Why do I need a showreel on my CV?

A showreel gives casting professionals a 360 degree overview of your skills as a performer. Casting professionals can access members' showreels at the click of a button, when looking at their web CVs. They can also refine their casting searches to include only those performers who have uploaded a showreel - and many of them do! So if you don't have one, you may be missing out on work.

See an example of an online CV with a showreel

What sort of material should I use?

Your showreel can be compiled from previous work you've done, or recorded specifically for the purpose. Make sure the material is of the best possible quality, always professionally shot with good sound and picture quality. Anything else can put casting professionals off.

Use a variety of footage to show your versatility as a performer. If you are choosing a clip with more than one person in it, make sure it is clear who you are, and that you are monopolising the dialogue. You don't want casting professionals to be distracted by other performers!

If you need to record a showreel from scratch, you should book a session with a recording studio. We advise you to shop around for the best rates on the market. Click here to see a list of studios who offer preferential rates to Spotlight performers. Alternatively, you can look in Contacts for a studio near you.

How much does it cost?

The costs for uploading a showreel onto your Spotlight CV are as follows:

• £30 (inc. VAT) if your showreel is 'ready-to-go' (already edited and five minutes or under)
• £45 (inc. VAT) if you require Spotlight to edit it on your behalf

These are one-off costs and the footage will remain live on the Spotlight website for as long as you remain a member, or until you wish to update it. Updates are treated as new showreels and the fee of £30 or £45 will be payable again.

How to supply your showreel to Spotlight

Please send your showreel and payment to Spotlight, 7 Leicester Place, London WC2H 7RJ.

You will also need to complete our multimedia form and send it along with your clips. Click here to download this.

Technical specifications

Don't be daunted by these technical specs! Just pass them onto your showreel company, who will understand them. You can also call Spotlight on 020 7440 5028 if you have any queries.

Showreels should be a maximum of five minutes long. They can be one continuous piece, or a montage of different footage - but they must be a maximum of five minutes long. Any reels which exceed five minutes will need to be edited to the correct length by Spotlight.

Please use the multimedia form to indicate the clips you are using.

To qualify for "ready-to-go" £30 pricing, your Spotlight Showreel must be supplied as following:

• Up to five minutes of finished, edited footage, comprising one continuous clip or up to four separate clips.
• Material must be supplied on one standard DVD video disc. We must be able to play the disc in a standard, region 2 (UK) off-the-shelf DVD player, and we must be able to copy the .VOB files from the VIDEO_TS folder using an ordinary Windows PC with a standard DVD-ROM drive.
• There must be no encryption, DRM, CSS or other copy-protection facility on your DVD.
• If you are supplying more than one clip, each clip must be a separate chapter (.VOB file) on the DVD.
• Clips are posted online at two resolutions - 400x300 and 240x180 pixels. If your showreel contains footage in a widescreen format, you should make sure the widescreen footage is padded ('letterboxed') or cropped to a 4:3 frame, otherwise your showreel will be distorted by the encoding process.

We will convert the chapter files from your DVD directly into online video files and upload them to our website. If any other editing, proofing or manipulation is required, your showreel will not qualify for "ready to go" pricing and additional charges will be incurred.

Showreel material which requires editing can be supplied to us on a standard VHS cassette or DVD or on CD-ROM or DVD-ROM containing video clips in DV, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, Quicktime or AVI file formats.

Spotlight reserves the right to refuse any material it deems to be inappropriate.

Copyright

It is your responsibility to obtain copyright clearance for material used. Click here for full information.