When Joe Flint asked to interview me, I asked if he wanted to write the same article others had written or would he like to write the one that no one has? He said he wanted the former but had to submit several angles to his editor. As we saw, it ran with the celeb angle and that work-a-day actors resent them getting so much work.  Truth be told, those who are so inclined, resent anyone getting any work they aren’t getting, so celebs have plenty of company there. In any case, here’s the article I wish someone would write someday:

“Voiceover, The Most Underestimated Career in Show Biz”

It’s been called the Best Job in the World and when all the planets align, those who upon whom the Voiceover Gods smile are happy campers. But, for most, that alignment is like catching lightening in a bottle and the day-to -day getting in and then staying in is like scaling the Washington Monument with Vaseline on your fingertips.

It’s not necessarily for lack of talent or drive but for the sheer numbers, the elusiveness of the work and the shifting tide of pop culture that renders Today obsolete with the click of keystroke.

Shared in one of our seminars by a successful talent who did his research, this statistic is sobering:

On any given day, there are 1.3 million people pursuing voiceover work. One point three million.

Even if we eliminate less than stellar candidates, the amount of talent available outnumbers the amount of work a thousand fold, and the ability to build and maintain a healthy career becomes more challenging every day.

Despite this reality, the training ground is a virtual border town, glutted with shingles luring prospectors to pan the gold of hitting it big with a minimum investment of time, money and due diligence.  There are almost as many land offices as there are prospectors, many with less interest in someone striking gold as they are in getting their filing fees.

Then there is the elusiveness of the work. While many jobs can be pursued on one’s own, the preferred avenue for the richest veins is via representation.

The ante on representation is higher than ever before. The gamble is higher, the turnaround time shorter and the number of people seeking representation vs. how few of them there are, make them as sought after as the work.

Gone are the days of putting an ok demo together, meeting with an agent and being signed on the spot. Today, you have to already be awesome, have recognizable credits, be willing to date before you marry and  share the spoils of current strikes before you get access to the mother-lode.

Do not expect to get anywhere with generic materials, standard reads or being a canvas upon which clients can paint. And, it’s at least a five year minimum build to a solid career, so don’t give up your day job until it’s totally in the way.

Finally, there’s the need to know and embrace The Landscape of Pop Culture and Social Media.

When Bob Lloyd, the original Voicecaster  suggested I have “my own thing” I was surprised. “But Bob, there are at least 10 workshops in town already.” (There are now over 100 in every market and zillions on the web) “True” he said, “but nothing for the working pro. Some people are still doing the same read they did when they got into the business.”

“Why not”?

“They don’t want to hurt feelings and/or risk losing them.”

There’s always a way to say something in the spirit of enhancement and encouragement, so here’s mine:

Stay current to remain relevant. Do your homework. Watch, listen and understand the Cultural Conversation. It’s why Betty White is still cool and why so many of her contemporaries are warming webbed chairs on the porch.

The Game has changed and the Rules have been re-written. It doesn’t matter if how it was seems to be better than how it is. Making it wrong doesn’t make you right- it makes you irrelevant.

PS: The rest of what I said about celebs in the interview is that each has a distinctive personae that gives products, ideas or services a place to live, there are a lot more celebs/people in the public eye than ever before, there’s no longer a stigma to voicing commercials and star voices in an animated film give the producers something to put on the marquee.

You don’t have to be a star for people to think you are one. You just have to have something unique, special or different enough for them to think you are.

To Be Continued.

To: Andy Isaacson

RE: “Why Men Tell You What Movies to See”  – New York Times Jan. 27, 2012

Read this article with great interest.

Thanks heaps for bringing voice work to the attention of the four people on the planet who are not already considering a voiceover career!

With technology giving everyone, everywhere the means to audition for commercials, narration, TV promos and emerging media, as well as some work calling itself trailer, albeit often fringe and questionable fare and good luck getting paid, the most recent figures state that on any given day, 1.3 million people are pursuing voice work on a global basis. Too many have fallen prey to teaching mills touting quick and easy money and the ability to work in your skivvies and wind up with dated skills and demos only a mother could love.

If a producer does not place a limiter on a job posting, they will get more mail than Santa Claus.

