In the many forms of media we have in the acting world: Film, Television, commercial, voiceover- one of the many forms that is often overlooked is corporate videos. Sometimes they are called “industrials”, sometimes they’re not. But the purpose of these videos will always be to explain something to the consumer or the new hire. A “how-to” series, in demonstrating the right and the wrong do this, in explaining the company culture, and in explaining the company values that has driven this company to success and maintained its success for many years.

In this article, not only will we explain how these videos are developed, but who they serve at the end of the day- how do you find more work like that as an actor.

The Brand Story

This will be your primary objective in the video you’ll appear in. Every brand will have a story, and conveying that to the employees and the customers will be demonstrated in your script and your actions.

The brand story will usually start with the history of the company. If it’s a legacy brand that’s been around for decades, the focus will be on its founder or founders, the city/town that seeded its growth, and the era and times in which it grew. The same will apply if it’s a new startup, however an additional focus will be the desire to be a disrupter in the industry, a change agent for the better.

Depending on the era and times- the next focus will be the obstacles and setbacks the brand has overcome; like the Great Depression, multiple wars, recessions, perhaps a natural disaster or a shift in consumer habits. This usually is the brand’s darkest hour- perhaps being on the brink of closure and collapse, but due to the hard work and dedication of its workers or loyalty of its customers, it survived.

The present goals and the future plans will be the final element of the brand story. How does this company exist and serve today? Will this video introduce a new product or service? A new location? This portion of the story always aims to be a bridge to excite the consumer base or the shareholders, especially after a downturn or significant anniversary.

Who is the audience?

In doing corporate videos, there will always be a specific audience in mind. It is either for the consumer or internal workers, and even with the workers- the tone and copy of the video will vary department to department or role to role.

HR

Human Resources has a fine line of enforcing company policies and procedures and solving employee issues within that line. You’ll particularly handle issues of payroll and benefits: Health Care, 401k, retirement, vacation. Payroll discrepancies, sick time, and any disciplinary claims like sexual harassment.

Marketing

The department, like communications below, is also a liaison to the consumer and to the employee. For the employee; new people will have to be recruited and how do you attract them with the benefits, environment, and reputation. For the consumer; how do you tell your brand story to reach the right audience.

Sales

The goal here for this demographic is to drive the bottom line at or above a certain goal every month, every quarter, and every year. This could vary department to department, but sales is an important driver of company revenue and seen as a buffer when regular operating revenue fluctuates. Videos here might focus on tactics on attracting new clients, retaining old ones, generating positive attitudes, and handling setbacks.

Communications

This department will be the liaison of the company to the outside world. Particularly the press and the consumer. Videos focused here will probably talk about reporting ethics, issuing statements in a timely manner, having a clear, unified message, and brand alignment.

Operations

The nuts and bolts of any company structure, it is the engine that makes everything run. Basically it’s the logistics of delivering the product or service to your client or consumer in a timely manner. Focus here will be on time management, quality control, safety, and customer interfacing.

These are generalizations of the feeling each department might want to convey, but the breakdown continues further depending on…

Entry-Level or Rank & File

Videos geared to this demographic will focus on task specified to their role. It will emphasize qualities of being part of a group: Safety, teamwork, working well with others, situations of escalation, serving the consumer to satisfaction or performing duties to a company standard.

Middle Management

Videos geared to this demographic will emphasize qualities of leadership: Delegating duties, patience, conflict resolution, manners of discipline. They might also go over certain administrative tasks like scheduling, payroll, command overrides.

Executive Suite

Videos geared to this demographic will emphasize qualities of leadership on a grander scale regionally, nationally, or internationally. They will focus on keeping morale high for the company overall, especially in crisis, and balancing bottom line economics for shareholders or board of directors.

The Technique

MOS facial expressions and reactions**

Most of the actors in re-enactments will be doing a scene without dialogue while the spokesperson narrates and explains the directive. More than likely, you’ll be doing a lot of action verbs: pointing, smiling, nodding, walking, pantomiming, looking at papers.

You’ll also be reacting to what’s being said, either understanding direction and be asked to give a visceral reaction of disagreement, confusion, anger, exhaustion, satisfaction, pride, joy, or relief. There are a litany of other emotions and verbs you can be asked to portray too; and that list is too long.

Natural & Real**

Casting directors in any submission will look for “real” people that will seem like you are everyday employees and customers. This will especially be evident in the spokesperson or narrator. The vibe will be one of “I’m just like one of you, wanting to help you along the way”.

Providing Solutions to Problems**

Whether you do or don’t have any dialogue in these scenes, it will be to address a problem; and find a solution to that problem. As we talked earlier about processes and systems. The solution will be found by following the process or system. This includes scenes on the RIGHT way and the WRONG way to do something.

Where Do I Find Work?

The best place to still find Industrials or corporate acting work is through your agent or manager. You can let your interest be known that you want to seek work in this area. The pay scale will be lower than episodic and film work, so your reps aren’t going to be excited to be pushing you on this daily.

If you do not have representation or want to self submit for this work- you can always look at the breakdowns on actors access and casting networks. Both sites are the industry standards for self-submitting acting work across multiple genres. Each site will have an annual fee option or a pay per submission option. Casting Networks even has a monthly option. Independent production companies (and their long resume of clients) with usually come here looking for talent.

An addendum to the self-submissions is Craigslist under the “TV/Film/Video” option. Some companies will post directly there, multiple times a day to get the exposure to find their talent. In this situation, where the legitimacy of the post is not vetted- one can make sure that pay rate is posted, a website is provided, and their legal company name where reputation can be found under the Better Business Bureau.

The last and perhaps the most important resource you’ll find is your local casting director. One might think they’ll have to be in L.A., NYC, Atlanta, or Chicago to work- but you can find corporate work in almost any big or medium size market in the U.S. I’ve done corporate gigs in Montgomery, Birmingham, Cincinnati, Minneapolis, Baltimore, and Jacksonville just to name a few.

Even the smallest market will have a longtime casting director that’s been around since the ‘80’s or ‘90’s. Follow them on their Facebook page or twitter. When they post you can submit directly to them. People like Angela Boehm in Cleveland, Nancy Mosser in Pittsburgh, or Goldman casting in Mobile, Alambama are perfect examples of this. Some of the work is SAG-AFTRA, most of the work is non-union; and almost all want you to be a local hire, so this is a great way to expand your resume and gain experience if you haven’t already.