What are Catherine Willis's seven rules?
- Find a quiet room and face the light. A window or a lamp in front of you, a plain wall behind, and the phone in landscape.
- Frame head and shoulders, unless the brief asks for something else.
- Use a reader if you can, beside the camera and quieter than you. If you do not have a reader, record your lines with appropriate spaces, as if you are having the conversation. Leaving a silence is fine.
- Make a choice. A clear choice that is not quite right says more than a safe one.
- Send no more than two takes of a scene. If you send two, they should be significantly different versions of the scene.
- Put your name on the file, with the role and the production.
- Send a link that can be downloaded, using the upload link in the brief if there is one.
The full version is in the self-tape guide.
What does not matter?
An expensive camera, a ring light, a backdrop or an edit. If the casting director can see you and hear you, that is nearly all that is needed.
How much notice should I get?
UK best practice guidelines published in August 2021 by the Casting Directors' Guild, Equity, the Personal Managers' Association and the Co-operative Personal Management Association ask casting directors to give at least four days, or three days for three pages or fewer, and to ask for no more than six pages on a first tape.
What if I am under 18?
Ask a parent or guardian to help you record and send the tape, and to be the contact on the email.
Last checked 9 October 2026. Answered by CW Casting. Tell us if something here is out of date.