This year’s pilot season is going to be unlike any other.

Literally...

It is expected that the number of auditions that will be self tapes this year will be absolutely record breaking.

Most actors simply are not ready for that. Putting together a self tape audition is not complicated and that’s why most actors don’t really think about it until they have to do one.

That can be a huge mistake and it’s one that I see incredibly talented actors make all the time!

Professional actors avoid that, and they do everything they can to give themselves every advantage possible.

If you want to build your career as a professional actor, this year’s pilot season will have a unique opportunity.

Here’s how you can seize that opportunity...

Set up a space at home where you can film a self tape at a moment’s notice. Having this ready to go will cut down tremendously on the amount of stress involved, allowing you to fully focus on delivering a stellar audition.

Let’s start with the most important thing, which is the way you sound.

Casting directors are a lot more forgiving about awkward shadows, or your shot being overexposed than they are about bad sound.

If your sound is bouncing off the walls or if they can’t hear you well, they’re just going to go on to the next person.

So how do you set up your self taped area in a way that will produce quality sound?

Start by picking an open area, if it’s possible. You don’t want to film in a small space with walls that are close by, in the direction you are speaking, because it’s much more difficult to get rid of echoes.

Ideally, you don’t want to have an opposing wall, within 10 feet from where you are speaking.

Also, it’s a good idea to pick a room with carpeting because it acts as a sound dampener. The best case scenario is a room that is fully carpeted, but the next best thing is a room that has as much of the floor area covered with a rug as possible.

If you don’t have a space like this available, you may want to get some foam boards that you can hang on the wall that is directly across from you and that you can lay on the hard floor.

You don’t have to fully cover either of them, you just want to take away some of the hard surfaces that the sound will bounce off of.

A quick amazon search will show you plenty of options that will work.

With good acoustics in the room, it’s typically ok to use the built in microphone of whatever you are filming your audition with.

After you have your space set up, test it out.

Record yourself a few times to make sure the sound is clear and that your words and inflection points are easy to understand.

If you are still dissatisfied, then a clip on lavalier microphone should do the trick. Once your sound is ready to go, the next thing to focus on is your lighting set up.

CDs want to be able to see you as well as they can hear you. Fortunately this is pretty simple to do.

All it takes is 3 lights, at most.

You want a light on your left and your right side, each one at about a 45 degree angle, to remove any shadows from your face. This will almost always be enough, but depending on where you are filming, you may also need to have a light directly in front of you.

As simple as this is to set up, I’ve found that many actors skip this step thinking that the lighting fixtures in their room will be enough.

Remember, what you are trying to accomplish is delivering an audition that makes you stand out from the other actors.

Taking the steps we talked about will help you deliver an audition with clear sound and clear visuals that will distinguish you from the others that just haphazardly propped their phone on shelf to film their audition and called it a day.

Lastly, you want to have as clear of a background as possible. You don’t want items in the frame that can distract from your performance.

A plain, solid color background is the best choice if you have it available. If you don’t have it available, then try to get as close to that as possible.

We went over best practices for putting together a self tape audition that captures a CD’s attention.

However, it can only help once you have already been asked to deliver a self tape audition. If you don’t have enough opportunities to do that, then you might want to make some adjustments to your career efforts.

In terms of best practices for that, one of the most effective things you can do is increase your visibility where Casting Directors and industry decision makers are looking for talent. Here’s how I can help with that.

When I talk about this with other actors, they can immediately see how setting up for a self tape audition this way can be a complete game changer for their acting career, compared to what they had been doing before.

However, many of them simply don’t have enough opportunities to audition for it to make a meaningful difference.

If that’s the situation you find yourself in then you also need to find the reason for why you are not getting enough auditions. If the industry doesn’t know you, they can’t hire so I created this to help with that.

It could be that simple or it could be something completely different.

Finding that out will require that you take an honest look at what has been going on in your career thus far.

I’ll walk you through how to do that next week, but in the meantime there is something you can start to work on that most actors don’t really think about, so they find themselves lacking in that area.

I’m talking about your industry reputation.

When Casting Directors decide to move forward with you they are putting a lot of trust in you. That’s why it’s so important to make sure that your industry reputation always matches your goals.

So as you get ready for the upcoming pilot season, what else do you need help with?

Let me know in the comments below or feel free to shoot me an email. I’m always happy to help however I can because I truly want to...

See you at the top,
Scott