Brett Goldstein worked as a writer for Ted Lasso. As he worked on the scripts, he realized that he really understood one of the characters. He wanted to put himself forward for the acting role. 

“I also knew no one was thinking of me for Roy, so right at the end of the writers’ room I put myself on tape,” he says in Jeremy Egner’s book, Believe. “I emailed it to Bill Lawrence and I said, ‘If this is shit, we never need to speak of it again. Like, pretend you never got it—I will never ask. But I’ve been thinking I could be Roy, and I made you a tape.’”

In other words, Brett didn’t sell himself for the role. He had working relationships with the rest of the team, which he didn’t lean on. There was no bravado, very little self-interest, and very low expectations that he’d get chosen. He alleviated the pressure. 

Brett’s move wasn’t very calculated, either. It was a response to his own intuition. He says, “When I look back on it, I hate to sound like it was like a calling. But I felt it very, very strong. I felt like I have nothing to lose here because maybe two other times in my life, I’ve had that feeling where it’s like, This feels very important to do this. So I better do it.”

While his intuition turned out to be completely right—and the TV show would exceed his expectations, he didn’t know any of that beforehand. He just put it out there and let go.