Ross from Act On This names the five patterns he sees, after coaching over 41,500 UK actors, that separate the actors who book TV work from the ones who do not yet.
8 Things Actors Should Know About Booking TV Roles
Drawn from what is actually said on camera, so you can decide whether to
spend the 18:27 watching it.
The easiest actor to cast beats the most talented one
Ross says the actors who book the most are not always the most talented. They are the ones who know their casting type exactly, so a casting team never has to figure them out. If you are still unsure where you fit, he says you have little hope of marketing yourself well.
Every piece of your profile should tell the same story
His own type is clean cut authority: businessmen, police, lawyers, doctors, TV presenters, anyone in a suit and tie. His headshots show it, and the first thing you see when you press play on his reel shows it. Check your headshots, reel and Spotlight profile and ask whether your type is obvious in all of them.
Most actors call their headshots and reel pretty good without ever comparing them to the competition. Ross sees badly lit headshots that miss the casting type and reels let down by poor production values, and above all by bad audio. If your reel landed on a casting director's desk today next to everyone else in your type, would you know where it ranked?
A brand studies its competitor's ads to improve its own. Ross says not watching the reels of other actors in your casting type does you a massive disservice. And never stop improving: if your headshots are a couple of years old or your reel has not changed in two and a half years, it is time for new ones.
When actors post a self tape for Coronation Street and ask what people think, Ross says many are really asking to be told it is fine. The actors who improve fastest want the uncomfortable truth: the gear change in the middle did not land, there is too much headroom, get a wireless mic instead of the iPhone microphone. Then they reshoot.
Producer Petch adds that when someone asks for constructive criticism, give it. Telling an actor everything is great when it is not, like the class tutor who says well done and sit down, sends them away having learned nothing from a class they paid for.
Three to five targeted emails a week beat 300 in one burst
Actors who send 300 emails in an excited week and then go quiet for months rarely get results, partly because that volume ends up copy and paste. The actors who send a handful of well aimed emails every week, with congruent materials behind them, build momentum that compounds. Ross has seen actors go 18 months with nothing, then book two of three tapes in a row.
Ross says most actors watch videos, read books and take courses but never send the email. His own example: one email to the head of a drama school led to a Zoom, then a talk at the Federation of Drama Schools conference, then half a dozen school heads asking to work with him. Take the next step before you feel ready, because you probably never will.
Some actors book TV work far quicker than others, and now after coaching over 41,500 actors via Act On This, I think I've finally worked out why the same five patterns keep appearing, and these could be the very things standing between you and your next role. Hey everybody, welcome back to the channel, thank you so much for pressing play as always. For those people who are seeing me for the first time, I do this every week, but ten seconds, a quick credibility check, my name is Ross, I've been a professional actor now for over 20 years, in that time, I've booked roles on over 40 TV shows, you'll see some on your screen right now, and for the last 15 years I've been running what's now the leading membership site for UK TV actors, maybe just like you, who want to land more auditions, book more work, and ultimately earn more money from their career. It's called Act On This, the TV Actors Network, you will find it at actonthis.tv, link in the description, if you use the discount code YOUTUBERCHECKOUT, you'll get 50% off your first month, and you get to come and hang out with us every single week, literally, with the biggest casting directors, agents, actors, writers, directors, and producers in TV, diving into what we're going to talk about today, and loads more, so come and get involved, you can be one of these more than 41,500 actors, who we've coached, producer Petch is here, big week this week Petch, I can't believe it, like genuinely, I set up Act On This 15 years ago, over 41,500 actors, pretty crazy, we were like wow, okay, this is tens of thousands of actors that we've seen book TV work, tens of thousands of actors equally who we've seen maybe not book TV work, or not book TV work yet, and we just chatted before, weren't we mate, about what are the patterns that we're seeing that are indisputable, undeniable patterns, that we're seeing this group do, you know, this group to take part in, that are booking the work, and then this group not do, that aren't booking the work, and we're going to dive into them right now, pattern number one Petch, are you ready? I think he's blowing his nose or something, oh yeah, he's blowing his nose, do it quietly, pattern number one, talent doesn't always win, okay, so what do I mean by this, actors think if I'm talented enough, the work will come, now what we've actually seen, is that the actors who book the most, aren't always the most talented, they're the easiest to cast, so let's dive into this, easiest to cast, what I mean by this, is really their self-awareness, they know their casting type perfectly, if you are still confused on your casting type, where you fit in