VO-BB - 19 YEARS OLD!

[Philip Banks]

If all the interested parties got together; the unions, the associations, the influencers and every single person who sold themselves as a Voice Over whether we could hold an International No Pointless Auditions Day.

Am I saying that we should never audition? Nope. The key word is POINTLESS.
If someone is a Casting Director then they direct a casting. How does that work? They have a network of contacts and from that network they source an appropriate voice or very possibly a short list of 3 or 4 voices and say "She's your girl" or "Here y'go Dave. Pick one!" The producer/director then GASP FAINT, goes with the CDs choice or picks one. I won't go on, you get the point.

My favourite line from Fury (the film)

JUST DO YOUR F***ING JOB!"

The above line is the key. You do your job, or you want to, but so many people looking for voices are not looking for voices, they want you to guess whether or not they may hope that you'll find them. For a few thousand dollars I may be tempted to play hide n seek but no one should play the game for $200 or so.

A new class of people with jobs for VOs is out there. LAZY dog trainers. Will you roll over and beg in the hope of a treat? They know literally thousands will.

Pro actors will argue that the job is about auditioning. It is. But it is about proper auditions, for proper job with proper pay. The whole "an actor's job is auditioning" comes from the theatre and that spirit should hold true today for us.

Theatre actor auditions for a job because if he gets it it'll be for a play employing him for 3 months - Paying his bills for 3 months. The director holding the audition asked to see him because he was probably in the ball park. Now look at your most recent audition. Who suggested hearing you and how many months bills would the job pay?

We see all over the internet countless discussions about the parlous state of the VO world. I realised the problem. It's me and sadly there's pretty strong evidence it's you too!

INPAD - 21st November 2014 JOIN ME COMRADES!

[bobsouer]

Philip,

I'm right there with you, good sir!
_________________
Be well,
Bob Souer (just think of lemons)
The second nicest guy in voiceover.
+1-724-613-2749
ISDN, Source Connect, phone patch

[melissa eX]

I missed the INPAD date but not the concept. I can't like this enough.

[Depthpersuasion]

What Melissa said... +1 as the cool kids say.
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Richard D. Hall
http://RichardDHallVoiceActor.com

[Deirdre]

I say it should be a monthly shut-out.

I live by this notion. Keeps me from being furious all the time.



Now I'm only part-time furious.
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DBCooperVO.com

[Philip Banks]

Professionally anybody is allowed to waste my time as long as they sign off my invoice which is why for me me every day is INPAD.