Facts are sometimes hard to find in the voiceover industry’s social media conversations. Here are two examples from just last week…
In one social media conversation, someone tried to convince the voiceover community that you’ll be sued if you don’t get permission from a company to use their brand in your voiceover demo. The thread flamed all day and the original poster was repeatedly rude & insulting and provided no facts to substantiate his claim. FYI the flamer in question is apparently a voiceover coach and demo producer. I listened to both his and some of his students’ demos. Oy. Oh, and this “coach” has no coaching website or even a voiceover website, just a Pay-to-Play profile. Double oy.
It reminded me of the “Respect” blog I wrote earlier this year. The guy in the Respect blog was being a jerk, but this guy was clearly looking for trouble a.k.a. “trolling“. Both people effectively destroyed their potential to develop meaningful relationships with the voiceover community. That may not mean much to you, but I’ll say it again: last year, over half of my voiceover work came from recommendations or referrals from fellow voice talent.
In another social media conversation, The owner of a new P2P site tore the VO community a new one because he’s sick & tired of the myriad of complaints that some subscribers haven’t booked any work yet. I’m not a member of the P2P site so I can’t speak intelligently about it. I will say that recently the majority of social media conversations I’ve seen starts with the question, “Has anyone booked anything yet?” followed by a string of “no’s”. That may explain why the owner went postal, and I don’t blame him. Is it possible that the reason this thread comes up so often because the majority of aspiring voice talent are not able to book work in general? Hmm…
TIP OF THE WEEK
Let’s address some of these “facts”.
Can you use existing brands & companies on your demo? YES.
A voiceover demo’s purpose to DEMO-nstrate your skills, not to make money off the backs of the brands you use on a demo. You can write your own copy, use existing work, or both.
If you’ve never booked a voiceover gig on given P2P site, is there something intrinsically wrong with said P2P site? NO.
Some may argue that there is something intrinsically wrong with all Pay-to-Play sites, but that’s a different conversation. 😉 There are many reasons why you may not have booked a gig yet. Look at the way you set up your profile, your demos, and the quality of your auditions. Have you had trouble booking gigs via other Portals?
To be an effective voice talent, you must have your facts straight. Do not rely on social media to get your facts. Do you own research and talk to your coaches and mentors. They will be happy to help separate facts from fiction.
NEWS AND NOTES
Tuesday, July 23rd @8:30PM EST: “Biz Shiz – Part 2 (or, How to Manage Your Audiobook Business)”. In this Audio Publishers Association webcast hosted by Suzanne Elise Freeman and PJ Ochlan, audio book legend Scott Brick and I talk about the ins and outs of managing your audio book business. (for APA Members only) Click here for more information!
Thursday July 25th @8PM EST: The Voice Over Xtra webinar, ‘Voice-Over Online Casting: The Basics And Beyond’. In this webinar, we’re going to talk about online casting sites and the pros & cons of the Pay-to-Play model. Click here to sign up!
Sunday July 28th @11:30AM EST: The Voice Actors of NYC workshop, ‘In The Trenches: Running Your VO Business Day to Day”. In this donation-based live workshop, you’ll learn how to manage your voiceover business down to the hour to get the most out of the precious time you have to move your voiceover business forward. We’ll discuss the ins and outs of time management and workflow to maximize your efficiency, productivity, and ability to focus. Click here to sign up!
HAPPY HAPPYS
Happy Sprinkle Day and Thread the Needle Day!
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
Tom Dheere is a 20+year veteran of the voice over industry who has narrated thousands of projects for hundreds of clients in over a dozen countries. He is also a voiceover business & marketing consultant known as the VOStrategistand produces the comic book “Agent 1.22”.