Tag Your Credits by Genre So Visitors Can See Your Range
Every credit can now carry one or more genres: drama, comedy, thriller, period, horror, action, musical, documentary, and the rest. They appear as small labels on your credits page and they are worth thirty seconds each.
Range is claimed constantly and demonstrated rarely
Almost every actor bio says versatile. Almost none of them prove it. A credits list with visible genre labels does the proving without you having to make the claim, which is a considerably stronger position to be in.
It also works in the other direction, which is the part actors resist. If nine of your eleven credits are comedy, the labels say so plainly. That is useful information rather than a problem. Being known for something is how casting works, and a page that is honest about what you do is more persuasive than one that is vague about everything.
How to use them well
- One or two genres per credit. Three is the maximum and it is usually one too many.
- Tag what the production was, not what your scene was. A single comic beat in a war film does not make it a comedy.
- Be consistent. Pick either Thriller or Suspense for your whole list, not both.
- Leave a credit untagged rather than guessing. A blank is invisible. A wrong label is not.
What visitors can do with them
On designs that support it, the labels are clickable and filter the list. Somebody casting a period drama can see just your period work in one click, which is the exact behavior you want from a page you are being judged on.
Where the labels show up beyond the page
Genres are read as text by search engines, which means a credits page that says "period drama" and names the production is a page that can be found by somebody searching for exactly that. It is a small effect and it is free. More on the general principle in making your site easy to find.
Related
Genres attach to the credit records described in the credits rebuild, and they carry through to the timeline view. If you would rather demonstrate range with footage than with labels, that is what a well-cut reel does, and our reel guide covers it.
Create a free actor website and tag your credits as you add them.
