April 15, 2025 • 9 mins
Do you really need an acting website?
In this episode of Take Fountain, veteran talent agent Anthony Boyer breaks down whether new actors should invest in a personal website. If you're just starting your acting career and wondering if a website is worth the cost, effort, or maintenance, this video is for you.
Learn how an actor website can help with marketing, online visibility, and showcasing your unique skill set—especially if you're a musical theatre performer, voice actor, or multi-hyphenate artist.
Discover what to include on your site, when to build one, and why it might be the next smart step in your professional acting journey.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hello from Hollywood.
(00:01):
My name is Anthony Boyer.
I've been a talent agent in LosAngeles and New York for the last
15 years, and this is Take Fountain.
Today we're talking about acting websites.
Do you need one?
Will a casting director go to one?
And is it worth the cost?
Now, when I first brought up thisidea, uh, Jess, who works with me,
(00:22):
said, listen, this is a real easy one.
You don't need an acting website.
And that is actually somethingthat a lot of people believe,
and I believe for a long time.
Let me tell you why I've sortof changed my ideas on it.
I think you first have to understandthat it is true that most casting
directors will not go to your website.
They're gonna work inside ofactors access or casting networks
(00:46):
or whatever service they use.
The website itself is notfor casting directors.
It's for you and for your career.
It's for marketing.
Casting directors primarily workthrough, uh, agency submissions or self
submissions on actors, access castingnetworks, um, those kinds of things.
They're not Googling you, right?
(01:07):
They're looking at yourprofile on those sites.
Maybe they'll go to IMDB Pro ifthey need a little bit of additional
information and agents and managersfor that matter, rarely check personal
websites for materials themselves.
So that is not going to be thepurpose of your actor's website.
The real value of an actingwebsite is actually as a marketing
(01:28):
tool, not as a casting tool.
It does a number of things.
Number one, it helps controlyour online presence.
So when someone searches for you,searches your name, they may come across.
Many things.
Ideally you would like it to besomething that you curated, something
that you put together to show yourselfto the world, how you choose to present
(01:49):
yourself and your business to the world,rather than leaving it to sort of the
fates, uh, and hoping that like theystumble on a good, uh, Google search.
The other thing it does isyou then own your hosting.
It's just good to have a place whereeverything that you need for your
business is there and you own it.
So rather than just, you know, seedingall of your information over to, uh,
(02:14):
a third party, I think it's reallygood to have a place where you can
host it and you are in charge of it.
So, who benefits the most from a website?
Well, in my experience, the number onegroup that sort of benefits from this
is actually musical theater performers.
That is, I think, an area where awebsite is almost essential because you
need to showcase multiple skill sets.
(02:35):
You need to mul showcase your acting.
You're singing, you're dancing, you'regonna constantly be updating materials.
And I think it can get really costprohibitive to try to do that through
say, breakdown, express actors access.
You also often need longer clipsthan what casting sites will
allow or, or will easily allow,and it can get really expensive.
(02:56):
So I think hosting for musicaltheater performers specifically
is almost a must Voice actors canreally benefit from, from hosting,
uh, from having a website as well.
You can host and organizevoiceover demos for easy access.
You can have a wide array of clips, thingsto link people to for specific reasons.
If you have voiceover representation,speak to them first to make sure that
(03:20):
that, that, that's fine with them.
But I find that voiceover, uh, becauseit requires a lot of different skill
sets, similar to musical theater acting.
It's really helpful to have aplace to host all of that and
to curate what you put forward.
Another person that mightreally benefit from a website
is a multihyphenate performer.
By which I mean someone whodoes say theater and hosting
(03:43):
and comedy and sketch, improv.
Maybe you direct, maybe youdo personal appearances.
Having a website can really act as acentral hub to kind of bring everything
under one umbrella because maybe you have.
An actor's access profile.
But then also you have, you know, thisother profile, a voice caster profile.
You have all of these areas andyou just want one place where
(04:05):
someone wants to see sort of thefull package of what you can do.
It's all in one place.
So these, to me, I think, arethe people who benefit the most.
You can also, like, you know, if you'rea director, you can put clips there,
can put sketch there, anything that.
Is part of the overall brand thatyou're building can go into one place.
(04:27):
So what should be on your website?
Well.
First of all, of course,headshots and resume.
This is a place to host that whereyou can host production stills,
you can host editorial shots.
