Newsletter

September 2007 · Newsletter Archive

"Don't worry about genius and don't worry about not being clever.
Trust rather to hard work, perseverance, and determination.
The best motto for a long march is 'Don't grumble. Plug on.'
You hold your future in your hands. Never waver in this belief. Don't swagger. The boy who swaggers--like the man who swaggers--has little else that he can do. It is the empty tin that rattles most. Be honest. Be loyal. Be kind. Remember that the hardest thing to acquire is the faculty of being unselfish. As a quality it is one of the finest attributes."
 -- SIR FREDRICK TREVES, SERGEANT IN ORDINARY TO HM THE KING, SURGEON IN ORDINARY TO HRH PRINCE OF WALES, WRITTEN AT 6 WIMPOLE STREET, CAVENDISH SQUARE, LONDON, ON 2 SEPTEMBER 1903, ON THE OCCASION OF THE TWENTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BOY'S OWN PAPER; AS QUOTED FROM "THE DANGEROUS BOOK FOR BOYS" BY CONN & HAL IGGULDEN.

Meet & Greet...the Agents!

How do you develop a relationship with an agent? What do they expect from you, especially at the initial meeting? Is there a standard? All valid questions... and here's the best answers I can muster: First off, asking how do you develop a relationship with an agent is akin to saying, "How do you make friends?" It's a bit vague, frankly, and varies with each person and with each person you meet, doesn't it?

You're expected to arrive fully realized when you first meet a potential talent agent. In other words, they are not here to 'develop' you--so let's be sure to dispel that awkward myth right now. If you follow the promotional plan we've laid out for you in THE SOUND ADVICE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF VOICEOVER & The Business of Being a Working Talent to the letter and you remain tenacious, consistent, and persistent about keeping your skills sharp, then you're bound to get a 'meet & greet' with them sooner or later. If there is a standard...here's a very likely scenario you might encounter and what's likely to happen, as described by one of our favorite folks:

"I am back (in Chicago) from California and wanted to give you the update on my meeting at the TALENT Agency. Our meeting was about 45 minutes. Her first question (as you anticipated, Kate) was "Tell me about yourself" so she definitely wanted to get a sense of who I was and how I functioned.

She then told me she was going to play my demo (in front of me) because she wanted to remind herself what it was that she liked about it. I watched as she skipped through each track, playing just a couple seconds and then skipping to the next track. She told me she did that to see if there was vocal variety on the demo, which she happily told me...there was.

Next, she gave me a couple pieces of copy and told me she would be looking for several things when I went into the booth:
1) Any nervousness in the voice
2) The ability to take direction on the fly
3) How I interpreted the copy
4) Whether I could "pull off" my demo

I read through the copy, took her direction and when finished she told me I did a great job. She said she gets maybe 50 demos a week and does not call people in but she liked my vocal sound and did not currently have anyone on her roster with my sound and wanted to work together.

BUT FIRST, we discussed the logistics of working remotely (me in Chicago, the agency in LA).

She said she would not submit me to a handful of clients that would want me to do auditions in their studios in LA on a next-day basis and that 90% of the auditions could simply be MP3s from me and that most bookings could be done via ISDN from Chicago (I'd come to you for that). If she didn't like something I sent, she would give me direction and ask me to re-do. She said to assume if I didn't hear anything back on an audition that it was great.

She asked if a client wanted to book me and wanted me to record in LA, would I come out at my expense. I told her I would absolutely do this so long as it made sense to do so (i.e. wasn't a $200 job!).

Then, she asked where I wanted to go...expectations of the industry and work I intended to land. She said she needed to get approval from her bosses (which in retrospect I wondered if I was getting a line) because the originating Chicago agency would get a piece of anything I booked. She said she'd be back to me in the week with this final detail.

I wanted to give you the full experience! In my opinion, this meeting could not have gone better; I felt confident and well-trained and was impressed to get 45 minutes of time from a busy agent." --AG

I agree, sounds incredibly positive.

