I used to offer a service for self-tape auditions. I stopped doing it because I believe a self-tape is best when it’s done exactly how it’s named; as a SELF-tape. A self-tape doesn’t need to be polished and shot perfectly. A casting director doesn’t want to think you agonised over it for twelve hours, nor […]

Earlier this week I put out a tweet offering a free screen acting workshop for four actors on February 17th. I didn’t expect it to blow up in the way it did, the interest has been huge. I've learned a lot about screen acting from 15 years of short film directing and through my showreels […]

It’s been another great year of showreel shooting. Worked with very talented, enthusiastic performers — from those new to the industry to the very experienced. Have made new friends and reconnected with old ones. Very thankful for the small role I play in the advancement of actors careers. Thanks to everyone I’ve worked with over […]

I’ve been creating showreels for a long time now and continually find that no advice stays true forever. You’ve all heard these: Never use scenes that are shot from scratch! Keep reels under two minutes! Don’t start a reel with two people of the same gender! Show as much range as possible! Use scenes where […]

A showreel from scratch is the essential tool you need to find the right agent, to get seen by the top casting directors – and to give filmmakers a real sense of who you are and what you can do. I have been working with actors for over fifteen years and am passionate about creating […]

New Showreel from Scratch Scenes Written, directed and edited by Daniel Johnson. It’s that time of year again – the time when I compile a bunch of my favourite showreel scenes from recent shoots and then share them. I am lucky that I get to work with such terrific actors – I love writing material […]

Having a good script for your showreel scene is absolutely crucial. What you are doing, of course, is making something that feels like it’s a scene from a TV show or movie, but there are ways in which they are different. That’s why when an actor plucks a random scene out of their favourite TV […]

Showreels are often a depressing place, full of dark and serious scenes. That’s fine of course, but don’t forget you can also have a lot of silly fun. Here’s a sampling of my comedy showreel scenes from the past few months.   Not every actor is comfortable with comedy, but if it’s a part of […]

Last week I filmed an interview for my website about showreels and how they help upcoming actors with their screen acting careers. In the interview I share the story of how I got started doing this work and how my work has developed, and I also give a few tips on showreels in general. Hope […]

I’ve been creating showreels for a very long time. I’ve pretty much made all the mistakes that are possible, but now I still see so many showreel creators out there making the same errors that I did. At first glance, the making of a showreel seems pretty simple; get your best stuff, edit it all […]