Has anyone heard of Film Faction? http://www.filmfaction.com/ Or any place like this, where you can have scenes written for you, or if you wrote a scene yourself have it filmed professionally. With the time and quality of some student films, I just was thinking this could be a better route perhaps... obviously depending on the quality of the writing. Any opinions?

A reel is usually clips of tv shows/films/theater productions,etc you have done, not just a video of you acting.
You CAN make just a video of you acting to show off your talent, but it wouldn't be considered a reel.

There are many companies that do this type of thing as a business, and they do come out good. I have no specis experience. It is best to have scenes from known projects, but of all the things on my reel, none of them are from anything that is likely to be known.

I did my own once to get one type of scene for my real that I didn’t have. It was a little chunk of a speech from a monologue. I went on location at a lake in the middle of the night, lit it myself, an edited it (including adding music). It took me four one hour sessions to get it as I wanted (I was operating on battery power, so I had limited time with the lights).
I actually got many complements on this scene on my reel, so it is possible... but it's a lot of work.

I just shot two shorts to use for my reel after meeting with one of these "shoot your scenes for reel" advertisers. I decided that I could do the same thing much cheaper if I did it on my own.

I am really glad I decided to do my own scenes. I didn't waste time driving all over L.A. to go to anymore student film auditions. I was able to write my own scenes - thus writing scenes in the genre I want to get work in. I put out an ad for actors and was able to choose great actors who complimented me and were just fantastic to work with!

I put out an ad for a cinematographer w/ camera on Craigslist and got about 75 responses. I will tell you it is easier to film outdoors due to lighting. If you film indoors, lighting is more of a concern.

I learned so much from being the producer, writer and actor.

My boyfriend is editing it (I'm super lucky as he's a professional editor) and we got his friend who is a professional cinematographer w/ a camera to shoot it for a nominal fee (of course we remembered him after I'd put out the CL ad .

Aside from getting scenes that I'm hopefully going to be proud to put on my demo reel, I have a profound respect for every person's job on a film set because I had to learn about everything from cameras to lighting to oh - film permits. You'll probably need a film permit if you film anywhere outside - especially an LA park. However, if you're with a school, they do give student permits at Film LA for $25. If your school doesn't have insurance, ask for a permit exemption. Film LA was really great about helping me!

Okay, so it's a lot - you can get as complicated as you want. I found the whole experience stressful and eye-opening but ultimately wonderful. I feel like so much more than an actress now. It was such an empowering experience to do this.

If you don't want the hassle or all that organizing and planning, then paying one of these scene for reel advertisers is probably a great route as long as you've seen clips of their previous work that you like. And whatever you do, make sure you get it in writing.