Spotlight Self-Tape Guide for Tagmin Agents with TagTapes

 

Share requests with your clients and deliver self-tapes directly to the casting director through TagTapes and Tagmin’s integration with Spotlight Self-Tape.

This guide is for agents who use Tagmin and TagTapes, which offers the most comprehensive workflow and features. If you don’t use these platforms please refer to our other guides: Self-Tape guide for Spotlight-only agents or Self-Tape guide for Tagmin users who don’t use TagTapes.

We are excited to launch our new Spotlight Self-Tape feature across the Spotlight platform. This feature is currently available to a limited number of casting directors. We’re using this period to refine the tool based on direct feedback before opening it up more broadly.

As a Tagmin agent who uses TagTapes, you will now receive Self-Tape requests from casting directors directly into your Tagmin system, which you can then forward on to your clients with ease. Delivery of the self-tape to the casting director is all done via your Tagmin interface, so you won’t need to collect, download or upload files yourself.

Tagmin Workflow:

Spotlight Settings:

 

Tagmin Workflow

Receiving a Spotlight Self-Tape Request Through Tagmin

Casting directors can now request a self-tape when viewing your submissions on Spotlight. When this happens, you will receive a notification by email from Spotlight and you’ll be able to view that request in Spotlight via the ‘Self-Tape Requests’ tab. At the same time, the request will land in your Tagmin system, with scripts already attached and breakdown and role information prefilled.

To view a Spotlight Self-Tape request on Tagmin, click on the ‘Requests’ tab in the submenu at the top of your Tagmin screen. The number on this tab refers to the number of requests you need to action.

Sharing a Spotlight Self-Tape Request Through Tagmin

How to view a Spotlight Self-Tape request through Tagmin:

  1. Click on the request to open it. 
  2. In the middle column, you will find a step-by-step guide, as well as other useful information around deadlines. 
  3. You can open the request or the original breakdown on Spotlight (as long as you are signed into the correct Spotlight account) by clicking on ‘Open Request on Spotlight’. 

How to send the request to your client:

  1. Check and edit the booking details in the right-hand column if necessary. For example, you may want to request the self-tape from your client earlier than the casting director’s deadline so you have time to review and approve it first.
  2. Want to skip agent approval? By default, you will need to approve the self-tape before you can release it to the casting director. However, if you don’t need to review the self-tape, you can change the ‘Skip agent approval’ dropdown at the top of the right-hand column to ‘Yes’. When your client uploads their self-tape on Tagmin, it will automatically display for the agent on Spotlight.
  3. Send to your client by clicking ‘EMAIL CLIENT’ at the top of the form. Scripts will be automatically attached for you.

Responding to a Spotlight Self-Tape Request

Once your client has let you know whether they will be accepting or declining the Spotlight Self-Tape request, you’ll need to pass this information along to the casting professional by updating the self-tape’s Spotlight status. Self-Tape requests in need of responding to will have ‘No Spotlight status’ displaying on them. 

How to respond to a Spotlight Self-Tape request through Tagmin:

  1. Click the ‘Requests’ tab to view your Self-Tape requests.
  2. Look for a request that says ‘No Spotlight status’ on it.
  3. Click on the status icon to the left of the request.
  4. Select ‘I will be accepting this request’ or ‘I will be declining this request’ – you can add a message if you wish – then click ‘SUBMIT RESPONSE’.
  5. The Spotlight system will instantly be updated for the casting professional.

Please note, you can also update the status directly on Spotlight, via your ‘Self-Tape requests’ tab on the left-hand menu. Wherever you do it, the other system will be updated.

Changing Your Response to a Spotlight Self-Tape Request

If you need to change your response to a Spotlight Self-Tape request, you can, so long as it’s before the Spotlight deadline. This can be done through your Tagmin or Spotlight account, which will automatically sync the status change across both systems.

  • To edit your response through Tagmin, click on the status icon to mark it as ‘passed’ in Tagmin, and use the window that pops up to decline the request on Spotlight. 
  • To edit your response through Spotlight, locate the request via the ‘Self-Tape requests’ tab on the left-hand menu and click ‘RESPOND TO REQUEST’ at the bottom.

Reviewing and Submitting a Self-Tape

TagTapes provides you with a central hub to track, collect, review and share all your Self-Tape requests, regardless of where they need to end up. Agents that use TagTapes also have the ability to submit self-tapes directly to casting professionals on Spotlight through Tagmin. 

