Self Tape Auditions Vs In-Person Auditions
Have you been frustrated with the post-covid audition process? Not feeling like you're building relationships with casting or you can’t see progress in your acting career? I completely understand. I am a working SAG-AFTRA actor in Los Angeles. I have had over 400 auditions and participated in 150+ Casting Director workshops. Before 2020, I was doing in person auditions and workshops, but since covid, auditions and workshops have mostly been virtual. My actor friends and I talk a lot about the pros and cons of self taping vs in person auditions, as well as the best process of auditioning for actors moving forward, and I’m eager to share my thoughts with you.
SELF TAPES
| PROS | CONS |
| You can tape on your own time, you don’t need to adapt to anyone else’s schedule, you can fit the audition into your schedule. | You do miss out on the in-person connection, it is exciting to be able to meet casting in person. |
| It’s easier to sustain a full time job, so you can still get the income you need without having to worry about calling out sick whenever you have an audition. | You have to wear many hats with taping/lighting/sound etc. (but on the bright side, this also gives you more understanding of the filmmaking process). |
| You are able to practice as much as you want and need, or even hire a private coach over zoom while you tape. | You need to schedule your own reader either with a friend, or pay someone on weaudition. |
| You don’t need to add extra time to your day by driving, sitting in traffic, or paying for parking. | You aren’t able to be redirected by casting (who knows the background of the script) unless you get a callback. |
| You are able to practice with your reader, or even direct them to help get your read where you want it to be. | You need to find a quiet room in your house or apartment, which can be hard if you have roommates, kids, pets, etc. |
| You have more opportunity to audition as casting is able to receive and view more tapes virtually. | By not meeting casting in person, it may make you feel like you are not advancing in your acting career (more on this later). |
IN-PERSON
All of the Cons for self tapes, are the Pros of In-Person auditions.You get the in-person connection and socialization aspect of it. In most cases you are redirected by the casting director, which means you get a little feedback and casting can see how flexible you are with the material. Casting provides a reader so you don’t have to worry about that or your self tape set-up.
All of the Pros for self tapes, are the Cons of In-Person auditions. If you have a full-time in-person job, it can be stressful to balance that and auditioning in-person. Before covid, where in-person auditions were the norm, you would have to call out sick at work or have a flexible part-time job that allows you the freedom to audition in person whenever you need to. In-person auditions also add extra time to your day when you have to drive, if you’re in LA you will be sitting in traffic, and in many places you will have to pay to park. Lastly, for In-Person auditions, you only have 1-2 takes to show casting what you can do, so you need to be well prepared and well practiced before showing up in the room. Casting does not have time to give you 10 takes for you to get it right.
This is all important to know, especially for the newer actors who got into the business post 2020. For actors who have never auditioned in person or don’t have theater credits, I would suggest getting involved in your local theater, or self taping with a reader in the room in order to get comfortable acting in front of people. Nerves can easily catch you off guard if you don’t have experience acting in front of others.
Best Auditioning Process Moving Forward
I recently had a co-star audition for a show on CBS. Casting was doing in-person auditions for just one day in LA, and they gave us the option to sign up for a time slot in person OR send in a self tape. I was so excited by this because it was the first time I had been offered the option since 2020! I happened to be out of town on the date they were doing the in-person audition so I had to send in a self tape, but I was left feeling very hopeful about this hybrid concept. I think this is the best way for both actors and casting to do auditions moving forward. Giving actors the option to audition in-person gives both sides an opportunity for in-person socialization, as well as for actors in my case where I was out of town, to be able to send in a tape. So I didn’t have to miss out on an exciting audition, and I was still able to continue with my travel plans. This is a WIN-WIN!
I hear a lot of actors complaining about self taping, but we need to reframe our perspective on it to see all of the pros that come out of it, because there are a lot of pros! If you don’t love self taping, I would suggest setting up a permanent self tape set-up in your room so you don’t have to worry about the set up/breakdown process when you audition. (This was a game changer for me!) And practice, practice, practice! Eventually it will become easier.
Lastly, I wanted to touch on what I mentioned earlier about feeling that you are not advancing in your acting career. Self taping virtually has made it overall harder for us to connect, but easier for us to audition more. We must trust that casting is watching our tapes and remembering us! A well known casting director once told me that she would not send us the sides if she didn’t want to see our tapes. If you are getting auditions, you are doing something right. Find a way to enjoy the self tape process, do good work, and trust that casting is seeing you and remembering you! Find a way to find validation and contentment simply from auditioning.
