Updated

Updated · Fox News · Oct 27

Rob Riggle Says 56-Year-Old Actor Sees Los Angeles Work Drying Up as He Eyes Kansas City Move

Updated

Updated · Fox News · Oct 27

Rob Riggle Says 56-Year-Old Actor Sees Los Angeles Work Drying Up as He Eyes Kansas City Move

Q: Why does Rob Riggle call self-taped auditions a terrible way to do business—and what does it reveal about acting after COVID?

Rob Riggle calls self-taped auditions “a terrible way to do business” because he believes they strip acting of the human exchange that used to happen in the room. In his telling, actors are now often asked to perform alone at home, “standing in front of a white, opaque wall” in a garage, rather than reading live for casting directors and filmmakers. His criticism is less about technology itself than about what gets lost: spontaneity, feedback, chemistry and the chance to adjust a performance in real time. His complaint points to a broader post-COVID shift in the entertainment business. Pandemic-era remote practices made self-tapes standard, and many producers kept them because they are cheaper, faster and easier to schedule. At the same time, work has become less tied to Los Angeles, with productions increasingly moving to states such as Georgia and New Jersey, where tax incentives are stronger. Recent moves by shows including “American Idol,” “The Masked Singer” and “Shark Tank” illustrate that trend. Together, those changes reveal an acting profession that is now more decentralized and more digital. Actors no longer need to live near Hollywood or even regularly enter casting offices to compete for roles. That can widen access, but Riggle’s view is that it also makes the process more impersonal and less collaborative. His remarks reflect a larger tension in post-COVID acting: efficiency has improved, but many performers feel the craft has lost some of its interpersonal core.

3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Oct 27

Rob Riggle said landing acting work in Los Angeles is now “the exception,” arguing much of Hollywood’s production has moved elsewhere and many industry workers are leaving the city.
Post-COVID auditioning has accelerated that shift, he said, with actors now taping self-submissions at home instead of needing to be physically available in L.A.
Economic pressures are also pushing people out, Riggle said, adding that he would like to move back to his native Kansas City once personal obligations in California are resolved.
The 56-year-old made the comments while promoting “Christmas at the Kringles,” a holiday horror-comedy shot in Los Angeles that opens in theaters on Oct. 30.