Actors – How to make sure your headshot is useless

What director or casting director doesn’t just love it when an actor walks through the door and they have to double take and look back and forth from headshot to actor “Wow, they must have had a really bad year!?”

It can be really easy to make sure that your headshot doesn’t look like you. Get your photographer to use some really strong and dramatic lightning and perhaps go for a model type photograph or an artsy look. Wear a lot of make-up and then make sure you ask the photographer to airbrush the crap out of you. This photograph had better look great on Nanna Pat’s mantelpiece, and even better on your Facebook profile – who cares if it really looks like you as long as it gets you a lot of ‘likes’ from people from high school who you really shouldn’t be friends with anymore.

Put all of your attention into your pose and don’t give a second thought to what is going on behind your eyes.

If your photographer is telling you that your face and head is stiff and staying in the same position for every shot then whatever you do, don’t listen to them. You know your face better than anyone and you know how it looks best in a photograph! Don’t try and connect to the camera and don’t ever try and think about something which is going to soften your eyes and give you a natural expression. Keep that face stiff and your body in that odd contorted state which makes you look like that Hollywood star you saw in that magazine shoot.

If nothing else this will make 100% sure that your contact sheet is full of exactly the same shot over and over again making it easier to choose

A good photographer can be really pricey so why not save your money and ask someone who has no or little experience in taking acting shots to snap you. After all its only going to be your first contact with anyone who might hire you – so why waste money on that?

Maybe your Dad, or your second cousin from Tooting has a nice camera, or what about that guy you found on Gumtree who is wanting to build up his portfolio? After all when it appears on Spotlight or Casting Call Pro its going to be a pretty tiny thumbnail so a casting Director won’t know the difference and you will have more money to spend on frappucino’s when you meet up with your pals from drama school and talk about putting on an obscure Polish play above a pub because no agent is touching you.

Acting is all about being in character, right? So why just be you in your headshot when you can demonstrate what a great actor you are. You can put loads of different pictures up on Spotlight now, and every casting director just adores to look through all of these shots of you and see just how ‘versatile’ you can be.

Go for it and have a shot done in a tuxedo or ball gown, or perhaps in overalls or an apron, really explore your full range: scrubs, a chef’s outfit, in nerdy glasses – remember that a casting director hasn’t got any imagination and can never actually imagine you playing a role from just an honest headshot so really go to town and show them exactly what you are capable of!

Don’t just end with costumes and characters, perhaps also show them your range of acting skills with some emotional shots. How about making sure you have an ‘angry’ shot, or an ‘overly happy’ shot, and if you are really going to go for it why not go for the ‘crying’ shot – if a casting director sees you crying then they are sure to know you can really act!

Remember that what you are wearing in your headshot is vital because the louder you ensemble the more likely it is that you will catch the casting director’s eyes. Think about wearing a really bright colour or something with a huge logo. What about wearing something strapless so that when a director see’s your headshot in a head and shoulders crop it looks like you went topless, or at least consider a really plunging neckline which will draw the casting director’s attention away from your eyes.

Why follow the herd? Its all about standing out isn’t it?

Get your photographer to do something modern and artsy. Ask them to put you right over one side of the frame with loads of empty space next to you, or maybe they could crop off your forehead or even the left side of your face. Remember that what you are trying to do is stand out be weird and be different, why give an agent what they want when you can show them just how much of an individual you are!

It’s vital that you keep changing your hairstyle and even your hair colour without getting new headshots done.

Whatever you look like currently remember that you can always stick a post-it note across your 10×8 saying that your hair is ‘different now’ or what looks more professional than ending an email submission with a “ps: I have now changed my hairstyle and look more like this” and include a link to a picture of you on a night out, half-cut, holding aloft a pint down at ‘Halfway to Heaven’.

If you are a chap remember that it is perfectly acceptable to grow a full beard and not have it in your headshot or mention it to your agent or in any submissions – it’s all about the eyes isn’t it, who cares what is above or beneath them!

Also remember that you should have the latest weird funky style cut into your hair so that your casting is really limited, after all you don’t want to work in period drama or anything which isn’t set in the here and now – your ‘shaved up one side bleach blonde hair-do’ will be perfect for that one role which just has to be out there somewhere . . . doesn’t it?!

Don’t give a second thought to trying to capture your essence or your type, people waste far too much of their time worrying about that bull! All this talk of branding and marketing as an actor must be cr*p, right? Lets face it as an actor you change with every part and any one headshot can never capture your essence because surely that would just be way too restricting and confining.

After all a headshot is just there to show them what you look like, so don’t listen to all of those industry experts who are telling you it is the most important part of your marketing plan, they are probably just on a cash in hand commission deal with a photographer.

Just get a couple of shots done quickly and cheaply and whack them up online without much care or attention, leave the rest to the universe …. positive mental attitude ….. its all about PMA, babes!

Everyone loves a bit of Instagram nowadays, so why only ‘enhance’ your holiday pictures when you can tweak the hell out of your headshot and really make sure you get noticed for all the wrong reasons.

Try putting on a grungy effect with scratched edges and perhaps even a ‘film reel effect’ at the top and bottom of the photograph, or you could try sepia instead of black and white, the choices are limitless.

You could also use photoshop and add some text to the picture. How about putting your name right across your chest or you could put your stats on that big blank space next to your head. Hey, and if you are adding text make sure you use a wacky font which represents your indiviudality – a Wild West Wanted poster font is bound to make all industry experts chuckle!

You’re an actor, you are meant to be creative and unique so don’t stick to what is industry standard or what casting directors prefer … after all you know best!

If you have managed to get a photograph which works, a shot which you love and which has got you into loads of castings then stick with it – for years and years and years.

Don’t worry about it if you have changed a little, as long as you are getting through the door, a casting director won’t mind if you look more like the mum than the daughter now – maybe they will just be chuffed to see you and get you to read for that part anyway, hell maybe they will get you to read for just every part they are casting!

And don’t ever think that a casting director will get bored of seeing the same shot over and over again on commissions, there surely is no way that you will just begin to disappear on a screen of pictures and not stand out anymore. That doesn’t matter – what matters is that you like the shot, that you like how you look in it, even if it was taken over five years ago as long as you look great then keep on rolling it out year after year.