Building Your Acting Demo Reel

Your reel is the single most important tool for getting cast. It shows what you can do on screen in a way no headshot or resume ever will. Here is how to build one that actually gets you callbacks.

What to Include

1. Your 2-3 strongest scenes. Period. This is not a highlight reel of everything you have ever done. It is a curated showcase of your best work. If you have one incredible scene and two decent ones, lead with the incredible one and seriously consider whether you even need the other two.
2. Lead with your bread and butter. If you mostly book dramatic roles, open with your strongest dramatic scene. If you are a comedic actor, open with comedy. Do not open with the thing you want to be known for "someday." Open with what you do best right now.
3. Show range, but not at the expense of quality. If you have a strong dramatic scene and a strong comedic scene, great, include both. But do not include a mediocre comedic scene just to "show range." A reel with two great dramatic scenes is better than one great dramatic scene and one weak comedy.
4. Prioritize scenes where you are the focus. Ensemble scenes where you have three lines and someone else carries the scene do not help you. Choose clips where the camera is on you, where you are driving the emotion or the story beat.
5. Professional footage only. If the lighting, sound, or production value is noticeably amateur, it hurts more than it helps. One well-shot student film scene is better than five poorly-lit indie projects.

Ideal Length

• 60 to 90 seconds total. That is not a suggestion. It is the industry standard. Casting directors watch hundreds of reels. They will give you 15-30 seconds before deciding whether to keep watching. If your reel is 3 minutes long, most people will not finish it.
• Each clip should be 20-40 seconds. Long enough to show a complete beat or emotional moment, short enough to keep momentum.
• If you only have one great scene, a 30-45 second reel featuring just that scene is completely acceptable. A short, strong reel beats a long, padded one every time.
• Never pad for length. If you are adding B-roll, montages, or slow-motion walking shots to fill time, you are hurting yourself. Those are filler and everyone knows it.

How to Order Your Scenes

1. Best scene first. No exceptions. Your strongest, most castable moment should be the very first thing anyone sees. The reel lives or dies in the first 10 seconds.
2. Second scene should show contrast. If your opener is intense drama, follow it with something lighter. If your opener is comedy, follow with something with more weight. This demonstrates range without you having to say it.
3. End strong. Your final scene should leave a lasting impression. A powerful emotional moment, a great reaction, a perfect comedic beat: something that makes the viewer remember you.
4. Do not intercut scenes. Play each scene as a complete clip. Cutting between different projects mid-scene is confusing and amateurish.

What NOT to Include

• Title cards between every clip. A simple name card at the top is fine. But title cards between each scene ("From 'The Project,' directed by John Smith") slow the reel down and no one reads them.
• Music beds. Do not put background music over your scenes. The casting director needs to hear the actual audio from the scene: your delivery, your timing, the other actors. Music obscures all of that.
• Behind-the-scenes footage. Nobody cares about the process for the purposes of your reel. This is about the finished product.
• Scenes where you are barely in them. A wide shot of you standing in the background of a Marvel movie does not help your reel.
• Old footage that no longer represents you. If you look significantly different now (different age, weight, hair), remove it. Your reel should match how you look today.
• Self-tape auditions. Unless the production quality is exceptional, self-tapes look like self-tapes. They read as "I have not booked anything" rather than "look what I can do."
• Theater recordings. Wide-angle recordings of stage performances almost never translate well to a screen acting reel. The acting style is different, the audio is usually poor, and it looks amateur.

Editing Tips

1. Clean cuts, no fancy transitions. Simple fade-to-black between scenes is the standard. No star wipes, no dissolves, no spinning transitions. This is not a YouTube intro. It is a professional portfolio.
2. Name card at the top only. Your name in a clean, readable font on a black or simple background. 2-3 seconds max. Include your name and representation (if you have an agent). No quotes, no taglines.
3. Match audio levels between clips. If one scene is quiet dialogue and the next is a screaming match, normalize the audio so the viewer does not have to adjust volume. This small detail separates professional reels from amateur ones.
4. Color-correct if needed. If your clips come from different projects with different color grades, do a light color correction pass so the reel feels cohesive. Do not over-grade.
5. Export at 1080p minimum. H.264 codec, high bitrate. 4K is unnecessary for a reel and creates huge file sizes. 1080p looks great on any screen and uploads quickly.
6. Hire an editor if you can. A professional reel editor costs $150-$400 and they know exactly what casting directors want to see. It is worth the investment if you are not comfortable editing yourself.

Hosting Your Reel

• Use a clean, ad-free video host. Industry-standard players give you a clean viewing experience with no ads, no recommended-video distractions, password protection, and viewer analytics so you can see who watched and for how long.
• Avoid free ad-supported hosts for your primary reel link. Ads before your reel and unrelated suggestions after read as unprofessional. If you must use one, set the video to Unlisted.
• Always have a downloadable version ready. Some casting directors and agents will want you to email the file directly. Keep a high-quality MP4 in cloud storage with a shareable link.
• Test your links regularly. Nothing is worse than a casting director clicking your reel link and getting a 404. Check your links every month.

When to Update Your Reel

• Every time you get a better scene, swap it in. Your reel should always represent your current best work. If you just wrapped a project with a scene that is stronger than anything on your current reel, update immediately.
• At minimum, review every 6 months. Even if you have not shot anything new, watch your reel with fresh eyes. Does it still represent you? Does the opener still grab attention? Is the footage still current to how you look?
• After a significant look change, update. New hairstyle, significant weight change, grew a beard: your reel needs to match your current headshot and how you will look walking into an audition.
• Tailor for specific submissions when it matters. If you are submitting for a heavy drama and your reel leads with comedy, consider making a second version with a different scene order. Some actors keep 2-3 versions for different types of roles.

What If You Do Not Have Footage Yet?

• Create your own content. Write a short scene (2-3 minutes), grab a friend or fellow actor, and shoot it. Use natural light, a decent microphone (even a Rode VideoMicro for $60 works), and a clean background. One well-executed original scene is a perfectly valid reel starter.
• Student films. Reach out to film students at local universities. They need actors and you need footage. It is a mutually beneficial arrangement and often produces surprisingly good material.
• NeedaCrew projects. Browse open casting calls right here on the platform. Many indie projects are happy to share footage with actors for their reels. Just ask during the booking process.
• Do NOT use scene recreations from movies/TV. Performing a monologue from Breaking Bad in your apartment is not a demo reel. It tells casting directors you have not booked real work yet and the comparison to the original never works in your favor.

Got your reel ready? Link it on your NeedaCrew profile so casting can find it.