Next! The death of the audition

Last year, the actor Paul Freeman borrowed a chapel in the grounds of a friend’s house, lit the building with candles and played a CD of Gregorian plainchant while wearing his wife’s hoodie as a monk’s cowl. He got the part in Da Vinci’s Demons.

Actors, directors and casting directors report a growth in the phenomenon of self-taping: actors are asked to film a scene and email it to prospective employers. To get yourself on screen, it seems, you have to first put yourself on screen. “Self-tape has completely swept the field,” says Freeman, whose TV career stretches from Crown Court in the 1970s through New Street Law to the aforementioned fantasy drama. “It’s now so widespread that to meet a director before a shoot is virtually unknown. Indeed, two years ago, when I met with Werner Herzog for a project, I was so overcome with nerves at this unusual occurrence that I more or less froze.

Originally published on thegurdian.com. Read the full article here.