Commercials on Resumes

I saw this question posted on a popular forum for actors, and I wanted to repost the response I gave over there:

“When listing commercials on resume, which is the best to put in the section: ‘Available Upon Request’ or ‘Commercials Available Upon Request’ or ‘Conflicts Available Upon Request.’ Also, should PSAs be combined with commercials, industrials or their own category? Thanks!”

Great question! Commercials normally are not considered to be "legit" work (theatre/film/TV) so when they are mentioned on a resume they should be listed completely separately from the legit experience. Some people listed it in its own section beneath the other experience, and some put it at the end of their special skills.

"Conflicts" is a term used when you have a current commercial running that keeps you from doing other commercials in that product category. If this currently applies to you, use "Commercial Conflicts available upon request." If you have commercial experience, but there are no current conflicts, I would list it as "Commercial List available upon request."

PSAs, Industrials and Commercials are of the same "non-legit" category, and as such none of these should be listed specifically on your resume. As a mention, you could say, "Commercial/PSA/Industrial list available upon request."

I hope this is useful- best of luck to you!

A 2nd question is posted:

“I am a little confused by TheActorsEnterprise's response. I am seeking an agent, are you saying to never include your commercial experience? I actually only have one commercial under my belt, I was going to include it to show that I do have ‘some experience.’ What are your thoughts?“

TAE responds:

Yep- that is what I am saying. It is strange, but true. Agents, especially, are very picky about what goes on a resume. Even if you are submitting to a commercial agent, a traditional resume that you are submitting to them would list legit work only, not commercials. That is not to say that you cannot mention that you have experience in commercials, but you would not list them individually, nor would you list them in the same section as the legit work.

I have been in a similar spot- I have done several commercials and I had been submitting for new commercial representation. So, I added "commercial list available upon request" in my special skills section (since I do not have enough room to put a separate line in my experience section.) That seemed to do the trick, and it helped the agent to know that I understand the difference between legit and commercial work. If you are doing a submission by mail, you could also consider including the information in your cover letter.

I hope this clears up my original post- let me know if there are other questions I can answer for you.

Have a question? Send me an email and I’ll answer it promptly!