the industry, you've got to nail this, or you just stand no hope at all, of being able to market yourself successfully, so for example, we've covered this in another video, I'll link it in the description on casting type, but my casting type Petch, clean cut authority figures, yeah, I always play businessman, police, lawyers, doctors, anyone in a suit and tie basically, TV presenters even, in a shirt and tie and a suit jacket, and that makes it very easy for me to market myself, because then I can make my marketing materials congruent, my favourite word when it comes to this, with that type, so I will show clean cut authority in my headshots, when they click play on my showreel, they will see clean cut authority, it makes me very easy to cast, because they know exactly what they're getting, casting teams don't have to figure me out at all, so have a look at your headshots, at your reel, your overall spotlight profile, is it abundantly clear what your casting type is, and are all of your marketing materials congruent, okay, nothing should feel confusing at all, but the actors who we see with congruent profiles, they know they are, they're the ones who are landing the auditions and booking the work, so three key takeaways from this, so all your materials tell the same story basically, talent isn't enough remember, you can be really talented, but if you're just sending out confusing market materials, it's over, you've got to know your casting type, so you can have congruent materials, and you've got to align those materials to tell that story again and again, across every single department of your profile, so hopefully that makes sense Petch, casting type is just so much more important than talent, understanding where you are, so much more important than talent, you've got to be talented of course, but we do see talented actors not booking work, because they haven't figured this out, pattern number two, and I'm going to say this with love and kindness right, actors overestimate the quality of their marketing material, so what I was just saying there, headshots, showreel, spotlight profile, etc, so actors think my headshots and showreel are pretty good, we'll hear that phrase quite a lot, what we've actually seen though, is that most actors have no real baseline for what pretty good actually looks like, because they're not keeping an eye on their competition, so what they end up with are, badly lit headshots that don't show the casting type, taken by someone who's got a camera and no idea what they're doing, because they're just getting cheap, a showreel with poor production values, so it might look great, but what else really lets showreels down Petch? Audio, I mean you probably wouldn't be watching this video if you couldn't hear me very well now right, hopefully you are going to continue watching this, because production values are pretty good, I'm well lit, nice camera, two cameras, audio you can hear me ok, the amount of reels that we watch from actors who go yeah my reel's pretty good, and I have to say I'm sorry, it isn't, have you actually seen the competition you're up against, and that's what I want to talk about as well, like if you were Pepsi, you would be keeping an eye on Coca-Cola and their adverts, their market material, seeing how you can improve your product and improve your advertising, if you're not watching other actors showreels in your casting type, you're doing yourself a massive disservice, how on earth can you possibly know where you stand up when it comes to that pecking order, if your reel ended up on Kelly Valentine Hendry's desk today, she's casting Bridgetton for example, where would it stand up compared to your competition, do you even know, and if you don't know, another reason you should come and join Acts On This, every quarter we do something called showreel surgery live, where I bring on in my opinion the best showreel producer in the UK, a guy called Chris, great guy, and we play out five of our members showreels, so they get to see and our audience gets to see exactly what people are sending out and then where they stack up compared to other actors, so you really need to look at materials and not overestimate how good they are, you've got to be honest with yourself, so key takeaways from that are basically study your competition, so crucial, benchmark everything, just be honest with yourself and then never stop improving, even if you think materials are pretty good or they're good or they're great, they can always get better, never stop improving, don't rest on your laurels, if you've not had headshots taken in a couple of years, maybe it's time to get some new ones, if you've not changed a showreel in two and a half years, maybe it's time to do a new edit, put some new material in there. So that was pattern number two, pattern number three that really helps actors get work is asking for help, the best actors genuinely ask for help, so some actors think feedback is there to validate and just confirm they're doing well, what we've actually seen, the actors who improve the fastest actively look for constructive criticism not validation, so they're genuinely looking for help, so what I mean by this as an example, we'll get an actor posting their latest self tape for example pitch in our Facebook group or in the community hub on Acts On This and they'll say hey guys just shot this tape, I think they're sending it to the casting team at Coronation Street, what do you think? And they're not actually asking what do you think, really what they're asking is please will you just say it's alright, tell me everything's great so I don't have to change anything and I can