I get a lot of actors asking me where they can put auditions on tape in Los Angeles.
As an actor, whether you have reps or not, you will need to be able to figure out a way to tape some auditions yourself. The industry is moving more towards “eco friendly casting” – which, if you ask me, is anything but eco friendly for the actor. But I digress.
Nevertheless, it’s the reality and the expectation. And unfortunately taping yourself is not always easy – there’s getting great lighting to make you look your best, having a camera that won’t run out of batteries or glitch out on you, finding someone to tape you and juggling pages to read the lines opposite you as well.
One time I had both my parents trying to tape me and read with me and figure out lighting and well, let’s just say it looked a little something like this:
Thankfully that material wasn’t such that I had to really “get in the zone.” If so, I would have struggled in between the laughing so hard my stomach hurt and such. Good times, mom and dad, good times. {That lamp with a fan on it may be a cute antique but it was definitely not made for filming auditions!}
Once you do manage to get your audition on tape, there’s the matter of compressing the file down to the size requested by the casting director without losing the quality and integrity of your footage – which, if you are anything like me, can prove way more time consuming and frustrating than worth it.
So what is an actor to do?
Well, for those of you in Los Angeles, consider yourselves the lucky ones. For you have a true gift at your fingertips – well, maybe a little farther than that… {it’s in Hollywood}. But it’s called Intrepid Tapes, and it just may be the best thing to come along since the reverse camera function on the iPhone.
Here’s what you do:
- Email Boone and Ali to set up a taping slot of how many minutes you need – from five minutes to an hour (or more!) depending on how much material you have.
- Print two copies of your sides – one for you, one for them.
- Learn your material and do your prep.
- Drive there, tape it {Boone and li are fabulous readers who will make you shine}, pay them $1/min, and leave!
- By the time you get home or to your nearest coffee shop with your laptop, you will have an email in your inbox with a link to download your files.
- Upload and submit and wait for the phone to ring! Kidding! Go to the beach or for a run or whatever else brings you joy. Let it go and remember all you have to be grateful for in your life.
As Lesly Kahn says, “Acting isn’t hard; being an actor is.” Hopefully this tool will help make you our journey a little smoother.
Happy auditioning!
