“Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now.”

Goethe

If I can convince you of one thing this week it is this:

that you do not need to be cowed by the unfair deadlines imposed on you

you don’t need to feel like crap all the time just because the industry refuses to change

you do not need to force yourself into positions that you are not comfortable with, merely to have a small chance of making a living.

You do not need to be stepped on.

If we treat what we are making in our living rooms, our bedrooms, our kitchens, in front of hung sheets, stuck up back drops, hastily smoothed out curtains, picture frames taken off the walls, leaning stacks of books, broken tripods, second hand mics, third hand phones, if we start looking at what we create with our friends, our partners, our collaborators as the art that it is, then no matter what the unreasonable turnaround, hyperspecific instructions, demeaning casting briefs or stupid amount of sides we are given, we will produce work that we are proud of, something that we can point to and, with a smile, say,

“In spite of everything you have thrown at me, I made this. I made this. And I had a fucking blast doing it”

Welcome to Week 2 in 3 of this little project we’re calling Selftape Pizza.

​Last week we went over a technique that allows you submit an off-book selftape in 30mins (this has been done).

This week we are going to be breaking down an actual tape that was made using the Brando. It booked a season regular role on Marie Antoinette. Directly from the tape.

So we’re going to be looking at:

• The exact brief that was sent by casting
• What choices were made and why
• The mistakes that should be avoided
• The equipment we used.
• The reward my selftape partner got after we booked the gig.

Let’s to it.

I’d like to encourage you, as we move through this letter, to think about your taste. What works for you? What doesn’t? Hopefully what follows will stimulate some strong feelings – things you agree with, and, just as useful, things you disagree with – take note of what they are. They are your taste. Steal the things that work for you, head in the opposite direction of the ones that do not.

Therein lies the quickest way to find an answer to “How can I improve my tapes?”. Identify what works for you, and move aggressively towards that.

THE BRIEF THAT ARRIVED IN MY INBOX

Project: Marie Antoinette S2 (Canal+)
​Character: Villette
​Turnaround given: 3 days (not including weekend)

What They Sent:

• ✓ Character Brief
• ✓ Scene Breakdown
• ✓ Sides (4 pages)
• ✗ Full script

Character Brief (verbatim from casting):

“Late 20s – early 30s. He’s Jeanne’s roommate, criminal associate and dearest friend. Neutral English accent. He has an active role in Jeanne’s Diamond Necklace heist. He’s the one who forges the Queen’s letters and signature. He’s also the one who removes the necklace stones from its setting and sells them individually in Paris. He’s desperate to give up crime and fantasises about being a simple farmer but he always obeys Jeanne in the end.”

THE PREP

I remember being knee deep in my day job at the time and absolutely shattered.

So I used the Brando.

Typed out my sheets.

Messaged my buddy Jordanovitch.

Worked on some choices.

Got to recording.

THE TAPE

Here’s what we came up with:

​

THE CHOICES

In the lead up to filming I made two kinds of choices:

1. Character Choices

Decisions I made based on the script and my life experiences. They can be anything from what I think the character needs & wants, deciding to shave or not, to following an impulse to high five instead of handshake.

2. Process Choices

These are small, highly experimental adjustments that I play around with in an effort to find new ways to improve the selftape process. They run alongside character choices and have to do with keeping myself motivated, enjoying the tape and discovering new ways to make my choices as interesting to me as possible.

Character Choice: He’s deeply deeply in love with her

Evidence from brief:

“desperate to give up crime”

but

“always obeys Jeanne in the end”.

this led to questions about:

In the past, what has made me, Alex, obedient, in spite of all the things i might have wanted for myself?

well:

When I was around 16 i was in love with someone intensely, and had little belief in myself as a loveable human. This led to me being willing to bend over backwards to keep that person in the picture.

leading to the choice:

He loves her intensely
He has very low self esteem + confidence.

When my taping partner, Jordan, and I played the scenes, quite quickly this choice felt like a strong one.

Scene 1 became about trying to muster the courage to tell her how I truly felt (and failing).

Scene 2 was about finding the courage to stand up for the person I love in spite of the looming threat of danger to myself (and succeeding).

The arc of the tape became:

Someone driven by love but cowed by self doubt, fear and worry → Taking courage in the face of self doubt to protect the person he loved.

Process Choice: I’ll Do It For My True Fans

There’s a concept called “finding your true fans” that I had read around that time:

You don’t need the whole world to like your art to make a living. You just need about 1000 people who really fucking love your work.

So I decided to experiment with that for this tape.

Before taping, I told myself:

Now, I think there are less than a handful of people irl who feel that way. But as an imaginative exercise, it was transformative.

Pitching it out to these 1000 imaginary fans helped me get closer to making choices that are original to me. It was like saying “what’s the most Alex way of getting what you want” whilst helpfully leapfrogging me over the usual self loathing.

This was the first time I used this process choice. It has now become one of the most frequent tools I use when taping.

OTHER THINGS THAT WORKED:

The lighting:

• The natural window light in front of me along with the warm overhead room light worked well.

The editing:

• Scene 2 beginning: It started immediately. No dead space. Started with action. Great.

• It ended well: I really like the rule “always end the tape leaving them wanting more”. If i had lingered any more on the moment below it would have been awkward and taken away from what had happened.

