Does the company evoke memories from childhood? Do you use their products? Have you ever been to one of their events? Are you in love with their brand?
Even though the audition is a time for getting down to business and staying on message, conversations had in the green room or with the casting crew can present opportunities for you to add another layer to the process and make inroads with people in a position of influence.
In this section, you grab hold of how your personality can book you a job, why engaging with the staff at an audition or recording facility matters, and how to leave an audition on a high note.
Letting the real you shine through
Casting directors want you to shine. The more at ease you are, the likelier they are going to receive a bang on audition from you and have something to work with when deliberating with their team. When you think about it, being the real you helps the casting director do her job because she’s working with the genuine article. Completing her job successfully depends on getting you to bring the most amazing, spot-on read possible. It’s in her best interest to warm up to your personality and help guide you through the audition.
Be sincere, personable, and respectful. If she provides you direction, take it! Show her that you can be directed, that you’re able to listen, and also that you can improvise.
Whenever you choose to honor your values, you’re being authentic, credible, and have a greater purpose for what you’re doing or contributing to. If you truly believe in what you’re saying and speak with conviction, the read will come across with indisputable honesty and be beneficial to a prospective client and to your customers.
Each decision you make affects you and those around you. Just as a raindrop lands on the waters and causes a ripple to spread, so do your actions, making an impact on those around you and on others beyond your community.
Engaging the staff
When you go to a recording studio for the first time to work with their crew, you can make a good first impression in a number of ways so that you’re asked back again. (See the earlier section “Heeding Some Tips for Professionalism.”) But the casting director isn’t the only person who holds some kind of influence at a casting. Remember that everyone from the receptionist to the casting director’s assistant plays an important role in the success and outcome of the day.
Everyone — from the person making the coffee to the assistant taking notes has a distinct role as each candidate steps up to the microphone. You never know what type of influence each person carries beyond the casting.
Anyone from interns to assistants may one day start his or her own casting house or talent agency. If you’re consistently kind to everyone you meet and appreciative of their gifts, you’ll make more friends and contacts that may benefit you in ways you never anticipated. Remember, people may forget what you say, but they’ll never forget how you made them feel.
Leaving on a high note
Saying thank you never goes out of style. In an industry that is short on gratitude, showing appreciation for opportunities, especially for an audition, doesn’t go unnoticed. Make eye contact and thank everyone in sight to express how much you enjoyed the session.
After you go home, write a thank you note to the person who invited you to the casting call to let him know how much you appreciated the opportunity. If it was an agent who sent you, be grateful for his willingness to include you. Mail the card to the person(s) and be sure to include a business card so he remembers who you are.
Part IV
Setting Up Your Voice Acting Business
In this part . . .
Voice acting can be a lot of fun, but it’s also a business and a way to make money. Understanding how to properly run a business is key to experiencing ongoing, quantifiable success as a professional voice actor. In this part, you discover what you need to know about how to set up your business, what you should consider when building your brand, what to charge for your services, and how to obtain payment after you’ve been hired to record.
When you treat what you do as a real business, you’ll be more eager to develop your craft and invest in your career.
Chapter 14
Working after You’ve Booked a Voice-Over Job
In This Chapter
Looking at the hiring process
Keeping your clients up to speed
Reviewing the final script
Handling agreements and contingency plans
Juggling multiple jobs
You’ve booked the job, so now what? When it comes to working on a real voice-over job, you need to be aware of certain things like how to communicate and interact with clients. Understanding simple things like expectations and the like will lay the right foundation for a successful experience and a great relationship that could result in ongoing work.
In this chapter, we walk you step by step through working with clients in both online marketplace settings and jobs you’ve secured working at a local recording studio. You get a taste of what you should expect, how to communicate professionally, how to handle contracts and non-disclosure agreements, and also what to do for your business if you get sick, are too busy to take on more work, or are on vacation.
Understanding the Hiring Process
Some people like to know what will happen before it does, and don’t like to be taken by surprise. Knowing the ropes ahead of time creates more confidence and security when it comes to booking that first job. Say goodbye, anxiety!
This section may be of particular interest to you if you appreciate having as much information as possible when it comes to doing business in the online marketplace for the first time.
Working in an online voice-over marketplace
When you have your own business, you come to realize that you must look after some basic needs and objectives . . . most significantly, marketing your talent and positioning yourself for opportunities to earn money.
Generating leads, prospecting, developing relationships, and earning the business of others isn’t easy. This is where an online marketplace provides you with the tools, opportunities, and resources you need to prosper online as a professional voice actor. An online marketplace does the heavy lifting, which includes attracting clientele, attending to their needs, vetting jobs, posting jobs, and then inviting you to audition for opportunities that you’re qualified for based on your profile and preferences.