You can host things that you wouldn'tnecessarily put on an acting profile
that might keep people interested.
You know, various looks that arenot necessarily just the shiny,
(04:47):
happy headshot, but maybe somethinglike you did a modeling shoot.
Or you know, like I said,editorial shots, things like that.
They fit, they workreally well on a website.
You're gonna want a resume, at least one.
If you have multiple resumes, youcan host them all in this one place.
You're also gonna wanna have a reel andeclipse, whether that's acting, whether
that's singing, dancing, voiceover,all the things we talked about.
(05:10):
If you do sketch comedy,having a reel there.
If you do improv, perhaps you have a reel.
That's not a in art form that's superconducive to having a reel, but.
You can host everything here,but you want to have like video.
If you are a singer, if you'rea musical theater performer, you
want to have varied singing clips.
You don't wanna just have one.
(05:30):
You could have one reel, but you wannamake sure that you're showing off.
Uh, sort of the, the full extentof your voice, contemporary musical
theater, and you want to haveyour classical musical theater.
You wanna have your upbeat,you wanna have your ballad.
So those kinds of thingscan all be hosted here.
You're also, this is really important.
I can't tell you the number of timesI've gone to an actor's website.
Maybe they link it in their bioin a program and I go to it.
(05:54):
And there is absolutely noway to contact that actor.
I think that that is the number onething that your website should do.
If it does nothing else, itshould have a way to contact you.
Now, that can be your personal email.
It can be one of those webforms that people fill out.
It can simply be, it can simplylist who your agent manager
(06:14):
are and have people, you know,conduct, uh, business through them.
That's completely fine.
But give me some way to get a holdof you, especially if you're leading
me to a website, you know, uh, if,if it's a, if it's a submission on
actors access, I, I assume that Ican reach you through, through c.
But if I'm specifically finding youvia a website, how do I follow up?
(06:35):
Now you can have that on yourresume that's hosted there.
That's, that's a very common thingto do, but I think it's also helpful
to have a, a contact me page.
It's completely up to you and onthe format of, of your website,
but I think it's super helpful.
Things that are nice to have ashort, I want to emphasize short.
Bio.
No one needs your life story.
(06:56):
We don't need the six paragraphs.
Talking about how you used to play puton plays with your stuffed animals when
you were a kid, no one really cares.
I'm sorry.
It's a very cute story.
You can tell Kimmel one day, butright now it's not super relevant.
So a short bio.
That kind of gives me the gist.
Also, like social media links, if you useInstagram, if you use TikTok, those kinds
(07:17):
of things can be helpful here, especiallyif those are geared towards your business.
So if you like to host videoson TikTok, link me to it.
If I'm at your website, thepoint of this website, again,
is to market your business.
So help me find your business.
The next thing I think is personally,I think is helpful is if you
have press, if you have reviews.
(07:39):
I think that this is agood place to host them.
Not everyone likes to even read theirown reviews, much less post them.
It's completely up to you, but Ithink that this is a nice place
to kind of get a sense of whatpeople are saying about your work.
The next question of course isdo I need a website right now?
And the answer is probably not.
If you're just starting out,it's certainly not a priority.
(08:01):
You would be better off focusingon your actors access, on your
casting networks profiles.
You would be better off focusing.
On sort of where the rubber meetsthe road, where casting directors are
going to go to see your work and bringyou in for audition opportunities.
So if you're just getting started, Idon't think that a, a personal website
is hugely important, but it becomesmore valuable as your career grows.
(08:24):
I. And as you need more marketing toolsand as you need to sort of tie multiple
pieces together, whether it's directing orwriting or improv or sketch or whatever.
And I think the other thing to note isthat it doesn't have to be expensive.
I. There are lots of resources to go toto find out how to build it yourself.
A simple site is better than nothing,and in many cases a simple site is
(08:47):
actually better than a complex site.
The more people have to likefigure out your website, the
less effective it's going to be.
What you want is a one stop shopwhere people can find information
that they need quickly, where theycan figure out how to contact you
quickly and to move on from there.
A website will not help you book a job.
(09:07):
But it can make your careereasier to manage and to promote.
If you have a website, I wouldlove to hear your comments.
Do you find it helpful?
Do you find it to be a waste of time?
I'm always looking to learn and to getdifferent viewpoints, so I would love
to hear if you got value outta thisepisode, please click the thumbs up.
