I took a road trip to Atlanta with a couple of acting buddies for a panel Q&A that was 100% worth it. The networking wasn't great, but the info from the panel was excellent. While we were there, we stayed with my college bestie who works in casting and production.

She told me if the audition deadline is Monday, but she has ten great self-tapes on Friday, she'll send those to the director, meaning actors who meet the audition deadline can still lose their chances of getting seen by the director.

It's not a total loss, however. Some casting directors still watch every single audition, which is beneficial to those actors because they're now in casting's "mental storehouse" of talent for future auditions. 

In other words, our tapes are still getting seen by casting even if we miss the top ten sendoff to the director, but don't get too comfortable because that's ultimately who we want to see it.

Yes, we submit our self-taped auditions to the casting director, but our goal is to get in front of the people who actually make the final casting decision, which isn't the casting director.

I've heard casting directors say they will slay dragons for talent they love if the directors and producers don't agree with them, but ultimately, they're submitted to production's decision.

Did you know that our self-tapes ultimately need to reach the director and producers in order for us to be considered for a role, and there's a way to significantly boost the odds of making that happen?

So what should an actor do? I'll tell you how in this post, plus tips on making it a reality.

Casting directors receive hundreds of self-taped auditions, anywhere from 100-600+ depending on the role. 

The panel Q&A I attended had two very reputable casting directors who both said they only submit 8-10 self-tapes to the director out of the hundreds they receive.

We need to empathize with casting directors as actors about how quickly everything is expected to move in the casting process. They don't work for us; they work for the production and view the production team as their client.

I dunno about you, but this information kicked my butt into gear on self-taping turnaround time.

Submit self-taped auditions the same day if you can.

What if the script is dialogue heavy?

If the deadline is longer for a dialogue heavy script, then make it a goal to submit your audition at least two days before it's actually due.

This, actor friends, will require you to get organized. 

There are a ton of auditions you can actually do by yourself (i.e. direct to camera or no reader's lines). You may even get by fairly ok using a reader that isn't an actor for commercial or industrial roles.

But for film and television roles, you really need a reader who is an actor, especially if the scene is emotionally intense, which means you need to make a reader pact.

Reader Pact: agreement with a fellow actor that you two will always be available for each other's reads unless one of you has a booking.

Ideally, they'll be from your acting class so you both have the same foundational teachings on how to approach your script. It's also nice to have someone who can recall a note from your acting coach that may help with your audition.

We need to have on-call readers for quick self-taping turnaround time. Start asking your actor buddies today if they're willing to do this. This is assuming you already have a self-taping studio. 

Now the issue comes down to scheduling a reader to come over for your audition. Unfortunately, for actors like me, I live about an hour away from the rest of my actor friends.

I made a reader pact with my friend Tracie from acting class because she lived close to me, but then we both moved in opposite directions from each other!

So we experimented with using FaceTime for auditions, and it freaking worked!

You can also experiment with Skype or Facebook Messenger video calls if you don't have Apple products, but the quality of our FaceTimes has been great so far.

If you're taping on your phone, then you'll also need to use a laptop if you don't have a second phone or camera and tripod.

The trick is to find a stand that will allow your laptop to sit at eye level, so you can film on your phone but receive the FaceTime call on your laptop.

​So far, we haven't had any issues with our audio quality, but we've both been taking the FaceTime calls via our laptops. 

***UPDATE: I tried this with another friend while calling from my laptop to their phone and the audio quality was not as good.***

​Have your reader use headphones to reduce feedback if they're taking your call from their smartphone.

Both of you should set your phones or laptops to Do Not Disturb or Airplane Mode. Yes, there is a Do Not Disturb option on your Mac laptop:​

• Open System Preferences
• Click Notifications
• Set your Do Not Disturb preferences 

Now that your laptop is ready to go, you need to create a laptop stand that sets your FaceTime screen at eye level. My hubby and I threw together these stackable racks for my laptop stand, which can double as storage. 

