Actors On Strike Want Regulations Around Self-Tape Auditions (And Other Headlines)

Six years before Actress Emma Stone won an Academy Award for La La Land, she starred in the teen comedy Easy A, her first leading role.

The Wild West of self-tape auditions

How did she even get that part?

She submitted a self-tape “video blog” audition to the casting directors. A decade, a pandemic and an ongoing Hollywood industry strike later, self-taped auditions have become not only the norm, they’ve become quite contentious. Actors are calling for regulations around self-tapes, which is now one of many issues on the negotiating table for SAG-AFTRA members and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the group representing studios and streamers.

In the latest podcast episode from How To LA, host Brian De Los Santos spoke with Parenthood and The Bear actor Sarah Ramos about why self-tapes have become a huge problem: there’s no restrictions to what casting directors can require or request.

“Once self-taping became the norm, we started getting requests on the regular,” Ramos told Brian. “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 told Brian that there’s no regulations around the number of scenes actors can be required to memorize and perform or limits on the turnaround time for handing in a tape. Some union members have raised other concerns around self tapes, like being asked to perform unsafe activities or use materials that are outside of their resources.

It’s simply the Wild West. Anything goes. Ramos says it's “untenable.”

Listen to the latest How To LA podcast episode and read my colleague Monica Bushman’s article for more insight about what actors want and why, and how the AMPTP has countered so far.

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Wait! One more thing...

La concha: A warm hug for your taste buds

Delia Flores Estevez of Panaderia Coatzingo with a sheet of conchas.

(

Brian Feinzimer

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LAist

)

One of my favorite simple meals to have in the morning right before work is a warm, sweet bread called concha and a horchata latte with a shot of espresso. I have my designated panadería I like to go to, but because of my colleagues Gab Chabrán and Brian De Los Santos, I now have three additional places to try.

In this How To LA podcast episode, they explore Coatzingo, Vallarta and Gusto Bread — three top-notch eateries to satisfy your pan dulce fix. The cool thing about the places that they explored is that they’re all different — one is traditional, one is commercial and one is artisanal.

Gab also wrote an article about their discoveries. His description of the conchas at owner Delia Flores Estevez’s Panadería Coatzingo in Historic South Central is enough for me to head there tomorrow morning before work:

“Other pan includes cemita roja, similar to a large brioche bun topped with a dusting of finely ground pink sprinkles. Next is a puro, a long cylindrical shape with the pan dulce dough wrapped around its center, similar to a burrito, then topped with a cookie topping that's made with sugar and shortening (or lard), similar to what you find on a concha.”

Listen to the How To LA podcast episode all about conchas and read Gab’s article to find the location of these hot spots for sweet bread.