And you know what?
Subscribe while you're at it, uh,you can click that notification bell.
(09:28):
You'll get alerted everytime we have a new episode.
My name is Anthony Boyer, and again, this.
I said that.
Oh really?
That's funny.
I didn't even notice that.
Hello from Hollywood.
(00:01):
My name is Anthony Boyer.
I've been a talent agent in LosAngeles and New York for the last
15 years, and this is Take Fountain.
Today we're talking about acting websites.
Do you need one?
Will a casting director go to one?
And is it worth the cost?
Now, when I first brought up thisidea, uh, Jess, who works with me,
(00:22):
said, listen, this is a real easy one.
You don't need an acting website.
And that is actually somethingthat a lot of people believe,
and I believe for a long time.
Let me tell you why I've sortof changed my ideas on it.
I think you first have to understandthat it is true that most casting
directors will not go to your website.
They're gonna work inside ofactors access or casting networks
(00:46):
or whatever service they use.
The website itself is notfor casting directors.
It's for you and for your career.
It's for marketing.
Casting directors primarily workthrough, uh, agency submissions or self
submissions on actors, access castingnetworks, um, those kinds of things.
They're not Googling you, right?
(01:07):
They're looking at yourprofile on those sites.
Maybe they'll go to IMDB Pro ifthey need a little bit of additional
information and agents and managersfor that matter, rarely check personal
websites for materials themselves.
So that is not going to be thepurpose of your actor's website.
The real value of an actingwebsite is actually as a marketing
(01:28):
tool, not as a casting tool.
It does a number of things.
Number one, it helps controlyour online presence.
So when someone searches for you,searches your name, they may come across.
Many things.
Ideally you would like it to besomething that you curated, something
that you put together to show yourselfto the world, how you choose to present
(01:49):
yourself and your business to the world,rather than leaving it to sort of the
fates, uh, and hoping that like theystumble on a good, uh, Google search.
The other thing it does isyou then own your hosting.
It's just good to have a place whereeverything that you need for your
business is there and you own it.
So rather than just, you know, seedingall of your information over to, uh,
(02:14):
a third party, I think it's reallygood to have a place where you can
host it and you are in charge of it.
So, who benefits the most from a website?
Well, in my experience, the number onegroup that sort of benefits from this
is actually musical theater performers.
That is, I think, an area where awebsite is almost essential because you
need to showcase multiple skill sets.
(02:35):
You need to mul showcase your acting.
You're singing, you're dancing, you'regonna constantly be updating materials.
And I think it can get really costprohibitive to try to do that through
say, breakdown, express actors access.
You also often need longer clipsthan what casting sites will
allow or, or will easily allow,and it can get really expensive.
(02:56):
So I think hosting for musicaltheater performers specifically
is almost a must Voice actors canreally benefit from, from hosting,
uh, from having a website as well.
You can host and organizevoiceover demos for easy access.
You can have a wide array of clips, thingsto link people to for specific reasons.
If you have voiceover representation,speak to them first to make sure that
(03:20):
that, that, that's fine with them.
But I find that voiceover, uh, becauseit requires a lot of different skill
sets, similar to musical theater acting.
It's really helpful to have aplace to host all of that and
to curate what you put forward.
Another person that mightreally benefit from a website
is a multihyphenate performer.
By which I mean someone whodoes say theater and hosting
(03:43):
and comedy and sketch, improv.
Maybe you direct, maybe youdo personal appearances.
Having a website can really act as acentral hub to kind of bring everything
under one umbrella because maybe you have.
An actor's access profile.
But then also you have, you know, thisother profile, a voice caster profile.
You have all of these areas andyou just want one place where
(04:05):
someone wants to see sort of thefull package of what you can do.
It's all in one place.
So these, to me, I think, arethe people who benefit the most.
You can also, like, you know, if you'rea director, you can put clips there,
can put sketch there, anything that.
Is part of the overall brand thatyou're building can go into one place.
(04:27):
So what should be on your website?
Well.
First of all, of course,headshots and resume.
This is a place to host that whereyou can host production stills,
you can host editorial shots.
You can host things that you wouldn'tnecessarily put on an acting profile
that might keep people interested.
You know, various looks that arenot necessarily just the shiny,
(04:47):
happy headshot, but maybe somethinglike you did a modeling shoot.
Or you know, like I said,editorial shots, things like that.
