Actors' SOUND ADVICE

An Honest Thanksgiving

Kate McClanaghan — Wed, 27 Nov 2024 15:00:11 +0000

Podcast Length: 10:31

It’s no secret to anyone who knows me that Thanksgiving is my all-time favorite holiday. And the most enduring Thanksgiving Day memory I have began when I was fifteen, and, well… it’s a story that honestly may never end.

Okay, first of all, in my defense, I was a teenager. My primary mission was to sleep until noon and act like a sloth on Thanksgiving Day. The only exertion I had in mind was stuffing my face. It was a simpler time. So, when Patti, my five-year-old niece, came to me excitedly asking if I would be joining her (and about 20 of her happy, hyper cousins, and kids all under the age of ten) at 5 a.m. on Thanksgiving morning to stand packed like sardines in the frost-filled air among the crowds clamoring to see Santa kick off the holiday season during the annual parade…well, naturally, I did what every self-respecting fifteen-year-old scallywag is apt to do: I lied.

How do you tell a sweet-faced, five-year-old who worships everything you do that you’d rather have a date with your pillow on Thanksgiving morning? My sole intention was to let the scent of my mom’s remarkable cooking gently wake me sometime around noon or later. Instead, wee Patti’s “Cindy Lou Who” expression at once broke me in two.

“Not coming? Not coming?” Her lower lip quivered disapproval. Granted, she never said it out loud, but her face… that cherub face spoke volumes! “But Santie Claus is coming to town.” (Sniff.) Subtext: “Don’t you love me???”

(Gulp.) I was toast.

“I can’t come WITH you, Patti…because…because…I’m IN the parade,” I blurted out suddenly—surprising even myself.

“You ARE?!!!” she cooed. The smile grew wide on her tiny, pink-cheeked face, her eyes filled with holiday wonder as she cuddled closer, anticipating more story.

I did not disappoint.

“Yep,” I riffed, “I’ll be in the giant caterpillar!” I fabricated further.

It just popped out. Once I started down this road, the whole thing took on a life of it’s own and picked up momentum from there. I replaced her tiny tears with what I had long imagined would be the perfect way to spend Thanksgiving when I was her size: from inside one of my favorite childhood floats. And now here it was paying off in tiny-niece brownie points. She was completely eating this up. It was awesome! And the bonus: I could remain horizontal well into the late morning on Thanksgiving as initially planned. (Score!)

Lacking expertise in all things children, (again I was 15 years old, for crying out loud!) I figured Patti would most likely forget all about my tiny departure from the truth post parade. She’d be consumed with the whole “holiday experience”, right? Wrong. She exploded into the house that day jacked up on candy canes and cocoa—anxious to get every delicate detail I could impart. She cornered me, like a Super Fan at ComicCon as the rush of family poured into the dining room, bounding with bowls and platters teeming with Thanksgiving bounty. The excitable little magpie circled me like a satellite—grilling me within an inch of my life.

“You were in there weren’t you?! I saw your shoes. Are those the shoes you wore? I SAW them! How many people were in there with you? Did you get to bring your best friends? Were there any elves inside the caterpillar with you? I KNEW it! That’s how they get it to move, don’t they? Elves. How old do you have to be to be inside the caterpillar?”

As my father would say, I had buttered my toast, now I had to lie in it.

A year went by. I forgot all about the story I had fed Patti that Thanksgiving prior. She, on the other hand, remembered… every… ridiculous… detail. And as the holiday approached, once again I found myself being interrogated as to the comings and goings of parade life on and around Thanksgiving.

She tried to contain herself at first. “Are you in the parade again this year?” she began, trying hopelessly to contain herself. It was fruitless. Her enthusiasm snowballed.

I was in it now. I had to commit.

“You bet!” I jumped in without hesitation. “Only this year, I’m a Pilgrim!”

“You are?!!!” Her eyes widened as she turned on a pivot back to face me. There was moment there I thought she might burst. You could practically read her every crayon-colored thought. It was delicious! “I drew a Pilgrim in school.” She was eating this up. “Where’s the hat? Can I see the costume?!”

“Nope, sorry, it’s a surprise. We’re not allowed. You’ll have to wait for the parade like everybody else!”

She was thrilled! This was great, I thought! The kid’s happy, I’m happy. I LOVE Thanksgiving!

She rushed into my parents’ house following the parade that year, leaving the front door open wide behind her. She was exploding, “I saw you!! You were walking along and shaking everyone’s hands and waving!”

“That was me!” I said proudly, “I was even on TV!”

“You WERE?!!!”

It was almost too much for her now six-year-old self to contain. This was better than Bozo. I enjoyed it as much as diving into a plate heaped high with perfect slices from a plump, free-range bird with all the fixins’.

Another year passed, we both grew a year older and, as you might have guessed, my vicious plot thickened.

“Did you see me?!” I offered up as the family assembled around the holiday table once more.

“You were a Pilgrim again, weren’t you?!”

“Nope, I was an Indian!!”

“I THOUGHT that was you!!!” she squealed with excitement.

My Thanksgiving Day parade ploy continued for two or three more years. But, like so many little traditions, it ultimately faded into the ether.

Or so I thought.

Early one autumn afternoon, after I had graduated from college and Patti was beginning high school, I happened to overhear her casually mention to a handful of her “tween-ish” friends, “My aunt was in the Thanksgiving Day Parade for years.”

“Really?” I asked curiously. “Who’s that?”

“What do mean? You, of course!” she exclaimed.

In all fairness, it had completely slipped my mind. I had no idea she even remembered the whole charade.

“Oh…Oh, Patti,” I paused. I bit my lip, apologetically shaking my lowered head. “Patti… I was never in the parade.”

She was at once solemn and serious.

“You were,” she said darkly, “I saw you. You were a Pilgrim… and an Indian. I distinctly remember you in the suspenders, funny pants and bump-toe shoes as one of the people in that giant caterpillar.”

“No, Patti. I was kidding.” I smiled sheepishly.

“You WERE!” She insisted. “I SAW you!”

“No, you didn’t,” I confessed. “It never happened.”

You would have thought I had at once choked the Easter Bunny, stuffed him head first into the Great Pumpkin, and fed them both to eight tiny reindeer. Then for good measure, I murdered Santa in cold blood in front of a school bus full of first graders. Anyway, that was the equivalent in Patti’s world.

To this day Patti questions her own memory of it all and stubbornly blames me for it. Resistance is futile. I don’t dare refute it.

Occasionally these days at family gatherings I’ll catch her staring at me. Squinting with a stern expression on her face. She seems dark, sullen, arms folded and untrusting. After a while she’ll lower her head, and mutter something about me being dressed as a Pilgrim under her breath. I leave it alone.

Of course, the real fallout of deceiving her all those years is that she doubts every utterance I have to offer on anything any more. Oh, and I’m not allowed to offer any holiday stories to her kids, real or imagined, for fear they may be maimed emotionally for life. Patti swears every time I don’t tell her the whole truth about anything she smells cinnamon.

