Quick Question

[chucktaylor]

As someone who's been in Radio, all of my VO gigs that I've done have always generated from that side of the biz. I haven't joined any of the lead sites (hard to afford on a DJ's salary especially when you have a 5yr old that needs to eat) and I haven't got an agent yet...other than those ways, where do you find your audition leads?

wondering....
ct

[jsgilbert]

Chuck,
I used to teach a marketing workshop for actors and I was always amazed at how everybody wanted mailing lists or to learn how to cold call.

The truth is that unless you've been living in a vacuum, you have your own list.

I suggest you sit down and write down the names of everybody on this planet that you know; co-workers current and old, teachers, freiends ofthe family, family, parents of your kids friends, your corner grocer, dry cleaner, insurance agent, school crossing guard, postal carrier. Everyone, even the ones you just knoiw slightly.

Then add whatever contact information you have. Emails are great, but cell phone numbers, physical addresses or any combination thereof will work. There will probably be a bunch who you have no contact info for and a bunch you have lost contact with. For those, go through whatever "normal" channels there might be to try and get contact info. Do a name search on sites like LinkedIn to see if you can find current employment information and then you can contact them that way.

Then it's really simple, you contact these folks and tell them your story in as much detail as makes sense, without boring them. I would suggest writing a single spaced page that you could deliver verbally and one that could be emailed or snail mailed.

something like "I'm working in the very competitive field of voiceover and have had quite a bit of success. (list some work you've done.) I was wondering if you or someone yoou might know is in a position to either hire anyone to do voiceover or makes recommendations about who to hire.

While you're at it, make sure you are up to date with what the other person does and ask them if there is any way you can support them in one of their endeavors. (quid pro quo).

At first it will seem akward, so maybe try it on some good friends as way of practice. When you're comfortable, let loose.

You may also find others who can support you in ways you hadn't thought of, such as someone who could do carpentry (build you a vocal booth), in exchange for you recording their voice mail or babysitting their kids or cooking them dinner.

Be creative and take some of the emphasis of yourself and you may never need to cold call again. I have one person I worked for 17 years ago who either directly or indirectly led to my working hundreds of jobs. Sometimes that's all it takes.

If for example someone you know is freind's with a big shot at PepsiCo and can ge to the people who interface with the various ad agency folks, you might find yourself reading for national campaigns. No matter who you're contacting, you always have a name and a chain of people the name goes back to. I would recommend that you also keep track of how you come to know the referrals you get.

At some point you might also want to look at sending some thank you's and thank you gifts to people who support you. You'll get a feel for this in time as well.

I am pretty sure that the 3 people who read and follow this advice will stand a much better chance than most of making it. One caveat: If your skills aren't up to the task, then marketing will only get you so far. I have found that for radio people in particular, it pays to take improvisational acting and even stage or theater acting. Your biggest challenge may be ramping up the level of your read to make it super personal and emotional. Go to voicebank.net and you can listen to tons of demos from working actors to get a better sense of the general "sound" of working voice actors (outside of radio station produced work).

Good Luck,

j.s.

[Jon Morss]

J.S. -- Great post. There is alot of good info in there taht applies to everyone.

Chuck -- Dude... You are in a hot spot for VO stuff. Contact Bettye Zoller and see what she has to say. If you are into Animation, contact ADV and FUNImation and see if you can get in for a reading. Kyle Hebert was a radio guy in Texas and worked for FUNImation and now he lives in L.A. voicing a bunch of Animie characters that are aired on Cartoon network.

Do a google search for VO talent in your area and see where they are voicing at.

Try local ad agencies as well. One not though, if your area is like mine, many of the local ad agencies are using the online services to get cheaper recordings. Basically, if you are not on an online service, you are missing out on a whole bunch of potential work. If anything, try Voices.com for a month or so. They have $19 and $29 a month options so you can get your feel wet.

Good luck,

Jon

[chucktaylor]

Thanks, J.S. and Jon!

J.S. I agree with what Jon said, there's a lot of great advice in your reply for everyone! As for me, I do a lot of networking since I'm on air, nature of the beast and up until I moved to DFW, I have been trying to keep involved in community theatre...working nights kind of prohibits workshops and the like...great for auditions tho, I've got my whole day free till about 6pm!

Jon Great advice from you too bro. Voice123 was a little steep for me, but I'm gonna sign up today for voices.com and try it out for a couple of months, or at least until my wife complains about the money! (however if I get some gigs I think the complaining will quickly fade!)

Thank again to both of you! Great Advice!

ct

[Jodi Krangle]

Originally Posted by chucktaylor

Voice123 was a little steep for me, but I'm gonna sign up today for voices.com and try it out for a couple of months, or at least until my wife complains about the money! (however if I get some gigs I think the complaining will quickly fade!)

Hi Chuck. As someone who has gotten professional jobs from Voices.com - though strangely, not through their audition process yet - I highly recommend them. :) $99 per year (for their basic pay membership - though there's one more expensive than that that gets you a bit more coverage) is all I needed to get started. And I found on Voice123.com , I couldn't get anything for free at all (except a lot of annoying notifications of jobs I wasn't able to apply for without a paying membership. Bleh.). It's all or nothing with them.

Though I've wanted to do this for a while, I've only been seriously devoted time and money to it for about three months and I couldn't afford the hefty pay membership over there either. Voices.com gives you a way to test it out for relatively little money so that you see if you like the system.

And I'll tell you - whether or not you're actually *hired* through any of the auditions you do through there, it's well worth it just for the *practice*. I find that invaluable.

Good luck with everything!

I hope to read about your various successes soon.

All the best,

--Jodi