When listing commercials on resume, which is the best to put in the section: "Available Upon Request" or "Commercials Available Upon Request" or "Conflicts Available Upon Request"

Also, should PSAs be combined with commercials, industrials or their own category?

Thanks!

Great question! Commercials normally are not considered to be "legit" work (theatre/film/TV) so when they are mentioned on a resume they should be listed completely separately from the legit experience. Some people listed it in its own section beneath the other experience, and some put it at the end of their special skills.

"Conflicts" is a term used when you have a current commercial running that keeps you from doing other commercials in that product category. If this currently applies to you, use "Commercial Conflicts available upon request." If you have commercial experience, but there are no current conflicts, I would list it as "Commercial List available upon request."

PSAs, Industrials and Commercials are of the same "non-legit" category, and as such none of these should be listed specifically on your resume. As a mention, you could say, "Commercial/PSA/Industrial list available upon request."

I hope this is useful- best of luck to you!

I am a little confused by TheActorsEnterprise's response. I am seeking an agent, are you saying to never include you commerical experience? I actually only have one commercial under my belt, I was going to include it to show that I do have "some experience". What are your thoughts?

Yep- that is what I am saying. It is strange, but true. Agents, especially, are very picky about what goes on a resume. Even if you are submitting to a commercial agent, a traditional resume that you are submitting to them would list legit work only, not commercials. That is not to say that you cannot mention that you have experience in commercials, but you would not list them individually, nor would you list them in the same section as the legit work.

I have been in a similar spot- I have done several commercials and I had been submitting for new commercial representation. So, I added "commercial list available upon request" in my special skills section (since I do not have enough room to put a separate line in my experience section.) That seemed to do the trick, and it helped the agent to know that I understand the difference between legit and commercial work. If you are doing a submission by mail, you could also consider including the information in your cover letter.

I hope this clears up my original post- let me know if there are other questions I can answer for you.

Thanks for the information!

I had another question also, should musical theatre and regular, non-musical theatre be under the same heading on a resume or should they be separate?

Thanks!

You're very welcome!

If you do mainly theater and very little film/TV, you could definitely put them into two separate sections. If you have film or TV credits, however, agents usually advise that you stick the play and musical credits all under one section called "Theater." That way, your experience section is easier to read without too many headers.

If you use one header, you could group the musicals together so that the viewer can identify them easily. But oftentimes, actors will choose to mix up their credits, listing their them in order of size and importance rather than by genre. It is completely up to you to decide how you want to present your experience, just be sure to do so within the industry-standard formats.

I hope this makes sense- good luck with the resume!

Yes, it does make sense, and thank you again for the great advice!

I'm glad- so happy to help!

Would music videos be considered "Non-legit" also?

Well, they are more legit than commercial, but they are normally not listed on resumes. For things like this you could list it under "Other Experience". If you choose to do so, would suggest you list it like:

Other Experience
Commercials, Industrials, Music Videos, Vocal Concerts (Complete list available upon request.)

Obviously, you would only mention the things you have actually done- again, it let's the person reading the resume know that you have experience in areas other than legit, and that you understand the difference between the two.

It's very complicated at this level, but the more experience you get, the easier building the resume becomes. I promise!

Thanks! Now I'll know how to CORRECTLY list this information!

You have the right idea, UnknownA. The three standard listings that are most commonly used under the Commercial category are:
List Available Upon Request
Currnet Conflicts Upon Request
No Current Conflicts

JMHO, but using the word commercial upon request would be redundant if it is listed under Commercials.

Yes, you can include PSAs and industrials with commercials. You can separate them if you are trying to fill the page because you have nothing else on your resume, but be sure to change it after you have earned more credits.

Theatre credits are listed together, with the larger roles listed first. If you've done Broadway, that has its own listing. Some actors list Regional and/or Tours separately which does look nice and is perfectly fine, but it's not necessary.

For standard industry formats you can refer to this thread. It includes resources and examples to view.

http://bbs.backstage.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/8011031/m/24410001

Thanks MominBiz!

You're welcome, UnknownA!

quote:

Originally posted by KarahLouise:
I am seeking an agent, are you saying to never include you commerical experience? I actually only have one commercial under my belt, I was going to include it to show that I do have "some experience". What are your thoughts?

If interested, here are my thoughts. When submitting to an agent, you can include the specific commercial information in your cover letter. You can also include it on your resume if you want, but only for agent submissions.