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Audition Account

 
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Philip Banks
Je Ne Sais Quoi


Joined: 20 Jun 2005
Posts: 11046
Location: Portgordon, Scotland

PostPosted: Thu Feb 21, 2019 1:18 am    Post subject: Audition Account Reply with quote

Every person to whom I have suggested the following lasted no more than a week, if indeed they actually even bothered in the first place. If you consider yourself a professional then like a Lawyer every minute of your time is billable.

"Our JOB is to audition!"

Fabby! Now, SHOW ME THE MONEY!

https://vimeo.com/318701310
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Bish
3.5 kHz


Joined: 22 Nov 2009
Posts: 3738
Location: Lost in the cultural wasteland of Long Island

PostPosted: Thu Feb 21, 2019 6:10 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

For most people, the P2P sites supply a lot of the auditions. These are generally relatively unfiltered and shot-gunned out indiscriminately to the membership to provide a perceived value. The hordes of hopefuls dutifully audition their way through piles of shite hoping to find gold. The worst justification I've ever hear for being on a P2P list is, "well, it pays for itself!"

Wrong. You've paid $400 to subscribe and you've made $400 back. Yay. Philip is clear about assigning a monetary value to your time, and while I don't necessarily agree with the shuffling of numbers in columns, the principle is sound... and if you try really hard, you can do this stuff in your head Smile

Spend 4 hours per week auditioning or servicing your P2P account (viewing, sorting, auditioning, checking likes and views etc.)... that works out to over a month every year... broad strokes... 10% of your time. Target earnings $75K... that P2P membership has actually cost you $7,900.

This isn't something that can be done overnight... it took me a while to account for my own time with this level of responsibility... but I when I look at my figures, I can honestly say that year-on-year I have auditioned less and earned more. I dumped Voices years ago because they are (fill in your own pejorative here) and I left Voice123 last year, before the debacle.

I hate it when I start to sound like an "old lag" when in reality, I've been in the business a relatively short time... but the truth is that many newer talents have been incredibly well-trained... they visibly salivate at the sight of an audition. This Pavlovian response is nurtured by the people selling auditions... and a whole sub-industry has evolved selling training about how to play the P2P game. This always strikes me as training a mouse to approach a cat with confidence.

As usual, Philip's video has prompted me to inelegantly reply in agreement. My excuse is that he's five hours ahead... and I'm doing this early morning in a pre-caffeinated state and my coherence factor is low.
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Bish a.k.a. Bish
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Philip Banks
Je Ne Sais Quoi


Joined: 20 Jun 2005
Posts: 11046
Location: Portgordon, Scotland

PostPosted: Thu Feb 21, 2019 7:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bish wrote:
Philip is clear about assigning a monetary value to your time, and while I don't necessarily agree with the shuffling of numbers in columns, the principle is sound... and if you try really hard, you can do this stuff in your head Smile


See above. You DO NOT need to get a spreadsheet it's enough to simply get a grip.

About 3 years ago I did a quick number check and discovered that an agency that works with my favorite girl voice coach had been sending me auditions my submissions for which had drawn a blank for 14 months. I wrote to them and said, no more and remove me (in the case of the agency) from your talent rooster.

Two emails arrived saying "That makes sense. You're not earning and neither are we"

That's a whooping great fib! It was NOT an email exchange it was me played by Errol Flynn in a sword fight with TWO Pirate Captains. I would not be allowed to escape because THAT would be against the Pirate code!.

As it turned out my divorce was easier.

Perhaps I should have said to the two girls "I'll buy both of you a 5 bedroom house and give you every penny I have if you PROMISE never to send me another audition."

FYI They blunted my Cutlass too!
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Bruce
Boardmeister


Joined: 06 Jun 2005
Posts: 7921
Location: Portland, OR

PostPosted: Thu Feb 21, 2019 9:12 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

My rate of return (in dollars) on auditions is quite good. First, because I'm choosy as hell, such as skipping anything for 20-30 year-olds since I haven't sounded that way for at least 20 years. Crap copy and crap directions also get tossed in the crapper. Auditions that come from 2 or more agents/production houses get tossed because I know I'll be one in a thousand.

If I were to bother to do the math, my selective auditioning has paid handsomely in repeat clients and the occasional "whale" of a national job.

Ages ago when I played the P2P game I felt like a hamster in a wheel spinning around and around and occasionally getting tossed a peanut. In the immortal words of John Merrick, "I am not an animal!"

B
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todd ellis
A Zillion


Joined: 02 Jan 2007
Posts: 10481
Location: little egypt

PostPosted: Thu Feb 21, 2019 10:46 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

same here. i took a hard look several years ago - dropped all the P2Ps & "agents" that weren't, really, and decreased my auditions by about 80%. it makes me a happier person and frees up time for activities.
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Jack Daniel
Cinquecento


Joined: 23 Jun 2016
Posts: 574
Location: SoCal

PostPosted: Thu Feb 21, 2019 3:53 pm    Post subject: Re: Audition Account Reply with quote

Philip Banks wrote:

"Our JOB is to audition!"


