How to Read a School's Prescreen Requirements

Quick answer: Every school's prescreen page is really answering five questions: how long can each piece run, should pieces be uploaded as separate files or combined, how and where do you slate, does it need to be filmed horizontally or vertically, and is a dance video required. Most disqualifications don't come from a weak performance — they come from a mismatch on one of those five points: a cut that runs long, pieces combined into one file when separate uploads were expected, a slate in the wrong place, the wrong orientation, or a dance requirement that got missed because it wasn't where anyone expected to find it.

Why these instructions feel so exacting

A prescreen page can read like fine print, and in a sense it is — programs are trying to compare hundreds of submissions fairly, filmed in hundreds of different bedrooms and living rooms, so they lean on strict, literal rules instead of judgment calls. That's worth remembering when a requirement seems oddly specific. It usually isn't arbitrary; it's there so every applicant is filmed on the same terms.

Two different systems for cut length — know which one applies

Not every school measures a cut the same way, and it's worth knowing both systems exist. Many individual programs set their own bar-based cuts: a 32-bar cut, a 16-bar cut, or a strict one-minute cut, enforced exactly. Going over the stated length is one of the most common reasons a prescreen gets disqualified before anyone weighs in on the performance, so time the recording before submitting it.

A separate group of schools instead follows the Musical Theater Common Prescreen (MTCP), a shared standard several BFA programs formally participate in through Acceptd. MTCP doesn't use bar counts at all — it asks for full song and monologue excerpts of roughly 60–90 seconds each. If a school lists MTCP participation, follow its time-based guidelines instead of hunting for a bar count that isn't part of that system. Acceptd publishes the full MTCP criteria and participating school list directly, which is worth checking against your own school list before you film anything.

Files: separate pieces, not one continuous reel

Beyond just avoiding edits within a single piece, most schools — and MTCP explicitly — want each song, monologue, and dance clip uploaded as its own separate file rather than combined into one continuous video. Label each file clearly: piece title, show or playwright, and your name (for example, "Your Daddy's Son – Ragtime – Your Name"). It's a small habit that avoids a common, entirely avoidable mix-up on the reviewing end.

Slating: simpler than it looks, but easy to get backwards

The instinct is to slate before every piece, and some individual schools do ask for that. But a widely used standard, MTCP, asks for the opposite: one single slate video, under 10 seconds, at the very start, stating just your name (and pronouns if you'd like) — with no slate before the individual pieces themselves, since the file labels do that job instead. Because the two approaches are genuinely reversed, it's worth checking each school's exact wording rather than assuming last year's format, or another school's rules, apply here.

Filming orientation and framing

Most BFA programs ask for horizontal (landscape) video — MTCP requires it outright — though a real minority of individual schools specify vertical, so it's worth confirming per school rather than assuming. Framing tends to be more consistent, though it differs by piece: a waist-up frame for songs and monologues so your face reads clearly, and a full-body frame, head to floor, for dance, so the reviewer can see complete lines and footwork.

Dance requirements: the one that's easiest to miss entirely

Dance requirements vary widely and don't follow a clean pattern — a school might ask for a set combination it teaches on video, a self-choreographed piece of a set length, or nothing at all, and acting or vocal performance programs often don't require one while musical theatre programs frequently do. Because it isn't part of every school's requirements, it's the piece families are most likely to discover late, sometimes after everything else is already filmed and ready to submit.

Making one filmed take work for more than one school

Several schools sharing the same cut system, orientation, and file rules means a single well-filmed take can sometimes satisfy more than one submission — worth checking for deliberately, rather than assuming every school needs its own separate shoot. Schools using MTCP are a natural place to look first, since they share one standard by design. It won't work across a whole list, since even one different rule breaks the overlap, but when it lines up, it saves real filming time in a season that doesn't have much to spare.

Where to go next

• Log each school's specific rules and see where takes overlap
• Choose songs that fit your voice and hold up to a cut
• Read more prescreen questions answered directly
• See how prescreens fit into the full audition timeline

A prescreen page is rarely trying to trip anyone up. It's just written for the hundred applicants a program has never met, not the one whose family already knows the material inside and out — which is exactly why it's worth reading slowly, once, before a camera ever comes out.