Kym here. I have more than 80 feature film and TV series credits and over 50 short films, and eight features made my resume.
That is the whole idea. There is only so much a casting person can take in while they decide whether to bring you in, so a resume is about quality, not quantity. Here is the format I teach in the Journey masterclass on marketing materials.
Your name, at 26 point or more. It feels very big when you are doing it. Do it anyway.
Under it, your union, using the one relevant to that country’s version of the resume. Then your agent and manager logos, rather than plain names and numbers.
When you sign with a new agent or manager, ask them to send you their logo file. Pulling it off their website gives you a low resolution image.
If you trust your reps you can leave your own contact details off, because they and the casting sites forward this anyway.
Height, weight and eyes are not required. Eyes is a leftover from black and white photos, your weight is nobody’s business, and height can be a conversation during submission.
Film, television or series, theatre, training and special skills. In three columns: project, role and the production company or director.
Lead with your strength. I lead with television because series titles are more recognisable than features. If you have web series too, call the section “series” so they sit together. If you have mostly shorts, call it “film” and combine them.
Keep commercials completely off this resume. They get their own, and the same goes for your reel.
Everything below is film and television. A casting person decides whether to bring you in from a photo, a resume and maybe 20 seconds of reel, so the resume has one job: make that decision easy.
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This is where most resumes give themselves away.
Series regular means a regular contract. Recurring means more than one episode without one, whether you were a recurring guest star or co-star. Guest star is a big role with quite a few scenes. Co-star is the day player size credit.
Features are only supporting or lead, and one word in a film still makes you supporting. Support lead exists if you were around number four or five on the cast list.
In theatre, the character name goes in the role column. Theatre is a strong section if your screen credits are light, because casting people are theatre savvy.
Training lists your coach, the class type and the school, with the well known schools in bold. Training at a recognised school is worth showing off, because it says you gave three years to this.
Special skills should be visual: firearms, jiu jitsu, horse riding, surfing. Accents sit here too.
Your social handle goes at the bottom. A decent following is worth listing, because it tells a rep you bring a fan base. Anything that is not visual, useful or recognisable is taking up room a stronger line could have.
One page. Never do a two page resume, and never shrink the type to fit more credits in.
My body text sits around 12 point, because many of the best casting directors are older. So cut. Put your absolute top highlights, and let the rest go.
An acting reel is not a resume, and a resume is not a list of everything you have ever done. It is proof you can be trusted to do a good performance at a professional level. That is all you need to say.
PDF. Every time. Never Word or Pages, because you do not want an editable version of your credits out there.
Attach it to every email to a rep, alongside two or three web optimised headshots. Do not make a one sheet instead. If a course tells you to make one, the course is wrong.
Keep a current copy in one shared folder with your headshots, reel, press and pitch blurb, so your rep can pull it without asking you. And keep it matched on every casting site in your market, because that is where casting actually reads it.
Then your resume leads with theatre and training, and the rest of your materials do the talking.
A recognisable role from a school production still counts, because a rep who can picture you as Dr. Frank-N-Furter can picture your casting wheelhouse. Put your strongest section first, keep it honest, and get a photo and a reel up on IMDb, or an IMDb resume if you have no credits, so there is still a link to send.
Nobody is fooled by padding. A weak credit gives someone a reason to stop reading, and your resume already says you have worked.
Members get the resume template, the full 90 minute marketing materials masterclass, and a community that will read the draft. All 18 Journey masterclasses are in every plan. Start your 7-day free trial.
Your name at 26 point or more, your union, your agent and manager logos, then five sections: film, television or series, theatre, training and special skills, in three columns. Lead with your strongest section, label credits correctly, keep special skills visual, and put your social handle at the bottom. Commercials go on a separate resume.
Yes, always. Never two pages, and never shrink the type below about 12 point to fit more in, because many of the best casting directors are older. Kym has more than 80 film and TV credits and eight features made her resume. Put your top highlights and cut the rest.
No. The class says height, weight and eyes are not required. Eye colour is a leftover from black and white photos, weight is nobody’s business, and height can be discussed at submission. Casting sites carry your stats anyway, so the space is better spent on a credit.
Co-star is the day player size credit. Guest star is a big role with quite a few scenes. Recurring means more than one episode without a regular contract, and series regular means you had one. In features, you are either lead or supporting, and one word still makes you supporting.
PDF, every time. Never Word or Pages, because you do not want an editable version of your credits circulating. Attach it to every email to an agent or manager with two or three web optimised headshots, and never replace it with a one sheet.
Every SAS plan includes all 18 Journey masterclasses (over 26 hours), 3,000+ videos and every resource, including the resume template, plus the community. 7-day free trial on Silver and Gold, 60-day refund always.