just send it, they're not actually asking for help, the actors who genuinely get far are the people who go you know what how can I honestly improve this and they're open to this constructive criticism where we'll say you know what I believe the first 30 seconds but that gear change in the middle where this happens in the script, I didn't quite buy that in your performance or there's too much headroom, you're not lit well enough, you know have you thought about getting a wireless mic so that we can hear you better rather than you just relying on the microphone on your iPhone and then they'll go oh you know what really appreciate that, I'm going to go away, I'm going to shoot it again and I'm going to improve on it and then they'll send it off okay because they're actually looking for help, one set of actors just is looking for compliments, the other one is looking for like uncomfortable truths okay and it does move the needle like when you're seeking help from people who are 5 to 25 years ahead of you, which you all should be doing and it just means you learn and you improve so much faster okay and so the key takeaways from here are basically yes seek correction okay, welcome feedback and stay coachable, sometimes there are actors who have joined us on this who have just been like you know what you're just not in the mindset where we can coach you because you're not open to feedback, you're not open to putting the work in, doing the reps, you just want us to go there, there, there, yep you're great, crack on and I feel we're doing them a disservice if we say that Petch because it's like we have to be honest with you if you are to improve, so that was pattern number 3. And be honest with other actors too. Oh yeah, yeah something Petch is always saying like if someone asks you for constructive criticism don't be afraid to give it, like do it with kindness but there's no point in you just saying everything's great if it's not, we've all been in that acting class where we've seen an actor perform we thought oh crikey that's a bit ropey, expecting the tutor to give them some really positive, well like positive constructive feedback and they just go yeah it's great that, well done sit down and you just sit there going oh my goodness this person's paid for this class and they're going away having learnt nothing at all. So be open to giving people help and constructive criticism but just do it obviously with kindness and you know and they will improve and if you're open to that you will improve. Pattern number 4, this is massive, consistency beats intensity. So actors think one massive push will change everything, what we've actually seen is that the actors who quietly do small things every single week they're the ones who win. Okay they almost always outperform the actors who go in for like a month Petch and then disappear for a week. So you'll get actors who get some enthusiasm because they've got a reel they're proud of, they've got a headshot they're proud of or whatever and then they go I'm going to send this to 300 casting directors this week and they go all in and then they do nothing for the rest of the month or nothing for half a year and they wonder why nothing's happening for them. If they're sending that volume of outreach in a week they're probably not doing it very well, they're not going to be very targeted, they're not going to be selling themselves you know like appropriately to every single team because it's probably going to be a copy and paste job. We see the actors who maybe send 3 to 5 emails a week not 300 but they're really targeted, they know what it is they're selling, all their market materials are congruent, they're the ones you know with that consistency that get places because that consistency compounds over time into something great. So ultimately the little things just really add up folks, cannot stress that enough the little things, the daily weekly actions you take they're the things that really add up okay not that intensity of a massive push for one week and then you quit. So the takeaways from this section, this pattern, I want you to show up every week, you're going to build momentum and I need you to play the long game okay. That's another thing isn't it Petch, the actors who are just consistent over a year, two years, book work, they just do and sometimes it'll be at the point where they're like you know what is anything going to happen for me, I've been doing this for a whole year now, 18 months, what's going on? And then boom, three takes will come in, they'll book two of them and they're like oh my god I'm away, you've got to play the long game. Pattern number five and I include myself in this and you'll have to hold your own for this as well Petch, we're all culpable of this but this is just something that we see just a ton of right. Most actors aren't taking enough action, so actors think and they'll even say this, they're doing everything they can, they'll tell us that I'm doing everything that I can. What we actually see and like I say I include myself in this at times, is that actors will watch videos, they will read books, they will buy courses, they will go to classes, they will research endlessly but they will never do the thing. They will never send that email, put their head above the parapet and say hey I'm here and I know I bang on about email all the time Petch and you'll hear us talk about this in almost every video, are you emailing casting teams? Maybe you might need to email agents because you're looking for an agent right now but it's the number one way to market yourself in a 2026-2027 world, it just is. I myself, outside of Acts On This