How many headshot/resumes should I order to be safe for the audition season? I’m looking at using “The Actors Photo Lab” and get free shipping if I order 150. Is that an obscene amount? I need 45 for a special audition day at my school, but certainly 105 would be enough? Or too many? What is the most headshots you’ve ever had to take in for one audition? (I’m only auditioning for 8-10 schools btw)
Many thanks!
The max we were asked for by a school was two. Others may have had different experiences, but for us it was usually 1 per school.
My D used maybe 15 total. We printed them at Walgreens
If you need 45 just for the special audition day, I would recommend getting perhaps 75 in total? That will give you enough for your special audition day at school plus at least 2 per school to which you are auditioning plus extras if you decide to add more schools. D had some left over and she used them for auditions at school her freshman year as well. Most schools will only need one headshot although there were some that asked for multiple copies.
We used Actor’s Photo Lab and were very happy with them.
If you love your headshot, and the 150 prints are cheap- I would say that you won’t need it JUST for BFA auditions. My D has gone through several dozen prints of headshot we got for college at auditions (college shows, summer stock etc) in her freshman and sophomore year.
@toowonderful I’ve definitely considered that! The thing about the website is that the prints are very cheap (70 cents ish) at the 150 print level but I just don’t know if I can justify keeping that many on hand…surely I’ll start to hate my headshot before I run out!
My D had hers for nearly 3 years - just got new ones a couple weeks ago 
Between college auditions, and your freshman and maybe sophomore year you are likely to use 150. By the time you reach end of sophomore year or junior year you will probably look different enough that a new shot will be in order, and again when you are nearing graduation.
We got the graphic files and printed them as needed. I don’t think we used more than 20 for the whole audition process. (Though I get that you need more than that for your school session and maybe this doesn’t make sense for you.) I’m pretty sure that’s what my S still does, three years and several head shot sessions later.
For college auditions I think my D had one per audition.
My S just ran through the last of his professional headshots (we had ordered 120 as I recall). He is starting his Junior year and needs a new set so good timing! He is overdue a little but they lasted through college auditions, summer stock auditions, master classes where they were required to provide headshots and a few professional calls. You usually need only 1 per school - but my kids had extras in their books and if asked, produced one. We did not have a resume printed on the back since it changes so frequently for now.
For my D (acting). we ordered 50 and I think she has 35 left. She used 15 during the college audition process and none since. She leaves for school tomorrow with her small stash. I suspect she’ll want to redo her headshots next year so we did not order the mother lode!
Thanks to all! I think I’ve decided to get 100, the free shipping problem is solved because I forgot about paying for retouching, so that puts me over the $100 limit for free shipping. With 45 for the special day, that leaves me 55 for the upcoming year. I am finicky enough that I will probably want new headshots by the time I run out, and my current headshots were only shot by a “semi-professional” photographer, so I’ll probably need more legit ones soon anyways.
My d just had 365 shots taken in an hour just to get 2-3 she’ll use for auditions for showcases, jobs, etc now that she’s a senior.
Other parents buy textbooks, I buy pictures.