How to Self-Tape a College Acting or Musical Theater Prescreen

You have a list of ten programs, two monologues you love, maybe two songs, and a deadline that seemed far away in August. Now it’s November, the phone is on a tripod in the living room, and every school’s page says something slightly different about how the video should look.

That’s the real difficulty of a prescreen. The acting is yours. The rules belong to each school, and a perfect take filmed the wrong way can still be the wrong file.

The short version: write every school’s rules into one table before you film anything. Sort the schools by the rules that change the shoot (slate, framing, eyeline, file count), then plan as few setups as possible to cover all of them. Learn each piece cold in the week before you film, film each school’s version in one session per setup, watch every take back, and name every file the way the school spells it out.

Build a requirements table before you touch the camera

Open every school’s prescreen page and copy the rules into a table, one row per school. The columns that matter are the ones that change what you film: the slate (separate file, at the top of each piece, or none), the frame, where to look, how many files, the time limit per file, and how each file is named.

Take this seriously even when the rules look alike. Ithaca College’s acting page says plainly that it is very important that all guidelines are followed, and that missing them can slow your review. Each school expects you to follow its own page, not someone else’s.

Copy the exact words, not your summary of them. “Waist up” and “top of the head to the chest” are different shots, and you won’t remember which school said which at eleven at night. Note the cycle each page is for, too. Requirements change from season to season, so a page with last year’s date is a reason to check again.

Then group the schools. Your list will often collapse into two or three shoots, for example the schools that follow the Musical Theater Common Prescreen, the schools that want a close-up with a slate on each piece, and the one or two that want something unusual. Each group is one setup.

The slate is the rule that changes most

If one rule catches applicants out, it’s the slate. Schools handle it in at least three different ways.

• One separate slate file. The 2026-27 Musical Theater Common Prescreen asks for one introduction video stating your name (pronouns are optional), no longer than 10 seconds. Boston Conservatory at Berklee asks every applicant for the same 10-second introduction.
• A slate inside each piece. Stephens College’s acting guidelines count the slate at the start of the monologue inside the 60 to 90 seconds, so the clock starts when you say your name.
• A long, personal slate as its own file. The University of Texas at Austin’s BFA acting video instructions (a 2022 sheet; check the current one) ask for a slate of up to a minute with your name, your hometown, and an unrehearsed story about a memorable trip, and say not to slate before the scene or the monologue.

So a single “slate, then monologue” take can’t serve every school. Film the speech clean, with no slate on it, and film each slate as a separate short take. Where a school wants the slate on the piece, film that version with the slate in the same take, so the timing and the cut look natural.

For the slate itself, you’ll usually look into the lens. Dennard’s tips also say to smile during the slate. Say only what the school asks for. Practice it like a line. Ten seconds is shorter than it sounds when you add your pronouns and a breath.

Frame each piece the way each school asks

Framing differs more than most applicants expect. The Common Prescreen recommends a waist-up frame for slates, songs, and monologues, so the panel can see your face and hear you clearly, and asks you to film in landscape with the camera at eye level. Boston Conservatory asks for the top of the head to the waist. Stephens College wants monologues in a close-up, with the top of the head to the chest in frame. UT Austin’s sheet asks for a medium shot, waist or hips up, for the monologue, and a medium close-up, from just below the shoulders to the top of the head, for the scene.

Most of these come down to two setups: waist up and chest up. (UT Austin’s scene frame is a little tighter, so give it its own mark if it’s on your list.) The easy way to switch is to move the tripod, not to zoom. Mark both tripod positions on the floor with tape, label them (“waist” and “chest”), and you can go back and forth in seconds without guessing.

Whatever the frame, keep it steady and level, and don’t go tighter than asked. College audition coach Mary Anna Dennard, writing for Acceptd, warns against extreme facial close-ups, even for the slate. A frame that cuts off the top of your head reads as a mistake, not a choice.

Where to look, and what to do with a reader

Here the advice you’ll find honestly conflicts. Dennard tells applicants to perform the piece directly to the camera. UT Austin’s sheet says the opposite for the monologue: look just to the right or the left of the lens, and not directly into the camera or too far into profile.

The fix is the same as for everything else in this article: the school’s own page wins. When a school says nothing, a common approach is to put the person you’re talking to just beside the lens, at eye height, and keep your eyes there. That keeps both eyes visible without staring down the panel.

Some programs ask for a scene with a reader. UT Austin’s sheet asks for a live reader, not a recording, sitting or standing just to one side of the camera and off screen, and it asks the reader to keep their volume low, because they’re closer to the camera than you. Brief your reader on that before the first take; a reader who drowns you out can sink a good scene tape.

