A recent taped conversation between two Atlanta casting directors — one of whom admits to devoting only four seconds to watching self-tapes — has renewed fears among actors who believe their auditions are not being taken seriously.
On a recent filmed installment of the Act Up podcast that was shared on Instagram, Rhavynn Drummer — who touts on her website that she has cast “fifteen television series, eighteen feature films, and seven touring plays” for Tyler Perry Studios — laughs out loud as she listens to fellow casting director Tiffany Roshae admit to giving very little time to audition tapes.
“I’m dead serious,” Roshae, whose credits include the BET limited series Zatima, tells Drummer. “Does it take eight seconds to figure out if it’s a man or a woman? Does it take 10 seconds to figure out if it’s an Amazon driver or a surgeon? No. When someone shows up as they are, they show up as they are. That’s the human process. So when I come across a tape, and they are what they are from second one, from beginning, yeah, they’re in character. They’re telling the story. That’s what I’m hiring them to do. I’m not waiting to figure out if they can convince me if they can do the job.”
The video is titled “how long does it take to decide on an actor when watching auditions?” Drummer, who Deadline verified is not a primary casting director for Tyler Perry Studios, is facilitating the conversation. As of Thursday, the video was still available on social media.
Commenters responded to video by saying things like “Wow! This was probably the most insulting post on social media I’ve seen today. So much for the hard work, time, effort and energy we invest. Not to mention our readers who selflessly assist.” Another said, “This is extremely disheartening and a slap in the face to most of actors who have to call into work, or work tirelessly to get you guys auditions on time and with good quality.”
Deadline has reached out to both Drummer and Roshae and will update this post if and when they respond.
Worries about whether casting directors screen every last self tape hit a fever pitch after the pandemic as the practice became more commonplace in the industry. Even though casting directors have repeatedly assured the community that they do, indeed, devote time to tapes, fears still fester — especially at a time when Hollywood has yet to fully recover from the dual strikes and opportunities to work have stalled.
In 2023, Casting Society President Destiny Lilly tried to quell fears that self-tapes were going unscreened.
“Actors are the lifeblood of what we do. We couldn’t do what we do without actors,” Lilly told Deadline before the 2023 Artios Awards. “We watch your tapes. The most important thing to know is that actors solve a problem for casting. We are trying to find people. We are looking for you. We are going through the tapes. One of the things about having tapes come in is that it allows us to maybe watch a few more than we would if we just had 10 people in the room. We can also ask people who are coming from other parts of the country or the world. Our goal is to see how we can make this process work for everyone.”
More recently, former casting director turned acting coach Sam Stiglitz implored her 49k followers on Instagram to ignore the comments by Roshae who “is admitting to judging a book by its cover.”
“This kind of advice will send actors spiraling,” Stiglitz said.
