Whether it's through the mail or online, actors who regularly submit their headshots and resumes may want to think twice before they prepare their next cover letter. If you're not careful, the first impression you leave may also be the last.
Most performers know the general rule when it comes to these notes: Keep it short and to the point. But it should also be neat, professional, and, above all, readable. Listen to the comments of talent agent Margaret Emory after she noticed one particularly interesting cover letter (on ripped-out, purple-lined note paper) during the critique session:
"One of the actors who submitted his headshot and resume submitted a cover letter. Unfortunately, I can't read it because the handwriting is really bad and it's written in Magic Marker. If this note came into my office, I would throw it away, and I would throw the picture and resume away as well. If I can't read the cover letter, it's not professional. We're in a profession, and I have to make a choice, and my choice is to throw it out, and that's too bad because this person will never know.
"Now, if he's sending hundreds of these submissions out with a cover letter like this and not getting any response, then he is probably scratching his head and saying, 'Gee, wonder why nobody's calling me?' Well, it's as simple as the fact that he didn't get his act together to write a cover letter that is professional. I'm not saying it has to be a novel; I'm not saying that it has to be 'Dear Miss Emory.' But it should be legible, and it should have some kind of respect given to the paper and the words—I mean, this guy's just jotting something out."
Despite her first instinct, she took the time to put the note aside and look at the headshot and resume: "I figured I would look at his picture because I want him to know that he's missing opportunities. This is a headshot that is trying to be very filmic, it's trying to do a lot, and I'm not sure if it completely accomplishes what it sets out to do. This is someone who's done a lot of work all over the place—I think he might be from Australia. It's a curious mixture. But it's a lot more professional than the cover letter. So maybe, if he knew my initial reaction, the next time he was sending it in to an agent, he would do the cover letter differently."
Another performer sent a list of recent credits off of his resume on a separate piece of bright pink paper, although this time it was typeset and legible. "It's like a cheat sheet," Emory surmised. "It's showing right off the bat things that he has done. However, I wouldn't want this instead of the cover letter. I think what he's doing is incorporating the two, like a shortened version of his resume. But a cover letter should introduce the person and maybe point out something that I won't find on the resume. Maybe he'll be performing in a show, or he just finished a show. But I don't necessarily want it to be a repetition of what I'm going to see on the resume. They should make use of their time smartly, and take every opportunity to tell me as much as they can about themselves that is pertinent to what they are doing, which is getting in touch with and attracting the attention of a busy professional."
There are other considerations to take into account when preparing cover letters. Now, if it's part of an email submission, then all you have to worry about are the words. And don't forget to get the person's name right—spell-check won't help you there.
(A side note about email submissions: With the questionable nature of Internet attachments these days, actors may want to consider pasting the photo and resume in the body of the email in addition to attaching them. This gives the receiving party a choice in how best to collect your materials. You don't want to let a stubborn email system or a computer virus get in your way of being cast in that next big role.)
Snail-mail submissions, on the other hand, bring up the matter of how (or if) to attach the cover letter to your headshot and resume. As the panelists went through our makeshift submission pile, unattached cover letters—and resumes that weren't stapled to the back of the photo—started to get lost in the shuffle. Yet when one member of the jury noticed a cover letter stapled to the front of the headshot, the person immediately ripped it off and denounced such a practice. A few submissions had Post-it notes prominently placed on the headshot—a popular phenomenon, but one that could lead to missing information if the sticky gets unstuck. Perhaps the best way to keep it all together is with that old-fashioned invention known as the common paper clip.
So, let's say you've typed up your cover letter on clean, crisp, white paper, put in just the right number of pleasant greetings and recent accomplishments, and have it all clipped together with your photo and resume in one nice little package. The next step is to stuff it in the envelope, put on a stamp, and mail it away. But not so fast: Are you going to lick that envelope, tape it, fold it under, or clasp it closed? From the responses garnered at the session, it seems that there is no one preferred method. But just keep in mind that each office you are sending your materials to will most likely be receiving a lot of similar envelopes, so your manner of "closure" could prevent paper cuts and frustrated ripping and tearing.
One last bit of advice: Make sure you know exactly how much postage goes on your submission (it averages around 60 cents). The last thing you want is to see the same envelope you so painstakingly prepared come back to you for lack of postage.
—Elias Stimac