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Q&A on Film Billing

Why do you not list Star and Co-star in Film Billing?

Until a feature film is coming from a major studio, the term Lead really does suffice on your resumé. Once you are the star of a studio feature film, it's more common to create three columns of film title, director, and production company or studio. At this point, there will no longer be billing on your resumé. A major motion picture will have been well-promoted enough that your billing will be known (or easily tracked down).

If you are the star of an indie feature film, you may certainly use that wording in the billing column of your resumé, but I would recommend that you do so in a parenthetical notation: Lead (Starring). I have also seen actors use the terms First Lead, Starring Lead, and Lead: Also Starring. Co-star is generally a television term and not used in film billing.

Can I use the term Principal instead of Supporting when I'm not the lead but also not in a Featured role?

Yes. A supporting role is a principal role and it is assumed that you will use the term Lead when you are, in fact, the lead. Of course, there's nothing wrong with using the term Supporting, so if that's what your role was, by all means, call it that!

I was always hesitant to put my featured roles on my resumé because I was afraid to be mistaken for an extra when in reality I had lines.  Since the term is frequently misused, how can I be sure people know I did have a featured (not extra) role?

That's a toughie. Typically, I'd say the rest of your resumé should support that truth. For example, a young woman auditioned for me last week and had used Featured quite a few times on her resumé, always with projects I knew for a fact to be SAG. Yet she was not a member of SAG. Oops. That means she had promoted herself from an extra to a featured principal on these projects (and I had caught her doing it).

If you were truly a featured actor in a union project, your union status will back that up. Perhaps consider using a hybrid term like Featured Principal or Featured Performer if you're overly concerned with coming off as attempting to promote your credits.

And, since I know someone will ask, if your featured work was on a union project in a right-to-work state, yes, we'll know that means you may not yet be a member of SAG despite having had a featured role on a SAG project. Most folks in casting keep up with what's shooting where enough to know when you've worked on a right-to-work state-based project and will take that into consideration when evaluating your credits.

More> Q&A on Television Billing