As a result, those who represent and hire talent do not accept unsolicited inquiries without a referral from trusted colleagues.

Having trained the dominant number of careers at the pinnacle of the voiceover pyramid, particularly in trailer and promo, we’d like to add that while producers say that eliminating the voice from theatrical trailers allows films to “speak for themselves”, it would seem to follow that capturing viewers attention without voiceovers on smaller screens would be equally effective. But, most versions of trailers, especially for television and for the Internet, do carry voices.

Perhaps “scratching” has something to do with it? Scratching is trailer talk for auditions.

While auditioning is how actors of all stripes compete for work, the amount of scratching voice artists were being asked to do took up more and more time and substantially cut into their earning hours.

Scratching’s also how newer voices get considered. Even though jobs generally go to an established pro, once in a great while a worthy voice will “go to finish” and begin the long build to a trailer career.

Lest we not over simplify this, the volume of voices consistently working trailers hovers around 20.  Attaining a spot on that bench happens every five years or so. So please, don’t quit your day job, especially these days!

Recently there was a stand taken on scratching and coincidentally, voices on theatrical trailers took a precipitous drop.

The evolution of a film campaign can take years and the severe limiting of scratches has had an equally damaging effect on the industry and word of a middle ground compromise is now making the rounds.

Perhaps the compromise could also mean a return of voices to theatrical trailers? It would be a good thing, not only for talent but also for ticket sales and hello, the audience.

Hi, ‘member us?

With homage to Don Lafontaine and Hal Douglas, the two most recognized voices to utter these words, “in a world” filled with mounting chaos and uncertainty, there are precious few constants or emotional anchors.

Sound is primal. It tells us, as early as hearing our mother’s heartbeat, that we are not alone. A constant and rhythmic sound is comforting. It’s why children (and not just children) want stories told the same way each time. It makes us feel safe. Tell us a story and we’re all yours.

We go to movie theaters to escape the chaos, even when we are scared out of our wits!

Without a Voice, without a Storyteller immediately pulling our focus and drawing our attention to the screen, we’re talking, checking messages, moving up and down the aisles and not paying attention to trailers as we once did. Music, effects and clips are powerful but nothing stops us in our tracks like a voice.

Voiceless trailers break an unwritten contract with movie-goers. The Contract states that we buy our tickets, get our treats and a voice envelops and transports us. The Voice was part of the theatrical experience that made trailers a cherished and modern day art form. And, you don’t get that at home, on a computer or an iPad.

In our humble opinion, a voiceless trailer is not really a trailer but a cut-down version of the film and as such, can easily defeat its own purpose, which is to whet our appetite, not to fully satisfy it.

Ultimately, voices tell us how to feel … and feeling is how we anchor experience. Give us back the full experience of going to the movies, of hearing that surround sound voice in a darkened theater and give us back one of the reasons we went to the movies in the first place.

(And by the way, the female voice is the first voice we hear and the most often heard voice in our formative years.

Just sayin’…)

Marice Tobias

“The Voice Whisperer”

Tobias Entertainment Group

tobiasent.com

In our last blog, we noted that doing what you are doing will keep you in place.  Expanding on that concept,  doing what you are doing will also keep you from stepping up to the next level and beyond.

When I decided to start directing commercials in New York, I shared my strategy with a producer at a well-known ad agency. I was going to be the first woman to direct at a production company.  I decided to focus on what I felt would be a good point of entry: i.e. commercials for shelf goods.

There was a plethora of those spots being produced every year and as a script supervisior at the production company that shot over half of them, I knew the genre, the producers and the creative teams. He agreed and then offered some advice that still resonates today:

“Just remember,  you can’t get into Compton (Advertising) with a Compton reel. We always want to feel we are going to best ourselves with our next campaign.”

That advice informed the spots I wrote and directed for my sample reel. They broke the traditional “slice of life” model for shelf goods.

Ironically, my first directing job turned out to be a very traditional slice of life campaign!

Who cares?

My reel said I’d bring something fresh and new to the same old, same old and I guess I did because I got to direct more spots for them after that.

