debor009

What am I? I just posted a new television credit to my résumé, which again raised the issue of billing and how to officially define a role. Résumé credit terminology can be dizzying shades of gray and for years the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) had different terms for similar roles. There are clues.  If you’re working a union television contract, your billing should be spelled out specifically in your contract.  If you have no contract or deal memo for your work, you can check the original breakdown for the project, as the billing for the role is often listed after the character description. You can also check with your agent or someone in production. This is what I came up with, broken down by genre: FILM Lead (Star): The actor appears in most scenes in a role that is central to the story and without which the film would not exist.  His/her name is often in the on-screen credits at the beginning of the film...

What’s the difference between a type and a brand? What’s a logline? As an actress, I can see where knowing my type is important; it keeps me from wasting my time auditioning for roles that don’t suit me. Brand and loglines are marketing tools, however, and since I’m out there networking at industry events and have reels that I think convey my performance skills to some advantage, I’m not sure I need these last two. People can see how I come across on camera, right? If you’re starting out and your strategy involves standard actor marketing (and who’s to say that isn’t just fine), it’s probably good to know what these tools are and what they can potentially do for you. An actor’s type is a combination of the criteria found in the breakdowns when a role is being cast, i.e. sex, age range, physicality (short, tall, thin, heavy, light, dark, race), and the job titles that fit (soccer mom, corporate lawyer, big city cop, international spy, blue-collar worker, teen, medical professional.) Bra...