• News
    • General
    • Software
    • Industry
    • Video Games
    • Tech
    • Hardware
  • Articles
    • General
    • Reviews
    • Interviews
  • Tutorials
    • By subject
    • By software
    • Training & Courses
  • Resources
  • Spotlight
    • Reels
    • Films
    • Film Trailers
    • Game Trailers and Art
    • Breakdowns
    • Making Ofs
    • Music Videos
    • CG Videos
    • Images
    • Spots
  • Contribute News
News Channels:
  • CG News
  • 3DS Max
  • Blender
  • After Effects
  • Modo

Books

Allan McKay’s free “The ultimate demo reel guide” ebook

Aug 07, 2018 by CGPress Staff
8 |
Tweet

Allan McKay has released a new ebook with tips and advice for creating demo reels. Find out more on his website (an email address is required)

Related News

  • How to build the ultimate reel
  • The Allan McKay Podcast
  • Allan McKay's career advice – Going after the unattainable
8 Comments
Oldest
Newest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
ondrej
6 years ago

Pls be very careful, this looks a bit shady… no mail received yet (30min after, yes I’ve checked the spam) and I did not choose the second very “aggressively” presented offer…

Dreadful
Reply to  ondrej
6 years ago

This is just silly and pointless. Demo reel guide… give me a break. It’s pretty straightforward don’t waste money on this. Google and you will find enough info on what it takes for a demo reel. No need for a book like this. Selling magic beans. Sad.

Kasvphxh
Reply to  Dreadful
6 years ago

it’s free… how can someone spend money on something that doesn’t cost anything? LOL
people like you… seriously

If someone is too afraid of “they might sell my email” then be smart and use many of the disposable email services, end.

“pointless” “silly” “shady” LOL…. are these people for real?

if you dont want to get it or find anything important about it, then don’t get it, duh!. but only because you dont find value on it, it doesn’t mean it won’t be useful for someone else in the world. Like, have you ever done a demo reel anyway or any important work? have you ever paid for 3D software and find value on trying to get at least the money back you spent on it? have you ever done something useful in 3D industry in your life? or you are just one of those that have never done any real work, talk like if you did and then pretend that you know what’s useful and what isn’t only because you can post a comment?

Dreadful
Reply to  Kasvphxh
6 years ago

Haha such a scam..

Mr NPH
6 years ago

Really BAD! Avoid as it put you on a spamming / scamming list. Almost as shady as that Grant Warwick character from a few years ago….

Ludvík Koutny
6 years ago

There is no mention of any such ebook on any of his social media accounts… Suspicious at the very least.

pieforme
6 years ago

Comments here are hilarious. Allan Mckay does have a strange way of presenting his website , it almost seems like a dodgy site. But he does give out a lot of good free stuff. For example there was a whole 8 hour video on doing fire ball fx. I havent seen this book yet but I did get an email about it as I subscribe to his mailing list.

Allan F McKay
6 years ago

Hey guys, thanks for the comments..

So I wrote this book purely from the perspective of someone that hires artists and builds teams, it’s both my opinions but also having collaborated with many supervisors reviewing reels at ILM and Blur Studio to name a few studios, and the perspectives of those hiring managers as well. Rather than the I feel most of the information out there on getting a job, which is written by artists rather than managers.

But, in terms of signing up. Everything is free, I mostly wanted to continue building content for those interested in this subject, so weekly I’ve been building additional videos to send out to everyone who is interested in this particularly subject. On how to craft a perfect email to land work, how to use various CRM tools out there to get supervisor and managers email addresses, and a lot of additional video content to help give artists the opportunities to land the jobs they want.
So the book itself is free, and as is all of the other videos and everything associated with it.

However, for those not interested, or feel they might be scammed or think there is better material out there on Google (and who knows, maybe there is) I would suggest just not getting the book, the videos or anything else I guess that’s entirely up to you.

But for everybody else, I hope this is beneficial and it helps you, I know there’s a lot of life lessons I’ve learned during my early years as an artist trying to land a job (things like firing out the same reel to studio after studio, expecting that eventually somebody will hire me, rather than questioning maybe my approach is all wrong and I should be more results driven instead of just assuming I need to just play the numbers game and eventually someone will bite). So whatever I can share, as well as just being around dozens of other managers who also hire artists and review reels, and of course all of the guests I’ve had on the Podcast such as Kathleen Ruffalo the crew manager for Framestore, Ben Snow Snr VFX Supervisor at ILM, Pete Leonard crew manager at Realtime UK, Image Engine’s entire supervisor team, and a lot of other studios who we’ve all discussed very candidly the hiring process and what is likely to cost you the job during that process.
So I wanted to share as much of this as I can.

Either way for those interested, I hope you enjoy it and I hope it helps.

Thanks guys

Allan

ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Comments

  • Guest (the original) on Thinkbox MX Plugin Suite for current 3ds Max versions now available
  • MauricioPC on Thinkbox MX Plugin Suite for current 3ds Max versions now available
  • G_L on Autodesk releases 3ds Max 2026
  • G_L on Autodesk releases 3ds Max 2026
  • Senorpablo on Autodesk releases 3ds Max 2026
  • Guest (the original) on Autodesk releases 3ds Max 2026
  • G_L on Autodesk releases 3ds Max 2026
  • G_L on Autodesk releases 3ds Max 2026

Latest Features

1

Review of the Huion Kamvas 13 Pen Display for 3D artists

6

Archvis artists – what the hell do they do?

See All CGPress Features

Follow CGPress

Terms and Conditions | Privacy Policy | Cookie Policy
Copyright ©2000-2025 CGPress. All rights reserved.

About Us | Contact Us | Contribute News | Advertise
facebook
twitter
rss
wpDiscuz
Manage Cookie Consent

CGPress uses technology like cookies to analyse the number of visitors to our site and how it is navigated. We DO NOT sell or profit from your data beyond displaying inconspicuous adverts relevant to CG artists. It'd really help us out if you could accept the cookies, but of course we appreciate your choice not to share data. 

Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}