So, You Want to be a Voice Over Talent?

Any voice actor who has any kind of web presence gets calls and emails from people wanting to “get into the business.” I have a saved note ready to go, but my friend Randye Kaye just posted a blog with something that I think I am going to point people toward the next time I get THE email or call.

Her article is short and to the point and covers 5 key things that a voice talent needs to be successful.

1 - A voice

2 - Reading Skills

3 - Acting skills

4 - Technique

5 - Business savvy and willingness

Click on this link to read the whole post.

For a companion piece to this – here is a link to a post I wrote called Tangible and Intangible Assets for the Voiceover Biz.

I want to elaborate a bit on her point 2 – Reading Skills. In addition to simply fluency – the ability to read a bunch of words without screwing up – you need to be able to read and UNDERSTAND.

We get so caught up in ourselves and what we are doing that sometimes we fail to actually read and understand the words in front of us. I have left auditions in the past and about half-way home I slap my forehead and remark – “Oh! That was what that spot was about!” By this time, too late to go back and ask if I could re-audition. It happens to all of us every once in a while, but in order for us to be good at this business, we must connect with the words mentally AND they need to flow off the tongue easily.

Good stuff Randye!

Finding your Value as a Voice-Over (repost from Paul Strikwerda’s Blog)

My friend Paul Strikwerda writes a killer blog and I am passing along one of his latest pieces titled “Finding your Value as a Voice-Over.” Here is a snippet from the body of the blog.

Quality calls for experience, dedication, patience and passion. It’s so much easier to be average. Mediocrity can be phoned in. It doesn’t require effort, enthusiasm or attention to detail. It doesn’t ask for sacrifice, continued education or for high-end equipment.

Read the entire piece for valuable insight. And answer the question – “What drives you to be in this business?”

http://www.nethervoice.com/nethervoice/2011/12/22/finding-value-in-voice-overs/

The New Voiceover Toolkit

The New VO Tools

Today’s serious voiceover talent (even those represented by a top agent in a top market) needs a lot more marketing, business and technical savvy than in the recent past. One of the good things about the industry is that there are a LOT more opportunities. But at the same time, there are a LOT more people offering their services.

You still have to have talent and technique to make it in this business, but you need a whole slew of other attributes these days. This is a list of the basic tools you need today.

1. A thorough understanding of the business and where the opportunities lie.
2. A thorough and realistic understanding of your own baseline abilities and potential and how you are different.
3. A plan for finding the people who want to buy what you have to sell.
1. Marketing 101
2. Networking skills
3. Understanding and evaluating opportunities
1. Agent?
2. Union?
3. Advertising?
4. Audition Services (P2P sites)?
5. Direct to companies, ad agencies, production companies?

4. A business sense and ability
1. Negotiation
2. Bookkeeping
3. Collection
5. A demo(s) that shows the people with the money that you have what they want.
6. A place to park that demo(s).
1. A professional will have a personal meaningful Domain name
2. And a simple well designed website
7. High Speed Internet Access (DSL or Cable at a minimum)
8. Recording capability of sufficient quality to record professional sounding auditions and/or record the actual session
1. Acoustically treated room
2. Good quality microphone
3. Clean sound card
4. Professional recording software and the ability to use it.
5. Some technical ability to troubleshoot problems
9. Time to devote to the entire process at all stages of developing a career
10. A true understanding of the costs, time and expertise involved
1. In startup (training, studio, demo, website, marketing plan, etc.)
2. In maintenance (training, studio enhancements, more demos, etc.)

 

Do You Need an Agent? (From the LA POV)

We talked about agents and managers in class recently. Do you need an agent? What is happening to agents as technology advances? Just found this video that looks at this from the Los Angeles point of view. It is addressing the on-camera actor, but read between the lines and try to think about how this discussion will affect the voice actor.

One of the key messages here…

You used to be able to show up in LA with talent and nothing else and an agent would take a chance on you. Today, you have to show them that you are worth taking a chance on. “Show people what you can do and then ask people to care.”