She probably didn't want to immediately commit to repping you from a single 45 minute session--therefore the 'I need to speak w/ my bosses' business. Still... sounds super overall. Very well done. I'm sooo proud of you!! If you don't hear from her within the week, send a note or email mentioning how pleased you were to meet her. -KM

A Word of SOUND ADVICE

In August we had our very own Jon Monteverde send out a 'Word of SOUND ADVICE' five days a week!

Here's one of those little tips that bears repeating...my very favorite on-camera reference, "Secrets of Screen Acting" by Patrick Tucker is now available ON-LINE! Patrick Tucker is the world's foremost authority on the First Folio (the original scripts of Shakespeare) and he happens to be a rather insightful fellow when it comes to acting for film and tellie as well! Since I consider voiceover and film to be parallel media, I think you'll find there's something here for everyone to benefit from. So have at it!

Check out www.secretsofscreenacting.com for Secrets of Screen Acting: The Podcast. There's a new 5-minute episode every day. It's great. It's $10/month to subscribe. Valuable stuff and cheap at twice the price!

Remember Charles Lane?

Probably the most popular unknown actor that ever lived, Charles Lane, passed away in July at the ripe old age of 102. You'd likely know him if you saw him. He was one of the most well-known character actors of all time, gracing well over 300 films and television shows. He was honored for his 100th birthday at the TVLand Awards in 2005. He said at the time, "In case anyone's interested, I'm still available!"

You could say Charles Lane embodied 'typecasting'--something most talent typically rail against; being pigeonholed in the same character roles over and over again. Yet, had it not been for Mr. Lane's sharp features and curt personae, he probably wouldn't have worked nearly half as much as he did as a notorious "scrawny, scowling, beady-eyed, beak-nosed killjoy." Certainly working as regularly as Charles Lane did is the aim of every working talent. So, there's a bit of a trade-off here. Although most actors are taught to 'play everything,' you're more likely to work more often simply being 'who you are' type-wise. Beyond his accomplishments in terms of longevity as a working actor and chronological age, Lane outlived his wife of 71 years, former actress Ruth Covell, who died in 2002. Who says two actors marrying can't last--and last and last?

(See www.imdb.com/name/nm0485272/bio for more background on Charles Lane.)

A Word of Revelation

"Ohhhhhh, you meant just be the talent! Now I get it. I've been in ftp hell for the past 2 days trying to upload a file for a client. The only saving grace(s) were Jon and Louise (two of our trusty SOUND ADVICE engineers). They were so patient and helpful. I won't do it again, I swear! My new mantra: I am not an engineer, I am not an engineer...All jokes aside, I really just wanted to commend you for being awesome and choosing amazing people to work with us." -NB

Our pleasure! I couldn't agree with you more. We're not called SOUND ADVICE for nothin'!

We've said it before and we'll say it again: being a strong, dependable talent is senior to being a terrific recording engineer. Unless you are already a certified 'techie'-- my best advice to you is to concentrate on being the best TALENT you can be rather than being the best 'techie.'

With Little or No Direction

For years now here at SOUND ADVICE we've maintained the rather novel approach that you must be well-skilled in self-direction. We promote this notion due to the fact that you are not likely to receive much direction if any at all out in the field. In fact, those auditioning/booking you are likely to have better idea of what they don't want, rather than what they do. This is what we notoriously refer to as "banana directing," sadly from which no director is immune...including ME! (e.g. "don't open so high," "let's try something different on the end...and rolling!," "we don't want 'hard sell' or pushy," "no acting on this"... in other words: 'don't think of an orange,' 'don't think of a cat,' 'don't think of a banana.' Get it?)

Fact is you're expected to arrive with an active imagination, a willingness to play and an ability to assume a point of view (POV) and offer a few good options within the parameters of the production. You're NEVER required to sell the product, but rather impart the concept. If you describe the subject with a few good descriptives such as: relaxed, confident, knowledgeable, personable, warm--then you've given yourself far more direction than you're likely to get from anyone at the session or audition.

Beyond that the goal is to be interested and conversational 99.9% of the time with text that often reads like a phone book. Save yourself. Tell yourself what you DO want in the equation rather than what you don't. (Works in life as well as performance.)

