Actors, It’s Time To Build Your Personal Brand

What goes into building your brand? Read on to find out…

Spring is here and this author couldn’t be any more excited! The weather gets nicer, flowers are blooming, and the sense of renewal is in the air. This sense of renewal is what motivates me most to focus on spring cleaning.

Of course you can’t think of anything cleaning and organizing without mentioning Martha Stewart. A quick glance at her “Ultimate Spring Cleaning Checklist” shows how a good spring cleaning will make a world of difference.

She breaks it down to what needs done in every room: “Clean Baseboards” to “Reseal Grout Lines” and finishes with the specifics: “Dust refrigerator coils” in the kitchen to “Replace or wash shower liner” in the bathroom. Her list is simple, but it hits all the necessary items to ensure a refreshed house.

You had better believe that if it is this important to clean out and declutter our living space it is equally important to do so in our acting lives. The life of an actor is different every day. It also tends to be full of auditions, shows, networking, and working side gigs and that makes it easy forget to keep up on key parts of our career. Here is a basic breakdown of categories and questions to ask yourself in order to spring clean your actor life.

The Brand. As Casey Mink of Backstage perfectly puts it: “As an actor, your personal brand is your story, the thing that casting directors and producers remember about you after you’ve left the audition room”. What does casting see when they see you? This may feel like a daunting question so let’s break it down.

Look at your age: have you aged out of what you’ve been booking? Is it possible you’re no longer passing as a teen and look more like a young adult? Look at your style. A new hair-do or discovery with makeup and clothes could give you a new edge. Have you learned a new skill? Maybe you’ve gotten into Pickleball and therefore added to your new athletic brand.

Asking and being honest with yourself about these questions will help you know what to get rid of or refresh in the next few categories.

The Closet. Does your closet fit your brand? What do you need to get rid of? The closet is also a time to be real and honest with yourself. There’s no need to try and squeeze into pants you looked great in two years ago or pretend that the shirt you like but never end up wearing because it sits strangely on your body
will work one day. Your body right now is a wonderful thing and will look fabulous
in pants that fit its current size. Getting rid of your ill-fitting clothes and updating
your wardrobe with articles that are brand appropriate and that fit your body
correctly will give you effortless confidence in auditions, when networking, and out in your daily life.

The Media. You know your brand. You have confidence built from a well-fit
wardrobe. Now it’s time to look at your media. Do your headshots fit this new
style you have? Maybe you just need to add one new look in your headshots. Are
there clips in your demo reel that need to be edited out to make way for new ones? Media also includes social media. Is that up to brand? Is there anything that you need to get rid of from your social media that doesn’t represent you anymore? Does your résumé reflect this new spring me? Or do credits also need to be cut or added?

Actor Profiles. Once we have all of these things done it’s time to look at whether your online actor profiles are up to date or weighing you down. These include your Actors Access profile, Casting Networks profile, Backstage profile, etc. Look at your headshots, resume, size cards, and clips on these sites. Do you need to change any of these things? Do you need to add to them or take them down? Does your agent have updated versions of all of them? Make sure to update your personal website and social media platforms accordingly.

The Audition. One area that often needs cleaned up or updated is your audition set up. Do you need to practice with lighting your new styles and new colors with
your backdrop? What about your reader? Are they reliable? Do you need to find new ones or backups? Do you need new audio equipment to up your sound? Perhaps you simply need to streamline your audition process. Looking at things like how you memorize, what outfits you have ready for different character types, and how you will tape your audition can completely change your audition process for the better!

Reminder: all of this is just a starting point. Here at TAS we know this industrycan be very overwhelming so if you are needing more “you” specific guidance we would love to get you set up with a Career Coaching or Private Coaching session.

These half hour or hour long sessions with one of our industry trained coaches will help you clear out the unnecessary so you can focus on your acting career journey with a confident plan. Check out our Audition Taping and Private Coaching section of the website to get started with a one-on-one coaching session today!

Ready to get started? Reach out today!

TASFRONTDESK@GMAIL.COM

770-904-6646

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About The Author

Kirsten Krehbiel

Kirsten Krehbiel is an Atlanta based actress, director, and writer who enjoys bringing people new truths through the art of storytelling. She has a love of acting both on camera and on stage, having been lucky enough to be a part of incredible productions in both worlds. Kirsten joined the TAS team in 2020 as a coach, a job she loves because it lets her watch first hand as students grow and gain self confidence as actors. When she is not creating or coaching, you can find Kirsten hanging out with her grumpy cat on their back porch.

Actors, It’s Time To Build Your Personal Brand