The Audition Dilemma: Embracing Self-Tapes and Virtual Casting

100:00:00,270 --> 00:00:01,320Green Room on Air. 200:00:01,480 --> 00:00:02,510Green Room on Air. 300:00:02,650 --> 00:00:09,990The podcast ISL Parts of the Inter World. 400:00:12,300 --> 00:00:13,440Hello everybody. 500:00:13,440 --> 00:00:16,410You have reached Green Room on Air, and I'm your host, Ray Reti. 600:00:16,440 --> 00:00:19,410How are you doing today? I hope you're doing great. 700:00:19,740 --> 00:00:20,400I'm doing good. 800:00:21,280 --> 00:00:24,370I had a little visit to the emergency room last night. 900:00:24,370 --> 00:00:27,070I've had some fatigue and I went to the doctor. 1000:00:27,775 --> 00:00:38,485She had me do some blood tests and I'm in Costco yesterday evening around seven 30 shopping for some produce and thanks Whole Foods, of course. 1100:00:39,205 --> 00:00:42,710And I get a call from my doctor, go to the emergency room right away. 1200:00:44,540 --> 00:00:45,920There's something wrong with your kidney. 1300:00:47,510 --> 00:00:50,810Okay? So I go trying to keep calm. 1400:00:51,770 --> 00:00:53,630I'm there for three hours doing all the tests. 1500:00:53,630 --> 00:00:54,530Nothing wrong with me. 1600:00:55,730 --> 00:00:58,340Doctor tells me, well she shouldn't have really sent you here. 1700:00:58,340 --> 00:01:00,680It really wasn't bad. 1800:01:04,460 --> 00:01:09,680So now I'm pooped cuz last night I spent in the emergency room, but I'm here. 1900:01:11,120 --> 00:01:19,820You know when you get in your sixties, they start, they suddenly start all the doctors your doctors suddenly start getting very cautious. 2000:01:19,820 --> 00:01:26,165I noticed anytime you have a little complaint, man, they're like, All right, we're doing all the tests. 2100:01:26,165 --> 00:01:27,905We're sending you an emergency room. 2200:01:28,205 --> 00:01:31,295We're gonna scan you here, we're gonna scan you there. 2300:01:31,295 --> 00:01:37,945We're gonna stick stuff up that hole in this hole and make sure you're road ready. 2400:01:41,935 --> 00:01:47,995You know, today, I don't have a guess, but I wanted to talk about how auditions have changed since Covid. 2500:01:48,685 --> 00:01:49,555It's incredible. 2600:01:49,885 --> 00:01:55,960For those of you who aren't actors, Normally you have you have three kinds of auditions basically. 2700:01:55,960 --> 00:01:58,300Of course, there are others, but basically you have three. 2800:01:59,620 --> 00:02:06,370You have a theater audition, which is either musical theater and or a straight play, which means no music. 2900:02:07,180 --> 00:02:14,410You have a com, a commercial audition for a TV commercial, and you have a TV or film audition. 3000:02:15,940 --> 00:02:21,730Now, it used to be, That you'd head down to your casting director. 3100:02:22,540 --> 00:02:27,100Your agent would send you to your casting director, and you'd you'd do your audition there. 3200:02:27,100 --> 00:02:30,870And it would either be well for TV and, and film and commercials. 3300:02:30,870 --> 00:02:37,620You usually just had some sides, which means some lines that you had to do and you prepared for those before you went usually. 3400:02:39,060 --> 00:02:45,900And then you went home and you waited, and maybe you got called back for another audition and maybe you didn't for theater. 3500:02:46,620 --> 00:02:57,840Usually you'd have to do a monologue and or a song, or sometimes they would just give you a script that is usually way longer than you'd get for a movie or commercial or tv. 3600:02:58,740 --> 00:03:02,190And you'd do a cold reading sometimes with a reader behind a desk. 3700:03:02,190 --> 00:03:04,890Usually for equity theater, it's just a stage manager. 3800:03:05,310 --> 00:03:14,320And then often, for whatever reason, I'm not sure with non-equity, non-professional theater, you'd, you'd read with the other actors. 3900:03:15,775 --> 00:03:19,645And of course that's not a steadfast rule, but that's the way it was done. 4000:03:19,975 --> 00:03:22,525And then you'd go home and you'd wait to see if you got a callback. 