Remember we're never after only ONE perfect read. Instead, we're after a handful of options with a variety in inflection--within the framework of the piece. I realize at first blush that reads as if we're telling you to over-steer the car all over the road, but trust me, there is a happy medium in there. The goal here is to truly surprise yourself take after take rather than fully choreograph every utterance in your head in advance of the take. That never works. (That only results in setting your sights on placing your performance in very tight perimeters and your performance will be come off tight, constrained and rigid.)

So, whether you're voicing a commercial, shooting a scene for film, performing on stage, or what have you...trust yourself enough to play and what you know needs included in the next take...and then take that great leap of faith...Let's face it...you honestly don't know how the piece is going to sound until you simply play it. (Isn't it ironic it's called a 'play' in the first place?)

And don't bother trying to 'read the minds' of those "directing" you--as if they know precisely what they want from you--or HOW to do it! They don't. They'd do it themselves if they did.

YOU'RE the one who's paid to have a pulse. You're expected to offer point of view, attitude, imagination, irony, ease, play, joie de vive, and that certain voodoo that you do so well!

THAT'S what makes you valuable, unique and why we love you so much! So let's see more of that rather than 'what you think they think they want you to be.' Instead let us in on what you're thinking and make that as interesting as you can be. That's the job of working talent. Pure and simple!

Union Status

Everyone has a 'union status.' You may be asked, from time to time, prior to auditioning for a job what your union standing currently is; it's the same thing.

Right now, you are one of the following:

a) non-union,
b) TAFT-HARTLEY for AFTRA
c) TAFT-HARTLEY for SAG
d) a "must-join" for AFTRA
e) a "must-join" for SAG
f) SAG (not in good standing)
g) AFTRA (not in good standing)
h) SAG-AFTRA (not in good standing)
i) SAG (in good standing)
j) AFTRA (in good standing)
k) SAG-AFTRA (in good standing)

If you are non-union, you can (and should) audition for union jobs. As long as your union-franchised talent agent is willing to put you on those auditions, you have the opportunity to secure your first union job and ultimately become a union talent. However, once you join the union (either SAG or AFTRA) you can no longer accept non-union work that would fall under the jurisdiction of that union.

If you are already an Equity (AEA) member, you're essentially TAFT-HARTLEY for SAG and may join SAG directly upon securing your first SAG job, if you choose.

What's Taft-Hartley?
The first 30 days after securing your first union job as a principal performer under either AFTRA or SAG jurisdiction, or working up to three full days as a SAG extra, for example, you are considered 'Taft-Hartley' for the designated union with which you worked. During that 30-day Taft Hartley period you may accept as many union jobs as you wish without being required to join that union. However, you will enjoy all the benefits of union, such as residuals, working conditions and the client must pay within two weeks or the client will owe you an additional fee.

What's a "must-join"?
As of the thirty-first day after that initial session your union status changes. Beyond that you will be considered a "must-join" until you secure your next union job that coincides with the particular union (SAG or AFTRA).

Once you land that next job, then you must join the union (thus, the name "must join") and pay your 'join fee,' which includes both your initiation fee and your initial dues for the union under whose jurisdiction you have worked.

Once you become a "must join" for either union, DO NOT accept union auditions unless you intend to join the union. If you can't afford to join you will cause a great deal of trouble for the entire production if they want you but can't have you.

"Brought to you by my Lil' White Dog..."

With a heavy heart, I'm sorry to report we lost my little Lamb early on August 24th, just as I was about to board a flight to visit my niece and her family in Florida.

Lambchop didn't make a fuss in the end and was the best pup I ever had. He spoke with a slight speech impediment (he had trouble pronouncing his 'c's and 'k's and generally replaced them with 't's), as many of you know. Still, that never swayed his desire to be the first dog in voiceover. He was remarkably photogenic and had great expression as a character actor even though he spent most of his later years behind the scenes (and under my desk). Certainly his influence was felt on every demo and production we created here at SOUND ADVICE and BIG HOUSE in the last eleven years. He was extremely well-behaved and kind and incredibly fond of small children. He never had a bad thought in his life--not a one. He shall be missed. (sniff.)

Here's a little video we made a few years ago to remember him by:
www.soundadviceclients.com/LAMB.mov