You shot it. Now send it.
The part nobody teaches. Which take, how to clean it up, why the file is 4GB, and how to get it to casting so it just plays.
Free to try, every feature unlocked · iPhone and iPad
Shooting the tape is the part everyone talks about. Then you are sitting on eleven takes at two in the morning, the file is enormous, the email bounces, and the deadline is in six hours. Here is that half of the job.
Read the brief first. It is the only real authority.
Most casting briefs tell you exactly what they want: the format, the file name, sometimes a size cap, sometimes a platform to upload to. That instruction beats every rule of thumb on the internet, including this page. Follow it literally, including the file name, because a casting assistant is sorting hundreds of these and a wrongly named file is a file they cannot find.
When the brief says nothing, the safe defaults are an MP4 with H.264 video and AAC audio, named with your name first, then the role and the project. Something a human can read in a list.
Pick one take, and top and tail it
Send one take unless the brief asks for choices, trimmed so it starts a beat before your first line and ends when the scene lands. Picking is your job, not theirs.
The rest of that decision, which take actually plays, where to cut, and the post-production tricks that make casting stop watching, is its own page: editing a self-tape.
Fix the sound, because that is what gets noticed
Bad audio reads as unprofessional faster than bad lighting. It is usually one of three things: the hum of the room, hiss from a phone mic reaching too far, or a reader who is louder than you are.
Studio Sound handles the first two in one pass. It sweeps out the room noise and the hiss, evens out the level so your quiet moments are still audible without the loud ones distorting, and it holds steady through pauses instead of pumping. There are no knobs, on purpose. The third one is a shooting problem, not an editing one: get the reader further from the mic than you are, or use a reader link so their voice is a separate recording you control.
Why the file is too big, and what people get wrong
Your phone shoots beautiful, enormous video. A few minutes of 4K can run to several gigabytes, which is past what most email will take, and that is where tapes start going wrong.
The usual fix is to compress it again in some free tool until it fits. That works, and it costs you the thing you spent the evening making: the picture goes soft, the blacks go blocky, and your face gets mushy in exactly the close-up they are watching. Recompressing an already-compressed file is the worst version of this, and it is what a lot of actors do under deadline.
Subtext exports at a size built for the job. High enough that you look like you did in the room, small enough to actually send, encoded once rather than squeezed twice.
The rule of thumb: compress once, from the original. Every extra pass throws away picture you cannot get back.
Then send a link, not a file
Attachments bounce. Transfer services expire, often before a casting director gets to them, and they make the person download a file before they can see whether they want it. Cloud folders ask them to request access, which is the last email you want to have with someone casting your job.
Subtext hosts the finished tape and gives you one short link. Casting or your agent opens it and it plays, in the browser, on a phone if that is what they have. Nothing to download, nothing to expire, nothing too big to send.
If the brief demands an upload to a specific platform instead, export the file and upload it there. The link is for every other time, which in practice is most of the time.
A short checklist before you send
- The brief's instructions, followed literally, file name included.
- One take, unless they asked for choices.
- Trimmed: starts a beat before your first line, ends when the scene does.
- Slate where they asked for it, and at the end if they did not say.
- Sound cleaned, and the reader quieter than you.
- Watch it once, all the way through, on your phone.
That last one catches more mistakes than everything above it combined.
What this costs elsewhere
Hosting, editing and a reader are usually three separate products with three separate bills. We listed what every app for actors charges, annual tiers included: the best apps for actors, compared.
Before any of this, a reader
The tape you are editing is only as good as what you had to play against. If you are taping without anyone to read with, that is a solved problem now: see getting a reader for your self-tape, and running lines for the part before that.
Questions actors ask
How do I send a self-tape that is too big to email?
Do not compress it a second time to squeeze it under a limit, because that is what makes a tape look cheap. Send a link instead. Subtext hosts the finished tape and gives you one short link that plays in the browser, with nothing to download and nothing to expire.
What format should a self-tape be?
Whatever the brief says. When it does not say, an MP4 with H.264 video and AAC audio is the safe default, named with your name, the role and the project so a human can find it in a list.
How long should a self-tape be?
As long as the scene, and no longer. Trim so it starts a beat before your first line and ends when the scene lands. Send one take unless they asked for options.
How do I fix bad audio on a self-tape?
Room noise and mic hiss can be cleaned up after the fact: Studio Sound sweeps them out and evens the level in one pass, with no settings to learn. A reader who is too loud is a shooting problem, so keep them further from the mic than you are, or use a reader link so their voice is a separate recording.
Can I edit a self-tape on my phone?
Yes. In Subtext the takes sit beside the scene they belong to: mark the ones you like, drag the start and end, add a slate and a fade, and it is done. No timeline and no export settings.
Cut it. Clean it. Send it.
Free to start, every feature unlocked.