Casting director Kahleen Crawford’s expert advice on self-tapes, auditions, and showreels for actors looking to land their next role.
Meet Kahleen Crawford (CDG, CSA), a highly respected casting director known for her work on acclaimed films and series like All of Us Strangers, Living, The Buccaneers, The Lost Daughter and I, Daniel Blake. With a keen eye for talent, she has helped launch the careers of numerous actors, including Josh O’Connor (Challengers, The Crown), who originally auditioned for a short role but went on to become a lead in a future project Kahleen cast.
In this article, Kahleen shares invaluable insights on what makes a self-tape stand out, her top audition tips, and what casting directors are really looking for in a showreel. From the importance of making bold character choices to the simple technical dos and don’ts, her advice offers a refreshing and practical perspective on how to get noticed and build a lasting career.
What You’ll Find in This Article:
- What makes a good self-tape, emphasising the importance of making character choices and not getting too hung up on technical perfection.
- How to approach auditions, the value of showing your range and not being afraid to ask questions.
- Showreel guidance through her take on showreels, suggesting that quality self-tapes can sometimes be used in place of a professionally shot showreel and that scenes don’t need to be overly dramatic to be effective.
- Kahleen’s reflections on her favourite casting project to date and her dream project.
Hi, Kahleen! What do you look for in self-tapes?
People making character choices and people creating a character. Sometimes actors forget to do that or maybe it doesn’t come across strongly enough. I suppose that also links to them feeling comfortable to make choices when you’ve got a limited amount of material, or the scenes are test pieces and they’re not even the actual scenes of the character – like when IP [intellectual property] is being protected and being hidden from the general public.
We’re generally able to tell people what we’re doing, the period of the setting and the synopsis of the show or the film. Don’t be afraid to make some choices. Even if you want to send something where you feel that you’re just making safer choices, but you also feel you’ve got a spin you can put on it, I think then sending two takes is quite a good idea.
Sometimes people can naturally bring something to life and that’s brilliant, but other times they’re doing the acting bit and are creating something that’s very different to themselves and aren’t afraid to create a character and follow that through the scenes they’re doing. Even if you’re just taping one scene role and it might be a doctor’s receptionist; how’s she feeling that day? What happened before she got to work? Has somebody just shouted at her? Make little choices around things like that so that you’re bringing more to it than just serving the scene of ‘this is when our lead character comes in to make a doctor’s appointment’.
In terms of the technical, I don’t think people should get too hung up on the money that they spend on their screen behind them or the camera that they’re using. It’s more about being well lit, being seen clearly, seen in a decent resolution, filmed in landscape, not portrait and just doing your character work. If you’ve taken a picture off the wall and there’s a dust mark around it because your landlord hasn’t painted the wall in three years, don’t stress about it. From our point of view, we’re just looking for a good performance and a character.
What are your top audition tips?
Show what you can do. Show off what you’ve got because you can sometimes start very long relationships with actors who audition for one scene. Apart from having gone to see him in the theatre, that’s how I met Josh O’Connor and look at him now! Not that that was to do with me. What I mean is he’d been so brilliant coming in for a film called Una that when we were doing Only You – which was quite a long process – and he wasn’t the brief that the director was asking for, Claire Maroussas [his agent] and I were chatting and she was like, “Why don’t you just give Josh a shot?” And at that point, I was like, “Yes, I will, because he was so brilliant in the audition for Una.” I think he auditioned for one line and then he ended up getting the lead in this and a BIFA.
For auditions, it’s very similar and it’s about creating that character. I think quite often now, once you get an audition, you know that there’s interest in you because you’ve done a self-tape. But don’t be afraid to ask questions. Also don’t feel you have to! If you want to come in the room and say, “Can we crack on?” because your brain’s in the zone, you can. Say, “I’m really happy to push on,” and then, if you’ve got something you want to chat about, we can chat in between takes. Do whatever you need to make the process good for you, but just know as well that we are there to try and support you to get the part.
Image credit: YellowBellyPhoto
What are your showreel dos and don’ts?
I think showreels are evolving, aren’t they? I would say even if you don’t have a showreel and you have a couple of really good self-tapes, where you’re allowed to use the material – because sometimes the writing is not being screened yet or put on if it’s a play yet, and you shouldn’t be allowing that to be shared on Spotlight – do think of self-tapes as a possibility.
If you’re doing a showreel:
- Keep the running time sensible.
- Keep it to scenes where we can really clearly see you.
- Keep updating it if you’ve changed or aged significantly.
You don’t need to update it all the time and go to extra cost, but sometimes we will see material from 2010 so the person feels very different now just because that’s what life does to us all, even if we don’t feel like we’ve aged that much.
You don’t necessarily need to go out and do a showreel day and pay money and all of that stuff. Not to do anyone out of business, but that isn’t a pressure that you should put on yourself. We just like to hear people’s voice, see them talking, see them emoting, showing us a character, telling us a story, even if it’s one minute and 30 seconds.
I think sometimes people feel they have to pick out really dramatic scenes and I wouldn’t agree with that. Particularly crying, sometimes the scene isn’t really showing that much of the actor other than that they can cry. In real life, people don’t cry because we’re taught not to, we’re taught to try to hold it together publicly. So quite often the really moving scenes are when someone is battling with that.
You don’t have to worry about it being super dramatic, if it’s believable and there’s a character there, it’s useful to us.
What has been your favourite project to work on so far and why?
Alarmingly, I worked on it in 2008. It doesn’t mean there’s been nothing good since but we did a film called Looking for Eric in Manchester in the spring and summer, surrounded by stand-up comedians and with Eric Cantona. It was a tremendous amount of fun. It was really hot and sunny and there was an amazing cast and crew. I lived there for the best part of six months. It just felt like a really special time. It was a really special film to work on. And being in Manchester when you’ve got Eric Cantona with you is quite hilarious, I’ve never seen anyone have that effect on people. It’s quite something. So that was a really lovely job.
I’ve worked with Ken Loach quite a lot of times since 2003, so just getting the band back together is such a pleasure.
What would be your dream project to work on?
A real dream thing about a project to work on would be having the creative freedom to cast who we want and to not have to worry about raising the finance to get the project made. That’s what we get with Ken Loach. The money’s raised. The budgets were always there because he is so internationally respected and they have a finance model that works really well, and he knows how to use his money incredibly smartly on a film that’s all very fair. Everyone participates fairly and gets paid fairly.
Actionable Insights:
Kahleen’s advice for new actors is clear and practical. Don’t be afraid to make bold choices, and focus on the performance rather than the technical details. Here are some actionable tips to help you stand out.
- Make Character Choices: Even with limited material, create a backstory for your character. Think about what they were doing before the scene and how they’re feeling in that moment.
- Don’t Overspend: You don’t need expensive equipment for self-tapes. A well-lit, clearly filmed landscape video in decent resolution is all that’s needed.
- Show Your Range: Use every audition and self-tape as an opportunity to show what you can do. You never know when a short role could lead to a long-term relationship with a casting director.
- Keep Your Showreel Simple: Focus on scenes where your character is believable and engaging. Avoid overly dramatic scenes that might not showcase your acting abilities.
Thank you, Kahleen, for sharing your invaluable tips with us!
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