NOTE: be sure to put something heavy on the bottom rack of your stand so your laptop is stable!

So here's your action plan:

• Reach out to an actor and make your reader pact today!
• Do a test run using FaceTime in your studio tomorrow to fix tech issues. 
• Commit to submitting all future self-tapes ASAP.

​
This will bump you from being an amateur actor to a pro.

Remember, it's best to have one actor on call, but you can use any actor with this new studio setup, regardless of location. Just be sure to run a test call to double check feedback before you have an actual read. 

If you want to get this weekly training (plus a few high-level tips I don't post anywhere else) be sure to become an Actor Boss Insider. Learn more here.

Today we'll discuss how to land a commercial audition or booking. If you've been wondering how to audition for a commercial, then what you really need to know is how to research the company before you ever enter the casting office.

My very first professional booking through my talent agent was for the car company Audi. During the shoot, they randomly asked us to improv lines and "just talk about whatever."

I asked my scene partner/fake husband something about work, to which the director replied, "No not that. Don't talk about that," which was a note from the client because the commercial featured a couple taking a break from life to go all-roading in their new car. 

It dawned on me that I needed to know the topics that were important to their brand, and more specifically, important to their customer because that's who I was representing in the shoot.

The more you can represent their customer, the more likely a brand is to work with you again. I recently worked on a commercial for a new product launch. When I read the script, I laughed out loud and told my husband, "I am this woman. I literally say some of these things."

I mentioned this to the director in a chat before the shoot, and he said, "Well, that's good because you're really going to be the face of the brand." This time, I was able to improv lines at the shoot that had everyone, including the client, rolling because they were just so dang accurate.

I understand that I need to wait and see how the market responds to the commercials before I assume that I'm actually going to see a long-term contract, but if their target market feels like I'm super relatable to them, then it drastically increases my chances of becoming a spokesperson for that company.

The same is true for you. If you can understand and portray a company's target market so well that they love you, then you could be looking at a seriously nice contract.

You also need to understand that the client (company) is on set during a commercial shoot watching you on a monitor in the other room, so if they see that you're representing their top paying customers well, they'll fall in love with you, too. That means the top dog paying all of the paychecks will request you.

In this post, I want to teach you five ways to research your roles for commercials so you can greatly increase your chances of booking the role, plus represent the target market well on the actual shoot.

The secret of how to nail a commercial audition is to be the company's target market. These research techniques will help you even if you don't think that you are the company's ideal customer. However, I still highly recommend that you work with companies that complement your personal brand. 

This is the primary way I want you to research. It's almost a guarantee that the company on the shoot has a social media presence. They may not if they're a new company, but you'll more than likely find "teaser" posts for their launch somewhere online.  

I want you to first research the company's social media platforms. Each platform has a different research purpose. If you can't find a company on one of these platforms, no worries. The fact that they're not on a particular platform also gives you insight into their target customer.

For example, I tried to research the wife role for a John Deere commercial. Guess which platform they weren't using? Pinterest! Why? Because their target market (male farmers) doesn't use Pinterest. However, that's the very first platform I want you to check, so let's discuss why. 

Side note: make sure you sign out of your social media accounts before you start researching so that your platforms don't start showing you ads for that company (unless you want them to).

PINTEREST
Pinterest is the place to go when you want to pin ideas that interest you. Typically, tutorials or how to pins do really well. It is actually a search engine more than a social media platform. That means companies will create pin boards based on their brand and customer interests. 

​Read the titles of the company's Pinterest boards. Those titles will give you lots of info about the likes of the person you're representing. That way you're covered if you ever need to improv any lines during a shoot.

Let's say I have an audition for the company Bojangles. I Google "Bojangles Pinterest." (You should Google the company name + social platform so that you can access their social pages without signing into your accounts.)

Once I'm on their Pinterest profile, I notice one of their boards is titled Bojangles Southern 500. When I click on that board, the description mentions that it's their favorite race weekend, so now I know their customers probably like racing.

