How To Make a Great Audition Tape For a Reality Show

Follow the application instructions to the letter. If they want a DVD, don’t send a VHS.

Before you start each shot, make sure you can be seen and heard. Don’t play the radio or TV in the background, and have the light source in front or above you. Don’t stand in sunlit windows!

Lead with your most powerful stuff. Just as people decide if they like someone in the first few seconds of meeting them, TV producers make up their minds about wannabes in the first 30 to 60 seconds of their audition tape.

Focus on telling your story—not just creating a cool, funny, or wacky persona. Are you just out of jail? About to get married? Give them a narrative they can work with.

Emphasize your faults, not your strengths. Being likeable is boring; producers would rather see the weaknesses that could make for compelling TV.

Be high energy. Reality TV is no place for shrinking violets.

Whenever possible, let your actions on the video speak for you. Show the producers what you can do instead of telling them about it.

Keep the tape simple. You may think you’ll impress the producers with special effects and fancy editing, but the truth is that you’ll just distract them from learning about you.

Don’t be shy about displaying your physical assets. Let’s face it—TV is a visual medium, and a pretty face and/or a rock-hard body are always going to give applicants an edge.

Be sure to include your name and contact information clearly on the tape.

Do not post your audition tape online. You will immediately be ruled out, because producers like to introduce their casts themselves.