There’s a movie looking for stunt performers. Now’s your chance.
You’ve put in the hours. You’ve got the sharpest Parkour skills around and you can pull off flashier kicks than all of your friends.
You grab your demo reel and give it to the casting director.
The catch: so have 50 other people.
Want to keep your demo reel out of the reject pile? Keep reading.
Understanding the casting director
The people in charge of casting need to watch many, many videos, meaning they’ll drop your demo reel at the first chance so they can move on.
This means two things:
- Keep it short.
- Put your best stuff at the beginning.
Keep the best material towards the first 60-90 seconds and the absolute best before 30 seconds.
Keep your demo reel under 5 minutes at the most.
Remember: You don’t need to include everything. Trim it down to your best work without cramming, and keep it relevant to the gig.
Formatting your demo reel
The casting director doesn’t expect a big-budget film, but the demo reel should be easy to watch and hear.
Use consistent editing.
Having letter boxes or a time stamp suddenly show up in the middle of a series of clips reeks of amateur hour.
You can add music to your demo reel to add some punch. This can be great if edited properly, but consider your audience. You’d be amazed at how many people think it’s cool to add death metal to their video.
Don’t.
If the director has to mute your video, he’ll just turn it off. Keep it classy. Something without singing at all, like percussion or techno, is a better choice.
What’s your demo reel for?
Different projects need different skills.
- A commercial that wants free-running and parkour doesn’t need to see your mad nunchuck skills.
- They need a major fight? Show off some teamwork.
- It’s a modern video appealing to a younger audience? Use lots of flash, like free-running and wushu kung fu.
If your serious and have a variety of skills, keep separate demo reels for different gigs, such as acting, martial arts and parkour.
You can use the same content on each tape, just edit it to show off what they want to see.
For a martial arts demo reel, it’s important to show off your skills in a solo setting as well as against an opponent. The casting director wants to see your skills, but a big part of performing stunts is teamwork, and she needs to know you play well with others.
Important: If there’s more than one person, make it clear which fighter you are. It can be as simple as including:
Dan Cosgrove – the fighter in black.
Closing tips for the perfect demo reel
- Show some personality in your video.
- Be yourself.
- Edit, edit, edit.
If it’s sub-par, cut it out. If it’s unnecessary, cut it out. If it doesn’t WOW the client… cut it out!
- Include contact details!
Don’t think that having a resume stapled to your cover means anything. Resumes get lost. So do cover letters and CV’s. Have contact information on your demo reel.
Don’t make the client work to hire you!
- Don’t use long titles explaining scenes.
Let the action speak for itself. No one cares why the person’s getting kicked in the head, they just want to see it happen.
- Label the hard-copy of your demo reel nicely.
Don’t just slap on a sticker and be done with it. Get a clean, easy to read label.
- Focus on your skills, not the scene.
The audience doesn’t need to see everything in context, just cut to the action.
I want to see your demo reel! Drop me a line on the contact page and I’ll put it up for everyone to see in an upcoming article.