Guess that’s the price I will continue to pay for attempting to catch a few extra winks on Thanksgiving morning when I was fifteen and hapless. Come to think of it, for one reason or another, I haven’t slept in on that day since.

As for this holiday—I wish you honest relatives and friends, and a season filled with hope, warmth, rest, and good food to share. Enjoy the day and all that comes with it.

Happy Thanksgiving! Make it safe, and make it memorable in a good way!

The Best Halloween Movies EVER

Kate McClanaghan — Sun, 27 Oct 2024 14:00:37 +0000

Move over, Christmas! You don’t hold a monopoly on amazing seasonal movies. In fact, one of the things I like best about autumn is the scores of amazing movies leading up to Halloween.

What does this have to do with voice acting? Frankly, directors use pop culture and movie references most when describing what they’re looking for in a scene, character, or take. It’s your job as a professional talent to maintain a broad frame of reference by being familiar with a wide variety of film, TV, and mass media.

Not that I need an excuse to make a list of some of my favorite fall films.

A word of caution: Some are frightening. Some are hilarious. Some heartwarming. Some classics. (Others aren’t classics, but ought to be.) Regardless, you may find many are flat out addicting. One thing’s for sure, they’re all amazing, so at least you’ll be thoroughly entertained while you do your homework!

So, pop the popcorn. Get cozy on the couch, and invite the crew over, or bunker in all by yourself… if you dare!

Enjoy!

Best Movies for Halloween

1. Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) *

2. The Thing (1982) *

3. Rear Window (1954) *

4. Deathtrap (1982) 🙂

5. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)

6. Psycho (1960)

7. No Country for Old Men (2007) *

8. The Sixth Sense (1999) *

9. Get Out (2017)

10. The Addam’s Family (1991) 🙂

11. Young Frankenstein (1974) * 🙂

12. Shallow Grave (1994) * 🙂

13. Let Me In (2010)

14. Ghostbusters (1984) 🙂

15. Warlock (1989) *

16. Sleepy Hallow (1999)

17. Coraline (2009)

18. The Birds (1963)

19. The Others (2001) *

20. Shaun of the Dead (2004) 🙂

21. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

22. Paranormal Activity (2007)

23. Dead Calm (1989)

24. M (1931) *

25. The Dead Zone (1983)

26. Misery (1990)

27. Poltergeist (1982)

28. The Shining (1980)

29. Freaks (1932)

30. Alien (1979)

31. Arsenic & Old Lace (1944) * 🙂

32. In America (2002) *

33. Ed Wood (1994) 🙂

34. 28 Days Later (2002)

35. Highlander (1986)

36. The Fifth Element (1997) *

37. It (2017)

38. Murder on the Orient Express (1974) & (2017)**

39. Night of the Living Dead (1968)

40. Stir of Echoes (1999)

41. Dead Poets Society (1989)

42. Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) * 🙂

43. Shadow of a Doubt (1943)

44. Nope (2022)

45. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

46. Memento (2000)

47. The Grapes of Wrath (1940)

48. Shadow of the Vampire (2000) * 🙂

49. Nosferatu (1922)

50. Cat People (1942)

* My personal favorites just about any time of year!

** BOTH versions are great! Flip a coin.

🙂 Comedy

Why Producing a “Makeshift” Demo of Your Voiceover Demo is a Professional Mistake

Kate McClanaghan — Mon, 21 Oct 2024 14:00:00 +0000

Podcast Length: 8:33

Probably one of the greatest misconception many budding voice talent have with regard to this industry is that creating a “makeshift” demo is acceptable to (supposedly) tide them over until they’re established in this field.

“I’ll produce a professional demo later after I’ve landed some work and I’ve made some money,” is the general rationale. Unfortunately, attempting to land work with poorly produced demos only gets you further from shore rather than closer to your career goals. Opening with a career killer of a demo inadvertently has you in a race to the bottom, rather than aiming for bigger and better things. Without proper training and professional demo production only serves to make you appear unprofessional and inevitably results in frustration that could and should be avoid.

This business is tough enough. Why add to the degree of difficulty, especially when attempting to secure work?

By promoting a half-baked demo, potential clients, talent agents, casting sources and your primary target audience, producers, will be left assuming you consider a homemade, cobbled-together demo to be the best of your efforts. And while it may be “the best you can do… for now”, it will only undermine their confidence in you, and keep you from pursuing more elevated, better paying projects. In fact, it can ultimately drown you in the shallow end of the production pool.

The impression you make with poorly produced demos is how you define your level of commitment and expertise to those most likely to hire you.

The recipient of your demo can only deduce that you feel this is the very best representation of your abilities: a low-rent, demo-of-a-demo, as you may see it, translates to a low-rent talent that’s simply not worth your potential client’s precious promotional dollars.

Granted, you may justify to yourself, “Eh, my demo’s not that bad.” But just because you have a mic and editing software doesn’t mean you have the benefit of distance to effectively self-assess your best performance skills let alone what should and shouldn’t be included on your voiceover demos. To say nothing of the ability to discern industry standards that professionally define your well-produced audio tracks.

Voiceover demos are intended to define your aesthetic sensibilities. For instance, if you were pursuing film and wanted to be considered skilled and prepared to seamlessly to be considered to play even a small, but substantial role opposite, let’s say, Don Cheadle, or Margot Robbie. You’d want the production values on your reel to instill confidence that you’re more than appropriate because your stellar performance was framed by production that backed you up.

Demos, by design, are expected to promote you with elevated production values. It’s what sets them apart from auditions in the first place. They’re intended to literally demonstrate the work you’re best suited to book in mass media.

Today every professional creative, not just voiceovers, from directors, editors, producers, as well as on-camera actors are all required to offer professional demos to exhibit who they are, what they do best, and that they understand what’s needed and wanted to even be considered for future work.

Talent agents, casting directors, and producers use your demo to submit you for projects, especially when time is tight, which occurs often enough anymore. Even if the producer or agent knows you well and truly believes in you, and hopes to use you on their project, they still need to get approvals from multiple sources in order to move forward with production. Therefore presenting you, with your sub-standard demo, is a direct reflection on them and only makes their job harder if your demos are less than reputable.

Every strata of the production food chain requires the creative in question to offer current and competitive demos. Directors, editors, CGI artists, producers, and actors both on- and off-camera (voiceovers) are all expected to define themselves with these valuable tools of the trade.

It’s nothing new. This has been the case since the Mad Men Era and stems from a bulk of producers cutting their professional teeth in advertising. Their consistent objective has always been to instill confidence in who you are and what you have to offer as a reliable professional. Simply put, a demo gives the impression that this is what you do best and defines the caliber of work you intend to land more of. So your demo better consist of precisely that while fulfilling your potential clients professional needs and standards. If they like what they hear, they’ll likely audition you from there to ensure you are able to deliver what you suggest from your tracks.

Even if you’re just starting out in this field, you’re still held to the same professional standards as everyone else. There’s no beginner, intermediate, and advanced job out there. Every job expects and deserves to be afforded the same professional standards. And every client expects the top of your game, regardless of whether the job is union or not, you’re expected to consistently offer the very best of your abilities and this standard begins with the quality committed to your demo tracks. It defines your aesthetic, or lack thereof.