Never understood why people believe this. Or say it. No one actually believes it.
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Jack Daniel
Narrator / Man About Town
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Philip Banks
Je Ne Sais Quoi


Joined: 20 Jun 2005
Posts: 11046
Location: Portgordon, Scotland

PostPosted: Thu Feb 21, 2019 4:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

People really do talk and write complete nonsense about Voice work. I just read on Twitter that it's a $1 billion business (there are no figures for it) which is 0.25% of Jeff Bezos' wealth spread across countless thousands of people. This person went on to say there is plenty of work for everybody. THERE ISN'T! He then goes on to give the most intellectually and commercially bankrupt advice, in effect "look in lots of different places".
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todd ellis
A Zillion


Joined: 02 Jan 2007
Posts: 10481
Location: little egypt

PostPosted: Thu Feb 21, 2019 5:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
"look in lots of different places"


this is my strategy when morel hunting ... not job hunting.
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Bish
3.5 kHz


Joined: 22 Nov 2009
Posts: 3738
Location: Lost in the cultural wasteland of Long Island

PostPosted: Thu Feb 21, 2019 5:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Philip Banks wrote:
... He then goes on to give the most intellectually and commercially bankrupt advice...

This is why I love this place.
On Facebook, you'd have been hung, drawn, and quartered by a bunch of rampaging acolytes, outraged that you dared to challenge the Emperor and point out that he was actually stark-bollock-naked.
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Bish a.k.a. Bish
Smoke me a kipper... I'll be back for breakfast.
I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls.
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Bruce
Boardmeister


Joined: 06 Jun 2005
Posts: 7921
Location: Portland, OR

PostPosted: Thu Feb 21, 2019 5:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

“Our job is to audition” is still a very valid phrase for on-camera and stage auditions but has been misappropriated for voice work ever since the Internet and digital technology took away the face to face nature of our work. I couldn’t tell you the last time I did an in person voice audition, and I used to do many back in the day, and I work in other studios maybe ten times a year now, max when it used to be a few times every week.

The times they have a changed.

B
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Philip Banks
Je Ne Sais Quoi


Joined: 20 Jun 2005
Posts: 11046
Location: Portgordon, Scotland

PostPosted: Fri Feb 22, 2019 12:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

On the day I was moving to Scotland from the South West of England an agent called me and asked me to go to an audition in Bristol. A TV company was going to produce a puppet based show for kids. Fabby. I asked one qualifying question.

"Love to. Why would they like to see me?"

Agent got angry.

I politely declined.

The TV show? Never happened.

The times have indeed changed and as a result of the changes we owe it to ourselves to ensure that we embrace the positives (the voice of CNN International for a few years was based in Portgordon Scotland) and reject the negatives. The latter is not difficult. I find it very easy to shrug off ignorance and walk away from the land of zero opportunity, capital city Ignorance.

If people lived in Voiceover the Mayor and the village idiot would be the same person.
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melissa eX
MMD


Joined: 20 Oct 2007
Posts: 2781
Location: Lower Manhattan, New Amsterdam, the original NYC

PostPosted: Fri Feb 22, 2019 8:59 pm    Post subject: Re: Audition Account Reply with quote

Jack Daniel wrote:
Philip Banks wrote:

"Our JOB is to audition!"


Never understood why people believe this. Or say it. No one actually believes it.


Actually there was a time - and there still is - when this was/is true.

If you've been in the business for more than a minute + 20 years, your job WAS auditioning. Yes, even for voiceover. Your auditions were for network campaigns that could pay off your mortgage on a single job. Those are down to almost nothing now. But they also were (and still are) for TV series - Bob Bergen knows all about that. What they were NOT for was for every tiny little job out there. You had DEMOS for that.

This is why I love working with my European clients. They book me from my demos.
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Dan-O
The Gates of Troy


Joined: 17 Jan 2005
Posts: 1636

PostPosted: Sat Feb 23, 2019 10:10 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

"Our JOB is to audition!"

Some time ago, I heard a quote which I believe was from actor Jeff Daniels. It went something like this:

"My job is auditioning. Every now and again they hire me and let me play."

I can't find the original quote anywhere. Anyone else hear of this one?

The advice given above in this thread is dead on. One caveat is the time it takes to figure out what you're actually good at performing. I originally thought I would be an imaging talent. So much so, I had the words voice imaging in my company name. Well, it turns out I suck at imaging, but have a knack for narration. I once thought I'd be the happy go lucky comedy promo guy. Well, it turns out drama and tension are my strong suits. It took 12 years to work all that out. Trial and error via auditions and bookings, coaching and practice. My early years were basically throwing spaghetti at the walls to see what sticks.
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Bruce
Boardmeister


Joined: 06 Jun 2005
Posts: 7921
Location: Portland, OR

PostPosted: Sat Feb 23, 2019 12:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I remember hearing that from Jeff Bridges many years ago on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. I’ve heard it many times since from others and retold it many times to frustrated actors. It’s a great way to avoid feelings of rejection. I remember so many times in my earlier career feeling that I had aced an audition only to not get it, and conversely a handful of times totally bombing and yet getting the job. Fretting just doesn’t help.

“Set it and forget it” is a good phrase for infomercials and any auditioning.

B
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