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Bruce · Posted: Fri Aug 25, 2023 11:05 am Post subject: What it's like in VO World

I've only skimmed it so far, but here's a very long and interesting article on voiceover in Chicago (and likely most of the major cities). How to get into it, how to survive in it.

https://www.chicagomag.com/chicago-magazine/september-2023/everyone-tells-me-i-have-a-great-voice/?fbclid=IwAR1O7yHEPYVf6VTEfGdSj1agZKoAhFMJ10eU4wmIsB2eZZDSVYKN0Lymk14

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VO-BB Member #31 Enlisted June, 2005

I'm not a Zoo, but over the years I've played one on radio/TV. .

todd ellis · Posted: Fri Aug 25, 2023 12:05 pm Post subject:

Lost me at:

Bob Bergen · CM Joined: 22 Apr 2008 Posts: 939

Great article.

Philip Banks · Posted: Fri Aug 25, 2023 12:46 pm Post subject:

Two ladies meet in the middle of Ilchester, Somerset, England.

"Barbara, I meant to ask the last time I saw you, do you see much of Philip? How is he?"

"Well, one can never be too sure, dear one. I hear him on the wireless and on the television, he sounds very well but mostly he has been recorded so..."

"Perhaps you should call him on the telephone."

"No, I'm knitting a new cardigan."

Lee Gordon · Posted: Fri Aug 25, 2023 11:09 pm Post subject:

So many of these types of articles are overly positive, giving people the false impression that anyone can succeed at VO. This guy was a bit more realistic by pointing out some of the pitfalls, although he never really conveyed that the hardest part of doing VO work is getting the work in the first place. But even in this piece he seemed to speak with and about mostly people who had achieved some level of success, the most notable exception, apparently, being himself. However, the paragraph I found most telling was this one:

It’s extremely difficult to make a good living in voice acting here these days. I was stunned when Grusnick told me that he doesn’t book enough work — around $30,000 year — to do it full-time. “Once you take out taxes and business expenses and agency fees, it’s about half of that.” He also works part-time scheduling for a construction company and teaches VO to doofuses like me.

For those who didn't read the whole article, Grusnick is the guy who taught the Beginner VO course the author took. Let that sink in. He paid to take a VO course from a guy who can't make a living doing VO.
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Lee Gordon, O.A.V.
Voice President of the United States
www.leegordonproductions.com
Twitter: @LeeGordonVoice

Philip Banks · Posted: Sat Aug 26, 2023 4:45 am Post subject:

The number of voiceover coaches has increased by a ridiculous level and few, if any, are genuinely able to say "It's just my way of giving back!"

Do I blame them for exploiting a market? Not at all, they have bills to pay and like the rest of us they just do what they gotta do.

Bob Bergen · CM Joined: 22 Apr 2008 Posts: 939

todd ellis · Posted: Sat Aug 26, 2023 9:02 am Post subject:

Preface: I am an outlier.

That's what I find funny about the "acting" world ... academia is the same. You don't have to be successful at something to teach it.

On the same note - there are lots of examples of great players being horrible coaches, Larry Bird, for instance.

I just find it difficult to imagine taking the advice of someone who, for whatever reason, isn't DOING what they are trying to teach me to do. But that's just me. I approach VO as a business first and only. Everything else is just a means to an end. I care not a whit for glamour and fame as long as there is a balance in the checking account for groceries and a little boat gas at the end of the month. I bang out my long, intricate, medical narrations and wait by the mailbox. I live by session fees, not royalties, and that's ok with me.

Again, not everybody does it my way ... but I did put three kids through private school and two through college without having a major agent ... so, there's that.
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"i know philip banks": todd ellis
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Lee Gordon · Posted: Sat Aug 26, 2023 10:35 am Post subject:

Bob Bergen · CM Joined: 22 Apr 2008 Posts: 939

You are correct, Lee! That is the way of today for the majority who pursue vo. Not the way for animation, but definitely the way for everything else. I will not work with a student who brings up making money or asks about my student's success rate. They are in this for the wrong reasons and in for a huge pile of disappointment. There are still many out there in this for craft as I have a good 3-4 year waitlist for coaching, and I am very clear about what I offer and do not offer.

Things have not changed in the world of pure acting training. The best of the best still will not discuss making money at acting. But these are people who come from an actor's mindset, both the students as well as the teachers. Very different from today's vo generation. I totally get where this generation is coming from.

todd ellis · Posted: Sat Aug 26, 2023 1:33 pm Post subject:

Once again, lee says it nicer than me.
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"i know philip banks": todd ellis
who's/on/1st?

todd ellis · Posted: Sat Aug 26, 2023 5:42 pm Post subject:

Bob Bergen · CM Joined: 22 Apr 2008 Posts: 939

todd ellis · Posted: Sat Aug 26, 2023 7:49 pm Post subject:

Fair enough. We come at this thing from different directions. I don't consider myself an actor at all, and rarely use the term "voice actor" when forced to describe myself. I usually say, "I talk out loud for money." Which is as accurate as I can make it.

You, Sir, are a different animal - lots of animals - a pig, a hawk, a cat, a mouse ... heck, you're a whole zoo. You have a code. I can respect that.

ps - This ...