Therefore, if you deliver a demo that doesn’t sound like realistic, well-produced national television spots, you won’t be doing yourself any favors, and thereby miss the opportunity to “land work first”. The fact is you can’t land profitable voice-over work with a poor example of what it is you do best.

Keep in mind the goal here is to establish yourself professionally. You want to become memorable in a good way! Produce your demo properly the first time and alleviate a considerable amount of frustration for yourself. And you won’t have to double-back to clean up your reputation, which will cost you more time and money than you had ever even bargained for in the first place.

We’ve all heard (or possibly muttered to ourselves) the common novice question, “Why doesn’t someone give me a chance?” I can answer that: Because there’s typically a creative team who are held responsible whether this production flies or dies. And while you may have an “in” who would like to back you by submitting you, your ally wouldn’t likely be able to float getting the whole team to take the same leap of faith if you don’t have any training and your demos only serve to leave your ally embarrassed or worse.

Suffice it to say, whoever might back you as an untested, inexperienced talent when you don’t yet know your job and can’t professionally demonstrate why you’d be an asset to the production without you first having invested in both training and the primary tool every credible creative is expected to present, isn’t realistic. Expecting professionals, who have worked hard to achieve their positions, risk professional suicide should you fail, is asking a bit much, don’t you think?

Having a cheap attack from the start when it comes to your training and most important professional tools (your demos) only delays the inevitable. But wherever you begin or begin again, you can’t do it alone. Voiceover is a team sport, no matter what you may read from various online sources.

Invest in yourself from the start and get on with your career already.

The Two Prominent Approaches to Voiceover in the States

Kate McClanaghan — Mon, 30 Sep 2024 13:00:43 +0000

Podcast Length: 17:50

If you’ve been pursuing voiceover work on your own in America for the past decade or more, chances are you’ve been following a business model that concentrates almost strictly on securing work all by yourself, or DIY, by procuring jobs primarily through excessively low-paying sites like Fiverr, Upwork and a few Pay-to-Play (P2P) platforms. And while quite a few people have found this “gig work” business model to be an improvement over solely working their dead-end day jobs, most soon discover there’s a rather low financial ceiling that continues to drop significantly with every passing year (if not month).

Nevertheless, voiceover as a career, rather than a pricey side hustle or hobby, has chiefly been in the hands of actors since the onset of recorded audio. Which stands to reason considering, even today, anyone who hires you as a voiceover assumes you’re an actor, even if you don’t think of yourself as one. And, traditionally, to secure work, professional actors enlist the services and expertise of seasoned, accomplished talent agents. In fact, many working actors generally expand their employment opportunities and subsidize their careers by voicing commercials, corporate narrations, documentaries, audiobooks, training videos, tradeshows, animation, and games.

Connecting remotely with potential clients, wherever they may be, is commonly done using Zoom or one of the commonly employed professional digital patch options; so, location is less of an obstacle than ever before. Additionally, pursuing voiceover work through talent agents offers nonunion talent the added opportunity to join the American actor’s union (SAG-AFTRA), which offers greater income, significantly improved working conditions, and the ability to focus almost exclusively on your performance.

These two prominent approaches to voiceover in America today, the DIY Approach and the Actor Approach (as we refer to them here), generally pose a number of stark differences from each other. The one consistent thing they have in common, besides requiring professionally produced voiceover demos, is both approaches require that you offer professional-quality auditions recorded from your home studio.

Production clients today assume the audio quality of your auditions will ultimately be the audio quality they will come to rely on should they hire you to voice their projects. Considering a majority of the jobs you book will be remotely recorded is an imperative regardless of the approach you may follow.

Beyond that, the differences between these two methodologies to secure voiceover work vary dramatically when it comes to:

– Who your target audience truly is

– What (and how) you’re paid, and

– What you’re responsible for once hired

Production demands and budgets define some of the key differences between booking work through talent agents compared to attempting to do every aspect of the production all on your own. To add to this, pursuing voiceover work abroad compared to booking jobs solely here in the States demands you consider a number of added factors that may not prove worth the trouble for the pay. The degree of difficulty connecting with the client and the exchange rate may not be in your favor or worth your while. These elements are relative obstacles, but worth mentioning especially if you’re only just getting started in this field.

Our expertise and concentration as Actors’ SOUND ADVICE is in directing voice talent toward primarily (but not exclusively) booking commercial and corporate narration voice work here in the States. These are the two prominent genres of voiceover, regardless of the approach, and regardless of whether you are in the union or not, because collectively they define the greatest amount of voiceover work available, and potentially the most financially lucrative voice work offered in the U.S.

In fact, there’s greater demand for quality commercial and Co-Ed (i.e., corporate-educational, formerly referred to as Industrial) than any other form of voiceover work according to Variety’s recent industry analysis (November 2021). We generally suggest you first concentrate on establishing and advancing your career through commercial and corporate narration voiceover employment prior to focusing on a specialized area of voice work, such as animation or games, which may be your initial aspiration for getting into this field. Commercial and Co-Ed voiceover work are the low-hanging fruit that will most likely determine whether you have a career in this industry at all.

The DIY Voiceover Approach

Pursuing voiceover on your own, or with the DIY (Do It Yourself) Approach, ultimately demands you assume all the responsibilities of a small crew of production specialists. In fact, a good deal of the gig work to be had from Fiverr, Upwork and the various P2P platforms (that pay an average of about $100 or less per project), typically require you not only voice the job at a dramatically subpar rate, but you’re also expected to include a multitude of production services as well with this approach.

Most of these additional production services are delivered far above and beyond the call of duty. In fact, most talent on these sites perform these added tasks out of a feeling of obligation rather than out of any actual skill. Granted, there are talent who can multi-task as they may have done when they were employed in radio and broadcasting. The problem is that these added services are most often included in the measly voiceover rate primarily out of fear of losing the job, rather than out of expertise. Which is why these sites can be considered predatory, both intentionally and unintentionally. It’s hard to say which is which when you’re simply trying to earn a little income while gaining experience as a voiceover.

And that’s not to say there aren’t some exceptional voiceover talent among the online platforms who can seamlessly deliver exceptional voiceover while including elevated recording, editing and overall production options. The real issue is that these individuals typically aren’t being properly compensated for their efforts and skills.

Small business owners in every industry are notorious for short-changing themselves and the inability to delegate. Perhaps these occupational hazards are more evident with freelance voice actors because so few have experience running their own business. Knowing what they’re really worth, how to craft their best possible performance as a vocal brand, when to update and train, as well as who to delegate key responsibilities to all factor into whether your small business will thrive or fail, just like every other small business.

Suffice it to say, the DIY Approach could and should be filed under USER BEWARE. Stop asking people who have never been where you’re going for directions. Instead, surround yourself with people who get it. Advisors who know more about this industry than you do even if you’ve been at it for a while.

