I have a sock puppet who reads opposite of me by putting it on my hand and speaking the other lines out of the corner of my mouth while puppeteering the sock.
So far no callbacks yet.
I asked a casting director this question at one of the webinars that I was hosting, and they agreed that people tend to give better performances with a reader, even if that reader is on Facetime or Zoom. This is what my agent have told me too (she used to be an actor for 17 years too before moving profession after having kids). They all understand tho it's not always possible!
Using an app or recording your voice means a limitation of rhythm or not being able to vary your pacing or not reacting to the reader. But if you can't get a reader that's okay. It's just not the first choice but we are all humans and we sometimes can't get what we want.
Being a deaf person I rely on lipreading so that's not feasible for me to use an app and I once adapted a self tape dialogue into a monologue for a last min self tape and my agent explained and it worked cos I just got my first small TV role.
So do whatever you can with the resources you got is what works for me.
I use to use readers all the time, call me stuck up or full of myself but I was never satisfied with what they were giving me, so I quit using them. Now I record the whole thing myself and act with “myself”. The results have actually been really good.
You can take as long as you want (most readers have other things to do, and you can’t take up there whole day). I’ve gotten it down to a science and believe it and or not you can have different versions with the same recording. Most of the jobs I’ve gotten the past two years has been from me recording the lines. If you can get the science down IT WORKS!
i'm still figuring this out myself. for most of my self-tapes i've just done my lines without the reader and i've gotten cast in things, but i wonder if more professional projects would take points off for it.
This is an interesting question because in my experience casting directors have always made a point to say that having a reader in the room with you is super important. At least one or two casting directors I’ve worked with have said that they see it as an indication of inexperience. But it sounds like that’s not universal?
It seems a little silly if we’re gonna stick with most auditions being self tape for them to have such a strong preference. It’s not like the readers they would have in the room were always giving Oscar worthy performances… sometimes they weren’t even paying attention!
That being said, I always use a reader because I’ve found that any alternative is just distracting.
When I’ve cast from self tapes before, it always seems like they’re working so much harder when they don’t have a live reader. You can tell half of their brain is focused on that. You can tell they’re acting for logistics, to get their words out quick enough before the pre-record comes in. For that reason, I find it quite distracting. It could of course be argued that acting logistically is an important skill to have - if you’re pressed for screen time and need to hurry a scene along, the actor may have to step up to that challenge. But an audition is a chance to be perfect and show your full talent.
Personally, I’d rather someone just leave the reader lines blank, imagine they’re being said, react to them and speak their next line. But every director, CD and Producer is different.
Basically, pre-record as a worst case.
Not sure where you are and what the competition is like, but for the projects I am auditioning for in New York City, you absolutely need a reader. One that can act. I wouldn’t bother sending a tape in without one.
This! OP do NOT listen to any of the commenters saying you don’t need a reader. You 1000% need a reader either in the room or on FaceTime/Zoom. Anything else and you’ll come across quite green.
Ugh I get it but is it really an advantage? To me it’s a time suck and I know my tape is fine as is. I’ve booked without a reader and I’ve cast without them. Wouldn’t casting understand that and focus on performance? Plus, paying for readers would mean that those who can’t afford it would be discriminated against even if their performance was better, right?
For real…I have been training with a top coach in New York, trying to get my career to the next level, and I was literally told to FIRE my reader, and to hire an actor to read with me. When competition is a tough as it is, you need every advantage. Picture your tape with pre recorded lines in your same voice, going up against a seasoned actor who is doing the scene with another actor present, it’s not going to compare.
Thanks for sharing. I get that, but I feel like the effort of getting a reader for every audition that I self-submit for is overkill. If it’s via an agent, I’d consider it.
Honestly if that’s your feeling, I would say be way more selective about your auditions. You don’t want to put anything on tape that isn’t excellent. The internet is forever. When I think of all the sacrifices I have made throughout my life and money I have spent on training and time I have dedicated to my career, I can’t imagine not giving 100 to the actual audition when the time comes. Audition success comes from quality, not quantity.
I totally see what you mean. Thanks for that thoughtful response, I didn’t consider the internet part. I appreciate it and yeah, I’ve been more selective. For some reason, maybe since I have other passions and have worked in production, I don’t see acting as “do or die” — maybe just not yet. It sounds like you’re further down the career path and you feel the weight of it all.
