and more likely to keep it, so put them up front. Don't hide them on page six of your website. The Visume has yet another distinct advantage: It can change very quickly into something new. New headshots? No problem, just send us the files and we'll add them. Have a new scene to add or a different showreel entirely? Send us the links and in they go. Have you left your agent or found a new one? Let us know and we'll make the switch for you.

Treat your Visumé as a constantly evolving representation of where you're at - at that moment - then regularly share it! Your Visumé can link to your personal website, your agency site, Showcast, AT2, Twitter, Facebook, Linked in, IMDb - wherever you want to direct the potential employer's eye. The contact form can be directed to your email address or your agent's and if you have a domain name you can redirect it to your Visumé page (Eg: www.paulbarry.com.au) - It's up to you....

You can even invite industry, friends or total strangers to LIKE your page to improve the number of times you are likely to be viewed. And as with all Showreels Australia clients' material, your Visumé will receive complementary Search Engine Optimisation as par for the course.

(click the image to see Millie Rose's Visumé )

What now? If you wish to book/renew for 12 months of hosting, it will be $132 (incl. GST) and we will include the complementary upgrade to the new white platform. Call or email us and order your Visumé today!

Showreels Australia

A number of great ways to showcase your talents.

Showreels Australia partner and LA-based Actor/Director Paul Barry arrives in Sydney in less than two weeks and has an opening for a small number of reels to direct and shoot. Now is the time to contact us at info@showreelsaustralia.com.au and start bouncing ideas around.

Two-handers, monologues, comedy, drama, presenting, action - you name it! Showreels Australia is the only showreel business in Australia to encourage actors to avoid the typical and cliched scenes. We write new material or search far and wide for great unknown material that will specifically showcase you in your best possible light.

Below, we have marked our most popular services with an asterix (*). Our services include (but are by no means limited to):

1) The IMPACT SHOOT:

– Martina Selwood. Script sourced & tailored to you by Showreels Australia

2) The SOLO SHOOT:

– Karina Wielgosz. Written by Showreels Australia

3) The INDIE SHOOT *:

– Katie McKee. Written by Showreels Australia

4) Grab yourself a VISUME * to showcase your work in a brand new way. Check out Matt Doran’s here: http://www.showreelsaustralia.com.au/mattdoran

You can even get a TWITTER FEED into your Visume!

http://www.showreelsaustralia.com.au/millieroseheywood.html

5) A PRESENTING reel and Visume

Albert Talarico. Material written by Albert Talarico.

7) SPEED REEL (60-90 secs) *

or

TRAILER REEL (2-3 mins) *

.

Feel free to jump straight to the SPECIALS on our website for great deals on prices. Any questions, just ask!

Why not send an email to info@showreelsaustralia.com.au to tell us what you're looking for? Get in early and create a great-looking showcase for your talents.

Regards,

Showreels Australia

www.showreelsaustralia.com.au

RIP Peter Falk

PETER FALK (1927-2011)

Peter Falk was one of the true greats in the industry. With a career bridging remarkable art films such as Wim Wenders' Wings of Desire and John Cassavetes' A Woman Under the Influence, to the childhood (and adult, really) favourite The Princess Bride, Falk was a consummate professional and always based his work in honesty and truth, but never without a cheeky grin. Since truth was his guide, both comedy and tragedy failed to phase Falk.

Below are two example of his much-imitated character, Lt. Columbo. What wonderful journies and how unexpected. Never playing the end of the scene first, Falk was able to truly surprise the audience by playing each moment as entirely unique.

(Both exaplmes here see Falk acting alongside the equally charistmatic and talented - and good friend of Falk's - John Cassavetes)

Without his pioneering "Oh, just one more thing" 'bumbling detective' act, there would have been no modern genaration of star-vehicles such as Monk, House, The Mentalist, Lie To Me, The Glades or countless others in TV and film that have been written to recapture the response audiences had to Peter Falk's brilliance.

