Category: The Essentials
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How to Get a Good Headshot
Spotlight’s guide on how to book a photo shoot and get the perfect headshot for your profile. Headshots are the very first thing a prospective casting director will see of you on Spotlight, so it’s important to get every aspect of the image right. Creating the right impression with the perfect headshot will help you…
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Tips for Working with Directors
Advice from actors on how you can impress a director, and why the relationship between director and actor is so important. Every production will have a director, and every director is tasked with bringing that production to life using their creative vision. Sometimes, the fact that an actor has worked with a certain director can…
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Actors’ Tips for Building a Great Working Relationship with Your Agent
Three actors give their advice on how to build and maintain a successful working relationship with your agent. Your working relationship with your agent is built on trust and loyalty and, if managed correctly, can be very fruitful. After all, your agent will help find you work and ‘sell’ you and your skills as a…
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Understudying Jodie Comer in ‘Prima Facie’
Dani Arlington shares her experience understudying the part of ‘Tessa’ in Prima Facie both in the West End and on Broadway. An understudy is an actor cast in a production to stand in for another actor if they are unable to attend a performance or to take over a role if a performer is unable to continue. It…
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6 Tips for Tackling your First Arts Funding Application
Six top tips to help you complete your first application for arts funding in the UK As an actor, were you taught about arts funding applications at drama school? I know I wasn’t. Funding applications always seemed to exist in a roped-off section of industry know-how marked ‘producers only’, but it’s not true. Funding applications…
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How to Network as an Actor
Tips from casting directors for how to successfully network yourself as an actor and get connections in acting. In the performing arts industry, who you know can be just as important as what you know. Casting directors have fantastic memories and will keep actors they’ve met in mind for future roles. Anyone you’ve worked with…
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Frank Advice from the Casting Director of ‘Vikings’ on Auditions and Self-tapes
Frank Moiselle’s top tips for how to audition well, how to make a self-tape, and what a good showreel looks like. Casting director Frank Moiselle has worked on exciting projects, such as TV shows Penny Dreadful, Vikings, The Tudors and The Borgias. We spoke to Frank and asked him what advice he has for actors looking to get work through…
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10 Reasons to Delete a Photo From Your Spotlight Profile
Why you should remove bad photos from your Spotlight profile. It’s never been easier for actors to take and upload photos to their Spotlight profile. A lot has changed since the days when Spotlight was a book – now members can upload new photos whenever they wish, and the improved quality of camera phones means…
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Getting Started with Accents
Voice coach Laura Carroll shares her top tips on how to learn an accent There’s no quick way to learn an accent. Like any skill, it’s developed through training, practice and feedback, but once perfected, it will open up a whole new world for your voice work. Commercials, video games, audiobooks, narration – all of…
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What to Expect on Your First Day of Theatre Rehearsal
Tips for preparing for your first day of rehearsal, what to bring, and how to overcome nerves. The first day on a new job can be daunting. As actors, we spend most of our time feeling anxious, scared and overwhelmed when we haven’t booked any work for a long period of time. And when the…