7 Essential Tips and Tricks to Help You Land Your Next Role

In order to begin your acting for screen career and land your first break out role, its essential to understand how to hone your craft and compete professionally in this highly competitive industry. As actors it’s our job to be aware of current casting trends, and consistently try to build a strong, diverse portfolio, to understand what is crucial for the success as an actor and knowing what will truly make you stand out from the crowd. Continuously learning techniques for the audition room, showcasing unique strengths and networking, in order to create strong bonds and stay persistent. Essentially were striving to show our professionalism, awareness, and adaptability as an actor, to increase our chances of being cast.

The importance of training
Professional acting training is essential in helping you to learn skills and refine your craft, allowing you to analyse and understand the best route of action when it comes to auditioning, as well as creating versatility and variety as an actor. A professional actor should actively be looking to evolve and develop, keeping up to date with current trends that can be influenced greatly by acting coaches and training. Stanislavski explained that “an actor must train his body, his mind, his soul, and his feelings in order to be able to play any role he is given”. This emphasises the idea that in order to truly be able to dedicate yourself to a role, you must first learn to blend your emotional intelligence with your technical ability. Good actor training focuses on this idea, navigating the actor to understand the complexities of the industry whilst immersing them in the technicalities to make them more confident and comfortable to tackle roles with different performance styles and needs.

Discover and define your personal brand & USP
Once you begin to learn the importance of your casting type and personal brand, your confidence within auditions will skyrocket. Embracing unique qualities and skills within your personality allow a casting director to see what image you are presenting whilst also allow them to identify you through your USP (unique selling points). An example of someone who has expertly capitalised they’re personal brand is Jack Black, his comedic ‘funny guy’ casting type has been the predominant reason his career has been so successful. Some people may fear that by focusing on their personal branding and highlighting specific characteristics they may fall into being ‘type cast’ however, looking back at Jack Blacks career he’s been able to break out of his type of cast in multiple occasions such as playing the love interest in ‘the holiday’ and the uptight stern father in ‘Goosebumps’. So never shy away from your casting type and USP as your branding represents who you are and is the main reason you’ll land that next role.


Networking
Networking is key to advancing an actor’s career as it secures valuable opportunities, builds relationships, and helps to show your determination to build a strong, professional reputation within the acting industry. By networking with likeminded creators, you are connecting directly with possible agents, producers, directors, and fellow actors allowing you to gain expert insight on potential auditions and opportunities that may not be advertised publicly. Strong connections within the industry can lead to repetitive work a referral, whilst also building an essential support system in the entertainment world.


Building your resume and experience
Building your resume and experience on set as an actor is essential for showcasing your experience, skills, and versatility to casting directors in the film and tv industry. A professionally crafted resume highlights your training, previous roles, special skills, and accomplishments, which helps casting directors, agents, and producers quickly assess whether you're the right fit for a project. The skill of gaining experience wherever you can for example: on set as a runner, voluntary roles on student/short films and minor roles as extras is the perfect way of showing your drive to immersed yourself in the industry. To an employer you don’t have to have big credits initially as they’re more concerned on your personality, determination and what you can offer them.


Getting an agent
Agencies are the crucial provider and advocate in an actor’s career, representing and promoting clients in the highly competitive screen industry. They give direct insight into casting calls and ensure they you as the performer are treated fairly by employers. Once you’ve secured an agent you can focus on perfecting your acting without having any stress of the formal business work such as: submitting you for roles and navigating career decisions. Having an agent increases your chances of landing roles significantly and is an essential to an actor learning to progress they’re career drastically.


How important are professional headshots?
Having a standout headshot that represents your distinct features and charisma is key when trying to attract directors and agents, as it the first initial impression they’ll receive. A high quality, professional headshot aims to perfectly capture an authentic and unique representation of the performer, providing the actor with a unique and essential marketing tool used throughout their personal branding. A headshot should be able to show your potential casting types, whilst conveying a range of different emotions to give the casting director a chance to envision you in specific projects. It’s essential to remember how the selection process in the acting industry works, being highly competitive and majorly reliant on aesthetics and visuals, so by having a great headshot you are increasing your chances of being seen and selected more often.


Preparation and determination for the audition room
Preparation and determination are essential before an audition as it allows you to fully understand the material and role given to you, ensuring you give the best performance possible and relax knowing you are being yourself. By researching into the script, character background and project itself you can make informed choices that can enhance and add to your role. For an actor, research can add depth, authenticity and nuance to a performance showing the casting director you are confident, professional, and committed to roles and taking on direction. Applied preparation and research to a performance can help you to stand out by demonstrating you have a genuine understanding of the character and storyline, increasing your chances of landing your next big role.

​Landing your next role is a battle of drive and determination, so focus on mastering the tips and tricks that will aid you in becoming the best actor possible. Dedicate yourself to your craft and most importantly enjoy what you are doing and who you are meeting throughout the process… you never know what can happen next.

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Author

Mia Long