So you’re interested in acting in commercials in Vancouver, but not sure how to get started or how it all works? Let me give you some insight. When I started acting it took me years to figure out the industry and understand how casting operates. After much trial and error I managed to position myself in the market correctly, giving me the best chance of getting auditions, and ultimately booking roles regularly. (By the way, commercials were my gateway into Film and TV acting, as it is for the majority of actors.)

It’s a numbers game—the more auditions you do, the more you’ll book. A good actor can typically expect to book around 1 in every 10 to 30 auditions. This is the reality of an actor’s life. Do not obsess about booking every role. Rejection is not necessarily a reflection of your talent, it could be as trivial as you not having the right hair colour for the palette of the scene. Your goal as an actor is to persevere, present yourself well, become liked by casting directors, consistently deliver great auditions—then the roles will come.

But how do you start getting auditions in the first place? You need these things:

• The ability to take direction and engender emotional reactions in an audience (acting talent).

• Good commercial headshots.

• A reputable agent.

• The ability to self-tape auditions at home.

What makes a good headshot?

To best understand what producers look for when casting commercials you have to think like an advertiser. Their goal is to market and sell a product to a target demographic. Your job is to play a character that the target demographic will relate to, or emotionally engage with. In 99% of cases the target demographic are everyday people with purchasing power. This means that in most cases you’re called upon to portray ordinary, day to day human beings doing everyday things. Pay attention to commercials you see on TV or online. You’ll see relatable people, enjoying or selling a product. Your age and type will determine the more specific types that you could play. Myself, for example, I’m in the 25-35 age range, clean cut, athletic male. Some of the commercial roles I’ve booked are: guy at a house party (back in the day when we could), guy at the gym (once upon a time), guy cruising in a car with friends (2019, obviously), business man racing another business man downstairs in an office building (life was such fun), young couple eating a TV dinner, young professional couple buying their first home. I’ve noticed lately a lot of commercials are people doing stuff at home.

I can’t stress this enough—watch commercials, they change with the times. See what other actors your type are playing. Ask yourself why they cast that particular actor. Ask yourself if you could play that role. If the answer is yes, then get a headshot that looks like you could pay that role. You’ll notice that in commercials it’s not necessarily about having a unique look, but about being relatable to the target demographic.

The next thing to understand is the style of performance. Commercial actors are expressing emotion, usually a sense of joy, content, curiosity, comfort, excitement, frustration, relief, satisfaction, etc. Sometimes these emotions are subtle, sometimes they’re over the top. The more expressive you are, the better you will do. And when I say expressive, I mean you must have the ability to convincingly display a range of emotions, at varying degrees of intensity, on demand. There’s also often an element of comedy in commercials, so comedic timing, humour, and goofiness will super-boost your booking rate. 

When shooting headshots I have all this in mind, and you should too. For your commercial headshots you want to look like you’re enjoying life, and be able to brighten somebody else’s day. Why? Because if you don’t, then you won’t look like you can enjoy or sell a product, and you probably won’t get called for an audition. Your headshot should be joyful, joy should be on your face, the photography should be professional, and the wardrobe pleasant.

So without further ado, let’s look at some examples.

Young Autumn-Marie, pictured above here, came to me looking for headshots so that she can try to get an agent. So we shot a variety of commercial and dramatic headshots. She’s involved in a variety of performing arts so she took direction extremely well. Thus I was able to capture shots of her being expressive in the kind of way we need her to be on screen. You can easily picture her in an advert enjoying a family meal, a road trip, a soda pop, a vacation, board game, candy bar, barbie doll, you name it! No matter what the product might be, if the target demographic is tweens or families, then you can picture Autumn-Marie in that commercial. Autumn-Marie also has some special skills, for example, she’s a ballerina, so I also shot this:

Commercials sometimes require people with specific skills or specific looks. It could be anything. For example, they might be looking for truckers, band members, yogis, bikers, chefs, ballerinas, the list goes on. So on your casting profile, alongside your standard commercial headshot you can also include headshots that show an extra side to you. Although Autumn-Marie is not doing ballet in this photo, she certainly looks like she does ballet, which she does. Her resume will list the specific types of dance she can do. Her future agent will be able to use this shot if they see a breakdown for a commercial looking for dancers in her age range. It will certainly grab the casting director’s attention because she looks the part without any stretch of the imagination. And upon further examination of her resume, she will be getting that audition, guaranteed.

Hopefully you get the idea, but let’s look quickly at a few more examples:

Laura, pictured here is a working mom. We can easily picture her in a commercial in which she’s working from home, driving a nice car, eating at a nice restaurant, being a successful business person, etc.

Here we have Moises, doing what he does best—enjoying life! Can you picture him cooking at home, playing a game with his kids, drinking a beer at a barbecue, shopping at best buy, working in an office, driving a car, selling a car? Of course you can, because he’s got good commercial headshots!

I hope this brings some clarity. If you want more information about how to prepare for a headshot session, including advice on wardrobe, CLICK HERE

If you’re interested in working with me on your next headshots, you can find INFO ABOUT MY SESSIONS AND RATES here.