Self-tapes VS. In-person Auditions

Each one of those has its perks. I’ll start with self-tapes. Those are less nerve-wrecking, you can do as many takes as you want in the comfort of your own home. And you can do those in your own free time. You are also your own director, producer and editor. You can do four different takes and submit only two. You can accidentally screw up with the editing- sound isn't working, quality is bad, etc. However, those little things will be a small part of booking a job. The rest is acting, eyeliner, your reader, etc.

In-person auditions get you in the door, in a physical and metaphorical way. You get seen by casting directors, director, producer and a writer. They all see the type of person you are when you're not acting, and if you are nice enough that they want to work with you. Those auditions are nerve-wrecking, depending how prepared you are. You can either be excited or nervous. Those two are actually the same thing, but one has a positive vibe to it while the other is negative.

In person you only get one or two shots. Would you capture it or let it slide? Okay, I did just quote an Eminem there, but the guy is great!

The waiting area has lots of people who look exactly like you or are the same age. You might feel intimidated or if someone gives you a bad vibe- that might throw off your concentration and bam! You blow your audition. But those in-person ones definitely get your heart pumping and that feeling can get quite addicting.

I started pursuing acting a year prior to CoVid and only did one in-person audition. I was excited, did what director told me and I booked the lead role.

The amount of self-tapes that I did from late 2018 until now… more than a hundred. I would suggest saving all the tapes to Google Drive, Dropbox and other outlet. Whenever I have free time I take a peek into my first set of self-tapes and....CRINGE! I used to overact, my eyeline was way off and I wasn't good. We live and we learn.

I enjoy doing self-tapes, but hopefully will get to do real in-person auditions once this whole virus thing is under us.