Thanks again for booking your Actor Slate.

Your Actor Slate is, in essence, a videotaped and edited general interview. It is not an audition. It is not an elaboration of your resume. It is 60 seconds of you. In shooting your Actor Slate, we are the casting director/agent/manager and you are the actor. The session is 30 minutes. When complete, we will have 15 - 20 minutes of footage from which to edit the best minute.

Please be on time and camera ready.
- Wear base makeup for video.
- Bring powder with you
- Bring appropriate wardrobe for video. Stay away from blacks, whites and bold, busy patterns. Most of the finished slate will be medium and closer shots so tops are more important than bottoms. You can bring 2 or 3 tops which we can look at in the studio under the lighting and decide then.

The purpose of the Actor Slate is to allow casting to instantly…
- see what you really look like
- hear what you sound like
- get a sense of you physically
- get a chance to meet you

To help us make you look your best we want to capture as many sides to you as possible. Your funny side. Your serious side. Your special abilities. Your passions. Your foibles. YOU !

When reading the following “Interview Guidelines and Questions, give thought to how to best get these qualities and skills across in concise and effective ways. Feel free to circle specific items or questions for the director to be sure to include in your session.

In addition, we have a whole bunch of questions we like to include on the spot in the interest of spontaneity.

From this twenty or so minutes of tape, we will edit a one minute version of....you.

Interview Guidelines and Questions

General Notes

- Always talk to the camera.
- Always answer as a sentence. (The viewer will not hear the question.)
- You can prepare a very quick performance piece (10 sec max) – song, dance, trick, impersonation, monologue. Sometimes it works in the slate and sometimes it does not.
- Show range – laugh, serious, stiff, loose. accents, dialects
- Be relaxed and be yourself so we can get a quick physical sense of you and how you move.
- If you are good at different physical, mainly facial looks, bring a few props (glasses, wig, etc.)
We can shoot your different looks quickly.


Personality qualities we want to bring out

Passion (intensity, focus, discipline)
- what are you passionate about ?
- acting is an acceptable answer. Why you love acting.

Humor -maybe tell a good, short, clean joke

Intelligence - favorite books, works of art, writers, artists, historical figures

Sensitivity
- what really gets to you ?
- warm childhood memory

Courage - what’s the hardest thing you’ve ever had to do ?

Confidence - what are you expert at ?

Humility
- what are you really bad at ?
- embarrassing incident. Can be an acting story.

Pride - what are you most proud of? Can be an acting story.

Adaptability and range
- what are your special skills you bring to acting ?
- show wild side (lack of inhibitions)
- playful, innocent, goofy side

Special skills
- for acting
- real world life and career experiences

Acting questions
- what would your dream role(s) be ?
- what have been your best and worst roles to date. ?

Q. What if I am not happy with your editing choices ?

A. We send you a preview link to your Actor Slate and ask you to approve it or reply to us within 72 hours. We are happy to make a tweak or two to your Slate. If there is a story or part that you don’t want included, we will swap it for one that did not make the final cut. Please understand that we cannot do extensive re-edits without additional charges. We can do supervised edits at our studio with our editor for $100. per hour. But we do advise against this. We ask you to trust our edititng choices. We do a lot of these and we know what talent professionals are looking for.

Q. Do I get a copy of my Actor Slate for my own use ?

A. The original footage and the master edited master Actor Slate are the property of Breakdown Services and Chelsea Studios and cannot be used for any purpose other than on the Breakdown Services and Actors Access websites without permission.  You may now purchase a copy of the finished 60 second Actor Slate for use on your own website for an additional $25.00 fee.  You can also buy a longer version (2-4 minutes in length),  the “Actor Slate Deluxe” as well for use on your own website or on YouTube or other websites for those times when a casting director or agent/manager “want to see more of you”.  The cost for this longer version is $40.00. 

Q. How do I use my completed Actor Slate?

A. You and your agent and/or manager can submit your Actor Slate to casting for consideration in roles that are on active breakdowns on the Breakdown Services and Actors Access systems. You can submit your Actor Slate to agents and managers if you are seeking representation. And talent professionals using the Breakdown Services systems can view your Actor Slate at any time on their own by easy search.

For more FAQs, please visit the facts page.