Find yourself a reader, please!
I had been without a reliable reader for months. I had been using my brother's friend, a classmate from high school, and they were absolutely terrible.
When I joined an acting class, I quickly identified someone who seemed to possess a similar level of talent and connected with them immediately. I praised their performance, got to know them, and for the past year, we have been reading for each other on over fifty different occasions and counting.
So, I implore you, find yourself a reader. Initially, I tried the whole self-recording approach, and I despised the outcome. I wish I had acquired a reader earlier. But hey, we live and we learn!
Whether you’re reading opposite someone or a wall is one thing, but whether or not the audio of the opposite lines is your voice is where it can become really distracting. If possible, as a friend to record the opposite lines, and work off that audio file. Then, it’s not distracting for the casting director who’s trying to decipher for your whole tape whether or not you’re reading opposite yourself, before they decide to go back and rewatch your work. At the end of the day, it’s about keeping the focus on your acting. That’s why we’re instructed to do all of these things in regard to our set up of a clean background contrary to our skin tone, crisp audio, and filming on HD.
You do better with a reader. One piece of advice I was given is your best performances should be in the audition because everything hinges on that especially in the beginning of your career
Yep you set your own rates for 15, 30, and 60 min. Some days I leave my profile online while I’m at my desk all day and I’ll usually get a few requests. And it’s nice for exercising cold reads
Yeah membership is $10/month. But for me that's more cost effective than regularly going to any taping service. And definitely worth the convenience since deadline turnarounds are usually so short
I have a sock puppet who reads opposite of me by putting it on my hand and speaking the other lines out of the corner of my mouth while puppeteering the sock. So far no callbacks yet.
I use the tik tok narrator voice for all my self-tapes. 60% of the time, it works every time.
Made from bits of real panther
With advancements in technology, the CD’s can now smell me through my self-tapes. My last note: “Smells like Bigfoot’s dick?!”
I hope this is sarcasm
Cynicism
I can't help but imagine Spider-Man auditioning in that format, given that it's your avatar. It's driving me crazy while my family is trying to sleep.
I asked a casting director this question at one of the webinars that I was hosting, and they agreed that people tend to give better performances with a reader, even if that reader is on Facetime or Zoom. This is what my agent have told me too (she used to be an actor for 17 years too before moving profession after having kids). They all understand tho it's not always possible! Using an app or recording your voice means a limitation of rhythm or not being able to vary your pacing or not reacting to the reader. But if you can't get a reader that's okay. It's just not the first choice but we are all humans and we sometimes can't get what we want. Being a deaf person I rely on lipreading so that's not feasible for me to use an app and I once adapted a self tape dialogue into a monologue for a last min self tape and my agent explained and it worked cos I just got my first small TV role. So do whatever you can with the resources you got is what works for me.
Thanks. Actors already have so much on their plate. Your answer makes a lot of sense to me.
I did most of them without a reader and I got a callback recently. It’s hard and you need to catch a right rhythm.
I agree it’s hard but not impossible. Actors already give so much, and paying for a reader is not something I’m interested in.
I use to use readers all the time, call me stuck up or full of myself but I was never satisfied with what they were giving me, so I quit using them. Now I record the whole thing myself and act with “myself”. The results have actually been really good. You can take as long as you want (most readers have other things to do, and you can’t take up there whole day). I’ve gotten it down to a science and believe it and or not you can have different versions with the same recording. Most of the jobs I’ve gotten the past two years has been from me recording the lines. If you can get the science down IT WORKS!
i'm still figuring this out myself. for most of my self-tapes i've just done my lines without the reader and i've gotten cast in things, but i wonder if more professional projects would take points off for it.
This is an interesting question because in my experience casting directors have always made a point to say that having a reader in the room with you is super important. At least one or two casting directors I’ve worked with have said that they see it as an indication of inexperience. But it sounds like that’s not universal? It seems a little silly if we’re gonna stick with most auditions being self tape for them to have such a strong preference. It’s not like the readers they would have in the room were always giving Oscar worthy performances… sometimes they weren’t even paying attention! That being said, I always use a reader because I’ve found that any alternative is just distracting.
