Newsletter

March 2009 · Newsletter Archive

“Beware the ides of March.” - William Shakespeare "Julius Caesar"
“Action is eloquence.” – Willie, the Shake

The Ever-Important Audition

You've recently produced or updated your demo and it represents the work you're best suited to land. You've updated your graphics to establish your name (your brand) more effectively in the marketplace. You've promoted yourself consistently (a few times a month) to the agents and managed to secure some representation who are steadily auditioning you (five times or more a week). In addition to that you're promoting your demo web page with your postcards to the producers in your local market as well as consistently promoting yourself to producers in targeted markets outside your own region. Very well done!

So...why aren't you landing anything?

If your tenacity and consistency is intact on all these fronts, then I suggest you take a good look at the quality of your auditions.

The first factor deals literally with how they sound, so how they are recorded is important. If they're recorded on something that's only a notch above a 'boom-box', you most certainly have to raise the stakes for yourself, no doubt about it.

The second factor, and easily the most important, is your performance. You have to approach each audition as if you were going for the Gold. If you've become complacent or somewhat flat or robotic in your auditions (which can easily happen especially if you are doing a great deal of them at home), it's time you step up your skills and show those auditioning what you're truly made of by “stretching the canvas” and going further than you first might feel is needed or wanted of you.

Obviously mastering your audition is a constant and vitally important part of your career. In fact, it's impossible to put this or any other aspect of your voiceover business on auto-pilot. So please snuff that urge to do so.

Every small business owner has the fantasy (or perhaps operates under some delusion) that every aspect of his or her business should run on auto-pilot. It's a goal, certainly, to develop a stable, well-working process that takes very little maintenance or thought.

The downfall, especially where we’re concerned, is assuming this can and should be the case without having done much preparation, beyond a month or so of working with us directly, to get there.

The fact remains you must continually and consistently flex your audition muscle or you will deliver a less than effective, rather half-baked performance. Doing so will dissolve future business faster than anything.

The same can be said of promotion. Without it you will remain anonymous and valuable to no one.

This is precisely why, at SOUND ADVICE, we’ll continually supply what pearls we can with regard to your performance, promotion, and just how you can up the stakes to increase your rate of bookings. If that's your intention then you should be working your audition muscle beyond your warm-up, and sharpen your cold reading in our WEDNESDAY night workshop, or by scheduling bi-weekly or at least monthly one-on-one coachings.

The truth is most people, regardless of their skill level, are virtually ineffective at auditioning. Which is why if you amp up your intention and performance energy each time you audition, you're more likely to book it or at least leave a lasting impression with those you've auditioned for and they'll be more likely to request you next time provided they remember your name from repeated promotions.

Then again, we all go through slumps or changes that alter what we bring to the table, and therefore our audition suffers. If this is what you're experiencing, it can be very difficult to see “the forest for the trees”.

Not to harp, but okay--tough, I'm harping...it's your job as a professional to maintain a steady regimen of vocal warm ups and cold reading a minimum of 4 - 5 hours a week. This is what's required and not only from the novice voice talent--this is required of EVERY voiceover talent, if you intend to be sharp at a moment's notice.

In fact, the more successful you become, the more you're expected to be on top of your game, so studying the medium (as it's expanded upon in the "How To Learn What You Do Best Commercially" Section of "The SOUND ADVICE Encyclopedia of Voiceover") and staying on top of your performance skills only becomes a greater priority--not less.

If you're ready to play I suggest signing up for our in-studio workshop and scheduling for our continued coaching sessions couldn't hurt either. (Our workshops are podcast for the world to hear--and believe me the world is listening, as I get e-mails from all over!)

We're always at your access but, like the industry itself, we’re counting on you to do your homework. Otherwise your career will begin and end at our front door. And we can't have that!

We want you working and representing us in the best light possible! So… play!

This Just In…

Ouch. As if things weren’t bad enough, then this. Will we strike or won’t we? Time will tell.

SAG National Board Rejects AMPTP Last, Best and Final Offer


On February 21, the Screen Actors Guild National Board of Directors voted 73% to 27% to "reject the AMPTPs last, best and final offer dated February 19, 2009." Screen Actors Guild released this statement following the National Board meeting February 21.

We entered this round of negotiations sending an unmistakably clear message that we were ready to make a deal. In an effort to put the town back to work, our negotiator agreed to modify the Guild's bargaining position to bring the Guild in line with the deals made by our sister unions.

The AMPTPs last-minute, surprise demand for a new term of agreement extending to 2012 is regressive and damaging and clearly signals the employers' unwillingness to agree to the deal they established with other entertainment unions. The demand for a new term of agreement was not part of their final offer of June 30, 2008; it was not part of the federally mediated talks of November 2008, and should not have been inserted into the discussions when we returned to negotiations on February 17, 2009.

What management presented as a compromise is, in fact, an attempt to separate Screen Actors Guild from other industry unions. By attempting to extend our contract expiration one year beyond the other entertainment unions, the AMPTP intends to deleverage our bargaining position from this point forward.