Don’t be lulled into thinking this is the only way to get started or how to proceed in voiceover, because, while it’s clearly the most common approach today, it’s far from being the most effective or lucrative. If anything, starting your voiceover career pursuing the DIY Approach will likely become your conditioning out of sheer habit. Voice talent typically remain among the DIY ranks for years largely because it becomes the devil they know rather than it being the most successful approach to securing quality, well-paid voiceover work.

Because it’s not. Far from it. By continually settling for less as so many small business owners do, the result is often a scarcity mindset, rather than one of abundance, and that’s a deal-killer for any small business, not just voiceover. It evolves into mind-numbing frustration, random busy work, and poorly compensated work. For these reasons, and quite a few more, we strongly suggest you avoid the DIY Approach entirely, if you haven’t already come to rely on these sites to book work.

If you’ve been pursuing the work on your own and what you’ve been doing isn’t moving the dial quite like it used to and you can’t quite put your finger on what you need to change, it’s time to consult with industry experts who’ll challenge you and your current process.

You may need a broader perspective. It probably won’t be comfortable at first, but it may be necessary. Old habits die hard. Challenging learned responses is necessary and builds agility, both personally and professionally. As the saying goes, intelligence is the ability to adapt to change. If you rely solely on doing everything yourself to secure work as a voiceover, then you must know this industry is continually changing as well. Adapt or perish.

The Actor Approach to Voiceover

Prior to the DIY Approach, all voice talent were required to concentrate solely on their performance, as so many continue to do, especially with the Actors Approach to voiceover.

Pursuing voiceover by securing representation through credible talent agents in three to five markets across the country can and should be considered an entirely alternative business model especially when compared to attempting to do everything on your own.

Nevertheless, this has generally been considered a somewhat elusive approach, at least to the general public and to voice talent who’ve never effectively achieved appropriate representation in the first place—whether out of unrealistic expectations, lack of training and preparedness, or any number of misguided assumptions regarding the work versus ability.

Perhaps this is so since so many talent initially assume they can walk and talk at the same time. Or since so many mistakenly assume that simply securing representation with a single talent agency is sufficient, and then they fail to take any further responsibility for the direction of their careers beyond achieving that one, basic mission.

Obviously, (spoiler alert) there’s no one-size-fits-all, boilerplate roadmap to succeeding as a voice actor. Yet, achieving access to life-changing opportunities can only be accomplished after securing representation with a handful of seasoned agents. The protocols and expectations as to how to secure representation from credible talent agents anywhere other than the States are as varied as the available opportunities.

Again, our concentration is on securing work in America, not because there aren’t credible jobs to be had in other parts of the world, but because it’s outside our purview and expertise. Plus, the amount of work to be done here in the States alone is far and away more abundant than anywhere else in the world and pays substantially better as well.

Suffice it to say, you’re required to know and understand what’s expected of you as a professional from the start, regardless of your experience level, when you arrive on the talent agent’s doorstep. Talent agents are not managers. Generally speaking, as a voiceover, you are responsible for managing your own career. Agents should never be expected to “mold and shape you” into a professional simply because you show promise. It’s the other way around. You show promise to the agent because you manage yourself well.

That means you’re well-trained and continue to better yourself by taking classes with credible, respected sources. Just as an athlete continues to train and develop through techniques that further assist them in their development. Otherwise, like any muscle, your performance skills will atrophy and falter. It’s always assumed and expected you will continually invest in yourself, rather than complacently assume that you’re “already trained”. As if that were enough. It’s not, to be sure.

All work booked through talent agents are directed sessions, which sends a chill through voice talent accustomed to recording and editing their sessions themselves if they follow the DIY Approach. A directed session is when the client directs you in real time during the recording session, whether you’re physically in the same studio with them or connecting virtually via a digital patch (i.e., Zoom, Source Connect or ipDTL).

This doesn’t necessarily mean the client knows precisely what they want or how they expect you to color every word or phrase, and it doesn’t mean the client can easily articulate what they’re after either. But it does mean, should they give you direction during the session, they expect to hear you apply that change in the very next take or at least within a take or two. You’re expected to accommodate their direction by immediately incorporating the calibration, modification, or however you prefer to phrase it as long as you offer a viable option in your delivery.

Sadly, most talent typically sound like a broken record and repeatedly offer the same robotic delivery again and again out of mere muscle memory. When, in fact, you’re expected to offer options with each take during as few as five takes and as many as 55 or more, and not because you were miscast or doing a poor job, but because professional production clients are interested in hearing viable creative options with every take rather than a cookie-cutter read that doesn’t service the production or make you a valuable team player.

The inability to do so would only serve in poorly impacting your professional reputation. You’re expected to continually create within the context of the project, take after take after take as needed. That kind of creative precision and skill requires training. It’s not immediately intuitive, regardless of how naturally gifted you may be.

Probably the greatest benefit of securing voice work through legitimate talent agents (via the Actor Approach) is averaging of five to 55 times more income than you’d likely ever negotiate for yourself alone. And you’ll only be required to voice the project, instead of acting as the producer, casting director, copywriter, talent agent, and the recording engineer (beyond offering a digital patch and running a back-up from your home studio). Of course, you’d never be appropriately compensated for any of these additional skills while among the ranks of the DIY Approach.

Producers and casting directors typically contact your agents to audition and then hire you as a voiceover, regardless of whether you’re union or not. Leaving you to simply voice the project, not produce it. Stay in your lane. Otherwise, you’ll end up competing with the people most likely to hire you. Producers are your target audience as a voice actor.

And while there’s certainly no shame in gig work initially, transitioning from the DIY Approach to the Actor Approach can prove to be problematic especially if you can’t discern the difference between these two distinctly different business models to securing voiceover work.

Common Denominators

It’s doubtful many voice actors consider their approach to accomplishing their career goals as a business model as such, yet achieving a profitable, living wage from your voice work almost certainly demands it.

We build our reputations in this industry with our auditions, first and foremost, regardless of your overall approach to the work, and NOT from your bookings. Yes, bookings matter, but achieving a steady flow of auditions means an ongoing stream of opportunities for you, rather than relying on the false notion you’ll work continuously after “one big break.”

Producers, casting, and talent agents look to rely on you from seeing a body of work defined by your many submissions of quality auditions over time. Certainly, you’ll eventually book work, if nothing else, out of sheer persistence. You make yourself a valued, reliable professional by turning around auditions that consistently exceed expectations.

The best audition doesn’t necessarily book the job, but rather ONE of the many wonderful auditions submitted books the job. Make it your intention to be among them with consistency. Concentrate on consistently crafting the best possible auditions, and you’ll become known for just that.

Make excellence a habit.

The Importance of Challenging Your Comfort Zone

Kate McClanaghan — Mon, 23 Sep 2024 14:00:11 +0000

Podcast Length: 4:51

Acting is very much like playing poker. If you intend to play, if you hope to win, you need to play your hand well, and, frankly, you need to risk.

