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Actor: Distinctive Cover Letter and Resume Will Get You the Role You Want

Cover Letters

As a professional actor, whether it be for film or stage, there are several things that you must be proficient at doing. And two of these things include the most basic of all to actors: their resume and cover letters.

If you are a beginning actor, you will find that you will be making hundreds of thousands of resumes and an equal amount of cover letters. Why is this? Well, this is how actors communicate with other individuals in the entertainment industry. If you are sending your headshot and resume to talent agencies, then you will need to make sure they are both up to par. If you are sending off a resume and a cover letter to a production company, than they both need to be perfect. It really is a skill that you learn through the years of doing it. However, I’m going to show you several things that I have learned through trial and error, so hopefully you won’t make the same mistakes that I did.

We will talk about resume’s first, since this is one of the most important parts of marketing yourself as an actor. If you don’t already have a resume, than you need to gather some information in order to make a professional resume. Answer the following questions:

Do you have any film experience? If yes, what?

Do you have any television/commercial experience? If yes, what?

Do you have any stage/theater experience? If yes, what?

Do you have any professional acting training? If yes, what?

What are some special skills that you think will help you as an actor?

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After answering these questions, take your answers and organize them by category. Gather all of your film credits and put them in a column with the name of the production on the far left side, then the character name and then the production company that was involved. Some actors put the name of the director instead of the production company, this really depends on the market and if you have worked with “bigger” directors. Either way works, though. After you have organized your film credits, move on to your television/commercial and then stage/theater credits. After you have organized these credits than move on to your acting training and then ending in your special skills, make sure that your clearly organize all of your credits in a professional manner.

However, if you don’t have extensive acting experience, what should you do? Well, if you have four or less overall credits than you should combine these credits into a paragraph or two, and use this as your resume. In the “bio” include your acting credits as well as any training you have had, you can include school training. With this paragraph, include your goals and plans for the future. Make sure you keep it short and sweet. Don’t put any “filler” sentences in that don’t have any weight to the subject matter – which is your resume and experience.

Now that you have a basic idea about your resume, what about your cover letter? Well, there are many do’s and don’ts when it comes to writing a great cover letter. However, it is very basic once you really think about it. But first, let’s discuss what a cover letter actually is. Whenever you are sending your headshot and resume, either to an agent or a production company, you will need to include a cover letter. This is a common courtesy that also shows your professionalism. Your cover letter must include the following information: Who you are, why you are contacting them, what is included in the packet and a pleasant closing statement.

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I know, this sounds like you are back in English class. However, you will quickly learn how to write a breathtaking cover letter, it just takes some practice to finally hit a home run. A perfect cover letter gets your message across to the reader in less than 20 seconds. This is because most agents will not read more than 20 seconds of a cover letter. Make sure that you do not include any sentences that aren’t direct and to-the-point. An acting cover letter must contain only the information that the reader must know all short and well punctuated.

Writing your acting resume and acting cover letter doesn’t have to be something that is scary or embarrassing. Anyone can write a perfect cover letter, all it takes is a little practice. Make sure before you send off your first cover letter, you have read all you can about acting cover letters and fully understand how to construct an acting cover letter. After you have done this than you will be flying through the various cover letters you will write in your acting career.