Category: The Essentials
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10 Top Tips for Your Headshot Session from YellowBelly Photo
Jackson Bews, Ross McLaren and the photographers at YellowBelly Photo share their top tips for your headshot photoshoot. Gone are the days of monochromatic, black-and-white headshots, now it’s all about timeless, vibrant and forward-facing portraiture. But what can you do at your headshot photoshoot to help get a picture that truly represents you? Founded nearly five years…
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12 Tips for Controlling Nerves
Top tips to help deal with nerves ahead of auditions, performances or rehearsals Nerves can get the better of all of us. Even established actors get nervous before auditions, performances and in rehearsals as Imelda Staunton, Josette Simon, Alex Jenning and other actors have shared with us. The trick is knowing how to deal with them when…
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Tips for Preparing for a Performance
Top tips about preparing for performing on stage or on camera. As part of the Spotlight Prize, graduate performers are asked to perform a monologue of their choice in front of the camera before performing a second piece on stage in front of an audience of industry professionals. We asked them what they did differently to prepare for each…
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Navigating Self-taping When You Have Kids
Five tips for performer parents or guardians who need to self-tape whilst caring for kids or babies. Self-tapes have opened actors up to a world of possibility, but they can become pretty complicated when you add small children into the mix. Love them or loathe them, self-tapes are here to stay but if you’re a…
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What’s Your Vocal Range and Voice Type?
Our quick guide to helping you figure out your vocal range and voice type so you can add them to your Spotlight Profile. Casting professionals will often search for singers whose vocal range and voice type suit a particular role. Clearly indicating these fantastic skills on your CV is integral to landing that perfect job.…
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Co-operative Acting Agencies: An Insider View
What you need to know about co-operative acting agencies and how they work. There’s a buzz of excitement. One of us has just come off the phone from a well-known casting director’s office. Having reviewed a self-tape from one of our actors, they’d like to see them in person for a Lantern Entertainment film, directed…
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7 Headshot Tips from Casting Directors
Casting directors explain what makes for a good headshot and what they look for in a photo. As a professional performer, your headshots are vitally important. They’re how you’re represented on Spotlight and are the first thing a casting director sees when selecting performers to audition so it’s essential that your photo looks like you and truly…
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A Guide to Working in the EU If You’re a UK National
What you need to know if you’re a UK citizen who is auditioning or working in the EU. Updated on 17 October 2022. The UK has officially left the European Union and as you’d expect, this has caused changes to the rules and regulations around travel and work on the continent. Whilst the Brexit deal…
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What to Do Between Acting Jobs
Four ways to stay active as an actor between roles. For years, I’ve been struck by how actors grapple with the period between acting jobs. When we’re looking for our next job, we can be plagued by self-doubt, loss of confidence and sometimes all-out depression. More than a few actors start to feel so low that…
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Five Ways Actors Can Use Twitter for Networking
How actors can use Twitter to network and build professional relationships online. Whilst plenty of actors have run with the idea of using social media to promote their acting business, for many of us, it can feel deeply uncomfortable. Self-promotion may even feel wrong, as if it goes against who we are, but what if your…