Separate files, exact names, and the 90-second wall

Many of the pages cited here want each piece as its own file. The Common Prescreen says each piece should be filmed and uploaded as a separate piece of media, with no continuous videos, and Boston Conservatory says the same. UT Austin’s sheet asks for three separate videos, and for the scene and the monologue each as one continuous take. Read that as a rule against cutting inside a piece, and film every speech from the top each time.

Some limits are firm. Boston Conservatory and Stephens say not to upload files over 90 seconds; the Common Prescreen recommends 60 to 90 seconds for each song or monologue. Time each piece with our monologue timer at performance pace, not at rehearsal pace: real pauses and a full performance can make a speech run longer than it does in rehearsal.

Name files exactly as the school spells it out. The Common Prescreen asks you to label each file with the piece, the show or playwright, and your first and last name, in the order Title of Play – Playwright – Your First & Last Name for a monologue and Title of Song – Musical/Show – Your First & Last Name for a song, with the slate as Slate – Your First & Last Name. Our guide to naming and sending a self-tape covers file names for casting offices too. Rename each file the moment you pick the take, not at the end of the night.

Keep ten schools’ tapes at the same quality

The last school on your list deserves the same tape as the first. The trick is to make quality a setup you lock in, not a mood you hope to be in.

• Shoot by setup, not by school. Do every waist-up piece for every school that wants it, then move the tripod to the chest mark and do every close-up.
• Keep the light the same. Film at the same time of day by the same window, or with the same lamps in the same places, so your takes match.
• Do a trial run. The Common Prescreen asks you to watch a test video back to check that it looks and sounds right, which is good advice for every school.
• Do several takes, then stop. Dennard’s advice is to re-record as many times as you want. Our advice is to take a real break after a few, because a tired tenth take rarely beats a fresh third.
• Watch every keeper back with headphones before you name it. Listen for a cut-off last word, a buzz, or a phone notification.

If a piece isn’t working on camera, that’s information. It’s better to swap a monologue in November than to send ten schools a speech you don’t trust.

A plan for the week before you film

The camera shows every moment you’re reaching for a word. So the week before the shoot is for making each piece so solid you can think about the person you’re talking to instead of the text.

1. Seven days out: finish your requirements table and pick your setups. Confirm each school’s cycle and deadline on its own page.
2. Six days out: say each piece out loud from the page, slowly, three times. For a monologue, turn it into first-letter cues with our free first-letter memorizer and run it from the cues.
3. Five days out: run each piece from the cues only, out loud. Mark every spot where you stall.
4. Four days out: run with no text at all, standing in your tripod spot, eyes on the place you’ll look on the day.
5. Three days out: time each piece and each slate. Trim a monologue cut now if it runs long.
6. Two days out: shoot a full test of every setup and watch it back. Fix the light, the sound, and the frame.
7. Shoot day: warm up, film by setup, rename each keeper as you go, and back up the files before you upload.

Offbook can help with steps two to four. Upload your monologue or sides as a PDF, image, or text file, and for a scene, realistic voices read the other part and wait for your line. Use first-letter cues, then hide your lines, and finally hide the whole script for a last test.

For the wider season (picking pieces, deadlines, unified auditions, and callbacks), see our guide to preparing for a drama school audition. For the taping details of a single speech, read our monologue self-tape guide, and for songs and tracks, our guide to self-taping a musical theater audition. If you still need material, start with our free monologues.

Questions actors ask

Should each monologue be a separate video for a prescreen?

For many programs, yes. The 2026-27 Musical Theater Common Prescreen and Boston Conservatory both ask for each piece as a separate piece of media, with no continuous videos, and UT Austin’s sheet asks for three separate videos. Some schools differ, so check each program’s page and follow it exactly.

What is the Musical Theater Common Prescreen?

It’s a shared set of prescreen requirements for college musical theater programs, published on Acceptd. It sets out the slate, file names, framing, and lengths, and lists options for the songs and the dance. Read your school’s own page alongside it to see which options that school asks for.

How should I frame a prescreen monologue?

Follow the school. The Common Prescreen recommends waist up, Boston Conservatory asks for the top of the head to the waist, and Stephens College asks for a close-up from the top of the head to the chest. Mark each position on the floor so you can switch quickly.

Can I edit my prescreen video?

Check each school’s page. UT Austin’s sheet, for example, says to simply cut the take when you finish, allows jump cuts in the slate only, and asks for the monologue and the scene each as one continuous take. Joining pieces into one video is a separate issue, and the Common Prescreen says no continuous videos. When a page is silent, film each piece in one take and don’t cut inside it.

Should I look at the camera during a prescreen monologue?

The slate is usually to the lens. For the piece, do what the school says; advice differs. When a school gives no rule, a common choice is a spot just beside the lens at eye height, so the panel can see both eyes.