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Hello my fellow actors.

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And welcome back to casting actors.

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Cast the podcast for actors from a

casting director.

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I'm Jeffrey Dreisbach.

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And today we are diving into one of the

most important audition skills in

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today's industry.

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Self tapes,

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specifically,

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we're talking about something most

actors never realize they're doing wrong.

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Today's episode is called the self tape

trap.

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Are your choices helping or hurting you?

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Now let me start with something that I

see every single week in casting.

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Actors think self tapes are about

showing how well they can act.

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They're not.

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Self tapes are about showing how well

you can be cast.

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These are not the same thing.

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And understanding that difference can

change yours, your entire booking ratio,

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because here's the truth.

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Casting is not watching your tapes

thinking, how talented is this actor?

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We're watching and asking, can I put

this person in the project?

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Are they showing me how they can play

the part right now

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that's a casting question, not a

performance question.

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Let's talk about what I call the self

tape trap.

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The self tape trap happens when actors

believe they must prove something

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instead of reveal something.

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So they add,

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they add, emotion

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they add intensity, they add clever

choices, they add movement, they add business,

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they add interpretation.

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They pile performance on top of

performance until what we're left watching

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is not a person, but a circumstance.

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It's an audition.

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And auditions are not what gets cast.

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People get cast.

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Now let me tell you a casting room

reality.

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We rarely watch a self tape and say,

that was amazing acting.

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But we very often watch yourself tape

and say, that's the one?

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Notice the difference?

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Because what we're really responding to

is not the acting, it's the believability.

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Believability is the currency of self

tapes,

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not effort.

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Effort is visible.

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Truth is invisible.

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Casting always chooses invisible work

over visual, visible work.

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So let's talk about the biggest self

tape mistakes actors make, and why they

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quietly sabotage

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otherwise, strong auditions.

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Here's the first trap

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over framing the performance.

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Actors think the frame should show

their acting,

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but casting wants the frame to show the

character.

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That means a simple background, neutral

lighting, clear sound, no distractions.

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If I notice your lighting before I

notice you, the tape is already working

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against you.

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Self.

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Tapes are not short films.

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They are casting tools.

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Here's the second trap.

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Over directing yourself.

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Actors sometimes treat self tapes like

their directing a movie version of the scene.

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They add blocking, they add movement

and props,

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camera angles.

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Physical business

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is something that I see all the time.

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But casting is not evaluating

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your directing ability.

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We're evaluating your castability.

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And most of the time, stillness is much

more powerful than movement.

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Why?

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Because stillness lets us see you think.

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And thinking is watchable.

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Movement is only watchable

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when it's motivated,

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unmotivated.

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Movement looks likes.

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Well, it looks like nerves.

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Here's a third trap.

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Predeciding

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Now, this is a big one.

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Actors often decide before recording.

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This is the energy take.

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This is the angry takerate.

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Or, this is the crying take, or, this

is the intense take.

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But emotion

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is a result,

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not a starting point.

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When you start with emotion,

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it feels placed.

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When emotion arrives naturally, it

feels real.

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Let me tell you, casting can tell

instantly

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which one we are seeing.

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Here's the 4th trap.

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Line readings that sound rehearsed.

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If your delivery

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sounds practiced,

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we stop listening to the scene.

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And then we start hearing the actor.

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That's bad.

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That's deadly on tape

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because film and television, acting is

about behavior,

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not presentation.

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A self tape should feel like we

accidentally pressed record on a real moment,

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not like we're watching a performance

you polished all afternoon.

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Now here's the paradox.

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You should absolutely rehearse.

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You should absolutely prepare.

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But your goal

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is to prepare so well

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that

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you don't look prepared.

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Preparation should sort of disappear

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if we can see it.

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It's too visible.

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So let's talk about what actually,

books from self tapes,

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clarity,

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specificity,

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ease, presence, listening?

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Yes, listening even on self tapes.

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Because listening is visible.

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Think about it.

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When an actor truly listens,

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their face changes,

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their eyes respond, their timing

shifts, their breathing adjusts.

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All of this is so fascinating to watch.

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Listening.

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Actors are cinematic

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talking.

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Actors

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are theatrical

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self tapes reward cinematic actors

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here's something most actors don't

realize.

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Casting is not watching your tape once.

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You might be surprised to find out.

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We often watch it multiple times.

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The first time is instinct,

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the second time is evaluation,

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and the third time is confirmation.

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Now listen, if your tape only works

because of a oh of a fantastic surprise

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moment or a flashy choice.

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It usually doesn't hold up

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on repeat.

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Viewing

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make sense.

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But if your tape works

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because you feel really real,

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it gets stronger every time we watch

it.

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Real holds,

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tricks fade.

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Now let's talk about one of the most

misunderstood

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notes

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actors receive.

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And we're going to do that

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right after this.

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Welcome back, talking about your self

tapes.

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And something that you hear probably a

lot,

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but it is kind of misunderstood when

you hear it.

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When the actor gets that note that's

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from a director or a producer, bring it

down.

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Have you had that?

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Actors sometimes think that means, be

less,

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be less emotional,

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be less

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connected.

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And that's not what it means.

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And what happens to me

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is, when an actor tries to do less,

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I see

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is them thinking about doing less.

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See, bring it down.

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Means simply remove effort,

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effort

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on self taper.

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It reads as tension.

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Tension reads as acting.

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And when we ask you to bring it down,

we're asking you to let the moment

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affect you, instead of trying to affect

the moment.

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Ok?

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Somebody write that down.

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That was really good.

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Now this is a huge difference.

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Trying to affect the moment

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is pushing.

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Letting the moment affect you

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is receiving.

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Receiving is magnetic.