WHAT DIDN’T WORK

The Beginning of Scene 1

• There’s dead time at the beginning that doesn’t need to be there. I remember having takes where he was flirting with Jeanne at the start – that would have been a better way to begin.

How you can avoid this:

• The first 5 seconds of the tape should be alive somehow.
• Begin with something interesting to you

Dead space is not a good choice

Pace – Too Slow

• Too much pausing in the 1st scene, and I don’t know why I chose that. It could have used more snap. I like that it was not rushed, and there was silence and stillness but the scene could do with less pauses.

How you can avoid this:

• It’s always worth doing a variation where the stakes force you to get the lines out quicker (e.g. “do it as if she’s just about to leave the room”)
• Then you can compare and choose your fav in the edit

***But a warning***

• Try not to tell yourself “I need to go quicker” – it’s one of the most common notes directors will give, but also the most unhelpful and destructive.
• Rushing is a scene killer.
• You may have been told at various moments of your career (as I have) to “up the pace”. This might have taken up residence in your psyche and now you have a near constant anxiety that you are taking to long – you are causing a scene to drag. It’s worth experimenting whilst taping, what does this scene look like if you took more time than feels comfortable?

“Have the words more in my mouth”

• I wrote this in my selftape journal – I thought I was slurring a bit. But looking back I can’t quite see what I’m talking about.
• This is a lesson I need to remind myself of frequently:

EQUIPMENT

What I Actually Used For This Tape:

• Camera: Samsung S10 (my old phone)
• Tripod: Plastic tripod – £14.43
• Lighting: Big front window + overhead room light – Free
• Sound: Rode GO lav mic – £39.16
• Backdrop: Dark grey bed sheet hung on high IKEA bed frame – £18

Total cost: ~£72 (not counting phone)

All worked well and will give you a good tape, but I’ve since upgraded a few things – next week’s letter will include the exact equipment I’m using now.

THE RESULT

Here is the timeline after sending in the tape:

• 5th July: Sent in the tape
• 7th August: Offered the part
• 11th August: Deal came through officially, this is when I accepted.
• 12th August: Scripts arrived.
• 29th September: My first shoot day

The Deal:

Series regular. 6 episodes. Shooting in Paris: September 2023 – February 2024.

On Set:

The character choices I had made in the tape were very close to the director – Ed’s vision for Villette. And once I knew Jeanne was the main character in my storylines, everything became about helping her story get told.

The work I had done with Jordan* laid the foundation for the next 5 months of shooting.

*YOUR SELFTAPE PARTNER IS YOUR SECRET WEAPON.

My partner on this was, Jordan, one of my best mates and most frequent collaborator.

Not only is he the visionary behind the idea of to only write out your character’s lines when you Brando, forcing you to listen to the other person (before that we were holding a mouse and scrolling the script on a laptop), he has helped taping become an enjoyable and highly creative endeavour for me. Whenever I tape with J, it feels like we are mining for gold with a side order of anarchy.

The best things about taping with him:

• He never puts a time limit* on the session

“We are done when we’re done – there’s no rush, let’s do another”

• He’s always up for coming over when it’s possible
• When asked “how can we make it better” will always offer up cracking suggestions.
• Is technically brilliant (isn’t too loud, helps when there are physical moves, pace changes etc)
• We hang out before and after the tape – this means the session is rarely just about the tape
• He, along with a few others have made it so that I look forward to taping now.

*We both operate on the do not take the piss rule. There is no time limit imposed, but there is an implicit understanding that when nothing new is coming from your takes, it’s time to call it a day.

In my selftape journal I rate the tapes I do, Overall Enjoyment, Confidence Whilst Taping, Confidence in the Edit.

This tape got a 7, an 8 and an 8 respectively. Jordan was the main reason for this.

THE SHOE DEAL:

This is another Jmoney special.

When you book a job from a tape that you did with your partner, as a thank you, get them a pair of shoes of their choosing.

This is no joke.

Your selftape partner is integral to your success.

And is a relatively thankless role.

A pair of shoes, or something equivalent is the least you can do to say thank you.

Part of me hopes you have got to the end and are thinking

“He got a series regular with that…are you kidding?”

Precisely.

This means it’s achievable. It’s imperfect. The choices are messy. It worked. And you could do it better.

It was made in my bedroom, with a broken tripod. No lines learnt. And I had a great friggin time doing it.

That’s the point really, whenever J or any of my other pals leave a session, more often than not the outcome fades into the background. Because I’ve made something I’m proud of, something I feel confident about and had a blast making. So no matter what new hell the industry serves up next, I feel satisfied with what I have created, and the time spent doing it. And no one can take that away from me.

Now, for this one, I happened to have been in the right place at the right time.

But next week we will be looking at a tape no amount of luck could have helped. What went wrong, what can be learned, and the Top 10 selftape mistakes UK casting directors are saying actors are making at the moment.

I challenge you this week to watch one of your old tapes back. Just notice – what choices did you make? Do you like them? What would you do differently now? Let your taste lead you.

And because this is still week 2 in 3 of the Selftape Pizza test: if you’ve got thoughts, feedback, questions, or violent disagreements with anything I’ve said – reply to this email. I want to know.

Remember – what you are doing is superhuman – keep going, you’re terrific.

See you next Monday.

A x