Casting Director Ivy Isenberg and Talent Manager Ryan Glasgow have a lively discussion about the changing landscape of the entertainment industry and how it affects everyone from Casting Directors to Agents, Managers and the clients that they represent.

http://www.virtualchannelnetwork.com/channels/reel_deal/ep128.cfm

Article on AFTRA and SAG

We were discussing joining one of the performers unions last night in class. Ran across this article today that gives more insight.

http://alisocreek.net/vo-articles/sag-aftra-voice-over-unions.html

Marketing – Branding – Positioning

We’ll be starting to move into the business side of the VO business, which is probably even more important these days than having the talent for VO work. I don’t care how good you are, if you don’t reach the people who want to buy what you have to sell, you are not going to make money.

A lot of the classes available don’t spend much time on this part of the business, so you need to do a lot of the research on your own. You can do a lot more research online these days and that is usually free for the taking, if you can find the good stuff. You can pay people to help you with basic marketing – but it won’t be voiceover focused. Not a bad thing, in fact it helps to have basic marketing 101.

Here is an article from a voiceover colleague that talks about Positioning. He discusses how you can take any number of classes, webinars on Branding, but most Branding comes from a history – a past. People are told to set themselves apart – be different – be unique.

Different. Unique. But does this really translate to voice over, considering that each VO artist is by very definition different & unique?

http://www.dallasvo.com/throughthetalkback/branding-vs-positioning/

Can’t get an acting job? Learn how to find alternative work.

Just ran across a post in a LinkedIn group forwarded by my friend J.S. Gilbert that is filled with great information about how to find work if (ha!) you can’t find acting jobs. The hard realty of the life of an actor is that they mostly don’t work as actors. But they still have to pay the rent, keep gas in the car, buy food, etc. The basics.

The Actors Fund is “a nationwide human services organization that helps all professionals in performing arts and entertainment. The Fund is a safety net, providing programs and services for those who are in need, crisis or transition.”

Most entertainment industry professionals are contingent workers, i.e. people who are employed on a project basis and are, therefore, constantly looking for work. Because of the strong competition and high unemployment rate, entertainment industry professionals often need to have parallel careers. Many of the skills which entertainment industry professionals practice – communication skills, discipline, creativity, flexibility, professionalism – are highly valued in the broader labor market. The Actors Fund has recognized the need to assist our community in identifying and obtaining non-industry work that is rewarding and complements an individual’s entertainment industry career. The Fund also recognizes that entertainment industry professionals need employment that not only helps pay the bills but feeds the soul.

Here is one of the podcasts. It is jam packed with good information that a lot of “actors” will ignore.

Great Advice from a Real Pro VO

Voiceover actress, teacher, and manager Terri Apple has a unique voice. A bit raspy – sounds like it comes her throat. She is a working actor in a major market, but here in this little clip, she shows that she understands what it is really like in the voiceover business in this new era of home studios and the Internet.

She offers some insight on what it takes to break into the business of voiceover acting, as well as some of the specific skills and tools voice actors need in a changing business.

More about the business of VO

I posted to my regular VO blog a few days ago about what it takes to pay the mortgage as it relates to the voiceover business. Since we started to address this in class already today, I thought I would point you toward that blog.

http://isdnvoicetalent.wordpress.com/2011/01/19/how-to-pay-the-mortgage-doing-vo/

What to charge, what to charge, what to charge

What to charge is always a big question – even more so now that technology has evolved to the point that anyone can hang out their shingle claiming to be a professional – combined with the way the Internet has introduced the concept of instant online bidding wars. These factors are not unique to the voiceover business, of course, and the question of what to charge looms large.

Discussions about rates are popping up all over the place in every industry. One of my students forwarded me this link to one about voiceover rates on the Voiceover Universe.

There is a whole new group on LinkedIn that discusses voiceover rates.

http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=3001626

As in all the links I post, if you are a beginner without a lot of knowledge about the business, please read, read, read before you post a question.