The Powerful Profile – Part 2

Posted by Amy - 04 Jun 2019
Your Profile

Your Profile – Without it, we can’t find you suitable roles. But how do you give your profile the edge? In this series of Blogs, we look at how you can make your profile work for you!

In this post, we look at Section 3 & 4 – ‘Appearance’ & ‘Attributes’ and how your look can find you your perfect role!

They’ve Got the Look

When it comes to working as an Extra, Productions are often looking for people who match a visual brief. We have already discussed your skin tone and ethnic backgrounds in our previous Blog ‘The Powerful Profile Part 1’, now we are delving deeper into your Look.

Section 3 – Appearance

Your Appearance

Try to be as accurate as possible as Productions often look for people based on hair colour, style and length, so this is very important to keep up to date.

Body Type

If in doubt with your body build, check your clothing if you wear a ‘small’ select ‘Slim’, if you are a bodybuilder ‘Muscular’ could suit you best.

Playing Age

Playing Age, as an Actor you are judged on your appearance so we want to know the age others perceive you to be. Just select the most suitable age group, that way we can use your actual age for ‘real life’ castings and your playing age for more general crowd scenes.

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Distinguishing Features

Just tick as many of these distinguishing features that apply to you. Now you may be wondering why we might want to know some of these, but it may surprise you the level of detail Production may ask to see.

For example, Glasses can be a problem when you are trying to take your photos as they reflect the light or hide your eye colour, however, some productions we have worked with in the past have requested real glasses wearers. By ticking the glasses box, we can find you quickly.

Some productions will look for attributes, such as battle-scarred warriors, so our Casting Agent can search for people with scars.

If you are not comfortable to share any of these physical attributes with a Production, simply leave it blank.

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Disabilities

Lastly, we ask for detail of any Disabilities you may have. We ask for this for a few reasons:

1) Productions often look for real people with a condition rather than asking someone to act as if they do

2) If you require reasonable adjustments to be made on set so you are able to attend the filming, we need to find out more so we can put you forward with the confidence that when you are booked on that role you are able to work without difficulty.

Tattoos and Piercings

Tattoos and piercings can help you secure some roles but wouldn’t be accepted on others. By telling us exactly where your tattoos and piercing are, we can keep your job matches relevant for you without wasting your time.

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Section 4 – Attributes

The Attributes that Make You

Sometimes productions want people with more specific attributes after you have completed the ‘My Photos’ page, we will ask some questions about some of the things that make you ‘You’.

Accents and Language

Remember when filling in the ‘My Accent’ we are looking for the actual accent that you speak in every day, not the accents that you can impersonate. For ‘Fluent Languages’ we are looking for any language you can speak confidently if submerged in people only speaking this language. Unfortunately, my GCSE French would not cut the mustard! Why do we ask? Well, many Productions will look for people who are able to create background noise or if given dialogue would take to it naturally without stumbling. Even watching non-speaking background artists mouths moving in the correct language can give a scene an extra level of realism.

Smoking

Smoking may seem simple; you have the choice of ‘Cigarettes’. ‘Cigars’, ‘Pipe’, ‘Rollups’ or leave the box blank. Only select the items you would be happy to smoke, many times as filming can take many takes to get it right and we don’t want you to get sick or uncomfortable while filming!

Religion

If you follow a religion, you can add it to the ‘Religion’ field. Production may ask for people with first-hand experience of your religion to create a natural filming environment or ask for your advice.

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Children and Babies

Although we don’t represent Children individually, we do get requests for babies and real families. If you are expecting a baby and you would be happy to film while pregnant or with your baby when they arrive, you can add your pregnancy to the ‘Pregnant’ field. Once your children are born you can add them to the ‘Children and Babies’ field by clicking the ‘Add Child’ button.

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Twins

Production will often look for twins for filming. Let us know if you are a twin by selecting the correct option from the drop-down on the ‘Twin’ field.

Nudity

Often a production will want people to work at various levels of nudity, for example when filming a scene set in a swimming pool changing room, we may look for people happy to wear underwear on camera. Other Productions may look for body doubles when a scene requires an actor to be naked. If you are happy to work to some level of nudity select the options in the ‘Nudity’ field. If you are not happy to work without clothes, simply select ‘No Nudity’.

We recommend, if you haven’t done this before but are willing to work without clothes start small such as ‘Underwear’ or ‘Topless’, you can always edit this field when you feel more confident. We would hate it for you to be out of your comfort zone while filming.

Licenses

When Productions are looking for people who can drive certain vehicles such as Planes, Trains, Trucks, Buses and Helicopters, this is the field we will find these details. Remember any licenses you add must still be valid, if your license expires, you can remove it until its renewed. Other Licenses will also be added to this field this includes Animal Trainer, Bouncers, Gun Licences, PADI, Slaughterman and Welding. For more options check out this field on your profile.

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Log in now to make sure your Attributes are working to find you the best roles!

If you have any questions about these sections of your profile, get in touch with us in Artist Support so we can advise you further. In next the Blog, we look at the ‘Skills and Training’ section of your profile. In the meantime, if you are still yet to reach this stage of your profile, why not visit our Blog about getting your Photos Perfect First Time.