Peter Falk, you may be studied, copied, echoed or emulated but you will never be replaced.

What's the best material for a showreel? (you may be surprised)

The question is consistently raised: "What makes good showreel material?"

Obviously, current footage from great film and TV with a reputable (and public) reputation would be fantastic, as would something showing some range and highlighting your talents. "OK, but if I'm a bit light on in that area and want to shoot something from scratch, what kind of scenes are perfect for ME?" is the logical follow up. Well, what do you think?

Do you immediately imagine scenes from famous films with your gun-toting idol screaming 'Say hello to my liddle friend!' ? Or gushing 'You had me at hello'? Do you take more an independent, drug-addled Requiem For a Dream or whimsical Garden State angle? Perhaps you write your own scenes to show your entire emotional range and impress the casting directors that way?

Either way, what are you trying to SAY with the piece/s you choose? What are you saying about YOU ? What are you saying about how you want to be CAST ? Universal tools (tools that can do 358 separate chores in one) sell a lot less than hammers, screwdrivers and hot glue-guns individually. If your decision is "I want to say I'm a great actor and can do anything', then you're in the wrong ballpark, in the wrong city, which also happens to be in the wrong state, in the wrong country and hemisphere...

Watch the following Friday Night Lights scene with the excellent Connie Britton and Kyle Chandler, then read the script included.

(download)

Click here to download:

Coach & Tami (mirror).pdf (94 KB)

(download)

Now, would you have honestly picked a script like that for a showreels scene? Now you've watched it, would you cast both these actors in something if you were a casting director or director? Absolutely, you would!. And that is the point. It would be a great scene to shoot for a reel. Getting cast is your aim in selecting scenes, not showing off all your acting chops. A showreel is showing what you can do, not what you wish you could do.

In our regular dialogue with casting directors, we get the consistent feedback that they prefer to see:

a) Short and to the point

b) Roles they can cast, rather than roles you would like to play

c) Good quality footage (as long as the talent being shot is also good)

and

d) An increasing body of work

Although a pedigree (a constant stream of work in TV shows and films and with 'name' directors) makes the decision process easier, there is no doubt that a 15 year-old who has done one interesting student short film will still be in the running for any new work in Australia. You never know where the talent will come from and 'talented unknowns' or 'great finds' are gold in our industry. As you get older though, this changes. Though it is possible, the number of successful actors who began their careers at 30+ is rather small. And anyone who did amassed a large body of work over a short period of time. You need to help the viewer by giving them a clear idea of what you do and how they can cast you. It is entirely possible to use a hammer to drive in a screw but when selling the hammer you'd be much more successful showing it driving in a nail. Let the buyer use it for something else once they've BOUGHT it, but first, get them to buy it.

The act of marketing yourself is, in essence, very simple:

1) Work out what you want them to see

and

2) Show them that

Do it well and do it repeatedly.

Do you know what IT is? IT is called 'type'. 'Type' is not a prison sentence, it is a departure point. Once you are cast repeatedly, you will be in the perfect position to challenge people's view of you. You are better to be 'type cast' at first than not cast.

Connie Britton and Kyle Chandler worked it out brilliantly in Friday Night Lights. They have embraced their 'types' so solidly that I challenge anyone to tell me who would have been better suited to those roles. They own their characters and they anchor a show filled with people who previously had very little acting experience. Britton's TAMI has all the sensitivity, sensuality, strength, humour and power of a leading lady that many would do well to emulate and Chandler embodies COACH so brilliantly that dictionaries should have a picture of him as their definition.

What is your 'type'? What do you want them to see? Despite the varied roles throughout his career, Johhny Depp plays just as much of a 'type' as Tom Cruise does. One is much more appealing to a conservative crowd and the other sexier to an alternative crowd. One, by his own admission, is 'addicted to losers' and the other seems addicted playing winners. Guess which is which. The Johnny Depp of 21 Jump Street and the Tom Cruise of Taps wouldn't be where they are today though if they hadn't embraced their 'type', at least at the beginning. Whether they or their publicists created that type is up for debate but unless you have your own publicist, it is a moot point.....

