Let’s break down what makes a reel like this effective.

Sell the sizzle, not the steak.

When it comes to reels, don’t be humble… at all.

This held me back forever. I was that guy that couldn’t even brag on my resume, while everyone else straight up invented job titles lol.

You must make your reel look as impressive as it possibly can. That’s the only reason it even exists – to impress someone who might hire you. To make them get FOMO that you’ll slip through their fingers.

Also, you don’t need context for anything in your reel.

I used to think I had to give some brief description of what everything in my reel was pulled from. Nobody cares. Whatever work you’re pulling from – that’s like a steak. Yeah, it’s a nice meal. And it’s available if anyone is looking for exactly that meal at exactly that moment.

But if you’re not hungry, simply seeing a picture of a steak won’t make you want to take a bite.

You know what will?

Watching that sexy sizzle, baby! And catching a big whiff of chargrilled smoke. Even if you weren’t hungry a minute ago, they’ll make your mouth start watering.

So stop thinking about your reel as representing and doing justice to each piece of work (your steaks). Your reel is just the sizzle and smell of your work.

Think about:

How can I make each of these look as sexy and impressive as possible?

What’s the best way to spin this work in a reel without lying or being shady?

For example: I did a bunch of work for Netflix early on. Granted this was editing their corporate videos, not editing episodes of Stranger Things.

But on the other hand… I worked out of the Netflix building. I met their strict standards. I created some of our workflows. Hell, Reed Hastings came down and personally thanked us one day.

So I’m not gonna go out of my way to explain what I DIDN’T do at Netflix.

I’m just going to drop that Netflix logo as early and prominently in my editing reel as possible 😂 

Hit’em with that sizzle, baby!

Note: Never put something on your reel that misrepresents your role in that job (like putting a piece you assistant edited in your editing reel). Word gets around and your reputation won’t recover.

Shorter is Better

When I applied for my first assistant editing gig and passed along my reel, it was I think 2.5 minutes long. And I took PAINS to make it that short. Turns out, that’s still too long.

When I got hired for my first gig, the editor I was working under was legit.

He was based in NYC, had edited music videos for major artists like Beyonce, tons of big commercials, etc. He got flown to LA for this job and I’d guess he was making at least $800/day (in 2017 dollars) for a week’s worth of fairly easy work, with an assistant editor (me) backing him up and doing the grunt work.

Naturally, I was trying to absorb everything I could from him during that week.

We got lunch together one day and I asked for his advice about freelancing, finding work, etc. and he dropped many pearls of wisdom.

Eventually I asked if he thought the reel I’d sent him was good enough to get more gigs. His response?

“Oh, don’t get offended, I didn’t watch the whole thing. I saw we had a mutual friend on Facebook so I figured you weren’t crazy. And then quickly looking at your resume and reel it seemed like you knew enough for this work. You were also one of the first people to message me.”

As someone who’s needed to hire crew members myself… this is exactly how it goes lol. 

He went on to give me a few tips about my reel – the most important one?

60 seconds should be the max for a reel, because nobody who’s hiring has time to watch longer than that.

By the way, when he showed me his editing reel, I literally felt like I was in American Psycho and he had just showed me Paul Allen’s business card.

He had so much top-tier work to show off, it was almost hard to keep up with all the celebrities’ faces that popped up… yet his reel was less than half as long as mine. It was simultaneously eye-opening and embarrassing.