Joanne Brooks Photography

I just saw a young new actor’s website and he had some headshots on his home page (I will talk in another post soon about why I don’t think you should have your headshot on the home page of your website) and they are him in a sweater with a rather wrinkly white tshirt coming out the neck area. He was asking for advice about his headshots. Next to the headshots are “screen grabs” from student type films he has done and he is dressed in WAY more interesting clothes. A green army style jacket with a black t-shirt underneath, another shirt with a “I bought this tie for this job, tie” and a light plaid shirt kind of open .. ANYWAY… he looks like all kinds of people in his screen grabs. He looks like a student who is really smart and solving some problem, in another he looks like he could work in some boring office and flit with the cute girl, in another he looks a little troubled… so you get the picture. He is wearing a dark sweater in his headshots with a distracting t-shirt under it and then in the films he has done he has been dressed in all kinds of specific clothing that tells us not only his age range, but his class and maybe that he is a dramatic and intense actor.

SO… I wrote him some feedback and told him that those screen grabs were way more interesting than his headshots. He thanked me, and said he felt he should be a blank slate in his headshots, to let other people decide what kinds of characters he should play.

I wrote a fairly nice response back but I really want to say: WHY would you want to do that??? Why don’t you want to stand out? You are not a big star. There is no body of work for people to refer to so you need to define yourself and you don’t get very many chances to do that in this business so do it with your headshots! I am not saying that you can’t wear a sweater, but you do need GREAT headshots because otherwise you are just wasting a year of no one paying any attention to you. Don’t be VANILLA. Stand out but stand out in a way that makes it look like you actually know who you are and that you care about your career. If you are not a celebrity with a familiar face, if you are not a stunningly gorgeous human being, if you don’t have a killer agent who is calling casting to pitch and define you then you need an awesome headshot that says something about who you are.

I worked in casting, we never knew 100% what we were looking for, but we were always in the ballpark and I flipped through and ignored hundreds of headshots from actors who didn’t look like they were professional enough to bring in. We didn’t want to waste our time so we looked for actors that fit with in the pocket of the “type” we were after. Yes, we have huge imaginations, but we didn’t really need to use them because there are thousands of actors to look through. Why do I need to imagine that you could play a warm sweet character from your scowling submission photo when I have a thousand warm sweet looking photos. Unless you are already known, you HAVE to have specific shots that say different things. Why wouldn’t you want to???

Ok. Thanks for letting me vent about that

I saw a posting of a young guy wearing a white shirt asking for feedback about his headshots. I wrote this and thought it would be a good thing to post today:

I was just reading some message boards where a guy who wants to be an actor posted a photo of himself sitting in his house and asked: “Would THIS be a good headshot for movies”

I realized that a lot of actors don’t understand the difference between a headshot and a snapshot. I responded this:

No, this will not work to get started or be taken seriously. Snapshots are not headshots. Besides the shot being home-made, there is nothing going on in your eyes. You are not competitive and won’t be taken seriously if you don’t have a real headshot. Your headshot should look like you are a pro, even if you are not.
If you are at all interested in working in this industry, then it’s worth investing in great headshots. I recommend that you do a one look with a good headshot photographer and see if you actually want to be an actor. If you were a realtor, this would not be a good photo for being a realtor because you don’t look confident enough or professional enough. If you were using this for on-line dating it would not work because you don’t look energetic or warm. You couldn’t use this if you were a lawyer because you don’t look sly or aggressive or successful. If you were using this as a plumber it would not work because you don’t look trustworthy, If you were a teacher, you couldn’t use this because you don’t show any energy… etc… Your headshots need to exude personality and energy and draw people in. You need to say SOMETHING besides I am sitting in my house. it’s a profession and you can’t look like a beginner because there are thousands of actors who can do your job. What do you do for work? Would you use this for your job?
If I said to you “we have never met, I want you to send me a photo of your face that tells me who YOU are and what you are capable of”… do you send this photo?
Hope that helps,
Joanna
www.joannabrooks.com
Headshots LA

Your theatrical headshot is the headshot your legit (film/tv/theater) agents use to submit you for… well… film, television (& theatre if you live in NY.) While your commercial shot should be warm and approachable, your theatrical shot can be much more serious and/or edgy. If you have a great smirky or smiling commercial “mom” shot, it may be fine to submit for some sitcoms or multi-camera shows. You still need a shot for all the dramas and films that want something a little more substantial and serious.

I recommend that your hair be down (if you have long hair) for a theatrical shot. Clothing can be a little less specific for this shot, but it still needs to give an idea of class (are you struggling? Are you blue collar? Wealthy and out of control? etc).  Look at where you fit in in the world of television and film. Would you be one of the doctors? One of the lawyers? Or, one of the victims?  The more specific you are, the more successful your photo shoot will be.

I love it when actors come in and tell me exactly where they fit in that world. If you are not sure, then I love to brain storm with you and tell you my thoughts before we shoot.

Hope that helps.

Happy shooting…

Jo