Yet far too many talent kill a perfectly wonderful opportunities to create by second-guessing what little direction they are given. It’s an odd, but all too common, conundrum. It seems to be a knee-jerk reaction to risk, even from talent who aren’t necessarily all that risk-averse. Still this reaction happens far too frequently with perfectly remarkable talent. Perfectly capable, creative talent completely shutting down at the very moment when they need to act!

So, what gives?

Assuming the copy (the script) is broken simply because you don’t understand it yet is a common ploy. If you don’t get it, neither will your audience, so read it out loud until you do. That requires you read the script MULTIPLE times, rather than ‘just one and done’. And if you still don’t understand what you’re reading, here’s a novel idea, ASK! If there’s anything to get, I’m certain they’d be happy to inform you.

Go ahead and work through the first few cold reads in the lobby, bathroom, or greenroom, but whatever you do, play with the copy! Get it on its feet—OUT LOUD. Challenge your comfort zone! Don’t sit and wait for someone to hold your hand and lead you through their interpretation of the script, as if there were only one way to deliver this performance.

Besides, assuming the client knows what they want, and further knows how to articulate precisely what they want is a pipe dream. It’ll never happen. The truth is we typically get precious little direction. In fact, consistently over the years when surveyed whether they know what they are looking for, better than 90% of those likely to hire you as an actor claim, “I’ll know it when I see it.” Which means you better get busy and create something dynamic—and modify your approach from there as needed.

Quit worrying about whether you might “go too far”. I’d be willing to bet everything that’s not even remotely a threat. In fact, it’s far more likely you won’t go far enough!

Consider all the times you’ve landed the job. Any job, not just voiceover! Think about it. You challenged your comfort zone. In fact you blasted passed it and surprised even yourself, right? Exactly. You allowed yourself to create something exceptional. Your training and experience allowed you to trust yourself enough to take a leap of faith. You took a risk and allowed yourself the indulgence of playing well past that narrow margin you had previously been attempting to shoehorn yourself into.

If you hope to accomplish anything in life, let alone in this industry, you owe it to yourself to open yourself up to calculated risk. Take an 8,000-foot dive into a Dixie cup! You may just discover the water’s warm and you’re free enough to do the backstroke. But first, you must take a great leap of faith. This doesn’t come about by playing it safe.

The more you challenge your comfort zone, the more your confidence will grow. The more your confidence grows, the more you discover. The more you discover, the more valuable you become! This is how you become a consummate professional: by making agility the cornerstone of your comfort zone.

Easier said than done. This requires training and practice to focus what you’re attempting to accomplish with each take: expanding your comfort zone and trusting your creative impulses. It’s the most rewarding thing in the world!

Mastering a handful of remarkable techniques prepares you to continually challenge your comfort zone, develop greater dexterity, versatility, and agility that will set you apart from the masses by being the most valuable thing you can be: yourself!

Know that you’re capable of a limitless number of exceptional deliveries. Make it your mission at the onset of every audition and every session to discover just a few of them on the spot. It’s your job.

Because if you are interested, you are interesting… not the other way around.

Funny how that works.

Defining the ‘Conversational’ Voiceover Read

Kate McClanaghan — Mon, 16 Sep 2024 14:00:33 +0000

Podcast Length: 4:45

Probably the single-most challenging and sought-after vocal quality today is the ‘conversational’ read. It’s nothing new, frankly. This has been the goal for decades.

The problem is, once you read the very dry, unimaginative script you’re auditioning for you discover you have little, if anything, to draw upon to convey a realistic, natural, plausible performance. Especially if your conditioning as a voiceover has been almost strictly Corporate Narration, e-Learning, or any number of the less than ‘conversational’ styles out there.

Simply hearing the client repeat, “You’re talking to your best friend” or “Just be yourself” doesn’t help. In some respects it makes matters worse. You feel like you’re drifting further from shore rather than the other way around. Now what?

If you’ve spent a good deal of your career, thus far, announcing as so many of us have… you may have assumed you’ve been as realistic as the script would allow. Or, perhaps, you thought you sounded ‘natural’ and ‘conversational’ only to receive feedback or ‘direction’ telling you otherwise.

Certainly if you’ve spent years in broadcast, your cold-reading skills may be sharp, but you likely developed a delivery style that suits News, weather and sports, but undermines your value by coming off too presentational. I promise you you’re not alone.

The thing is: the goal of every voiceover is to become a ‘vocal brand’ of the product, service or production you’re voicing—regardless of whether you’re voicing a commercial, a corporate narrative, a documentary, a game, a channel, or what have you.

Our mission, as voice talent, is to sound as if every word on the page is what we happen to think, and what we know for ourselves to be true. We’re assuming a specific point-of-view (POV) as voiceovers, and we are expected to sound as if we have an educated opinion about what we’re talking about.

Of course, mastering a conversational delivery is accomplished over time, with practice, and intention to understand and be understood. Provided, of course, you know what to practice by having a process to get there consistently and confidently. It’s not immediately intuitive.

Which is why wherever you focus your attention will ultimately develop skills and assets. As the saying goes, we are what we repeatedly do. Which is why exposing your self to specific disciplines is essential to every skill level of talent.

Talent, like any muscle, demands continued use and development, or it will atrophy. While skill, on the other hand, can and should be taught. Both require continued application to remain sharp and useful.

The knife cuts both ways: you need to effectively self-direct and trust your best creative impulses, while simultaneously committing yourself to whatever direction you may be offered during a session, even if that direction might be completely counter-intuitive to your best instincts. In fact, especially so.

There’s typically a leap of faith required to achieve your most natural conversational delivery. But a level of risk, a great departure from your norm is needed in every performance you deliver. Because “playing it safe” isn’t necessarily all that secure if it leaves your performance stagnant.

You won’t find techniques and tools of the trade more reliable or as well vetted as you’ll find coaching privately with us. Our attention is consistently and continually focused on helping you develop your most natural personality through your voiceover, regardless of the genre.

Considering ‘conversational’ is the single most requested quality in all of casting and production today, it’s ironic it’s typically the most challenging and most elusive attribute to master. Your aim is to master sounding as honest and genuine as possible. Anyone who hires you as a voice actor assumes this is your constant mission as an artist and professional.

What Makes You Versatile

Kate McClanaghan — Mon, 09 Sep 2024 14:00:13 +0000

Podcast Length: 5:35

As actors we’re generally expected to be versatile enough to play everything. Or at least that’s the general consensus regarding acting as a profession, and not simply from actors and their coaches.

Of course, precious few rise to the occasion for the simple reason none of this work is all that easy. Mastering the skills to effortlessly perform in every medium and genre appears be the generally accepted definition of what it means to be versatile. This is, at least in part, the degree of difficulty involved in being versatile. Every genre of voiceover demands skill and tenacity, and requires continued maintenance and practice if you hope to be a valued professional. And with every medium and genre we’re expected to offer effective options within the context. This is the case with every professional creative endeavor if you hope to accomplish anything, not just acting.

Maybe I’m preaching to the choir, but being versatile as an actor is most often defined by the following:

1. The ability to plausibly play a role that is a dramatic departure from your self, or by skillfully playing a role that’s a dramatic departure from characters you play most often.