They fit, they workreally well on a website.
You're gonna want a resume, at least one.
If you have multiple resumes, youcan host them all in this one place.
You're also gonna wanna have a reel andeclipse, whether that's acting, whether
that's singing, dancing, voiceover,all the things we talked about.
(05:10):
If you do sketch comedy,having a reel there.
If you do improv, perhaps you have a reel.
That's not a in art form that's superconducive to having a reel, but.
You can host everything here,but you want to have like video.
If you are a singer, if you'rea musical theater performer, you
want to have varied singing clips.
You don't wanna just have one.
(05:30):
You could have one reel, but you wannamake sure that you're showing off.
Uh, sort of the, the full extentof your voice, contemporary musical
theater, and you want to haveyour classical musical theater.
You wanna have your upbeat,you wanna have your ballad.
So those kinds of thingscan all be hosted here.
You're also, this is really important.
I can't tell you the number of timesI've gone to an actor's website.
Maybe they link it in their bioin a program and I go to it.
(05:54):
And there is absolutely noway to contact that actor.
I think that that is the number onething that your website should do.
If it does nothing else, itshould have a way to contact you.
Now, that can be your personal email.
It can be one of those webforms that people fill out.
It can simply be, it can simplylist who your agent manager
(06:14):
are and have people, you know,conduct, uh, business through them.
That's completely fine.
But give me some way to get a holdof you, especially if you're leading
me to a website, you know, uh, if,if it's a, if it's a submission on
actors access, I, I assume that Ican reach you through, through c.
But if I'm specifically finding youvia a website, how do I follow up?
(06:35):
Now you can have that on yourresume that's hosted there.
That's, that's a very common thingto do, but I think it's also helpful
to have a, a contact me page.
It's completely up to you and onthe format of, of your website,
but I think it's super helpful.
Things that are nice to have ashort, I want to emphasize short.
Bio.
No one needs your life story.
(06:56):
We don't need the six paragraphs.
Talking about how you used to play puton plays with your stuffed animals when
you were a kid, no one really cares.
I'm sorry.
It's a very cute story.
You can tell Kimmel one day, butright now it's not super relevant.
So a short bio.
That kind of gives me the gist.
Also, like social media links, if you useInstagram, if you use TikTok, those kinds
(07:17):
of things can be helpful here, especiallyif those are geared towards your business.
So if you like to host videoson TikTok, link me to it.
If I'm at your website, thepoint of this website, again,
is to market your business.
So help me find your business.
The next thing I think is personally,I think is helpful is if you
have press, if you have reviews.
(07:39):
I think that this is agood place to host them.
Not everyone likes to even read theirown reviews, much less post them.
It's completely up to you, but Ithink that this is a nice place
to kind of get a sense of whatpeople are saying about your work.
The next question of course isdo I need a website right now?
And the answer is probably not.
If you're just starting out,it's certainly not a priority.
(08:01):
You would be better off focusingon your actors access, on your
casting networks profiles.
You would be better off focusing.
On sort of where the rubber meetsthe road, where casting directors are
going to go to see your work and bringyou in for audition opportunities.
So if you're just getting started, Idon't think that a, a personal website
is hugely important, but it becomesmore valuable as your career grows.
(08:24):
I. And as you need more marketing toolsand as you need to sort of tie multiple
pieces together, whether it's directing orwriting or improv or sketch or whatever.
And I think the other thing to note isthat it doesn't have to be expensive.
I. There are lots of resources to go toto find out how to build it yourself.
A simple site is better than nothing,and in many cases a simple site is
(08:47):
actually better than a complex site.
The more people have to likefigure out your website, the
less effective it's going to be.
What you want is a one stop shopwhere people can find information
that they need quickly, where theycan figure out how to contact you
quickly and to move on from there.
A website will not help you book a job.
(09:07):
But it can make your careereasier to manage and to promote.
If you have a website, I wouldlove to hear your comments.
Do you find it helpful?
Do you find it to be a waste of time?
I'm always looking to learn and to getdifferent viewpoints, so I would love
to hear if you got value outta thisepisode, please click the thumbs up.
And you know what?
Subscribe while you're at it, uh,you can click that notification bell.
(09:28):
You'll get alerted everytime we have a new episode.
My name is Anthony Boyer, and again, this.
I said that.
Oh really?
That's funny.
I didn't even notice that.
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