The ability to send a quality self-tape is probably more important than ever before. With most casting offices working completely remote, and a willingness to open their options beyond their usual roster of local actors, being able to send a self-tape that captures what you as a performer could bring to a potential role is crucial; to help Backstage readers do just that, Broadway, film, television, commercial, and podcast casting director Daryl Eisenberg, of Eisenberg/Beans Casting, joined us for our first installment of our Audition Insider series to talk all things self-tape.
The biggest mistake Eisenberg sees actors making? Not submitting a self-tape at all. “If we’re asking you to put something on tape, put it on tape! It doesn’t have to be perfect,” she said. But to help make your self-tape stand out from the crowd, find a way to stabilize your camera, use forward-facing lights like a ring light, make sure the musical accompaniment is in the video for musical theatre auditions, and film in front of a solid wall if you have one.
Eisenberg also reviewed two Backstage members’ self-tapes to give them advice on how they can step up their game. Her biggest note for our first actor, Faith Clark Doebler: framing. “I want to know how you live in your body. Acting is not just [your face]. I don’t get that information when you have a tight frame.”
For our second actor Henardo Rodriguez’s tape, Eisenberg stressed the importance of picking the right material. If a casting director sends a scene, they already know the context of the scene, but if they don’t, they should be able to grasp the context right away. The actor also had a remote reader to read the other lines, but due to audio lags, she couldn’t quite understand what that reader was saying, and it took away from the energy of the piece.
For more of Eisenberg’s great tips, watch the full Audition Insider session below. And keep your eyes peeled for more from this series where casting directors and agents from a variety of specialties join Backstage for interactive Zoom webinars, and give you real-world advice and insider tips about auditioning to help you book that next role. Each session starts with some quick tips, a practicum with feedback from the experts on your live submissions, and will end with a Q&A where actors can ask all of your top questions.