2. Mastering a variety of media, rather than remaining skillful solely in stage, for instance, also denotes versatility. The more you make yourself familiar with the demands of commercial work, TV, film and voice-over, the more capable and confident you’ll become performing in each of these forms of media. Besides, your aim as an actor should be to open yourself up to as many opportunities as possible.

3. The ability (and agility) to offer appropriate performance options, take after take, rather than a “cookie cutter” or “broken record” performance with each take. Our creative muscle, regardless of the medium, is often defined by delivering options within the context of the piece. The ability to deliver a unique expression with each take could very well be the very core of what makes us creatively valuable.

Certainly in theater, we typically have at least two weeks of rehearsal before a production opens, which allows for plenty of room to create and play. However, when it comes to recorded media, such as voiceover, film, and television, you’re expected to offer effective options from the very start and with every take. (You’re rarely expected to deliver only one single take as you would with live performance. Again, your job is to offer a few viable options within the context, but distinct and creative options take after take.) Which is why surprising yourself take after take, with a variety of inflections, is consistently what’s needed and wanted from you most in recorded media.

You’ll miss the real opportunity to create something extraordinary if you consistently ‘ramp up’ into your performance, as so many talent do in voiceover, when you’re first getting started as an actor, or with stage, given the fact we have the time to process and discover.

And herein lies the degree of difficulty so many talent fall prey to when transitioning from stage to voiceover or TV and film. At Actors’ SOUND ADVICE, we call this the “muscle memory delivery”. Not to be confused with Method Acting’s definition of the term. Instead, it’s how ever you read the script the first time out, you’re most likely to keep delivering the same read again and again out of sheer habit. We refer to the “muscle memory delivery” as a comfort zone created from the very beginning of any new practice, let alone reading a script out loud.

This impulse is necessary to drive a car, and certainly without it you’d never hear the phrase, “It’s just like riding a bike.” So it certainly serves a purpose. However, in acting, especially voice acting, it most often only serves to offer a repetitive performance that generally lacks creativity and spontaneity.

To become versatile requires you train like an athlete. Whatever your performance experience is (or has been) speaks volumes to your ultimate defaults. Therefore, to become a reliable, confident and valuable talent, regardless of the medium, it’s vital to consider what you’re hoping to accomplish. Proper training is a matter of effective conditioning. The best coaching offers techniques you can apply that challenge your comfort zone in order to master versatility.

As Stephen Hawking once said, “Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.”

Agreed. All the more reason to work smarter.

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10 Ways to Apply Union Standards to Your Non-Union VO Career

Kate McClanaghan — Mon, 02 Sep 2024 14:00:55 +0000

Podcast Length: 14:15

As Actors’ SOUND ADVICE, we strongly encourage all non-union voice talent to aim to become Union (SAG-AFTRA). That begins by applying some basic union policies and standards in order to achieve the best, most professional results in your career.

We encourage you to aim to become a union voice talent for a variety of reasons, including among them: the pay and working conditions are a dramatic improvement over remaining non-union or simply settling to get by as an online “gig worker”.

Here are a few industry standards and policies to commit to—to improve your bottom line, elevate your brand, instill confidence, and expand your voice acting business.

1. Base your non-union rates on ‘union scale’.

“Scale” is the term that refers to the minimum pay rate. The union maintains a minimum rate for each classification or form of usage. The repurposing of your performance or likeness, for on-camera or off-camera, all have designated minimums. So, whatever the intended use of the voiceover job versus the final use of audio may change, but whichever rate is greater, is what you are inevitably owed for voicing the project. (More on that in a moment.) Suffice it to say, scale is the lowest rate both non-union and union talent should expect to receive. It’s the lowest going rate for the designated job, regardless of whether you’re just starting out or not.

That said, the primary difference between union and non-union rates are residuals.

Union talent receive residual pay in addition to session fees for voicing commercials and various broadcast projects for television, theatrical, streaming and their continued “re-usage”.

In lieu of residuals (aka “resids”), agents tend to account for the value of using the talent’s performance by ballparking a flat rate amount that also includes the talent’s non-union session fee as compensation. Plus, on occasion, the additional 20% non-union agent commission. Should the client find they require an extended use of the talent’s likeness (performance), a designated, limited period of time, standardly incurs additional fees. These terms are generally accounted for in advance of hiring all manner of talent, not just voiceovers, and based on the vast experience of scores of union talent and productions.

2. Secure representation with qualified talent agents.

Talent agents have access to work individual voice talent don’t have access to on their own, and agents afford you an average of 5-55 times greater income than voice talent are able to secure on their own. Without the experience and understanding of the industry talent agents tend to offer, and again regardless of whether the voice talent is union or not.

Of course, agents specialize, just as talent do. To add to this, far too many talent assume agents should be expected to groom and develop their careers, when, in fact, agents require talent arrive on their doorstep already well-trained, well-produced with professional demos and fully prepared and available to work.

However, relying solely on a single talent agency as your sole source for employment as a voiceover generally isn’t a realistic approach if you hope to work with any regularity. (Learn more about how to secure representation with talent agents here.)

3. Always require 24-hour cancellation notice.

Should a client cancel at the last minute prior to a confirmed recording session, then the client is responsible for covering your session fees, which for nonunion talent tends to average between $300 and $1,200 per project or more.

Charging for last-minute cancellations is standard practice for most businesses, and voiceover is no different. Otherwise, lost revenue for your time and effort preparing, the cost of securing a studio other than your own, and ultimately rearranging your schedule to accommodate the project is inevitable. Again, this is standard practice for most businesses, though the average gig worker doesn’t typically apply sensible business practices to themselves often to their own peril.

4. Stay in your lane: You’re being hired to voice the project, not produce, write, cast, edit and engineer the job. Those services incur additional costs to the client.

Don’t assume these skills should be expected of you as a nonunion voice talent and, worst of all, already included in your rate. Quite the contrary!

Union talent are required to solely voice the project, that’s it. Nothing more. Doing so keeps you focused on delivering your best performance, rather than dispersing your creative attention and energy, especially considering the client’s branding is on the line here. That’s the primary goal.

Granted today all talent are required to offer clean, professional remote recordings and possibly a few, simple edits on our auditions as needed. However, if editing is not among your skills, don’t assume these services are needed and wanted from you. Don’t assume mixing and editing should be included in what may be your already seriously low rate as a budding (or even as an established) voice actor.

One of the greatest missteps ALL small business owners share when they’re first starting out is under-valuing, if not utterly de-valuing, they’re true worth.

The truth is potential customers rarely purchase the cheapest option when shopping to hire or buy. Instead, potential clients consistently choose the second most expensive option in case you were wondering. Ironically, most small business startups attempting to appear competitive do so by undercutting the lowest rate they can find on the market. This novice approach to pricing inevitably only serves to undermine the voice talent’s true worth and seals their fate from ever making ends meet or achieve a proper income from this field.

You’d be better served to concentrate your efforts primarily on voicing the job you’ve been hired to do rather than including production elements that are beyond your skill set.

