Each area of acting has its own pros, cons, and best practices. When you’re trying to break into Broadway, you’ll want to be sure you can sing and dance if you want to land the big roles. But if you want to get your foot in the door to make commercials, the job skills you need are far different. Getting in character for an entire movie or play takes a unique approach as compared to being a commercial actor.
You absolutely must look the part to be in a commercial. If it’s a skincare commercial, you need great-looking skin. If it’s a health or fitness commercial, you’ll need to be healthy. If it’s a food commercial, you’ll probably need to eat the food and enjoy it. You get the picture. Here are some tips to help you book a commercial.
Keep Your Skin and Hair Healthy
Commercials often have closeups of your face or body. While hair extensions and makeup are a thing, it’s easier if producers and directors can already see you as the spokesperson for their product. Choosing a commercial actor means that they can look directly at you to see that you are the perfect option for promoting their product. When you have healthy hair and skin it gives opportunities like promoting hair care products and skincare products like a stem cell moisturizer or even a new hair mask.
Stay Active
This can be taken in many ways. You need to stay physically active so that you are in decent shape. Additionally, it helps to stay active in acting. Take classes, be around people who can connect you to opportunities. Be out in public. Sometimes you can get noticed just walking down the street. Although not as common, it helps if you are physically active and able to do what the director needs you to do in a commercial.
Focus on Being a Commercial Actor
It’s important to specialize when it comes to launching your acting career. You’ll need to focus on being a commercial actor by going to commercial auditions, getting feedback from directors, and learning about what kinds of products you want to promote. You’ll need to learn the intricacies of what commercial producers are looking for so that you can determine which opportunities will be right for you. You can also start to build a following on social media and promote products you already enjoy. You might find that this can open up options for bigger and better opportunities.
Get Pro Headshots
Those selfies and iPhone shots won’t cut it for booking commercials. You need professional headshots that show off your dynamic personality and a variety of looks. Think hair up, hair down, close-up, far away, and more. Commercials are like modeling in that you’ll be promoting a product instead of playing a character the same way you would in a movie or a show. You need pro headshots that show you off in a variety of ways.
Create Your Own Marketing Materials
Did you know that you can market yourself? Headshots are part of the package when it comes to marketing materials, but you’ll also need some video footage as well. Your marketing package should make it easy for a company to decide if they want to consider you for their commercials. While it would be great to have an agent, when you’re getting started, this may not be an option. So, this means you’ll need to take initiative and market yourself to prospective companies. You can pitch yourself. Be confident and think about how you can help this company by acting in their commercials. Maybe you represent a demographic that they haven’t spent much time targeting and you want to show them how you can help connect to a new audience. Your boldness may be a foot in the door for big opportunities.
Use the Products Yourself
Want to know if you’d make a good commercial actor? Start using products yourself. The best spokesmen and women are the ones who are genuine in their love for a product. While it’s unlikely that stars like Jennifer Anniston use cheap products from the grocery store for their skincare, you know at some point each of them had to at least try out the product. Try different things, be adventurous, and think about what you love about their products. Use this information to connect with companies that make and sell only the very best products.