I’ve rarely talked about the successes of my showreel clients. My marketing tends to revolve around the quality and style of my showreels from scratch, but rarely on the professional accomplishments of the people I’ve worked with.
Part of this is a shyness. An aversion to bragging. It’s the same reason I’ve never put my name or credit on any showreel I’ve created. After all, the idea is that these scenes “could be from a show”, so having a showreel guy’s name on them could ruin their effect somehow.
That’s the weird thing about being a showreel maker. You’re crucial, you play a big part in the industry, but often actors don’t want to make a big thing of the fact they worked with you. No showreel director is going to be thanked at the Golden Globes.
Also, it’s hard to quantify how much a showreel helps. An actor will get cast for a plethora of reasons and the reel is just one of them. Some actors are just destined for greatness. Bad showreel, bad headshots, terrible agent — none of it matters, they’ll find a way.
Other actors are already established when they come to me. When I’ve worked with actors like Brian Caspe and Warren Rusher, they already have great credits. They’re coming to me to tweak a little something. To show there’s more nuance to their acting abilities than perhaps they’re getting to show on TV.
It’s also interesting to look at the successes of actors I’ve worked with, to see if I got their casting right. I wrote and directed a scene for Toheeb Jimoh when he was in drama school. I cast him as a footballer. A few years later his breakout role was in ‘Ted Lasso’, playing a footballer.
I also worked with Anya Chalotra (The Witcher). I wrote her a romantic comedy scene (which she nailed) and a piece where she was being interrogated by the police.
She was brilliant. One of the best actors I’ve worked with. But the way I perceived her, casting-wise, seems a world away from what she does now. You can see a short clip in the compilation below, from back in 2017.
Many actors I’ve produced showreels for have also graced the screens in many of our nations greatest soaps. Two previous clients are regulars right now – Natalie Ann Jamieson in ‘Emmerdale’ and Charlotte Jordan in ‘Coronation Street’.
The below showreel compilation, that I put together in 2016, features many actors who’ve gone on to do great television work.
More common are the actors who appear on soaps and dramas as day players and guest stars. That’s another reason it’s hard to keep track of how well actors are doing. Sometimes I won’t talk to someone for four years and then, when I bump into them, they say “your reel helped me get a role on ‘Casualty!'”
Ultimately – while there have been many successes – I don’t take any ownership of them. People get work for many reasons. I’m happy that my showreels have played a part in that journey.
To find out more about how I create personalised showreels for actors, look here.
