Voiceovers And Good Questions

Good voice talents ask good questions.

Last week I had the pleasure of leading two seminars: one about how to build a Rate Sheet and another on how to set goals as a voice talent. While both sessions had different topics, many of the same good questions were posed:

When should I join the union?

How do I land an agent?

The more I audition the better, right?

TIP OF THE WEEK

Let’s answer those good questions…!

1. When should I join the union? Joining SAG-AFTRA is no guarantee of getting more work and it does not increase your chances of getting work. In fact, there is much more non-union work out there than union work.  You’ll join the union when you are ready. How will you know? When you keep auditioning for union work and landing the parts.

2. How do I land an agent? Rub the stars out of your eyes! You do not need an agent to be a successful voice talent. Don’t strive to relieve yourself of the responsibility of your career on someone else. The only person who can make your phone ring is you. There are thousands of production companies, recording studios, ad agencies, etc. that cast non-union, non-represented voice talent every day and pay good rates. You will get an agent when you’re ready. How will you know? When you have built a body of work that can’t be ignored.

3. The more I audition the better, right? Wrong. Artists audition; businesses craft relationships. Yes, auditioning should be a part of your business model, but just a part of it. Auditioning all day does not make you an effective voice talent. It makes you a desperate starving artist depending on a nigh-arbitrary, lottery-like system to get jobs. What should you be doing instead? Oh I don’t know, everything else? Throughout your day you should be managing your finances, practicing copy, marketing yourself online and in person, and a ton of other things. If your efforts are truly effective, you won’t have that much time to audition anyway because you’ll be working!

NEWS AND NOTES

Now: “The Year’s Top Short Science Fiction Novels 7” is now available! I had the pleasure of narrating three of the stories including selections from my faves Alistair Reynolds and Alan M. Steele. You can get your Audible download here.

Thursday, January 25th @8PM EST: my next “Marketing 201” webinar topic will be ‘The Sales Funnel’.

Monday, January 29th @9PM EST: I will once again be a guest of the Voice Over Body Shop! The topic: ‘Business/Marketing Planning for 2018’. Tune in at the VOBS website.

HAPPY HAPPYS

Happy Hot Sauce Day and Answer Your Cat’s Questions Day!

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

From my village to yours; this is Tom Dheere, The H is Silent, but I’m Not.

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Tom Dheere is a 30-year veteran voice actor specializing in corporate narration and commercials. Known as a "street-smart professor," he blends his theater-based training and guy-next-door performance style with mastery over voice over project management .

When he isn’t in the booth, he provides strategic business consulting at VOStrategist.com and produces the comic book Agent 1.22.