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Pushing is exhausting

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self tapes, reward receiving actors.

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So here's a test you can try the next

time you record.

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Do one take

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where you try to make something happen,

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then do another where you allow

something to happen,

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watch them back.

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The second one is almost always the one

that feels watchable.

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Why?

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Because it feels enforced.

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Casting trusts

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unforced actors.

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Unforced actors

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look directable.

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Directable.

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Actors get callbacks.

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Callbacks leads to bookings.

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Let's talk about another trap,

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what I call the perfection trap.

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See, actors sometimes

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record,

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I don't know, twenty takes trying to

get it right.

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But perfection is not the goal, nor

should it be.

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Truth is.

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And truth almost always happens before

take twenty.

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I can tell you that, in fact, many of

the best self takes we see of yourself tapes.

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Did I say that right?

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Some of the best self tapes we see,

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or take one or take two.

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That's why I call it the three take

rule.

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Decide that you're going to do that

audition in three takes.

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Why?

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Because those takes still contain

discovery.

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Discovery is gold on camera.

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Later takes

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often become controlled.

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Control kills spontaneity.

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Spontaneity is what makes casting lean

forward.

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If we lean forward,

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you're winning.

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Now we need to talk about readers for a

moment.

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Your reader definitely matters in your

audition, not because they need to be

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brilliant, but because they need to be

real.

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A flat reader Forces you to act harder.

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A real reader

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lets you respond naturally.

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So choose readers who listen,

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not readers who perform.

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You don't want a performer.

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You want a listener.

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You don't need competition in yourself.

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Tape.

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First and foremost, you need support.

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The best readers we bring in when we're

doing zoom auditions, for example,

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are actors who know how to serve up the

dialogue

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to support the actor,

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not be actively in the scene themselves.

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Now let's address something actors

worry about.

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Constantly.

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They say, what if my self tape isn't

interesting enough?

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Have you said that

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here's my answer?

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Interesting

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is not your job.

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Truth is your job.

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is casting's

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job.

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Editors make things interesting.

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Music will make things interesting.

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Camera angles and movements will make

things really, really interesting.

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Your job is to be believable,

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believable.

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Actors work interesting.

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Actor's audition,

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ok, somebody write that down?

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That was really good.

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Another important shift.

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Instead of asking, what can I do to

stand out?

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Here's what you should be asking.

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What makes this character human,

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standing out?

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As a result?

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Humanity?

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Is it?

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Choice?

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Casting notices humanity faster than

originality.

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Because humanity is rare.

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Originality

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it's often forced.

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So let's talk about eyelines.

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Here's a simple rule.

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Stay connected to your reader,

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not the camera.

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If it's a zoom call, don't look at the

reader on your screen.

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Imagine the reader up and over seven to

eight inches away from the lens of the camera.

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Please remember that the camera itself

is your audience.

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The reader is your seen partner.

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Acting happens between people, not

between a person and a lens.

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When actors play to the camera, we see

presentation.

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When actors play to the partner,

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we see relationship.

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Relationship is what we cast,

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because stories

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r relationships.

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Always

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here's another self tape.

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Secret casting is not judging you as

harshly as you think.

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We are rooting for you.

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We want you to be the answer to our

problem.

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We want you to solve our problems.

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Because when you're right,

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our job gets really easy

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and it gets exciting.

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That means we're not looking for flaws.

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We're looking for reasons to say yes.

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Your job is not to eliminate every

imperfection.

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Your job is to give us something true,

to say yes to

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truth.

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Beats

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polish

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every time.

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Now let's talk about energy.

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Film energy is not stage energy.

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You know that film energy is internal.

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Stage energy is projected.

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If you bring stage energy to a self

tape, it often reads us too big.

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It's not wrong, by the way, it's just

too big.

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Just mismatched.

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Camera acting is about letting thoughts

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register,

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not

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announcing them.

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The lens magnifies thought.

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Trust it.

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You do not have to indicate what you

are feeling

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if you think it.

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We see it

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that's the magic

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of camera acting.

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Now I want to give you a simple self

tape checklist you can use.

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Starting immediately

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before recording.

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Ask yourself, do I understand what I

want?

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Do I understand who I'm talking to?

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Do I understand what just happened?

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Do I understand what's at stake?

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If the answer is yes to those four

questions,

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you are ready not when your performance

feels perfect, but when your circumstances

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feel clear

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circumstances

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drive behaviour.

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Behaviour drives believability,

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believability

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works.

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Ay, let's talk about the final self

tape principle that separates working

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actors from struggling actors.

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Working actors don't try to show

casting something.

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They let casting see something.

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Showing is effort.

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Letting us see is confidence.

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Confidence is calming to watch.

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Calm actors feel professional.

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Professional actors feel hireable.

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Hireable actors.

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They get a call back.

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Now listen, before we close.

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I want you to release one fear

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starting to day.

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All right.

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You're with me.

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Here.

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It is,

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the fear of not being enough.

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Because self tapes are not asking you

to be more.

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They're asking you to be specific,

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specific, as interesting.

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Specific is human.

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Specific is watchable.

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You don't need more choices.

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You need clearer ones.

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If this episode helped you rethink how

you approach self tapes,

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then please do me a favor.

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Would you?

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Would you share it with an actor who is

currently

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on?

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Take number seventeen, trying to get it

perfect.

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And if you want more insider strategies,

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real world audition, guidance and

practical tools from inside the casting process,

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then be sure to follow casting actors

cast and visit casting actors cast at

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00:18:03,616 --> 00:18:08,188

come where we help you prepare smarter,

perform better and book more.

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I'm Geoffrey driesback.

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Thanks for listening now listen.

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Go tape something real.

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See next time