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Lastly, I search for "BMW review" to find user generated content. Remember to use positive information, not negative. During this search, I find a number of videos from actual owners (not businesses), and I see a video titled BMW Customer and Staff Testimonial Compilation. Now I can see and hear actual customers, and gain some knowledge about the cars. Since I don't personally own a BMW, I need to know what words their customers use to describe their vehicles. ​

You won't always have the opportunity to chat with the director before a shoot. It really depends on their personality and availability. I do not suggest that you ever request a chat, btw.

If you're offered the opportunity, then chat with the director or artistic director before the shoot. They'll have a list of notes about the client's interests and vision. Remember, the client (company) is who everyone wants to make happy.

Take notes during your social media research, and ask the director if your interpretation of the ideal client is correct. You should also ask if there are any topics they would like you to stay away from. That question would've saved me big time on the Audi shoot!

You won't be the ideal client for most of your commercial auditions. What if you've never tried the featured product or interacted with the company? Don't sweat! Do you know someone who has?

If you're not the company's target market, then talk to your friends or family members that are their ideal customer. Ask them how they feel about the company or product (as long as the product isn't new or you're not violating an NDA!).

Watch them gush. Listen to the words they use. Ask them to tell you why they purchase from that company.

I had an audition for a fast food restaurant once, but I'd never eaten their food. You typically don't eat food in an audition, but something in the audition notes made me think I would be asked about the featured menu item.

That morning, I purchased and tried the menu item. Sure enough, the casting director asked us questions about the food for the audition. How do you think that would've gone if I'd replied, "I don't know. I've never eaten it"?

The best way for you to learn about a company and their customers is to become a customer yourself.

If you're unwilling to eat a company's food, especially because of food sensitivities, then you probably need to decline the audition. Things change on set all of the time, so you may get unexpectedly asked to take a bite outta something. 

What if you're doing an audition for an expensive product, like a car? Go to the dealership and let them know that you have an audition, so you want the customer experience to see what it's like. Just don't share any information about the script or audition. If people ask me, I simply smile and reply, "I'm not allowed to say until it's released."

This tactic always proves valuable, regardless of what job you want with a company. Companies spend thousands of hours a dollars building their brands, which means their brands and interests are very important to them! Let them see that you understand that.

Research these areas of a company's website, and find ways to personally connect to their:

• Mission Statement
• Values
• History/origin story
• Charities
• Awards

You want to have a solid answer for the question, "Why should we book you for this role? Why do you want to work with our company?" Now, I've never been asked that question, but you better believe I'm always ready with an answer that has nothing to do with my career. Be ready to talk about them or tell a story from your life that relates to their company in some way.

Have you considered adopting an "audition uniform" to make your auditions that much easier? Watch this video to learn more.

Comment and share your thoughts on this video. Also, what color shirt would you wear every day to look your best?

***This post contains affiliate links.***

I like to watch educational videos on YouTube whenever I workout. Sometimes, I binge watch MarieTV with Marie Forleo.

One day, I watched her interview with Brendon Burchard about his book High Performance Habits, when he said something that sounded totally crazy to me: if you want to be a high performer, you should talk to yourself.

Wait, what?! I already look like I'm talking to myself when I spontaneously run lines in public, and nobody thinks it's cute! 

I'm sure you've heard that talking to yourself is a sign that you might be going cray-cray. Not so anymore, Actor Boss! In fact, you should talk to yourself before and after every audition so that you can audition with confidence.

Don't lie, you probably are talking to yourself already. However, if you want to know how to have more confidence in auditions, we need to make sure you're saying the best things to yourself to curb any unnecessary negative self-talk. What I'm sharing in this post isn't just my opinion--it's backed by science.

The High Performance Institute by Brendon Burchard now has the research to show that coaching yourself in the second person can increase your high performance, as mentioned in his interview with Marie Forleo.