It’s probably the greatest small business misstep you’ll likely be encouraged (often purported from assorted, less than credible sources) is to offer more services than you’re honestly capable of delivering.

The best rule of thumb is to under promise and overdeliver.

This is a common issue that’s not exclusive to voiceover, but is present in practically every profession you can imagine. It became a common issue for voice talent that likely evolved out of “gig culture” instead of from any real expertise or business acumen.

Your professional reputation and future booking potential with a respective producer will be undermined should you deliver poorly executed services.

Besides, claiming to be a producer places you in direct competition with your primary target audience as a voice talent, namely PRODUCERS.

Even if you happen to be a professional producer, you’re probably not being paid to include all those additional services, you’re only being paid as a voiceover. Unburden yourself and stay in your lane.

5. Don’t accept voice projects paid “in perpetuity”.

Non-union voice talent typically receive a flat rate for their work. However, it’s important to establish in advance how long the client may use your recorded performance for the pay. Determining the length of time the client is allowed to use the audio you’ve voiced, whether it be used just once, for 6-8 weeks, a single 13-week cycle, for six months, a year or possibly two years, the designated use inevitably falls to you to hold the client to. They can only continue to use your voiceover for a designated, limited time or they will owe you an additional stipend, typically the same flat rate with a 10-25% increase with each renewal of use, but only unless it’s established in advance of the session. Otherwise, you may be leaving money on the table.

Suffice it to say, you’re always entitled to be compensated for the added use and/or reuse of your likeness and the original recording whether you’re union or not. It’s in your best interest to be paid for each repurposing of the recording, especially if your vocal branding becomes iconic in some way, which many have been known to do.

6. Don’t assume your VO clients are more experienced than YOU when it comes to production.

You may not consider yourself all that experienced when it comes to recording and directing yourself as a voice actor. Don’t assume that whoever hired you understands production or knows how to articulate precisely what they need and want from you during a recording session. Clients may offer very little, if any insight, and generally rely on the voice talent to come through with creative options that bring what may otherwise be considered rather dull, wooden text.

7. Telling yourself you can always raise the rate “later”, should tell you your rate is probably already undermining your worth.

Union rates determine the lowest, minimum rate (scale) you should expect and willing to accept as a professional voiceover. So, be sure, as a non-union talent, if you’re asked to offer a rate, determine your rate based on union scale, and then add no less than 25% to cover your various expenses. Yes, I’m suggesting you ‘pad’ your minimum rate by about 25%. Because as a small business owner, you will always have overages you’ll be required to cover. From training, to demos, to promotion, and maintaining and upgrading your home studio, let alone your taxes and dues, all require continued costs and upkeep. You’re not simply walking and chewing gum here. This is an expertise and a profession.

Even if a potential client doesn’t fully disclose, or realize their ultimate intentions for the use of the voiceover you supply, include a standard policy (in the form of a brief sentence in your service agreement or email) that should your voiceover be repurposed in additional forms of usage (overages), regardless you are to be paid whichever rate is greater. The client may never use your voiceover in the end. Nevertheless, you did the work and you’re still entitled to be paid for your time, skill, effort, and likeness.

Also, clients will assume whatever rate you initially charged will be the rate they establish for their ongoing production needs. Most small businesses simply don’t know what it costs to hire a voiceover until they know, and you’re the experienced professional they’re counting on you to offer clarity when it comes to their budget. If this is beyond your skillset—avoid pursuing voiceover work independently. Instead, I strongly urge you to rely on securing work strictly through talent agents.

Otherwise, expect to see whatever rate you offer become the rate their budgets will come to reflect on every project they hire you to voice from now until time in memorial.

8. YOU are the keeper of your conflicts.

The term “conflicts” refers to projects you’ve been paid to voice that are currently airing (or are ‘in use’) or you continue to receive income from. Maintaining your conflicts is basically keeping track and avoiding any possible conflicts of interest that would essentially have you work for the competition.

Conflicts are also referred to as exclusivity. In other words, you’re exclusively representing a specific product or service.

For example, if you’ve recently voiced a commercial for Dell computers then you’d have a conflict voicing commercials for any other computer company. You’re exclusive with Dell, until any and all possible reusage or ‘holds’ of your likeness have expired. Therefore, you aren’t available to accept commercial auditions for Apple or HP (Dell’s competition) or anything dealing with computers other than Dell as long as the project is airing and/or you’re currently receiving compensation. Once the term of usage has expired, you’re released and free to audition by accepting all manner of tech/computer projects from the (former) competition.

For what it’s worth, there are no conflicts in radio (or corporate in-house narrations). But it’s relatively uncommon to voice a project solely for radio today given the numerous platforms and streams of promotion that are readily available to the broader public.

Suffice it to say, the responsibility falls to you to maintain your conflicts (aka exclusivity). This is standard practice whether you’re union or not. You’re expected to keep track of the clients and projects you may have a conflict with, and, again, you’re NOT to even audition for the competition while these jobs are active.

9. Supply a simple, one-page, universal service agreement for yourself.

If you feel you absolutely must pursue voice work on your own from some of the assorted online sources readily available, without the benefit of qualified talent agents, then we strongly suggest you create a basic service agreement for yourself. This way you’ll ensure you and those hiring you are on the same page as to:

a) Determine what you’ve been hired to deliver (including the formats the client requires)

b) Determine what you expect to be paid and how long the client can use your recorded likeness

c) Determine who you can expect to receive final approvals from

d) Determine who you’ll be expected to deliver the final audio to

e) Determine when the final product is required to be completed

Again, we strongly recommend you avoid trying to do everything yourself and leave these details to your talent agents, rather than pursue work through these means, but we’re well aware many do. (Often to their own peril.) We maintain it’s generally best to stay in your lane as a voice actor and concentrate on being the best voiceover you can be while securing proper representation through credible sources across the country.

10. A good deal is only a good deal if it benefits BOTH sides, not just one.

Know your worth as a voiceover, but keep in mind the client’s financial goals don’t exceed yours. Understand that you deserve to be properly compensated just as your client deserves to be well serviced.

Far too many talent are quick to propitiate to potential clients out of fear they may “lose the job” if they don’t appease every random wish and whim, while negating your own true value as a professional voiceover.

Conversely, the very same may be true, just far less likely.

Clients can be intimidating often because they tend to have a business background that many creatives lack. Most clients have a ball park budget in mind often with unrealistic expectations with regard to timelines, unlimited modifications, as well as the final result.

Dedicate yourself to consistently offering your best and only accept fair compensation based on these simple standards from the very start.

Be honest with your client and yourself by making them aware of possible increases they may need to cover as you move forward, and what might be negotiable. This helps establish an open communication between you and a private interest, as well as managing expectations and to avoid misunderstandings.

For what it’s worth, much of what’s defined here are generally issues talent agents handle with producers, that can and should be averted entirely by being a voiceover first and foremost: aim to become union, and maintaining your simple, workable home recording set up. Keep it simple. Unburden yourself!