How to submit a self-tape once your client uploads it to Tagmin:

  1. Review the self-tape via the Tapes tab in the submenu.
  2. Edit the order of the scenes or hide clips as required.
  3. Mark the self-tape as approved.
  4. Once you’re ready to submit the self-tape, click ‘SUBMIT TO CASTING DIRECTOR’.
  5. Drag and drop the selected and approved self-tapes onto the ‘tapes to submit’ area.
  6. You can review the self-tapes by clicking to play and edit the file names. There is no need to add the actor’s name as this appears automatically on Spotlight.
  7. Click ‘AGREE & SUBMIT TO SPOTLIGHT’ to send the self-tapes to the casting professional.

For more information, sign into your Tagmin account and click on ‘Help’, or watch our video guide below for a more in-depth look at using the Self-Tape feature as an agent with Tagmin.

 

Spotlight Settings

Allow Multiple Agents at Your Agency to Receive and Respond to Your Self-Tape Requests on Spotlight

A Spotlight Self-Tape request will only go to the account of the person who submitted for the role. If your client has Full Access on their Spotlight account and submitted themself, then they will receive the request.

If you make a submission for a client that multiple agents within your agency represent, only you will receive and be able to respond to the Self-Tape request through Spotlight.

How to ensure all relevant agents can see and respond to the requests:

  1. Sign into your Spotlight account.
  2. Click on the icon at the top right of your screen to open the right-hand menu, and then click ‘Account settings’.
  3. Scroll down to ‘Self-Tape requests notification settings’.
  4. You’ll see that it says ‘Requests sent to you only’. To change this, click the edit/pencil icon next to it.
  5. Select the email addresses of the agents you’d like to be able to see and respond to your Spotlight Self-Tape requests.

Other Things to Note:

  • Regardless of your Spotlight settings, the tape request will arrive in your Tagmin account, based on which clients you view in your ‘Daybook’ settings.
  • By following these steps, you can configure your agency’s settings on Spotlight to ensure the right members of your team are notified about Spotlight Self-Tape requests and have the ability to manage them accordingly.
  • This setting will need to be changed before you receive the Spotlight Self-Tape request, otherwise the request won’t go to anyone else’s Spotlight account.
  • The name of the agent who submits the Spotlight Self-Tape request to the casting director will be visible on the Self-Tape request, so you can check it in your feed to see who handled it.
  • If you would like to be notified about new requests via your agency’s main contact email address, you can turn on this setting in ‘Self-Tape requests notification settings’. Selecting this will not allow the entire agency to see and respond to your client’s Spotlight Self-Tape requests via the email, only send email notifications. 

Take a look at our video guide below for more help on how to change this setting.

 

Setting Up New Agent Users on Spotlight

We continue to encourage you to set up individual users for your Spotlight account for everyone working at your agency for the following reasons:

  • Error Prevention – Individual sign-ins reduce technical errors.
  • Client List Management – In the near future, each user will have the option to have individual client lists.

Shared Read Job Automation

Designed with smaller agencies and co-ops in mind, we introduced a new option which allows you to turn the ‘read/unread’ state option on. This means that one team member’s action (e.g. marking a job as read) will apply to everyone. It’s a great way to sync your team’s progress if you use read jobs as a flag for completed work.

This feature is optional and can be toggled on or off to fit your workflow. You can do this in the ‘Agency Details’ section of your account, found under ‘Job Feed Settings’ in the left-hand menu. It will start working the moment you click the button, so there may be a slight tidy-up needed for previous read breakdowns. Once the option is ticked, any read/unread breakdowns will be shared across all users at the agency.

How to Add New Users/Sign In Credentials to an Agency

  1. Sign into your Spotlight account as an admin user.
  2. Click on the icon at the top right of your screen to open the right-hand menu.
  3. Click ‘Agency Details’.
  4. Choose your agency, then click ‘Add new user’ at the top of the page.
  5. Enter the new agent’s email address and click ‘SEND INVITE’.

 

By following these steps you’ll be able to effectively manage the Spotlight Self-Tape request you receive. If you run into any issues, take a look at our Self-Tape feature FAQs or you can contact our team at agents@spotlight.com.

We welcome your feedback on the Self-Tape feature.