Casting directors know what their clients want. Many times after the first take, a CD has said exactly the right thing that got me pointed in the right direction. Taping yourself and picking the best take is shooting blind in my opinion. Vanity will often cloud your decision as to which take is best. You may be looking at your appearance rather than really watching your performance. The presence of a live engaged person (the CD) often makes the difference between getting the callback or not. Taking the CD out of the audition process and leaving the decision as to which take is best in the actors hands is a big mistake. And for the actor, it really doesn’t save time, money or the environment. Particularly, if you don’t have your own home set-up and have to go to a taping studio. But the good thing is: the CD doesn’t have to rent office space.

I had that problem. This what I did: I caught a cheaper model of a Bluetooth portable speaker on sale (about $30), pre-recorded the reader’s parts into a sound file on my laptop (if you don’t have a laptop, use another recording device — the more portable, the better), and in between each of the reader’s pre-recorded lines I gave myself enough time to respond on-camera with my auditioning lines. I played the file through the speaker while acting out my lines on-camera, and it worked like a charm. I actually got cast from that audition. Just have the speaker’s volume up loud enough so that the viewer can easily hear the pre-recorded parts.

I couldn’t agree more. It is very expensive to become a good actor (education, training, fitness, wardrobe, beauty/hair, Union. dues, subscriptions) and stay on top of marketing materials.
Honestly, there are lots of jobs I get from still photos from people who have never even met me.
If you have IMBD credits and a reel – why do you need to make your next “new movie” for a casting director?
My opinion is that casting director’s are lazy and unimaginative. There. I said it.
If they are doing their job properly that will send you some sides and book a studio for the day and have the candidates of their choice come in and read.
Some people prefer self taping because it gives them an opportunity to edit and refine their audition.
Coming from a theatrical background, I know many novices who love the self taping option as they could never get through an “in person” audition. It is actually good practice, but I think the “people” part of show business has gone out the window with this self taping.
I can’t afford the set up never mind figure out the technology.
I get it – by the time you get this all “set up” you’re like “why don’t I just make my own movie”.

also, if it is crashing, it might be your computer might be too old, or your version might need to be updated!

this sounds like a good idea, thank you for this suggestion!

IMovie is intuitive, so you should be able to learn it in a short period of time. I first started using it for editing my critter cam videos and was editing several videos together to make one on the first day!