# How Many Takes Should You Send in a Self-Tape? > What casting and agents actually say about one take versus two or three, how to make a second take different enough to be worth sending, how to pick your best take, and when to stop filming. - URL: https://www.offbook.com/blog/how-many-takes-to-send-in-a-self-tape - Published: 2026-10-23 - Last updated: 2026-10-23 It's 11 p.m. You've filmed the scene fourteen times. Take 3 had the best energy, take 9 had the best ending, and take 12 is the one where you finally didn't trip over the long line. The instructions don't say how many takes to send. You're staring at three files, wondering whether sending all of them looks thorough or desperate. It's a common question, and the advice online seems to disagree. Some casting people want one take. Some agents say send two or three. Both are right, once you see what each is asking for. The short version: if the instructions give a number, send exactly that. If they don't, send one take, or two when the second is a clearly different reading of the scene. Never send near-copies. Decide your two readings before you film, stop filming when you have them, and pick by watching the takes back with fresh eyes. ## Start with the instructions, every time Before you set up the camera, reread the email or breakdown. Check whether the request says how many takes they want, how to name the files, and whether the slate goes in its own file. Those instructions beat every rule of thumb in this article, including ours. If the request says "one take," that's one take. If it says "two takes, one as written and one with a different choice," plan for both from the start. If it asks for a particular adjustment, the adjustment is the second take. Our guide on [naming, exporting, and sending a self-tape](https://www.offbook.com/blog/how-to-name-and-send-a-self-tape) covers the rest of the technical list. ## When there's no number: what casting and agents say When the instructions are silent, the professionals split into two camps, and the split is useful. On the casting side, Sophia Elizabeth Tamaro, a casting assistant who has worked in international casting, writes in [quick self-taping tips for Spotlight](https://app.spotlight.com/news-and-advice/quick-self-taping-tips/) that she would rather see a single take, unless the casting director has asked to see the scene in different ways. She adds that one or two takes should be enough. On the agent side, Alice Currey, an agent and the founder of AK Agents, tells [Spotlight](https://www.spotlight.com/news-and-advice/the-essentials/audition-sides-and-how-to-prepare-them/) that if the casting director hasn't asked for just one take, you can send two or three options with different interpretations to show your range. Read those side by side and they agree more than they seem to. Nobody is asking for more takes of the same thing. The agent's two or three are different interpretations. The casting assistant's exception is the scene played in different ways. And [Spotlight's own self-tape guide](https://www.spotlight.com/news-and-advice/the-essentials/how-to-self-tape/) sums it up: don't send too many takes unless requested, and if you do send more than one, make sure they're sufficiently different. ## A working rule: one take, plus one only if it's truly different Put those together and you get a rule that works for most auditions: - **Default to one take.** Your best, complete, clean version of the scene. If you only have one strong reading, send one. It's a confident choice, not a lazy one. - **Add a second when it shows something new.** A different reading of the scene that's still truthful and still serves the story. The casting team should be able to name the difference in a sentence. - **A third only when asked, or when it really earns its place.** A third take of a two-minute scene asks for real time from a busy office. - **Never send near-copies.** Take 3 and take 12 with slightly different energy are not two options. They make the viewer do your choosing for you. One test for whether a second take is worth sending: show both to a friend and ask them to name the difference in one sentence. If they can't, send the better one. ## What makes a second take actually different "Different" doesn't mean louder, faster, or with more tears. It means a different answer to the question at the heart of the scene: what you want from the other person, and how you go about getting it. Take Jack's famous confession to Lady Bracknell in Oscar Wilde's *The Importance of Being Earnest* ([Project Gutenberg](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/844)): > **JACK.** [Gravely.] In a hand-bag. > > **LADY BRACKNELL.** A hand-bag? > > **JACK.** [Very seriously.] Yes, Lady Bracknell. I was in a hand-bag—a somewhat large, black leather hand-bag, with handles to it—an ordinary hand-bag in fact. Here are two readings that would justify two takes: - **Take 1, as Wilde marks it.** Jack plays it gravely and very seriously, as the stage directions say. He wants her approval and believes that if he gives a full, honest, detailed account, the facts will sound respectable. The comedy comes from how serious he is. - **Take 2, damage control.