Remember, this blog post is the follow-up to the Technique to Let Go of an Audition, but we'll sandwich that technique between your self-coaching sessions.

So here's the high-level overview:

1. Self-coach before the audition
2. Use the release technique after the audition
3. Self-coach after the release technique

If that seems like a lot, just know that it gets easier the more you do it. The truly meaningful parts of this process will surface when you need them. Commit to rehearsing the coaching I have listed in this post at least once for practice. 

In this post, I'll show you how I apply these steps specifically in terms of auditions. While the credit for this technique belongs 100% to Burchard, I'll give you the exact fill-in-the-blank coaching I use for myself as an actor. Try it out loud.

The goal is to become a high performer when you audition. Merriam-Webster defines high performance as being better, faster, or more efficient than others. Don't you want that in your auditions?! I know I do, not even to be better than others, but to be better than I currently am.

Auditioning is this totally weird beast that feels so different than breaking down a script and taking a long journey with your scene partner. I'm still working on it and probably always will be. Well, technically I heard that at some point you stop auditioning and just get asked if you want a role. 

If you're acting for the love of your craft, then you'll need this proven method to help you increase your high performance in auditions. It's not specifically for auditioning, but it can be used in any area that you want to increase high performance. So not only will this help your acting career, you can use it to help other aspects of your life as well.

Before each audition, what if you could:

• Feel confident?
• Lose the pre-audition jitters?
• Clear your head and calm your thoughts?
• Control your breathing?
• Relax your body?
• Feel more focused and present?
  ​

I've experienced all of those effects after self-coaching. I don't always remember to do it, but when I do, I straight up feel better.

Remember when I mentioned talking to yourself? Coach yourself in the second person. Pretend that you've sat yourself down and hired yourself to be your own personal coach.

For example, I would say, "Spurgeon, when you do this audition, you want to be...."

Now the fun can begin. You'll need to personalize this based on your goals, but I'll give you an example of my self-coaching so you have somewhere to start. Screenshot this to keep in your phone until you can do it from memory if you drive to your auditions.

Self-Coaching Example (before audition):

"Spurgeon, you've done the work already. You know your lines, you've broken down the script, and you left in plenty of time to be there early. Now you can focus on your objective. The casting directors are for you. They're looking for someone to serve their need of booking this role. They picked you out of a pile of headshots, so be thankful for that. Remember to have fun and be intentional with everyone you speak to. You thrive in a challenging environment, which is one of the reasons you love acting, so go enjoy this challenge."

Let's look at how you can personalize this method. Answer these five questions in regards to an audition.

5 Questions to Create Your Self-Coaching Breakdown:

1. Am I stressed right now, and if so why?
Coach your way out of stress by stating the facts. For example, "Traffic is crazy, but I left on time to be early." It's important that you stick to the facts so that you don't let your brain wander off into the crazy land of insecurities and negative self-talk.

If you hear yourself saying that you're stressed about something that you can't control, that also needs to be addressed. In my example, I couldn't control traffic patterns, but I could control how early I left.

You can also control how much you plan ahead by putting your destination into an app like Waze the night before to make sure you arrive on time. Just be sure to check it again for traffic updates the next day.

2. How do I feel about the casting director?
Find something positive to say about them to create a feeling of connection. If you've read for a particular casting director more than once, then you know them well enough to know if there's something you like about them. For example, you could say, "Stacy is always upbeat, so I know she'll be encouraging even if I mess up for some reason."

You can also use the statement I mentioned in my example. Casting directors want you to succeed, especially if they're placing you in front of a client. It makes them look good! Even if you don't book that specific job, they'll be thankful that you showed up prepared.

3. Am I thankful for this audition?
Express gratitude that you got the audition in the first place. You never know what one booking may lead to. Seriously, it only takes one booking to make a huge difference. 

While my hubby and I were driving to my birthday trip this year, my mom called. During that conversation, she asked me how things were going with my acting career. Then she told me about an interview she saw with Kevin Bacon. 

