Where to host your showreel: Spotlight, Vimeo or YouTube
Where to host your showreel: Spotlight, Vimeo or YouTube
Upload directly to the casting platforms you submit through — Spotlight, Mandy, Casting Networks — and keep an unlisted Vimeo or YouTube link for emails and agent approaches. Never send a download link or anything that requires an account. Every extra click loses people.
Hosting sounds like a technicality. It is actually where a lot of reels quietly fail.
The principle is simple: every extra click between a casting professional and your face costs you people.
Upload where they already are
Spotlight, Mandy, Casting Networks — whichever you actually submit through. Native upload, into the video slot, not a link pasted in a credit note.
Casting teams filter and shortlist inside these platforms. A profile with video in the right field gets opened; one that asks them to leave the platform does not.
How each handles the file is covered in the Spotlight guide. We deliver versions already sized for all of them, so there is nothing to convert.
One unlisted link for everything else
For emails, agent approaches and anyone who asks informally, you want a single link that opens instantly.
| Setting | What happens | Use it? |
|---|---|---|
| Public | Anyone can find it in search | Fine, but unnecessary |
| Unlisted | Link works, does not appear in search | Yes — this one |
| Private | Viewer must request access | No. Nobody requests access |
| Download link | Viewer must download a large file | Never |
That last row is worth dwelling on. A casting director is not downloading 400MB to decide whether to shortlist you, and a cloud-storage link with a sign-in wall is worse again.
Vimeo or YouTube
Genuinely either. Vimeo looks cleaner with no recommended-video sidebar pulling attention away. YouTube is more robust on a bad connection and never asks anyone to sign in.
What matters more is consistency. One canonical version, one link, so that when you update the reel there is only one thing to change.
The most common hosting failure we see is not a bad platform choice — it is four different versions in four places, three of them out of date.
The vertical exception
Social and some casting apps display portrait video. A landscape reel letterboxed into a phone screen wastes most of the frame and reads as an afterthought.
A vertical cut, captioned for sound-off viewing, is a separate file — £49.99 alongside any session, on self-tape and promo.
Your own website
Nice if you already have one. Low priority if you do not.
Almost no casting professional goes hunting for a personal site. They work from the platform in front of them. Spend the effort on the profiles first.
Keeping it current
When you update the reel, update every location the same week. A stale version on Mandy while Spotlight has the new one is the kind of thing nobody notices until it costs something.
Keep a short note of everywhere it lives. Four places is normal; remembering all four under pressure is not.
When it is time to update at all is covered in updating a tired showreel, and recutting is on showreel editing.
What you are hosting
None of this helps if the reel itself is too long or opens badly — see how long a showreel should be and the mistakes guide.
If you need one made, sessions are £195 and £295 on sessions and pricing, with 15% off through drama students. What a session involves is on monologue showreels, journey times on where we film, and the standard on the gallery. Questions: 0161 706 3220.
The short version
- Upload natively to every platform you actually submit through.
- Keep one unlisted link for emails. Unlisted, not private.
- Never send a file to download. Nobody opens a 400MB attachment.
- One canonical version everywhere, so there is only ever one thing to update.
- Your own website is optional. The platforms are not.
Frequently asked questions
Vimeo or YouTube for a showreel?
Either works for the emailed link. Vimeo looks cleaner and has no recommended-video sidebar; YouTube is more reliable on poor connections and never asks anyone to sign in. Pick one and be consistent.
Should the video be public or unlisted?
Unlisted. Private means the viewer has to request access, which nobody does. Unlisted means anyone with the link can watch immediately and it will not surface in search results.
Do I still need it on Spotlight if it is on Vimeo?
Yes. Casting shortlists inside the platform, and a Vimeo link buried in your credits is not the same as video sitting in the video slot. Upload natively everywhere you submit.
Should I put it on my own website?
Optional and low priority. A personal site is useful if you already have one, but almost no casting professional will go looking for it. Get the platforms right first.
What about social media?
Worth a vertical cut, which is a different file. A landscape reel letterboxed on a phone wastes most of the frame — the promo edit at £49.99 exists for exactly this.