When seeking out material to shoot for your reel, keep 'type' in mind and focus on the many exciting benefits of embracing it for a period of time. Ignore it or defy it and prepare for a much rockier climb than Johnny and Tom. At Showreels Australia, we have a system to help you find out your type and use it to your advantage. Contact us and start working to your own advantage.

Showreels Australia.

Click HERE to read our full blog!

Welcome to the brand new Showreels Australia website!

It has been a long road but we hope you’ll be impressed with the renovations we’ve made here at Showreels Australia.

The change you’ll notice immediately is that our brand new Showreels Australia website is fresher and brighter. We have included many new stills from shoots, video examples to illustrate our offers and with regularly updating on the site, information is a lot easier to access. We want you to visit and revisit Showreels Australia and we want it to be a hub for Actors in Australia as well as a trusted resource for Casting Directors, looking to see Actors’ talent up front. We have broken down our pages into very simple sections:

- SHOW ME (examples of our work)

- SHOOT ME (descriptions of shoots on offer)

- EDIT ME (speed reel, trailer reel, compilation, duplication)

- HOST ME (on & off-site showcasing possibilities)

- SPECIALS (new deals & old faves)

- Clicking on SHOW ME will take you to all our clients’ reels, our new and innovative client Visumes and an impressive stills gallery of Showreels Australia’s work to date.

- The SHOOT ME link allows you to browse the various deals Showreels Australia has on offer and choose the one that’s right for you. From monologues (Solo Shoot) to two-handers (Indie & Auteur Shoots) to our exciting new action reel (Impact! Shoot) and our dynamic presenting reels, we have something for everybody.

- HOST ME directs you to our social networking links such as Youtube, Facebook, Digg, Stumble Upon & Twitter, as well as our soon-to-be-released Chaperoning section, whereby you upload your headshots, professional information and videos for free, to be viewed and ranked by Casting Directors and industry peers.

- Our SPECIALS page will house our current specials, but because Showreels Australia wants to remain affordable to all, this is where you will also find our permanent specials.

As always, our aim here at Showreels Australia is to provide the highest quality showreels, with a personalised service and competitive price – we won’t settle for any less. Your feedback helps our business grow and we very much appreciate your opinions. Showreels Australia is for you, so let us know what you need.

Exciting additions to our site:

- An Industry Mentor Program (Writer, Director, Producer etc)

- Producing two short films per year (drawing from our expanding client pool)

- A corporate ‘production’ arm

- The ‘Insight Out’ conversations with Next Big Things and Industry Stalwarts

- Impact! Action Workshops with Fight Choreographer, Armourer & Film Crew

- Skype Acting Classes live from LA

- US Dialect Coaching live from LA (on Skype)

We trust you will agree that the changes we’ve incorporated are better for everyone - easy-to-access information, intuitive layout and expanded social networking capabilities put the site light years ahead of its predecessor. Add to this the dramatic improvement in reel production quality through the introduction of our new Canon 7D camera and a raft of exciting initiatives to generate movement for Actors, Writers & Directors in our industry and we’re confident you’ll be impressed.

Showreels Australia is very proud to announce that our new site is now…officially….launched!

Paul Barry & Tristan Kenyon

Showreels Australia

Showreels Australia submits its entry to Trop Fest 2011!

Showreels Australia submits its entry to Trop Fest 2011! Thanks to all who were involved and fingers crossed we see you all on the red carpet. :D

"Without Fear", written by Paul Barry and directed by Tristan Kenyon, stars Matthew Hamilton & Paul Barry.

"When life-long friends, Andy and Greg, are imprisoned by an unknown captor in the middle of the night, they soon suspect that the key to their freedom is buried somewhere in their past…"