Pilot season has us like 😵💫 so please excuse today’s 𝘞𝘦𝘥𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘥𝘢𝘺 Myth Debunker.
We’re coming in with a hot myth today 🔥
Music, sound effects, title cards, sets—make your self tape stand out as much as possible, right?
🚫🚫🚫
𝙋𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙚 𝙙𝙤𝙣’𝙩 𝙙𝙤 𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙨𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨.
While we greatly appreciate your passion, effort and creativity, the fact is: your self tape is an audition and nothing else.
2 main reasons you should not add more “fluff” to your self tape:
1. Distraction. Any sort of music, sound effects or unnecessary props can be 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 distracting. We have hundreds of self tapes to watch, which is why it’s so easy for us to get distracted. Our focus needs to be on YOU and you alone.
2. Time. We need to be efficient with our time. Adding title cards, painfully long slates and other unnecessary elements causes us to skip forward to get to “the good stuff” and sometimes we might skip over an important line in the process. 𝗗𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗴𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘂𝘀 𝗮 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗸𝗶𝗽 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱.
That said, props and subtle/appropriate wardrobe choices are still OK.
The purpose of props and wardrobe should be to 𝘦𝘯𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 the performance, not 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵 from it.
Keep it simple and remember what matters most: your acting and the choices you make.
#themoreyouknow #wednesdaymythdebunker #thecastingdirectorscut #workingactor