and outside of my acting career, I'm marketing myself across various areas of life. Within Acts On This I sent an email two weeks ago to the head of a very prestigious drama school because I would love to get this kind of coaching into drama schools. Had I not sent that email I wouldn't have got a reply to jump on Zoom and talk to this person, I then wouldn't have been invited to just speak last week at the Federation of Drama Schools conference, I got to speak on stage in front of the heads of every major drama school in the country. That has now led to half a dozen of those heads already approaching me and saying hey Ross I would love to either jump on the phone, bring you into the school in person or have a chat with you of how we can collaborate moving forward. So I'm just a massive advocate of opening up conversations with people via email or just via the written word, it might be a DM on Instagram, it could be a LinkedIn message. But if you're not doing the thing, you're just researching all this stuff, you're creating this product but you're not showing it to anyone, how can anybody buy it? So there's always more action to be taken. I've got a note here, I think this is really powerful. Knowledge feels productive but action creates opportunities. It's why this channel, why the website, our entire brand is called Act On This, it's not watch this, take in the information and the knowledge and do nothing with it. You have to do the thing right, you've got to step on the stage so to speak and say hey I am here. So we all could be doing a little bit more, that's the truth, we could all be taking more action to chase our goals. We've got one lie from a big believer in this, go to bed with a tank empty. If you've done nothing today, nothing this week, let this video be the thing that just kicks you up the bum and just makes you take some action that you weren't going to take had you not seen this. So yeah, just keep taking that action. So the takeaways from this section, knowledge isn't action for a start, do the uncomfortable, it might burn and sting to just press end but press end. And then point three is just take the next step before you feel fully ready because chances are you never will. You've got to do that uncomfortable thing, take a step before you feel ultimately ready. So to recap on these five patterns, after coaching 41,500 plus actors over the last 15 years, these are the five patterns that we keep seeing. One, talent isn't enough, you've got to know your casting type, make sure every one of your market materials tells the same story and portrays that casting type. You're going to be way easier to cast. Point number two, most actors overestimate the quality of their materials. I'm saying it with kindness, but study your competition, benchmark yourself honestly and never stop improving. Where do you really stand up when it comes to the competition? Point number three, the best actors ask for help and genuinely want it. So seek constructive criticism, not just validation. And give other people constructive criticism as well, be helpful. Point number four, consistency beats intensity. So small actions repeated every week create momentum. You know, not just one big push, you've got to be consistent. And then point number five, pattern number five, most actors simply aren't taking enough action. So remember, knowledge is useful, action changes careers. So I hope that's useful for you. Ultimately, yeah, the final takeaway there just goes right back to what I said at the start. It's not always the talented actors, the most talented actors that are working. It's the ones who like stay curious, keep improving, keep taking action. They're the ones that eventually book the work. So be one of those people and let us know which of these patterns resonated with you the most. And if you've got any patterns that are showing up in your career that you feel are holding you back, something that's coming up time and time again, that you want to share that might help other actors recognize that as well so they can get further in their careers. Drop it in the comments. I would love to know if you want to come and hang out, like I say, with the biggest casting directors, agents, actors, writers, directors, producers in the UK TV industry every single week. Get access to over 120 recordings already in the members area. Come and watch Showreel Surgery. Get 24-7 support from Pet and I in our community hub. Come and join the community. Please use the discount code YouTube at checkout. Just act on this.tv. Select a monthly membership. Type in YouTube in the checkout discount box coupon code. You'll get your first month half price. It'll cost you literally the price of a couple of lattes. And we'll just make sure that, yeah, you are, you know, recognizing these patterns and that you are falling into the 20-odd-thousand actors who are booking work rather than the 20-odd-thousand who aren't. Okay, there's so much content for you to take in. So act on this.tv. Check that out. Like this channel. Like this video. Like this channel. Please subscribe. It's getting hot under these lights. Have I missed anything, Pet? Absolutely, Pet. Just do everything with a positive attitude. Do everything with a positive attitude. Honestly, that's huge as well. We're just massive on basically looking for positivity in this industry, making it louder, because you will see more opportunity. So, yeah, be happy. Be positive. Come join the community. We'll see you on the next video. Until then, bye for now. If you enjoyed this video, YouTube thinks you should watch this one next. 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