4100:03:24,295 --> 00:03:30,235Lo and behold, we had Covid our favorite little menace. 4200:03:31,945 --> 00:03:43,495Well, no longer could people go in in person to audition because you might spread yield plague to your yield actor friends, and you wouldn't wanna do that. 4300:03:43,960 --> 00:03:52,950And they wouldn't let you anyway and or you'd have to audition with a mask on, which happened sometimes later, but not always. 4400:03:54,390 --> 00:04:00,090So what evolved was something that happened once in a while before and now became the rule. 4500:04:00,480 --> 00:04:09,420This self tape, it's not a tape of course, although it's still called a tape, the self tape. 4600:04:11,160 --> 00:04:15,810It's called a tape because back in the olden days, that's, that's how you recorded stuff on tape. 4700:04:16,140 --> 00:04:31,260For those of you who are under what, I don't know, 40, and it has become an industry in, in and of itself, there are a myriad of people who will teach you how to make great self tapes. 4800:04:32,130 --> 00:04:40,440So that you can send them in and hopefully get a call back or get cast in your favorite show, TV show or movie or commercial or play. 4900:04:43,500 --> 00:04:50,220The thing is, and here's the thing, and almost every actor I've talked to hates this. 5000:04:50,700 --> 00:04:53,580It used to be that all you had to do was act. 5100:04:54,270 --> 00:04:56,550You learned your lines as best you could. 5200:04:57,900 --> 00:04:58,980You made choices. 5300:04:58,980 --> 00:05:00,870You went in and you acted. 5400:05:01,575 --> 00:05:02,505And you went home. 5500:05:03,045 --> 00:05:11,595Now you have to have equipment and they tell you, oh, it doesn't matter that much, you know, just to make sure it looks professional and all. 5600:05:11,595 --> 00:05:27,975But the thing is, if somebody else has great lighting and, and a good camera and a great backdrop and you don't have that, you're gonna be, even if you're acting is great, you, you're, you're, you're one step behind the eight ball folks. 5700:05:28,950 --> 00:05:35,100So you have to be actor, producer, director, lighting designer, editor. 5800:05:35,820 --> 00:05:36,480Yeah. 5900:05:37,320 --> 00:05:39,510Or you can pay somebody to do this for you. 6000:05:39,510 --> 00:05:46,620And believe me, there are tons of money who, people who will now take your money to help you do your self-tape auditions. 6100:05:49,560 --> 00:05:51,120It's an art in and of itself. 6200:05:52,230 --> 00:05:53,370I have a setup now. 6300:05:53,520 --> 00:05:55,080I have a couple different backdrops. 6400:05:55,080 --> 00:05:57,000I have a couple different frames. 6500:05:57,030 --> 00:05:59,880I have a blue backdrop, which I use most of the time. 6600:05:59,880 --> 00:06:01,230I have a tan backdrop. 6700:06:02,340 --> 00:06:10,480I have a my, my mirrorless Nikon camera because I'm a photographer, but you can use an iPhone in that iPhones. 6800:06:10,480 --> 00:06:16,240Now, God, they, they shoot in super high resolution, so they work great. 6900:06:17,350 --> 00:06:25,045The only problem with it, it's a little harder to get the video off the iPhone than it is on a regular camera, but, People are figuring that out. 7000:06:25,105 --> 00:06:30,835There's even apps now, there are even apps for doing auditions on your phone specifically. 7100:06:31,555 --> 00:06:36,205I bought lighting for video, which I didn't have. 7200:06:36,855 --> 00:06:38,575I, I have a tripod. 7300:06:38,575 --> 00:06:41,725I have a couple of different shotgun mics. 7400:06:42,115 --> 00:06:47,225I have wireless mics that pin and hide on your body. 7500:06:48,500 --> 00:06:57,870I've had to invest quite a bit of money and and still with all that, I have never made the perfect audition tape. 7600:06:59,670 --> 00:07:01,140I just did one today. 7700:07:02,130 --> 00:07:06,610I even have now I even now have now a teleprompter on my laptop. 7800:07:07,060 --> 00:07:23,410So it looks like I know the lines if I don't know them, because sometimes, It's just too many to learn, and then you have to hold the script in your hand and then you're constantly looking down and trying to not, and it gets very cumbersome. 