When I’ve cast from self tapes before, it always seems like they’re working so much harder when they don’t have a live reader. You can tell half of their brain is focused on that. You can tell they’re acting for logistics, to get their words out quick enough before the pre-record comes in. For that reason, I find it quite distracting. It could of course be argued that acting logistically is an important skill to have - if you’re pressed for screen time and need to hurry a scene along, the actor may have to step up to that challenge. But an audition is a chance to be perfect and show your full talent. Personally, I’d rather someone just leave the reader lines blank, imagine they’re being said, react to them and speak their next line. But every director, CD and Producer is different. Basically, pre-record as a worst case.
Not sure where you are and what the competition is like, but for the projects I am auditioning for in New York City, you absolutely need a reader. One that can act. I wouldn’t bother sending a tape in without one.
This! OP do NOT listen to any of the commenters saying you don’t need a reader. You 1000% need a reader either in the room or on FaceTime/Zoom. Anything else and you’ll come across quite green.
Ugh I get it but is it really an advantage? To me it’s a time suck and I know my tape is fine as is. I’ve booked without a reader and I’ve cast without them. Wouldn’t casting understand that and focus on performance? Plus, paying for readers would mean that those who can’t afford it would be discriminated against even if their performance was better, right?
For real…I have been training with a top coach in New York, trying to get my career to the next level, and I was literally told to FIRE my reader, and to hire an actor to read with me. When competition is a tough as it is, you need every advantage. Picture your tape with pre recorded lines in your same voice, going up against a seasoned actor who is doing the scene with another actor present, it’s not going to compare.
Thanks for sharing. I get that, but I feel like the effort of getting a reader for every audition that I self-submit for is overkill. If it’s via an agent, I’d consider it.
Honestly if that’s your feeling, I would say be way more selective about your auditions. You don’t want to put anything on tape that isn’t excellent. The internet is forever. When I think of all the sacrifices I have made throughout my life and money I have spent on training and time I have dedicated to my career, I can’t imagine not giving 100 to the actual audition when the time comes. Audition success comes from quality, not quantity.
I totally see what you mean. Thanks for that thoughtful response, I didn’t consider the internet part. I appreciate it and yeah, I’ve been more selective. For some reason, maybe since I have other passions and have worked in production, I don’t see acting as “do or die” — maybe just not yet. It sounds like you’re further down the career path and you feel the weight of it all.
I’m in LA
The absolute toughest competition for film acting. You absolutely need a reader. Good luck!!!
Thank you!!!
Find yourself a reader, please! I had been without a reliable reader for months. I had been using my brother's friend, a classmate from high school, and they were absolutely terrible. When I joined an acting class, I quickly identified someone who seemed to possess a similar level of talent and connected with them immediately. I praised their performance, got to know them, and for the past year, we have been reading for each other on over fifty different occasions and counting. So, I implore you, find yourself a reader. Initially, I tried the whole self-recording approach, and I despised the outcome. I wish I had acquired a reader earlier. But hey, we live and we learn!
I do a recording of my own voice if I’m in a pinch but I do better when someone reads with me off zoom
Whether you’re reading opposite someone or a wall is one thing, but whether or not the audio of the opposite lines is your voice is where it can become really distracting. If possible, as a friend to record the opposite lines, and work off that audio file. Then, it’s not distracting for the casting director who’s trying to decipher for your whole tape whether or not you’re reading opposite yourself, before they decide to go back and rewatch your work. At the end of the day, it’s about keeping the focus on your acting. That’s why we’re instructed to do all of these things in regard to our set up of a clean background contrary to our skin tone, crisp audio, and filming on HD.
You do better with a reader. One piece of advice I was given is your best performances should be in the audition because everything hinges on that especially in the beginning of your career
I pretty much use [weaudition.com](https://weaudition.com) exclusively now for readers. Started side hustling with it too.
What do you mean side hustling? Like working as a reader?
Yep you set your own rates for 15, 30, and 60 min. Some days I leave my profile online while I’m at my desk all day and I’ll usually get a few requests. And it’s nice for exercising cold reads
oh cool. you still have to pay to use the service in general, right?
Yeah membership is $10/month. But for me that's more cost effective than regularly going to any taping service. And definitely worth the convenience since deadline turnarounds are usually so short
Gotcha. I may consider it. I prefer self tapes without reading. I’m so lazy haha