I don't know about you, but I didn't start in the film industry to sit behind a desk. Even "post pandemic" (whatever that means), the majority of our first auditions are self-tapes - usually by client request.
Lots of options.
When we see people in person, we have a finite number of slots we can use. If it’s a small commercial and we’re only doing a look-see, that’s 5m per person, so we can see as many as twelve people per hour. For longer auditions, we can’t see as many. When we have clients that need lots of options, self-taping will be the answer.
Yes, we have to upload folks and watch their tapes, but we can do that a lot faster than in-person casting. When you’re in-person, you have to walk in the room, we explain the audition to you, record a take, re-direct, record a second take, and get you out of the room. I could sit back and watch two to three auditions in that time. We can literally see two to three times more people with taping.
No small roles...
Lie! There are small roles. For the roles that don’t need a lot of hand-holding (pizza delivery guy, lady at the bank, etc.), like under five roles, it’s a lot easier for us to grab a tape than to spend hours recording folks in person. Instead of spending the time to see people say, “Hey, who ordered the pizza,” we can spend that time with leading characters, giving them more takes, etc.
“But Sarah! I want to come in person even though I’m a pizza delivery guy!” I hear you! I want all my clients to have unlimited time and money. Unfortunately, they give me a budget and a timeline, and I have to spend their dollars in the most effective way I can. Sometimes that means that the pizza guy has to send a tape, friend.
Fruitless begging
There have been several projects in the last few years that I've recommended moving to in-person, and clients aren't as willing as you'd think. Sometimes, a self-tape is all we need, but clients often request self-tapes despite our pleas for in-person auditions. When the acting needs directing, or there's a ton of action/camera work, we want to take that weight off you. Whether or not our clients want in-person auditions is different. They trade quality for quantity, and they really...really like quantity right now. The golden rule is that whoever has the gold makes the rule, and the goldies want self-tapes.
This is the new norm - get good at it! While they're no one's favorite, at least you don't have to drive across town all the time anymore...right? Make sure your self-tape technique and virtual callback technique are on point until we can all come play in the room again.
Good luck out there!
Sarah
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