Are you having trouble finding work? If you are, you’re not alone.
Recently, voice actors of various experience levels have asked me why they have so much trouble finding work nowadays. There is more voiceover work than ever in every genre so what exactly is going on?
To borrow from a blog entry from last year, let’s start with these possibilities:
Lack of talent: you entered a business you have no business entering
Lack of training: you got minimal or no coaching
Lack of resources: you invested little or no capital in your fledgling business
Lack of skill sets: you didn’t learn how to market, set goals, negotiate rates, etc.
Lack of self-awareness: you’re not engaging in critical thinking about yourself, the voiceover industry, and your relationship to the industry
What are the other possibilities?
Fiverr (which we discussed a while back) and some Pay-to-Play sites have driven down session fees and wreaked havoc on usage fees, cutdowns, and exclusivity. This caused some voice actors to become bottom-feeders and ethical voice actors like you won’t consider those gigs.
AI has taken some voiceover gigs away, too. For example, a major end-client I worked with for 5+ years replaced me with an AI. This will be happening more & more. We’ll discuss AI and its potential effect the voiceover industry in an upcoming blog entry.
Many voice seekers who used to be accessible via Direct Marketing have fled to Pay-to-Play sites. I know for a fact some of my old clients have done that.
Internal rosters of agencies, production companies, recording studios, etc. are tightening up. They’re sticking with a proven group of talent. Some don’t want to deal with the bureaucracy and expense of SAG-AFTRA. Others are tired of the tidal wave of crappy voice actors and their crappy marketing content and their crappy demos. They need people they know they can rely on so your cold emails go unanswered.
In essence, there may be more voiceover work than ever but the gatekeepers have changed. So have their ways of doing business.
TIP OF THE WEEK
How do you meet the challenge of not finding work?
There a myriad of ways you can approach this question, too many to address in one little ole’ blog entry. To get the ball rolling, I suggest you look at how you are looking for voiceover gigs. The problem is different for everyone and so are the solutions.
Are you depending solely on your agents?
Are you using only Pay-to-Play sites?
Are you constantly hitting a brick wall when you’re using Direct Marketing?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, that may be part of the problem. Try new ways of finding work. Expand and diversify your Portals.
If something isn’t working anymore, stop doing it. Get more training, learn new genres, produce new demos, develop new marketing campaigns, attend more networking events & conferences.
Analyze, learn, grow. Rinse and repeat.
NEWS AND NOTES
Wednesday, April 7th @8PM EST: The VO Strategist’s “VO How-To webinar: The Practical Voice Actor“. In this 90-minute webinar, you will learn how to develop your decision-making skills so you can move your voiceover business in the direction you want it to go. You’ll also learn to determine what questions you need to ask yourself and how to find the right answers in order to be the voiceover artist and business you truly want to be.
Thursday, April 15th @8PM EST: the Edge Studio Marketing 201 webinar “What Your Website Says About You“. In this one-hour webinar, we’ll talk about how and why your website functions as a critical marketing tool.
Monday April 19th – Saturday April 25th: VO Atlanta 2021. The conference agenda is up! Here’s what I’m presenting:
Tuesday, April 20, 2021, 3:15 PM – 6:15 PM: [X-SESSION] Learning to do eLearning
Wednesday, April 21, 2021, 1:00 PM – 1:45 PM: eLearning Panel (moderator)
Thursday, April 22, 2021, 3:15 PM – 6:15 PM: [X-SESSION] eLearning Script Writing & Performance Intensive
Friday, April 23, 2021, 5:00 PM – 5:45 PM: Explainers Explained!
The X-Sessions cap at 12 students so sign up ASAP!
Thursday, April 29th @8PM EST: the VO Mastery workshop, “Direct Marketing”. This 90-minute online workshop is only $59. Email Rachel Wohl at rachel@nullvomastery.com to sign up!
SOLD OUT!!! Friday, April 30th @5PM EST: The Voice Actors Studio webinar “eLearning Performance Workshop“. Learn about the world of eLearning and get some live coaching, too. The June 19th class has a few seats left so sign up ASAP!
HAPPY HAPPYS
Happy Caramel Day and Bookmobile Day!
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
Tom Dheere is a voice actor with over 20 years of experience narrating just about every type of voiceover you can think of. He also helps other voice talents navigate the voiceover industry as the VO Strategist. When not voicing or talking about voicing, he produces the sci-fi comic book Agent 1.22.