He said something along the lines of (paraphrasing from my mom here), "I can't believe all the crazy things I had to do to find jobs when I first started acting, but then I booked this one role, and it was like dominoes from there. That one role started getting me attention and phone calls."

ONE! JUST ONE! So what if this audition is the one? So what if it's for some random non-union regional internet commercial that doesn't pay residuals? It might be that you meet a key person that connects you to a bigger job.

Let's chat about that. I was an extra in a SAG-AFTRA golf commercial once. At the very end of the day during sign outs, I ended up in line with an actor I'd never seen or heard of. Apparently, he's in an upcoming feature film starring Dewayne Johnson. When I asked him how he got the job, do you know what he said?

"I worked on some random documentary, and one of the crew members I met referred me to this movie, and that was that." 

Did you hear what I just said? This guy worked on a documentary. Documentaries are cool and all, but I know that as an actor you're not chomping at the bit to be in a documentary. But because this guy was grateful for an opportunity, he went and made the best of it. Then he got a reference that led to him being in an upcoming box office movie--with Dewayne Johnson!

The hard truth is that most of the auditions and bookings you initially get are not the ones you actually want. If you aren't careful, you'll start to hate those opportunities, but that's what they are because you never know what might happen next. So start expressing gratitude on the way to your auditions. It will change your perspective.

4. How do I want to feel?
State the exact feelings or state-of-mind you want to have when you enter the room or start a self-tape. If it's an upbeat role, tell yourself that you want to have fun. If it's something dramatic, then tell yourself that you're about to bite your reader's head off during your audition, and you don't give a crap how they feel about it. Although, you should definitely be nice after the read. 

How do you want to interact with everyone in the lobby? If you want to be social, then tell yourself to ask people thoughtful questions and smile. Maybe you need to protect your heavy mental and emotional state, though. If so, then tell yourself that it's ok for you to ignore everyone in order to protect your work. Remind yourself that everyone else is in the same situation, and they get it. 

5. Why am I doing this?
Remind yourself of why you're an actor in the first place. Side note: if your answer is "to be famous," then it's time to reconsider your why because that won't be enough to push you through the rejection or enjoy the actual work you'll need to do as an actor. Yes, actors actually do work.

You need to see past this specific audition to your future goals. I don't just mean to visualize what you want, but think about how getting what you want would make you feel. That's key. Now, how is this audition a small step toward that feeling? Once you view each audition that way, they become less stressful and more exciting!

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If you haven't seen the actor's guide to using this technique, pop over to this blog post. You'll find a link back to this post for step three. I have more details and ideas in the full blog post, but the gist of this step is to breathe deeply and repeat the word, "Release, release, release."

Self-coaching after the audition is so important to help you finish letting go of it so you can move on with your life that day. At this point, you need to self-coach using the second person POV once again.

Self-Coaching Example (after audition):

"Spurgeon, you did your best in the moment. You're thankful for this opportunity. The one takeaway you can apply to your next audition is to ask a more specific question if you're confused about a note because it never hurts to ask. You can leave this audition behind you now because you no longer have control over what happens. Now it's time to listen to a podcast and transition into learning mode." 

5 prompts to formulate your second coaching session:

1. Complement yourself. 
Find something to be happy about from your audition. Anything! If your hair looked good, then say that to yourself. If you said your lines word-for-word, that counts. Find something good to dwell on about the audition so that you can remind yourself to think about that if you slip off into negative self-talk.

2. Express gratitude.
Yep! We're doing it again! Remember that not everyone in the world has the freedom to chase after their dream of being an actor. The arts are typically the first subjects to get cut from school funding, and citizens in impoverished areas only have the capacity to think about surviving.

I've personally chatted with a high school girl in a foreign country who thought it was amazing that I wanted to be an actor. She desperately wanted to be a visual artist, but per her government's regulations, her parents were required to declare her school track when she entered the 7th grade. They picked medical and science so she could learn how to be a doctor.

