Oscar winner Olivia Colman says self-taped auditions don't allow actors to receive feedback and form an in-person rapport with casting directors.
In a conversation with her "Fleabag" co-star Andrew Scott for the Interview magazine, Colman weighed in on the entertainment industry's growing dependence on audition tapes.
The practice, which was a stumbling block in collective bargaining negotiations between SAG-AFTRA (actors guild) and the AMPTP (producers alliance) in 2023, gained widespread popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to Colman, it's "disrespectful and rude" to ask actors for self-taped auditions.
“It’s very disrespectful. It’s basically a memory test, isn’t it? Because they give it to you really late. It’s really rude. I can see how it’s easier for them not to have to do things in the flesh, but I wouldn’t have gotten where I am if I’d had to do self-tapes, because I used to go to auditions knowing that they didn’t want me, but it was so much fun to win them over,” she said.
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Scott echoed Colman’s sentiments.
Recalling his early days of submitting audition tapes, the "Ripley" actor added: “I used to go into the post office on Denmark Street (in London) and buy myself a zippy bag or whatever, put my videotape in and send it off to America for some f****** thing I was never going to get. It’s horrific. And then you wouldn’t hear anything.”
