Self-registration debate hits UK as players demand variety of regulations

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The debate around self-recorded auditions is quietly gaining traction in the UK, where many actors share the concerns of their American counterparts over the regulation of the popular practice.

Variety may reveal that a group of UK actors have now launched a set of revised self-registration guidelines in a bid to raise awareness of a model they say is broken and unfair. The collective argues that self-recording requirements deprive actors of the studio learning experience and directors’ feedback. Under the new guidelines, actors should be given a full script rather than small snippets; find out how many other bands are submitted; get enough time to deliver their materials; and have transparency about where their strips will end up.

The practice of actors filming their own auditions and submitting them digitally to casting directors predated the pandemic, but became routine during the COVID crisis when studios were shut down. But while in-person meetings returned at least a year ago, self-registration stuck and was even made official in 2021 with guidelines issued by the UKs Casting Directors Guild in partnership with actors union Equity and the Personal Managers Association. These groups said self-registration opens up jobs to a wider variety of applicants and makes the industry more accessible and profitable for those living outside major centers like London.

Yet organizers of a new campaign to regulate self-registration say the 2021 framework is no longer fit for purpose. The actors leading the campaign who requested anonymity for fear of being blacklisted consulted with a group of around 200 peers over more than six months. Variety understands that the proposed guidelines have been sent to various agencies and are being circulated throughout the industry.

Giving actors the responsibility to audition each other effectively is unfair, inefficient, wastes unnecessary time, and often negatively impacts actors’ livelihoods and well-being, reads the lengthy document, seen by Variety, and available at its entirety here.

The band also argues that rigid deadlines for self-tape submissions show a lack of consideration and respect for actors, creating an environment of exclusion and inequality.

We weren’t saying people had to stop self-registering, one of the organizers, an established actor with decades of experience, tells Variety. What we were talking about is bad practices, which are so common now. It is to say, if we were to have self-registrations, they must be done in a transparent, regulated and fair way.

Another organizer adds: We weren’t talking about the Olivia Colmans of our world. Things are very different for these people. It’s about jobbing actors. And in that moment were treated with absolute contempt.

The new criteria propose the following eight pillars:

Independent regulation: The creation of an independent body to oversee and regulate the casting process.

Backup and Accountability: Notification that a tape has been viewed and to whom it has been transmitted.

Data Protection: Tapes should be deleted from each laptop to which they are sent and notification should be sent or consent sought if they are to be retained.

Transparency: There should be an obligation to provide the number of auto-cassettes requested for the same part and whether the part is already on sale or not.

Complete script with clear and meaningful direction: Sending a complete script to the actors should be standard practice. There has to be a context to make meaningful character choices.

Fair turnaround time: The previously agreed four-day turnaround time for self-check-ins shall not include weekends.

Realistic expectation: During the first pass, do not expect the actor to learn the script which can take place over several scenes.

Yes or no: there should be a yes or no or it is proposed, within a reasonable time. Actors are able to hold good, bad or indifferent news; it’s part of the job.

Organizers say they hope steps can be taken to update the existing framework for self-cassettes, although a productive discussion has yet to take place. Sources indicate that a meeting was held with CDG in 2022, although no representatives of the actors were involved.

In response to the criteria, the guild told Variety: “There will sometimes be circumstances where a quick turnaround is needed, and when that happens we ask members to be clear with agents about why. We regularly remind our members of the agreed guidelines and respond to complaints received. Unfortunately, we cannot handle complaints against non-members. We are always open to conversations about guidelines and ways to improve them.

Equity and the PMA did not respond to requests for comment before press time.

Personal managers and casting directors say a balance is needed between digital and in-person auditions. AMM Entertainment / Waters of Phoenix

Regulating self-recorded auditions has been one of the burning issues being debated in the United States as the Screen Actors Guild prepares to enter negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers from June 7.

In the UK, this same dialogue is simmering behind the scenes between CDG, PMA and the stakeholder community. There’s been a lot of talk about this, and we all know there are huge pros and cons both ways, said a PMA member who spoke to Variety on condition of anonymity.

It’s quite difficult because casting can be so last minute, they say. Everyone wants as much time as possible to learn their pages, but realistically we were now in a company where everyone was working remotely and wanted things right away.

In the end, as a manager, they just want [their] clients work, and to make that happen, Source takes care of the more laborious parts of the self-registration process, such as editing, uploading, and emailing auditions to casting directors.

Do they regularly respond to complaints about self-registration from their customers? It’s a mix, says the director. Some people really like it because it takes the pressure off, and casting directors see people they might not have auditioned otherwise.

But women are affected by self-registration, they observe. Anyone balancing child custody and self-checking in at home finds this incredibly tricky.

Mark Summers, a seasoned London-based casting director, is a proponent of self-recording, but admits it’s not for all actors, especially some older actors who might be less familiar with the know-how. do technological required and that there has to be a balance.

Clients should offer actors the choice of doing a self-tape or entering a casting studio, Summers says. You can be the best actor in the world, but it’s a matter of direction, and actors have to be directed. When you are alone it can be very difficult.

Summers, whose credits include everything from independent films to Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift music videos, also stresses that casting directors shouldn’t be scapegoats in the ongoing debate.

Many casting directors are blamed for the delivery delay, but weren’t to blame, he says. Clients avoid bringing people into casting studios because they want to save money. But it doesn’t work because performers need direction. If you’re stuck outside of London, great for a self-tape, but there needs to be a reasonable amount of time for artists and agents to collect those tapes, but also for casting directors, who are exhausted.

Nobody becomes a casting director for the money, says Summers, and many of his peers are feeling the pressure more and more. That’s the problem: auditioning becomes less of a creative role and more of an administrative role.

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