WHAT IS AN EPK?
An Electronic Press Kit -- or EPK for cool people -- is a fancy version of a demo reel that usually runs between 5 - 12 minutes and includes "slice of life" style sequences and "behind the scenes" clips structured to give a more detailed and intimate view of whatever product you are selling. In this case we are selling a very talented young R&B artist named SANJAY who is obviously shopping for a major label recording deal.
WHO IS SANJAY?
He is one of many, many talented people trying to break in to the music biz. His managers hired me to sort through their hours of behind the scenes footage they shot of Sanjay with their handy $300 mini DV recorder and... ahem, "Make it Look Hot!" Basically that means to organize the video so it highlights Sanjay's 2 best songs ("Get Your Hands Up" is a hit waiting to happen if you ask me), shows that he can sing & dance and puts him in a variety of different looks and scenes, all geared to make him look like a fresh young super star and make record execs foam at the checkbook. Usually they just ask me to: "Make It Look Hot!!!" give me the tapes and music and I take it from there.
HOW DID YOU GET THE GIG?
I edited an EPK for HOUSTON that helped get him a major label deal with Capitol. I don't just do demo reels you know...
HOW DOES AN EPK DIFFER FROM A DEMO REEL?
In three very important ways: price, running time, and content. A demo reel is a 1-3 minute presentation of your BEST WORK. Everything else is incidental or superfluous on a demo reel.
The timeline map of a demo reel looks like this:
NAME - 10 SECOND MONTAGE (optional) - BEST SCENE YOU EVER WERE IN - 2nd BEST SCENE YOU EVER DID - 3rd BEST THING - NAME - The END.
An EPK, however is more like a short film or mini TV show, with a bit more story telling, advertising tricks and pacing involved. You jump around more, play with the footage more and use more manipulative commercial sales skills to give the viewer a "complete picture" of your subject. EPK's are used to sell FILMS, ROCK BANDS, RAPPERS, ARTISTS, CARS, HAIR TONIC, and a variety of products and services that call for more than a typical 30 secong commercial pitch. Every FORTUNE 500 COMPANY in corporate America use EPK's - though the latter are also known as Industrial Films or video presentations. EPK's take more time to edit. The footage is usually very raw and disorganized -- often it is home video shot by ametures who take no care in lighting, sound or composition. My job is to take this mound of horrible video stuff shot over several months by everyday people just holding a camcorder and "...make it look Hot!" I cut the Sanjay EPK in one day for $350. It takes me about 2 hours to finish a demo reel edit with copies. Total price $100. The big difference is the workload.
DO I NEED AN EPK OR A DEMO REEL?
Actors need Demo Reels. No one cares what you do behind the scenes as long as you don't go Gary Busey on us. And if you do like to freak out like a fuck nut and drive everyone crazy with your rambling inablity to act normal, then yeah, maybe an EPK is in order. You won't get any decent acting roles, but you might just make it on to America's Most Annoying Assholes.BUT I'M AN ACTOR/ACTRESS AND I WANT MY DEMO REEL TO LOOK COOL LIKE THE SANJAY PROMO WITH SHIT FLYING ALL AROUND AND EXCITING MUSIC AND ALL THAT WEIRD CUTTING CRAP... PLUS I HAVE A LOT OF BEHIND THE SCENES STUFF AND I WANT TO TELL PEOPLE ABOUT HOW I WANT TO BE FAMOUS AND THEN GIVE ALL MY MONEY TO CHARITY LIKE BONO AND STING....
Well, my friend and prospective client, if this sounds like you -- you are a head case. Get over yourself and start acting in good movies where people don't just stand around whining about shit all day. If your footage looks cool, your reel will look cool, and you will get callbacks. If your footage is you standing in the dark, being victimized (generic female role in every student film ever made) -- or you staring in the bathroom mirror with disdain wearing a dirty wife beater (generic male role in every student film ever made), or about to committ suicide (EVERY student film ever made), or bitching about how Hollywood sucks (almost every Digital Video movie ever made), then you need to pick your scripts better and stop wasting your time with that crap. Just because you are dying to act in a film doesn't mean you have to take every shitty role that comes along. Have some self respect and pick your roles with care!!! If you walk on to a set and they have no film lights but they are ready to shoot - you need to walk off the set and go home.