SAG Strike: What Are ‘Self-Tapes’ And Why Are Actors So Fired Up About Them? Actor Sarah Ramos Explains

Listen to the interview

Hollywood is at a standstill right now, with screenwriters — and now actors — out on strike. (Though if you ask many actors and writers, it was studios and streamers who actually began slowing down production early this year in anticipation of a strike.)

SAG-AFTRA, the union that represents actors, is calling for a number of changes in their now-stalled contract negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television Producers, or the AMPTP, the organization that represents studios and streamers. Those changes include inflation-based wage increases, protections against artificial intelligence, and a share in revenue for streaming content.

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Another contentious issue? Self-tapes.

What are self-tapes?

Self-taped auditions, or self-tapes as they’re known colloquially, are when an actor records their own audition for a film or TV show. While self-tapes were around before the pandemic, they became the norm after COVID made them the only option. Pre-pandemic, actors would audition for a casting director in person. Now, that’s become much less common.

In an interview for LAist’s How To LA podcast, actor Sarah Ramos (Parenthood, The Bear) said that while she actually likes self-tapes (“I don’t like leaving my house”), without any regulations, it’s problematic: “This is a strain on our resources, a strain on our community and it's untenable.”

Ramos, who is also on the SAG-AFTRA negotiating committee, has posted some of her auditions on Instagram to raise awareness around self-tapes. (And there is also an entire Instagram account devoted to the issue, called “Auditions Are Work.”) She’s edited herself into roles she didn’t get (like for The Social Network, or just posted the entire thing like she did for her audition for season 1 of The White Lotus where she played multiple parts (that wasn’t asked of her, but she decided to do it because she’s such a fan of the show creator Mike White).

A related, but somewhat separate issue, is that actors are actually supposed to be paid for their auditions: one-half of their full-day rate (so $541) for every audition they perform. That’s according to a contract provision that has been in place since 1947 but is not enforced.

What issues do actors have with self-tapes?

“We did our part in keeping the industry afloat during the pandemic. We bought ring lights and we bought tripods and we got backdrops,” Ramos told How To LA host Brian De Los Santos.

“Once self-taping became the norm, we started getting requests on the regular. And part of the issue is that now the studios have no limit to what they can request from actors … because it costs the producers nothing, they can ask for the moon.”

Ramos says there are no rules about how many scenes actors can be required to memorize and perform, or what the turnaround time is on a request for an audition (or if it’s over a weekend or holiday). There’s also no guarantee you’ll ever find out if your audition was watched by anyone or if the job has already been offered to another actor.

There’s also the issue of actors needing to find “readers”: “I cannot do a self-tape on my own. If it's a scene with another person, I have to ask somebody to read with me. This has been going on for years now,” Ramos says. “I've scrambled to ask people left and right — 'Can you put me on tape? Can you put me on tape?' "

Other issues with self-tapes that SAG members have raised: being asked to record in multiple locations, perform an “unsafe activity,” or use props or specific styling.

“It’s a mess,” Ramos says. “So on the negotiating table are regulations for self-tapes.”

What are actors asking for?

SAG-AFTRA has proposed regulations for self-tapes, including asking producers to:

1. Establish a minimum turnaround time for self-taped auditions for adults and minors, excluding weekends and holidays.
2. Disclose if an offer is out or the role has already been cast at the time self-taped auditions are requested.
3. Limit the number of pages for a first call.

According to the union, this is how the AMPTP responded to these points:

1. Tentatively agreed to reasonable turnaround times but refused to exclude weekends and holidays from the turnaround time calculation.
2. Counter-rejected disclosing when an offer is out, and required performers to contact production to ask if a role has already been cast. They will only “endeavor” to respond.
3. Countered with an unacceptable number of pages.

Some other issues were tentatively agreed to by the AMPTP, according to SAG:

• Tentatively agreed to limitations on technical requirements, such as recording quality, cameras, lights, microphones, backgrounds, editing software, and uploading services.

• Tentatively agreed that performers shall not be requested to audition in the nude or required to do a stunt in an audition.

What have studios and streamers had to say about this?

On July 17, the AMPTP released a statement that listed “components of the Producers’ offer that SAG-AFTRA has chosen to forgo in favor of a strike.”

It included these points on self-tapes: “Limitation of self-tape requests, including page, time and tech requirements. Options for virtual or in-person auditions.”