And have a happy and whenever possible, easy Labor Day!

How to ‘Book Out’ with Your Talent Agents

Kate McClanaghan — Mon, 26 Aug 2024 14:00:59 +0000

Podcast Length: 5:52

Summer is calling. We’re moments away from picnics, long hikes, beach bonfires, road trips, extended weekends, and a variety of well-deserved trips and treks out and about.

Here’s a bit of advice that should keep you in good graces of your talent agents and regular clients: if you know the specific dates you won’t be available for auditions and their subsequent recording sessions, be sure you book out.

‘Booking out’ is done from time to time throughout the year during holidays or any designated time you know in advance you won’t be free to accept a job.

Booking out is typically done via e-mail or online, following your talent agent’s specific policies. Ideally, you let them know at least a week or so in advance of the dates you won’t be available to accept auditions or bookings. Otherwise, your agents will assume you’re available and count on you.

Additionally, if you know you won’t be available for the dates of the shoot or recording session, do not accept the audition. Never audition for anything unless you intend to accept it. That’s standard professional conduct whether you’re a union talent or not.

So, the next time you schedule a dentist appointment, do your agents and yourself the courtesy of letting them know you’re indisposed.

Otherwise, if you don’t take the time to book out, it never fails just like clockwork, some major project will come calling the moment you head out of town. It’s Murphy’s Law.

Certainly, as a voice talent, there are portable recording options, provided you have:

a) A quiet place to record

b) Access to stable Internet service

c) A reliable computer and mic

d) The skills and experience to execute an effective audition or session remotely

Of course, depending on where you may be heading, finding a local studio may also be necessary if you happen to snag a project worth carving an hour or two from planned getaway. Bonus!

One of the reasons your agent appreciates you is the fact they can confidently rely on you being available and ready to work at a moments notice a bulk of the time. This is why they see you as reliable. Are you talented? Of course. Trained? That’s a given. Are you prepared? Always. Available? Absolutely, most of the time. However, you will have the occasional dentist appointment, family commitments and getaways that require you to make yourself scarce to accept a voiceover project from time to time.

If you neglect to book out, you’ll end up making everyone associated with the project miserable, and you might even destroy your professional credibility in the process because you “didn’t think booking out mattered all that much”.

Again, check with your talent agency to determine their preferred booking out policies and procedures, and follow them to the letter. Be sure you put it in writing. That way if it’s documented, including the dates, and submitted well enough in advance of your departure, all’s right with the world!

Nevertheless, don’t let that stop you from taking some well-deserved down time. It’s vital you feed your performance read by getting out there and living your life to the fullest!

You’ll enjoy yourself that much more if you keep your agents and regular clients in the loop. It’s the professional thing to do.

Can Talent Be Taught?

Kate McClanaghan — Mon, 19 Aug 2024 14:00:17 +0000

Podcast Length: 6:44

I’m often asked, “What are the odds of ‘making it’ in voiceover?”

The truth be told you can have all the talent in the world, but it’ll die on the vine without drive and momentum. How and where you promote yourself matters as well.

Certainly, passion and instincts account for a great deal, but neither will get you anywhere unless you dedicate yourself to keeping your skills sharp, while relentlessly pursuing the work. It’s there to be had.

So, let’s assume you have a work ethic that won’t quit, and everyone says you have a remarkable voice. Terrific. That’s as good a place to begin as any.

I say ‘begin’ because I honestly believe, as did my former Improv/acting coach (and mentor), Paul Sills, everyone has talent. However, we’re all at varying degrees of preparedness and development. But talent, like any muscle, demands continued use and development, or it will atrophy. While skill, on the other hand, can and should be taught. However, both require continued application to remain sharp and useful.

Question is: do you have talent? And how would you know?

Well, whatever you repeatedly do, wherever you focus your attention will ultimately define your skills and assets. So, exposing yourself to a variety of disciplines is essential as a talent. Whether you’re just starting out or hope to graduate to the next level of your career.

Problem is, we often fool ourselves, after taking a class or two, that we’ve mastered the form, or we’ve done enough. Or, just as bad—we’re no good at it. You may have had some exposure to a specific genre or style, but it falls to you to continue to develop with further practice and exposure. You’d think it could go without saying, but trying something only a handful of times doesn’t necessarily determine a skill or define you as a talent.

Case in point: most of us have been raised on TV. We’ve spent years becoming fully invested in sitcoms, daytime dramas, commercials and commercial styles. We recognize them for the genres they are, and they’re usually familiar to us, but auditioning and getting cast in them challenges our perceptions of the medium and of our selves within the given context.

You may audition for a commercial and feel like a cat in a dog suit during the process. The whole experience seems strange. You struggle with what is it they want from you, but not because you’ve never seen a commercial or you’ve never auditioned before.

A month passes, the spot airs and the concept that eluded you during the auditioning process suddenly zooms into focus. Why didn’t they tell you that at the audition? You would have done that! Why didn’t they direct you to do that? Now you suddenly see yourself within this reality, this genre, this performance style and why you were even called to audition for the piece. You would have killed on that thing… had you known all that in advance.

The truth is you got all the same info the talent who booked the job received. The difference may simply lie in how the talent who landed the job saw them self, they came to play and ultimately embodied the project, concept and all.

How we see ourselves and the genre we’re attempting to tackle determines much of the outcome: a successful audition, a remarkable callback, a long shot booking, and ultimately how successful the final production plays out. Each aspect challenges and often changes us as actors. Each require we grapple with familiarity versus unchartered territory. Each require calculated risk. Each determine a body of work that ultimately creates a career. It never goes away.

So again, the question begs: Can talent be taught? I wouldn’t rule it out.

Talent can give you confidence when experience is lacking. Skill and technique are what sustain us when the floor falls out from under us during the production, as it almost inevitably does on nearly every project—for you or possibly those you’re working with, requiring you to be sharp, prepared and reliable. After all, this is a team sport, this acting business.

But just because you don’t have an immediate intuitive response to a performance, genre, scene, take, character, or type, doesn’t mean you never will. How you see the story, the style, the format and yourself within that context all that play a part in the outcome.

So expose yourself to the styles you honestly intend to master. Be relentless about it. It’s your job.

And consider this: if you’re only on mic 10 to 15 minutes a week during in a workshop—that hardly gives you enough opportunity to work your performance muscle enough to properly develop it.

Remember that old joke, “How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice”? If you were taking piano lessons instead of voiceover, it would take a decade or more to get there if the only amount of time and attention you honestly dedicated toward developing and mastering your talents was 20 minutes a week, if that.

Granted taking workshops and participating in work out groups certainly helps develop a sense of community. They can feed your perceptions regarding voiceover as a subject, but keep in mind those perceptions may end up being merely assumptions, rather than true insights. Insights may or may not work to your advantage down the line.

Training is a double-edged sword, but a necessary bullet we all must bite. All talent benefit from private instruction to sort out your specific assets, what’s specifically your best course of action offered from a seasoned coach/career counselor who thoroughly understand the industry, what makes you valuable. This is how you build your brand as a professional.

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