Good morning, my fellow leaf-kickers! That’s one of my favorite all-time activities: kicking a pile of Autumn leaves. Is that weird?
A couple of weeks ago I taught an Edge Studio class about “Finding Your IN to the Industry”. A fun subject and a great group of students to boot. At first glance, you’d think that means figuring out you who need to know to get your big break, right? WRONG! That’s a mentality I, quite frankly, despise. That’s the attitude that some people have in our industry and it drives me batty.
Your “in” to the industry is YOU.
Your talent, your work ethic, and your gameplan. Not your aunt who works in the costume department.
With that in mind, I came up with a way to figure out what your “in” to the industry is in terms of what kind of talent you are. It’s two simple questions:
Are you an Announcer, or a Storyteller?
Are you a Generalist, or a Specialist?
An Announcer is pretty much what you think it is. They tend to do commercials, movie trailers, documentaries, promos, imaging, MOH (Messages On Hold), medical narrations, etc.
A Storyteller does commercials and MOH as well, but different kinds. They also tend to do audio books, e-learning, industrials, etc.
A Generalist can do many, if not all types of voiceovers and is sort of a Jack of All Trades.
A Specialist tends to do only one type of voiceover well, or the industry has “told” them to do only one type of voiceover i.e. “Voice of God”, movie trailers, audiobooks, etc.
For example, I am a Generalist Storyteller. On any given day I narrate hard sell radio commercials, corporate videos, and ESL programs; sometimes all in the same day! However, I tend to do more e-learning work than anything else.
Obviously these are sweeping generalizations and there is overlap, but you get my point!
TIP OF THE WEEK: Why should you figure out what kind of voice talent you are? It’s simple: find your “voice” so you can build both your brand and your marketing strategy. THAT is your in!
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: The arc of the moral universe bends towards justice. Martin Luther King Jr.
STUFF!: Since I will not be returning from FaffCon until late Tuesday night I will take a week off from writing the Good Karma Network Weekly Update and have a jam-packed installment for you the following week. To make up for it, I will add a BONUS Quote of the Week and here it is…!
People who lean on logic and philosophy and rational exposition end by starving the best part of the mind. William Butler Yeats
From Tom Dheere’s apartment, this is Tom Dheere; GKN News…