The fact that I can personally decide that I want to go audition, much less go do it, makes me such a happy camper. I hope you see how valuable that freedom is after hearing that story. I try to express gratitude at least once after each audition. I hope you do, too.

3. Give yourself a director's note.
What one constructive tip can you take action on next time? Hey, I said constructive. That means you can take action on it and see a different result. Tell yourself that tip so that you'll remember it next time. 

4. Tell yourself to let it go.
Remind yourself that it's over. Tell yourself to let it go because it's now currently out of your hands, and that is the truth! There's literally nothing else you can do about it. Even if you're self-taping, you know that submission is G-O-N-E once you hit submit on Actor's Access.

5. Transition to the next thing.
​Have a podcast or music playlist ready to go for the ride home. Which will you choose? Comment and share! I do not recommend that you sit in silence at this point. Distract yourself after you finish coaching yourself (out loud, remember?) because you'll keep thinking about it if you don't do something else.

If you need to, write down your self-coaching statements to read aloud to yourself until you know what to say. You can also record these prompts and replay them in the car, but I still recommend that you coach yourself out loud in the moment.

When I decided to become a professional actor, the very first class I took was an Audition Bootcamp. The instructor had us go through the entire audition process including walking into the room.

I hit my mark and said, “Now what?"

“Now you slate.”

“What’s a slate?”

LOL! I’ve come a long way since my initiation days, but I truly had no clue what a slate was. Now I feel like I spend 40% of my auditions worrying about the slate.

Slate Struggles Are Real:

• Did I say the right info?
• Did I say it in the right order?
• Do they want the full body shot first or last this time?
• How long should the full body shot be?
• Zoom? No zoom?
• How do I title the file?
• Do I upload it separately?
• Did they ask for availability?

Once I got my self-taping studio together, I didn’t realize how involved taping an audition slate would be. I was also surprised to see all of the various slate requests I received. I guess I assumed there was a standard slate. Not so, Actor Boss.

Full body slate shots became my primary self-taping hassle. In this post, I’ll breakdown how to save yourself tons of time self-taping your full body shots.
​
Disclosure: Hey Actor Boss, I have affiliate links in this post, which means at zero extra cost to you, I make a commission if you purchase through my link so I can keep delivering the Actor Boss goods.
​
What about you? What's your biggest struggle with self-taping? Comment at the bottom of this post to share.

If you're self-taping an audition at home, I'm guessing that you also hate resetting your studio to get the dreaded full body shot each time. Why is there no universal standard for slating?!

You may be surprised at how often you'll audition alone or via video, leaving you to shoot the full body shot yourself. That means no zooming or panning plus resetting your camera and lights. This. Takes. Time.

I solved this problem by saving all of my full body shots and slates to my phone. Now I can just pop whichever one I need into my audition video. However, this isn't as straight forward as it sounds. There are a few tips and tricks you should apply to make those shots easier to use.

It's too confusing when your hair is different in your closeup and your full body shot. The full body shots are typically a quick two seconds, so make it seamless.

Film a full body with your hair up and one with it down if you ever wear it in a ponytail so you can easily select the one that matches your closeup. 

You don't want them to stop and say, "Wait is this the same person?" It may also feel like you used an old full body shot, which can create doubt about whether or not you actually look the same now.

You can use wardrobe to make your slate transitions seamless, too. Pick one shirt to wear for all of your general reads that aren’t wardrobe specific so your audition outfit always matches your primary full body shot. 

I had a life uniform for a while, and I miss it. I scored big with nine blue V-neck tees at Target on sale for less than $5 each! If the audition didn't suggest wearing something character specific, then you can bet I was wearing that T-shirt.

This saved me so much time because I never had to change or prep an outfit for self-tapes. I'm hoping Target gets that blue color back soon so I can go back to my life uniform days.

My actor friend Tracie and I read for each other's auditions. She came to my house at first until we moved across town from each other and discovered the magic of reading via FaceTime.

