In my Working Actor I class, which I took in October-November, 2004, one of our class lessons was dealing with Headshots, and how casting directors use them and are influenced by them.
It was fascinating and somewhat disturbing to realize that everything I knew (or thought I knew) about the process was basically wrong.
I was convinced that if I could picture myself in a given role, and could just get the “in” to prove to “them” that I could pull it off, then I could land any role I wanted.
What I learned was that the vast majority of the casting decision is done before you ever walk in the door – as a result of reviewing headshots.
The Casting Director is matching headshots against roles, plain and simple – does this headshot communicate to me (or more importantly, would it communicate to the audience) that this person *is* this part. They rarely (if ever) will put a person into a role that has to “sell themselves” (i.e., convince you). It detracts from the story if you are spending time having an internal debate as to whether the person is believable in that role. It needs to be right, and natural, right out of the gate, or you’re not going to get the part. As Gary and John say, “When you watch a movie or TV show, you accept those choices and move on with the narrative or find yourself taken out of the moment with a bad casting decision.”
So, by the time a Casting Director calls you in for an audition, they have already determined that you’re more-or-less right for the role. They now want to see three things:
- Do you look like the person in the headshot? (apparently, many people end up with very old headshots, or have dramatically changed their style or appearance, or they made themselves up in a never-to-be-seen-again arrangement, or their headshot was so retouched, etc., that it’s impossible to look in real life like the person in the picture)
- Can you act? (i.e., can you effectively portray the role you are attempting to?)
- Can you take direction (i.e., if the director tells you to change something about your audition, are you able to effect that change, without the rest of the persona crumbling around you? Are you willing to effect the change? Can you effect the change in the (very little) time provided?)
To help us grasp the importance of headshots and image, Gary and John gave us an exercise where they collected our headshots (or snapped some new ones if we didn’t have ours yet), and then put them all on a website for the class to review. Our task: Look at everyone elses headshot (not your own), and cast them in a role, based solely on the image itself, not anything you know or have learned about them in class. Identify roles or traits you feel the image conveys.
I did not yet have my headshot – that would come later. Gary took a quick one after class to use for the assignment (see it here)
Obviously, I was not dressed (or shaven) appropriately for the headshot… I would learn much more about headshots later in the class (and I’ll expand on that in a future post). That being said, though, it was interesting the feedback I received based on this look:
- Assistant Professor
- Computer Technician
- Radio Station Engineer
- Prison Guard
- Policeman
- Doorman
- Chef
- Public Utilities Employee
- Fireman
- Ringmaster (!?)
- Convenience Store Clerk
- News Cameraman
- Barfly
- Blue Collar Guy
- Sports Fanatic
- Bartender
- Good ol’ Boy
- Guys’ Guy
- Unkempt
- Weary
- Aloof
- Devious
- Arrogant
- Untrusting
- Genuine
- Confident
- Relaxed
- Dismissive
- Wise Cracker
- Smirky
- Sarcastic
- Lovable
- Lovable (yes, it was submitted twice, so I report it twice)
- Genuine
- Humorous
- Humble
- Fun
- Easy-Going
- Loyal
Most of these were a) not how I saw myself, b) not how I imagined others saw me, c) not the types of roles I would have submitted myself for, and d) not necessarily the roles I wanted to pursue.
Then it was reality time… If you want to be a successful actor (definition of successful: “Working”), you need to market yourself (I’ll save marketing for a future post as well) for the roles you’re going to be selected for, not necessarily the ones you “want.”
Now don’t get me wrong – this whole image thing is not etched in stone – you can change your image –
as I did.
This image, though we did not repeat the exercise, communicates more closely the image that I want, and should help me land the roles that I want… Though realistically, the two combined show flexibility as well. And ultimately, if either one get’s me an audition, I’ll take it. 
