VO-BB - 19 YEARS OLD!

[colinsz1]

Hello all VO-BB members,

The title may sound a little confusing but I will explain it more clearly coming up. If you have not had any "real" voice over work, how do you create something for yourself. For example, if an actor wanted to get started with no experience they could film and direct their own short film. Is there any way to do something similar with voice overs? Thanks.

Colinsz1

[Bob Bergen]

It's a good question.

But it all starts out with being a brilliant actor. Buyers want brilliant talent. And they aren't impressed with work. They are impressed with impressive work. So when it comes to creating experience, unless it's impressive no one will care. Agents turn down most demo submissions because the actor offers nothing impressive. But it's not a coincidence when that brilliant demo gets multiple offers for representation. Everyone wants to work with brilliant. No one wants mediocre.

Know what you want out of your career. Create a roadmap that outlines what you need to do, who you need to know, and who you need to know you, to achieve goals. This is a business about relationships. Have a killer demo that competes with the top working vo actors. Be willing to do more than your competition. There's no room for excuses. More often than not, when I hear an actor complain that their career isn't where they want it to be, they have hours of excuses. From money, to geography, family, age, etc. Successful people don't make excuses.

[DougVox]

What Bob said.

All of it.
_________________
Doug Turkel (tur-KELL)
Voiceover UNnouncer®
UNnouncer.com

[Philip Banks]

That's easy for HIM to say! I'm here in Portgordon, am probably going bald AND am unattractive to women in LA. Who would hire a VO with 2 Borders Collies?

[Lee Gordon]

[Philip Banks]

Many 3 figure businesses are based on the above fact.

[Travis]

Hi Colins,

You've pretty much answered your own question. You talk about a beginning filmmaker producing their own film. - It's even easier, and much less expensive, to produce your own audio productions. Now, to produce your first "real" voiceover job, you will need a "client" - someone to produce the audio production for.

Your first client - YOU!. If you don't have one already, you need a demo - something to demonstrate to the world what it is that you bring to the microphone. Since, these days, almost any new VO talent will need their own studio anyway, part of showing the world what you can do is to assemble a studio and learn how to use it - by producing your first VO demo.

Once that's out of the way, start looking around you - you'll see that everywhere you look, there'll be people who could use your voiceover services - perhaps not for pay, but for "copy and credit". The local charity that needs a youtube video narrated - the neighbor who would like an outgoing phone message for their business, the local nonprofit radio station, and, as always, yourself.

Best of luck,

-Travis
_________________
Travis
www.VOTalent.com

[DeadDillo]

[Bruce]

Here are some ideas for the inexperienced to gain experience:

If you're not in a position to be hired for money yet, find out where you can voice things for free. If you have any children in your circle of family and friends see if you can read stories for them. Then ask local libraries, schools, and senior centers if they need volunteer readers. Watch your audience members. If you can keep them interested in what you're reading then you're on the right path. If you belong to a church or temple see if they offer opportunities for lay readers.

Try amateur theater or take acting classes. Toastmasters clubs cost a little bit of money but the training they give in performing can be invaluable.

Your idea of making a video is interesting, but it can be a very isolated way to practice. The observation, reaction and critique of your peers and your audience in group settings will give you the feedback, the chances to fail, and then re-do, and then to succeed, will really give you the experience that will serve you best.

B
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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. .

[Philip Banks]

Doing as much of the above as possible will make an astonishing difference!

Well said, Bruce.

[ccpetersen]

When I was starting out I did a LOT of "pro bono" VO work for student projects, ranging from narrations to characters in everything from documentaries to games/animations. That was incredibly useful training, along with the acting coach I was working with at the time, and the courses I was taking. It all added up to some useful experience. I still work with one acting troupe that does a popular Star Trek fan-made podcast. We're all friends now and the experience is like a family working together.

At least two of the projects turned into paying gigs once the students graduated and came back to me for RL work. So, it was win-win all the way around. I got experience, they got experience, eventually we all moved on and made a little $$.
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Charter Member: Threadjackers Local 420

[Lee Gordon]

Around these parts, we do an awful lot of grousing about the P2Ps and all the crummy $100 jobs. But for someone with no other experience, a few of those $100 jobs will pay for the membership and give you some paid work for your resume. And then you can raise your rates accordingly. It's one instance where a P2P can serve a useful purpose. And if you find yourself bidding $100 on $100-250 projects and still not getting hired, perhaps it's a sign that you may not be cut out for this line of work.
_________________
Lee Gordon, O.A.V.
Voice President of the United States
www.leegordonproductions.com
Twitter: @LeeGordonVoice

[Eddie Eagle]

Not touting P2Ps but, the annual fee of 1 P2P is far less than the 10-15% agent fees for the revenue it has generated for me. If it makes a good profit margin I keep it. Time involved is an issue.
I see the calls and data mine info for marketing so that helps resolve the time and number of casting calls.

[Rob Ellis]

practice, practice, practice and be patient and persistent

Very few VOers (with possibly a few exceptions) are supremely brilliant from the git-go (though some may show more promise initially...but it's also true
that those with promise but no work ethic may get left behind by those with less promise but a better work ethic)


Also Remember that Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team
and one of Elvis's early advisors told him to give up singing and go back to driving a bread truck

[Tom Test]

I began my voice-over career in 1989, starting from absolute ZERO. I had never acted or sung in my life, or done anything remotely like VO. All I knew from college was that I was an excellent public speaker, and people liked my voice.

I quit the corporate world very quickly, moved to Chicago in 1988 and started taking VO lessons from, as it turns out, the WRONG guy. He'd make a demo for anybody with a check in hand, and all his scripts and music were 10-20 years out of date. Not a single talent agent was interested in repping on the basis of my horrible first demo. (One good thing - that coach did encourage me to take acting and improv lessons, which helped a great deal - I even did live improv on the main stage at Second City in front of a packed house, and got laughs).

It took me 7 years from my first demo to the time I was able to burn my waiter's apron to the applause of my fellow servers (many of who were actors as well). So how did I eventually succeed? There were several factors - my persistence, working with better VO coaches, having a good knowledge about business due to my BBA from U of Michigan. But THE most important factor was the real-life experience I gained from weekly voice-over practice groups that I organized and led. I’d rent a good recording studio at off-times, split the cost with 5-7 fellow talent, and oftentimes was able to invite a guest director (producer, writer, talent agent, etc.). In these practice groups, I was doing the actual work in the same environment as a real paying gig, and taking direction from the guest director and my fellow talent. It was a way to get experience without having done much work at that point in my career.

My second demo from 1992, made about a year into my regular practice groups, was better, and I managed to get several agents (proving that the bad impression I made from my first demo could be overcome!). I was a part-time talent then, making maybe $10-15K/year. My 3rd demo came out around 1996, and it was a killer! One of the top agents in town told me it was one of the 2 or 3 best demos she had heard the whole year. I had learned so much from running these practice groups every week (sometimes TWICE a week!), that I finally was truly competitive. I hired a good producer, but the truth is that I found most of the scripts on my own, and most of the interpretations came from me. By May 1996, I was making enough money from being a VO talent (with some on-camera), plus the money I started making by becoming a VO coach and demo producer myself, that I could finally quit waiting tables at the age of 33. At this point in my career, I’ve been close to the six-figure mark in annual income, and expect exceed that mark in 2014.

So how do you get VO work if you don’t have any experience, and how can you get any experience if you can’t get any work? Take the initiative, be a leader in your own life and career, and organize a regular practice group (some folks call them “work-out groups”). Do it for a few years and get back to us. Good luck!
_________________
Best regards,
Tom Test
"The Voice You Trust"
www.tomtest.com