7900:07:23,410 --> 00:07:27,070With the movie, usually the lines aren't that long, so you can pretty much memorize 'em. 8000:07:27,070 --> 00:07:45,280But if you're auditioning for a play and they give you like five pages and you have to do it with a reader who's behind the camera, like my wife, Well, I either ho have to hold the script in my hand and, and try to relate to her or use my teleprompter, which is out there. 8100:07:46,450 --> 00:07:47,560So that's what I've been doing. 8200:07:48,340 --> 00:07:50,140I'm sure they realize I don't have it memorized. 8300:07:50,145 --> 00:07:52,150They probably realize I have the lines out there somewhere. 8400:07:52,180 --> 00:07:55,720But today I did one for a play. 8500:07:55,810 --> 00:08:01,090I won't say what or where cuz I'd like to get the part and I don't wanna jeopardize that. 8600:08:02,530 --> 00:08:03,730But I go through the whole thing. 8700:08:04,885 --> 00:08:09,215And I was gonna have it done yesterday, but as I said before, I ended up going to the emergency room. 8800:08:09,215 --> 00:08:13,055So I had to wake up super early this morning after going to bed extremely late. 8900:08:13,055 --> 00:08:15,095So I have almost no sleep and I'm about to pass out. 9000:08:15,095 --> 00:08:23,785But right now, actually so I, I did this audition today and I put on a green shirt and I did the audition. 9100:08:25,150 --> 00:08:26,590And it was pretty good. 9200:08:26,590 --> 00:08:30,550I mean, there were things I could have done way better, but yeah, it was, overall I was happy with it. 9300:08:30,730 --> 00:08:36,370The only problem is the left shot of my shirt was all wrinkled and I couldn't see that when I put it on. 9400:08:36,580 --> 00:08:40,990My wife said she saw it, but she didn't wanna say anything, which is weird because she always says something. 9500:08:41,620 --> 00:08:42,820I guess she knew I was in a hurry. 9600:08:44,740 --> 00:08:49,180And so now when I watch the audition video that I sent in, all I can see is my wrinkle shirt. 9700:08:49,390 --> 00:08:50,170That's all I see. 9800:08:50,620 --> 00:08:51,490My wrinkle shirt. 9900:08:57,490 --> 00:08:57,760Oh yeah. 10000:08:57,760 --> 00:08:59,710So you also have to be a wardrobe person. 10100:08:59,800 --> 00:09:00,280There you go. 10200:09:02,380 --> 00:09:09,160Well, you always had to kind of do that, but you know now it, now it just adds on to all the other things you gotta do. 10300:09:09,640 --> 00:09:20,560Actor, director, producer, editor, lighting, designers, sound designer, wardrobe person, hair, makeup, you're everything. 10400:09:22,480 --> 00:09:26,480And it's taken a lot of burden off of pro producers and casting directors. 10500:09:26,480 --> 00:09:30,500I mean, you do all the work now, they just sit there and watch it on their computer screen. 10600:09:31,520 --> 00:09:36,920And so now, even though they don't have to do it that way, some of 'em are still doing it that way. 10700:09:39,860 --> 00:09:49,010It's becoming the norm in, in some cases, I hope it goes back to the in-person stuff so that I can just act. 10800:09:50,165 --> 00:09:53,165Concentrate on that, but I don't know. 10900:09:53,225 --> 00:10:00,275The world has changed quite a bit and it keeps changing and I ain't getting any younger. 11000:10:03,215 --> 00:10:03,785Yeah. 11100:10:05,765 --> 00:10:05,915Yeah. 11200:10:05,915 --> 00:10:16,295When you're in your sixties and you're in a profession and the profession changes and you feel like you're kind of getting slowly pushed out of it because of your age and. 11300:10:16,865 --> 00:10:38,795Now because of maybe your gender or your race cuz of diversity, which I'm all for, not against diversity, but the problem is kind of leaves me out of a lot of stuff now and that's neither here nor there, but it means what do I do? You know? So I have to think of new ways to keep doing what I'm doing or do something else. 11400:10:40,595 --> 00:10:41,165Yeah. 11500:10:42,185 --> 00:10:43,535So the industry. 