Screen Actors Guild's goal is to successfully complete these negotiations and get the industry back to work as soon as possible. The AMPTP has clearly stated their need and desire for financial certainty and industry peace. This new proposal does the exact opposite, and will only result in constant negotiating cycles and continued labor unrest.

The funny thing is today a great many actors are themselves producers and not simply among the upper echelons of our field, like George Clooney, Tom Cruise, Michael Douglas, Sandra Bullock or Tom Hanks. Actors at every level these days are also producers. It’s a far different era than it was even twenty short years ago. Food for thought… especially when considering a strike with the very people that create jobs and hire skilled labor in our industry more than any other profession: the producer.

To Add New Ads…Or Not

Hi Kate!
My voiceover career is still going pretty well. I have been the voice of (a Midwest retailer) for several months now. I have had repeat business with (another steady client) in the Northwest and a University (for website work). I feel like I'm the C. Thomas Howell of voiceover work - nothing really big but continually on the "B" list. Honestly, that is okay with me - my first priority are my two boys who can be a handful - so anything extra with the voiceover career is great.

I wanted to get your advice about my website. I was thinking about adding a few of my recent spots in addition to my two demos. I have a (retailer) spot and Wal-Mart in-store (point of purchase) TV spot. Also, I have a Resort (spot) that has me as the "hurried mom on the cell phone" as well as me as announcer.

Would it be appropriate to have "recent spots" bullet pointed (and featured) on my website or should I just stick (with) the two demos I have? Is it worth it to have on-camera (again, it's voiceover) spots on my site?

Hey, Kath!
First off, I have a couple questions for you before I reply: did you get booked off auditions for these gigs or directly from your demo? Additionally, did the demo draw in the auditions?

Chances are that's the case. If so... DON'T change a thing on your site or your demos. You landed these gigs due to the fact your tracks sound like national (not regional) spots and offer a professional, polished package.

Your site, like your demos (as ALL your promo) should offer potential clients what you do best... and what you want more of. (In fact, I consider this to be the definition of a truly effective voiceover demo.)

Sounds like these regional clients are already very happy. Wonderful! You did your job well! But don't confuse how you won these jobs in the first place!

If you include these spots on your demo or your site, it will become very clear that they don't meet or match the production values of your demos and the site itself and they will ultimately lower the appeal and confidence your promo currently conveys--to even regional clients! (Especially to regional clients.)

Best rule of thumb: if it ain't broke--don't fix it! In fact, you want to FORTIFY what won you the jobs in the first place! Was it an agent? A mailing you may have done directly to producers or directly to production houses (where you may have recorded these spots) in? Or maybe it was voice123 or one of the various voiceover sites that promote gigs...

Best wishes and so happy to hear of your steady (albeit modest) success!! love ya, Kate

Kate, thanks!

Now that I think about it, all of these jobs were ultimately booked from my demo. Some were from my agent (with no audition) and some were from voice123. The voice123 gigs, I auditioned for but they initially contacted me because they heard my demo and liked it. Sounds like I'm not changing anything!

Virtually all of my work has come from my demo. I never land auditions my agent gives me. But, when I get a job booked right from my demo, I almost always get repeat business. So, am I bad at auditioning? Many times I look at the script my agents sends me for an audition and I think, "why did they send this to me? I am in no way like this person!” But the bookings I get from my agent right off my demo are totally me. Is it me? Is it my agent? Both?

You know I love all that you do and what you have done for me. And your blog is great - I loved the one about Radio - I feel the same way. Thank you! – Kathy

Not Your Standard Bloggy Response

Here’s something worth mentioning with regard to one of our weekly blogs, "Acting as Your Own ‘Artistic Director’" from a Creative Director, at Eicoff in Chicago.

“AD - assistant director... usually the one screaming the loudest, the one person with the reputation for being the most obnoxious on a set.

AD - Art Director (agency) usually aspiring to be a director. You're right they do develop the look of the spot, important from a visual perspective.

Oh wait there's a couple more that might be more germaine to hiring a voiceover actor. The copywriter...those are his or her words you're interpreting. In fact in most voiceover sessions, the AD doesn't even bother showing up. Unless he or she really loves the craft service at the recording studio.

The Creative Director (agency)- usually has a pretty strong opinion about who gets hired.

So while art direction may give you a defined picture, and AD is usually low on the totem pole for picking the VO.

The AD from the production company? Just don't cross them before they've had their morning coffee, they tend to be fairly nasty individuals.”

That's one of our most key aims. We impart to SOUND ADVICE talent--offer OPTIONS, not cookie-cutter deliveries, or simply deliver a single read you can be truly happy with! (I know of NO OTHER training that offers this advice or viewpoint toward performance. It’s uniquely ours!) –Kate

Until Next Month

Spring is nearly here, so keep warm until then. Maintain your skills, promote what you have in the best way possible—and continually. NEVER wait till you have representation to promote yourself to the ad agency producers and copywriters!! Get you stuff OUT there, my friend—and KEEP it out there. THAT’S how you keep yourself accessible to the work.

Until next month… keep us posted on your progress and keep your eye on the prize. Wishing you the best always!! – Kate & crew