** Jack knows it sounds absurd the moment he says it, and every extra detail about the bag is a frantic attempt to make it sound ordinary. Same words, still grave on the surface, but he can't hold her eye and rushes the details, because now he's trying to talk his way out of a hole. Both readings come from the text. Both get a laugh in a different way. A casting director watching the pair learns two things about you, not one. That's the bar for a second take. If the sides come with notes on tone, your first take should honor them. The second can be your own idea. Our guide on [playing against type in an audition](https://www.offbook.com/blog/playing-against-type-in-auditions) covers how far to push an unexpected choice. ## Get the lines out of the way first A lot of retakes aren't about acting at all. They're about a dropped word in the long speech, a late cue, or a glance at the sides taped by the lens. If your lines are shaky, every take is really a memory test, and you'll never get to the second interpretation. Run the scene until the words are automatic before you set up the lights. In Offbook, upload your sides, choose your role, and realistic voices read every other character out loud and wait for your line, so you can run the scene as many times as you need. Hide your lines for the last few runs, and the camera time goes to choices instead of remembering. Video: [Upload a script and rehearse](https://www.offbook.com/learn/upload-and-rehearse) (1:03) You'll still need a person off camera for the tape itself. Our guide on [finding a self-tape reader](https://www.offbook.com/blog/how-to-find-a-self-tape-reader) covers where to find one, even at short notice. ## Decide your takes before you film The fourteen-take night usually starts with no plan. You film, watch, feel vaguely unhappy, and film again. By take ten you're tired, the reader is tired, and every take blurs together. Spotlight's guide offers a practical brake: if you can't get it in three takes, pause, take some time, then try again. A short break resets you better than take after take on a falling battery of energy. Before you press record, write down one sentence for each take you plan to send: "Take 1: he believes the truth will win her over." "Take 2: he's covering, and knows it." Film each until you have a clean version where you played that sentence, then stop. You'll send better tapes and go to bed earlier. ## How to pick your best take Picking is its own skill, and it's hard to do at 11 p.m. on the night of the deadline. A few habits help: - **Watch with a break first.** Step away for at least a few minutes, longer if you have time. You'll judge the take, not the feeling of filming it. - **Watch the first ten seconds of each.** If a take doesn't grab you right away, it probably won't grab anyone else. - **Check the technical basics.** Sharp focus, clear sound, your eyes visible, the reader not drowning you out, every line said. A brilliant take with a dropped line usually loses to a strong, clean one. - **Choose the one where you're listening.** The take where you react to what you hear usually beats the one where you deliver your lines best. - **Get one outside opinion if you can.** A trusted friend or coach who didn't watch you film will see what you can't. And if you can't decide between two near-identical takes, that's your answer: they're not different enough to send both. Pick one and let it go. ## Labeling and sending more than one take If you do send two, make it easy for the person watching. New York casting director Michael Cassara, interviewed on the [Actor Aesthetic blog](https://www.actoraesthetic.com/blog/casting-director-tips), says files should carry your first and last name and the role. He adds that many casting directors prefer separate takes in separate files, and that with no instructions, separate files tend to make things easier for everyone. So name them clearly, for example *FirstName-LastName-Jack-Take1* and *FirstName-LastName-Jack-Take2*, unless the instructions give their own format. Lead with the take that follows any notes on the sides, unless the instructions say otherwise. Before you submit, watch every exported file all the way through. Some systems don't let you change a submission, so the file you send is the file they see. Then send early if you can. Casting director Caroline Liem notes in [her self-tape rules for Backstage](https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/self-tape-rules-from-casting-director-65931/) that some offices watch tapes as they arrive, and if there's time before the deadline, they may come back with a redirect. A redirect is a gift: a casting director telling you exactly what they want for the next take. ## Questions actors ask ### How many takes should I send in a self-tape? Exactly what the instructions ask for. If they don't say, send one, or two when the second is a clearly different interpretation of the scene. Avoid sending several near-identical takes. ### Is it bad to send only one take? No. A single strong, clean take is a confident submission, and some casting staff say they prefer one. Add a second only when it shows something the first doesn't. ### Should my second take be completely different? It should be a different reading, not a different scene. Change what your character wants or how they go after it, keep it truthful to the text, and make sure someone could name the difference in one sentence. ### How many takes should I film? As many as it takes to get a clean version of each reading you plan to send, and no more. If a reading isn't working after three tries, take a short break before trying again rather than pushing through. ### Should I put both takes in one video? Only if the instructions say to. When they don't, separate files with clear names are usually easier for the casting office to watch and share.