11600:10:44,960 --> 00:10:58,550For actors in terms of auditioning, has made a huge, huge shift and I don't think most people are aware of that, nor do maybe they care. 11700:11:02,600 --> 00:11:02,960I don't know. 11800:11:02,960 --> 00:11:07,100But I just wanted to educate you and let you know what's been going on. 11900:11:07,520 --> 00:11:09,680Cause I think it's kind of interesting myself. 12000:11:10,820 --> 00:11:11,390I do. 12100:11:13,745 --> 00:11:19,055What else is going? I've been watching the Righteous Gemstones on H B O. 12200:11:20,075 --> 00:11:20,405Wow. 12300:11:20,405 --> 00:11:22,415What a f what a fun show. 12400:11:23,865 --> 00:11:25,245I'm on season two now. 12500:11:28,665 --> 00:11:32,735The Righteous gemstones stars. 12600:11:33,905 --> 00:11:39,305John Goodman, Danny McBride, Adam Devine. 12700:11:40,010 --> 00:11:53,080Edie Pearson, Cassidy Freeman, and well, we all know John Goodman is, is great, right? Most of you may know him from Roseanne or the Big Lebowski. 12800:11:54,670 --> 00:11:58,750Danny McBride is, is Danny McBride. 12900:11:58,750 --> 00:12:04,180He writes his shows the way he writes 'em, and you know, it's a Danny McBride show and it's. 13000:12:04,765 --> 00:12:07,765Dark, sarcastic comedy, and that's what this is. 13100:12:07,765 --> 00:12:11,355They're a family of modern day preachers. 13200:12:12,405 --> 00:12:15,555And they're basically horrible people. 13300:12:17,445 --> 00:12:21,315But I would like to talk about Ededie Patterson, not Edie Peterson. 13400:12:21,405 --> 00:12:28,905Ededie Patterson is the most, one of the most hilarious people I have ever seen on television. 13500:12:31,095 --> 00:12:33,345You just gotta just watch it for her. 13600:12:33,375 --> 00:12:36,165She is so damn funny. 13700:12:36,375 --> 00:12:37,845It's amazing. 13800:12:38,325 --> 00:12:43,395And then if you watch her interviewed, she's completely different than the character she plays. 13900:12:44,025 --> 00:12:44,865I just love it. 14000:12:44,925 --> 00:12:47,325She has a huge background in improv. 14100:12:47,325 --> 00:12:56,055She's a member of the the Groundlings, which is a very famous improv company. 14200:12:56,655 --> 00:13:01,275She's a main member there and she performs there still apparently. 14300:13:01,605 --> 00:13:03,585So she's just great. 14400:13:03,795 --> 00:13:04,455She's just great. 14500:13:04,460 --> 00:13:08,205And I love the show, so if you get a chance, check it out. 14600:13:09,915 --> 00:13:10,515Check it out. 14700:13:10,545 --> 00:13:12,215It's called it's the exact title. 14800:13:12,215 --> 00:13:13,295I wanna make sure I got it right. 14900:13:14,345 --> 00:13:16,055The Righteous Gemstones. 15000:13:16,085 --> 00:13:22,445It's on H B O or I guess if you don't have H B O through like Comcast. 15100:13:23,900 --> 00:13:27,830You have to get it on Max, which is also H B O. 15200:13:28,160 --> 00:13:37,490I don't understand why HBO O Max, which is the subscription streaming version of HBO, changed their name to Max. 15300:13:37,490 --> 00:13:42,350I have no idea why they did that, but they did. 15400:13:42,350 --> 00:13:45,440It was somebody's brilliant idea in corporate. 15500:13:47,840 --> 00:13:51,110All right, folks, that's my show for today. 15600:13:51,740 --> 00:13:52,760Hope you enjoyed it. 15700:13:55,880 --> 00:13:58,520Keep keep on trucking. 15800:13:58,850 --> 00:14:00,200Don't stop trucking. 15900:14:00,800 --> 00:14:05,270And until next time, I will see you on the boards. 16000:14:05,300 --> 00:14:10,640And don't forget, if you love this show Iterating on Po Apple Podcast. 16100:14:11,090 --> 00:14:13,490Tell your friends, tell your enemies. 16200:14:14,390 --> 00:14:19,340And if you, if you wanna get ahold of me, send me an email at Green Room on air gmail.com. 16300:14:19,730 --> 00:14:20,330All righty folks. 16400:14:21,155 --> 00:14:23,885As I said, until next time, I will see you on the boards. 16500:14:24,395 --> 00:14:25,565Take care of your sales. 16600:14:25,655 --> 00:14:26,285Bye-bye. 16700:14:44,425 --> 00:14:45,915It's easy if. 16800:15:04,450 --> 00:15:23,210All the people for today, it. 16900:15:29,270 --> 00:15:42,930Nothing to kill or die and no religion to all.