The Powerful Profile

Posted by William - 12 Feb 2019
Just like writing your CV

Your Profile – it’s how we find you, it’s how we present you to Production.

Like your CV, your Uni-versal Extras profile is full of the critical information we use to match you to suitable roles – but are we seeing the best of you?

When our Casting Team are looking for Supporting Artists they search on all parts of your profile, over the next few months we are going to look at each section of your profile and see how we can improve your chances of finding your perfect role.

Let’s Start At The Very Beginning

As its a very good place to start, we are going to take a look at building your profile step by step:

Section 1 – Contact Information

We know your contact information is important so that our Booking Team can actually contact you in regards to roles but why are all the other fields so important? Let’s find out. 

This Blog will cover the following parts of your profile. If you know the part of the profile you would like more information on, just click the name below to move to the relevant section.

Your Name The importance of your Legal Name and Stage Names.

– Your Contact Numbers and Email What contact details do we need and why.

Currently Live vs Willing to Work  How we use your chosen locations to find you work.

– Place of Birth and Ethnic Background  The importance of your origins in matching you to certain productions.

Your Name

I know it might sound a bit silly, but we do need your full (legal) name. Your full name will be used for your pay slips and your job sheets, this name must match your right to work docs such as your Birth certificate or Passport.  It also helps in the future if you’ve worked and there are any payments owed to you.

If you prefer to be known as another name either as part of your identity or just for your career, please enter it in the Stage Name field.

Your Contact Numbers and Email

You do require a unique email to create your profile as this will anchor your profile to our site, your email will also be used to send you important information in regards to your bookings, our monthly newsletter and to let you know if we are unable to contact you via telephone.

Your mobile number is the most important of your contact details to keep updated as this will be our primary way of contacting you. Availability texts will be sent to this number and our Booking Teams will try to contact you by this number first.

If you have a landline and we are unable to contact you via mobile, we will call this number as we understand your landline may have a better signal or a friend or family member may be able to take a message for you if you are out.

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Currently Live vs Willing to Work

Now we do get asked what is the difference with these fields, well, simply put our Booking Team will always look for local work for you first. Logistically, this is better for both yourself and the production as you are likely more easily able to travel. We don’t want our Supporting Artists to get lost or find themselves stranded in a place you are unable to get home from if filming runs late.

Willing to Work is a bit different.  If our Booking Team is unable to meet Productions needs from locally sourced Supporting Artists,  they will widen their search to surrounding areas. As you can see in the example, I have selected Bedfordshire, Berkshire, and London as they are in close proximity to my address in Buckinghamshire and I can easily get to these counties in less than an hour and a half via driving or public transport.

You can also add places that you have a base, so if filming comes up in this area you could be considered. In my example, you can see I have picked the City of Cardiff as I am from South Wales and could stay with my Mother should an opportunity in this area arise. Please note, Our Booking Team will always ask you to go and check with the owner of your base just in case, as since I have moved out my Mother has embraced being an empty nester and may have a friend staying in her spare room, it would be very embarrassing to have to ask to be released as my own mother can’t have me to stay!

Never take out paid accommodation, the film industry is fast moving and things change at the drop of a hat and we would not want you to lose money if something is cancelled last minute! Unfortunately, we at Uni-versal Extras or the people at Production would not be able to cover the cost.

Please be sensible with your ‘Willing to Work’ section as people who enter lots of locations often worry our Booking Team as it may seem that these people have not considered these options carefully before entering them. Remember you can apply for jobs further afield via the Jobs Board.

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Place of Birth and Ethnic Background 

Our Booking Teams are often asked by Productions to supply people from a certain background for a scene. People from these areas may have visual characteristics associated with these countries, have a regional accent or be able to speak the native language. As you can see in my example, I could be cast for a role set in Albania or Wales.

Ethnic Background, This field only allows two locations, so if you have a multiracial heritage, choose the ones you feel are most suitable for yourself. If you are in doubt, please call our Artist Support Team as we will be happy to help you select the most suitable options with you.

Skin Tone seems easy but people often get confused. Just choose your natural skin tone, White, Black and Olive are pretty self-explanatory but our most common mistakes come with our regional skin tones, so here is a rough guide to what we expect with skin tone.

East Asian: You will most likely originate from China, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, etc.

South Asian: You will most likely originate from India, Indonesia, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka.

Middle Eastern: You will most likely originate from regions from Turkey to Pakistan.

Mixed Race: You will have one black parent and one white parent.

Hispanic: You will originate from Spanish speaking countries especially those Central and South America.

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Log in now to make sure your Profile has the Power to really pack a punch!

If you have any questions about this section of your profile, get in touch with us in Artist Support so we can advise you further. In next week’s Blog, we look at the Appearance section of your profile. In the meantime, why not visit our Blog on Measurements to help you get to grips with those tricky measurements.