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Are Hollywood’s Virtual Auditions Illegal?

The post-Covid move toward “self tape” auditions has spawned a veritable arms race among actors to create featurette-style videos, and an entire pay-to-play cottage industry to produce them. Hollywood’s biggest union wants to dial it back.

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In Hollywood’s post-Covid new normal, more than 95 percent of auditions are virtual. Photo: Western Mail Archive/Mirrorpix/Getty Images
Jonathan Handel
October 2, 2022

“I love LA,” said my Uber driver the other day. “Except for the traffic,” he added. “It’s like pulling teeth.” An unfortunate analogy, as I was en route to dental surgery, but no one disputes the sentiment. And for that reason, you’d think that Hollywood actors would love self-tape and Zoom auditions: no need to schlep across town now that virtually all auditions are, well, virtual.