"Reel" Advice for Hosts
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Having a good reel is crucial to your hosting career. Good headshots and a strong resume will only get you so far. It's your reel that Casting Directors use to determine whether or not they want to bring you in for an audition, or even better yet, a "general" meeting. Your reel is your calling card. If you don't have one, make one.
Casting Directors have so much on their plates that they only spend about 15 - 30 seconds viewing each reel. Yep, that's right. I said seconds!
As a former Casting Executive at E! Entertainment Television and the Style Network, we'd receive hundreds of submissions, both in the mail and electronically. We'd devote time each week (ideally each day) to viewing the reels that came in to find the next Brooke Burke or Greg Kinnear - thankfully we found Joel McHale.
So make sure you don't waste these precious seconds with long montages with catchy tunes. Put your strongest segments up front; make sure it's current footage of you, and we can easily identify who you are on your own reel. And if you're shooting your own footage, be creative. Think outside the box. Reels shot on Venice Beach, Hollywood Blvd., and in Times Square - they've been done hundreds of times. Show us something we haven't seen before. Make it interesting. That way you might stick out in a Casting Director's mind -- anything you can do to give yourself a leg up on the competition.
- Maureen Browne
For an individual reel consultation, please contact Maureen Browne through hostingcoach@gmail.com
* www.tvhostingcoach.com
* www.hollywoodhosting.tv