So, the big little secret in moving forward is not just being good at your current level of work, but also being good at the level on which you want to be..and good in a way that inspires people to risk choosing you. Yes, it’s a risk. Their jobs are on the line so help them help you. Give them something to cheer about because that first person now becomes your champion and has to convince others you will cover them all with glory.

In terms of representation – reads, demos and marketing that stop people in their tracks are no longer enough.

You also need marquee credits.

These are gigs that impress and serve as talking points for those who will be singing your praises.

The days of being automatically signed are disappearing. A honeymoon or test-drive is now quite common.  Don’t take it personally.  It’s a step in the right direction.

On a purely personal note, when I see postings, it’s mostly because they’ve been forwarded to me.

Good grief.

Enough railing about the business. It is what it is.

Concentrate on what you can actually do something about.

Your delivery.

Too many reads just don’t hit the mark. Make sure what you are turning in will indeed stop people in their tracks.

Wishing all a Happy, Prosperous and Peace filled 2012!

The Bad News is, doing what you are doing, keeps you doing what you are doing.

It’s why sports teams have a staff and individual atheletes have people who travel with them to keep them sharp.

A win is as good as the game in which it was played but afterwards, there’s no slacking off on drills and practice unless there’s travel involved. Why? Because the more finely-tuned one is, the quicker rigor will dissipate if it’s not reinforced and enhanced.

Whatever they did right will also be analysed by others, as well as where their flanks might be vulnerable.

Established careers that want to cut through to the next level as well as  those at the top of the game cannot rest on laurels.  Being a pro, in anything, is as competitive as moving up the ranks. The medal jumps that athletes did in the Olympics a few short years ago would not even qualify them for the team today.

So know that the level of play you are at today might not be enough, especially when trying to get the attention of those who are able to open bigger doors.

The #1 issue for agents, managers, casting directors and producers is that auditions, especially self-directed ones, are not where they should be but there isn’t time to help get them where they need to go. That,  they feel, is your job.  They give you the shot, it’s up to you to hit the target and to keep hitting it, read after read after read.

“So, when you’re busy, they don’t hear from you but when you aren’t, they do?”

“Right. Oh, I see what you’re saying. My calling says I’m not busy.”

“Yes.”

For the most part, that put an end to a glaring error in impression management.  If, for some reason, cold calling is still a part of your marketing strategy, please hire someone to do it for you. I’m even against calling producers with whom you’ve worked. It still says you aren’t behind the mike and who knows what they are dealing with when they pick up their phone.

If you want to keep the personal touch a componant of your business, there are lots of college kids looking to make extra money. With a succinct script and plenty of rehearsal, they can come off as fresh and enthusiastic member of your team and  keep you off the front line of your own marketing.

The image we want them to have of you is that you are either in session, in a meeting or in transit.

Now, how do we reconcile that philosophy with the extremely seductive and addictive nature of social media?

It’s the same principle. Too much is too much.

The time you spend in chat rooms and/or creating materials for various sites and postings should be kept to an absolute minimum. Too many posts, too much information and being on too many venues says one thing and one thing only: You have the time to do it. That is not the statement you want to be making about your career. A cogent comment now and then is sufficient. If they want more of you, let them hire you.

And, while we’re on the subject of marketing, sending out notices for the sake of reminding people to think of you  is in the same category.

Time is all we have. If you are going to ask someone to spend a scrap of time paying attention to something you’ve sent them, make sure it contains some content that will help them put you on their radar. If you are launching a new site or have updates, great. New credits and their links are best. Everyone wants to work with players. Make sure you are showing up like one. And, be sure to pick and choose what you spotlight judiciously. Making a big deal out of every booking and showing up too often wears out your welcome.

Rule of thumb:  Become a bit scarce and let them wonder if you’ll even have time to work with them!

STAR TRAX

{Our new New York Studio}

Conveniently located in Midtown, right off Fifth Avenue at 32 West 39th St. – 14th Floor, this hotbed of voiceover action in the Big Apple, is our new site for seminars and recording beginning with this

NEW PROMO WEEKEND INTENSIVE JUNE 25th AND 26th

which launches

PROMAXBDA & BOOT CAMP WEEK

If you’re serious about Promo, this is the weekend, the week, the city and the place to be. Contact Creative Entertainment Management for further details at stacey@creativeentertainmentmanagement.com.