One day, she was in my studio and saw how much time it took me to move my lights and camera around until I had everything in just the right spot. 

She said, "Why don't you just tape your floor?" DUH! I am a theatre major for crying out loud! We used spike tape for everything! 

I needed a quick fix, so I just used masking tape that I had on hand already. If you want the pro stuff, then spike tape is what you need. You can get it in a variety of colors to mark your various setups. 

For example, you can mark where everything goes for your full body shot in blue, closeups in green, and medium shots in orange. Spike tape is designed for residue-free removal so that it doesn't damage your flooring. You may still want to swap your tape strips every quarter just to be safe. 

Spike tape is also awesome because you can easily tear it by hand.

YO! Please remember that you cannot vacuum or clean your floors or carpet while the tape is still there. You will create a hot mess that's not easy to fix when you're ready to move.

​Even though spike tape isn't supposed to leave residue, it still may create a shape on the floor since that part of the floor hasn't experienced as much wear-and-tear as the surrounding areas.

Save yourself even more time by creating an audition editing work flow. I've scrolled through my camera roll wasting so much time being aggravated that I couldn't find the stupid shot I needed when keeping it was supposed to save me time in the first place!

Save those full body shots or generic closeup slates to an album in your phone, and name it "Slates." Done. Easy. Now all you need to do is open that album and transfer the correct file to your video editing app.

You may also consider creating projects in your video editor with each full body shot you have. That way, if you're wearing a polo for your audition, you'll already have a project started with your fully body polo shot. Wash, rinse, and repeat for your other outfits. Ideally, though, you'll wear the same top for your general reads.

I was stuck on the idea that I always needed to reset my self-taping studio "back to one" once I finished taping my auditions. That meant shooting my closeup, moving my equipment to shoot my full body, then moving everything back into closeup position.

One day, I was in too much of a hurry to reset my equipment once I finished self-taping. The next time I went into my studio, everything was still in "position two" for my full body shot. I thought, "Great! Now I need to waste time resetting, and you know my hair is going to look frizzy once I do."

My mind functions in ordered checklists. If the closeup is going to be first in the edit, then my brain thinks that's what I need to shoot first. I started to reset my studio for my closeup and medium shots, when I realized that I could just start with the full body shot because my studio was already setup for it!

If your studio is already in the full body shot position, shoot that first. If it's already in the closeup position, shoot that first. Do not waste time resetting your studio once you finish self-taping, and do not waste time changing the initial setup when you go back into your studio for another audition. Shoot your last setup first.

I know that sounds simple, but I'm saying it in case you're an actor that thinks like me. It's ok to shoot out of order. Movies would never be made if this weren't true. No one is going to know that you didn't shoot in order, except for maybe your OCD.

Take it from someone who gets flustered when things aren't in a specific order--your time is too important and too valuable to waste on unnecessarily resetting your studio.

It's also a good habit for you as an actor to break this linear thinking when it comes to your work so that you don't get flustered at shoots. It's very possible that you end up shooting the last scene first, the first scene on day ten, and your major character arc on a totally random day due to weather.

I recently watched a show on Amazon Prime. In case you haven't seen this feature yet, when you hover over the scene with your cursor, you can sometimes see Trivia about the show. I was shocked to see that they filmed the entire season based on location availability. That doesn't just mean that they filmed an episode out of order--it means they filmed the entire season out of order with scenes from multiple episodes on the same day.

Those actors were ping-ponging scripts, emotions, and lines like crazy people. So it's possible that you'll be put in that situation as an actor at some point. You're constantly at the whim of the production schedule. Learning to be flexible in your self-taped auditions will prepare you for being more flexible with schedule changes on set.

What do you need to start doing to save yourself time on your self-tape slates? Comment and let me know which tip you found the most helpful.

If you want a full breakdown of my self-taping studio equipment, check out my page Spurgeon's Favorite Things. I'm still using the original lights that I purchased almost three years ago now, and I haven't needed to replace the bulbs yet.