An audition online, as we discuss in Chapter 12, puts you front and center with the client and affords you a means to introduce yourself to him in a safe and welcome environment. Remember, the client wanted to hear from you . . . this isn’t a cold call!
One of the most exciting aspects of working with clients via the online marketplace is that everything has the potential to happen quickly. From the audition to being awarded a job, the process could take as little as a matter of hours. Most voice actors perceive auditioning to be the real work, and booking a job is gravy. Many online marketplaces also typically facilitate everything from the audition through getting paid.
Working in an in-studio environment
When you go to a recording studio to voice a job, much of the work you need to take care of yourself is managed by the studio, given it brought you in and you didn’t book the job on your own. Working in a professional recording studio harkens back to days when voice actors went from studio to studio to simply perform voice-over jobs they had booked. Voice actors at that point in time were only required to provide the artistic and had next to nothing to do with the actual technical process. In order to work consistently, most voice actors had to commute through the concrete jungle of Los Angeles from job to job.
The late, great Don LaFontaine used to have his own limousine and driver for this purpose. He arrived in his white limo and got to work. This was before it was standard practice to work from a
home-based recording studio. It wasn’t unusual for Don to take aspiring voice actors to sessions with him on ride-alongs to give them a glimpse into the glamorous world of voice-over that he and those in his small circle of peers enjoyed.
When it comes to studio sessions and voice actors, recording engineers and studio owners have seen it all. How should voice actors behave themselves in a studio session?
When working in-studio, respect the space and most importantly, don’t touch the microphone. New voice actors may be tempted to touch the microphone to adjust its positioning, so be forewarned that doing so isn’t a good idea. If you need the microphone to be moved, ask the recording engineer to assist you. Taking direction well and keeping to the script are all expectations the crew in the studio will have of you. When you’re done, you’re done! They will let you know when they are satisfied with your work.
Some things you may want to bring with you to the studio are a water bottle, your pencil, an open mind, and a smile. For more information on studio etiquette, flip to Chapter 13.
Is the customer always right?
The person doing the hiring or directing is your customer, and in many circles, the adage of “The Customer is Always Right” applies.
This could go one of two ways:
1.The client appears to be insatiable and requests more takes.
2.The client likes your work even though you think you could’ve done better or that someone else was better qualified.
In big league voice acting, it isn’t uncommon for a director to request a minimum of 20 takes to get the perfect delivery, so it would make sense that other clients may have the expectation that two or three takes may just be scraping the surface of your talent and ability to take direction.
Although interpreting feedback during a session as criticism may be a natural response, it isn’t the healthiest thing, and you have to remember that the director is only trying to communicate his vision through your voice by doing business with you.
Check your ego at the door
If you’re able to separate your feelings from the work, any feedback you receive will come as creative direction or a way of trying the same thing a different way, not as a personal insult. Make sense? Remember, if the client likes it, don’t offer to do more or question the logic.
If the client needs to take a little while to realize the vision through your voice, enjoy the ride. Make it a game if you have to and use each take as an opportunity to freely explore parts of your voice you may not have known before. While this may be a lot of fun, always remember that you are there to provide a service and remain professional. I think you’ll agree that it’s more enjoyable (and perhaps less labor-intensive) than most jobs out there!
Communicating with Your Client
Do you know how to communicate well? Depending on how you book a job, you can communicate with your client in different ways. Regardless of tools and options, make sure you present yourself well, are considerate, and affirm your client and the progress of the job whenever possible.
Speak to the best interests of the project and don’t say things that could be misinterpreted as disagreeable or ambiguous. Always be clear with what you’re saying and quick to resolve misunderstandings.
In this section, you get some tips for conversing with your client, including how to set the tone for a great business relationship, understanding expectations, and keeping lines of communication open.
Setting the tone
People do business with people they like. What happens when we place more significance on ourselves and how we perform than on the message and the people it is intended for? When more emphasis is placed on your gifts and ability to shine instead of on why you’re called to be of service in the first place, the doing becomes more about the superiority of your gifts than the purpose which, as you can imagine, often yields detrimental results.
In order to set the right tone, you can do many simple things, such as having a good attitude, smiling, and being grateful. Smiles, like yawns, are contagious. Note also that smiling, even if at first it’s a forced act, will eventually morph into an authentic smile and serve as a great pick-me-up for when you’re feeling tired or discouraged.
When you smile, your body releases chemicals in your brain called endorphins and serotonin, often referred to as “happy” hormones. In a nutshell, smiling simply makes you feel good.
Last but certainly not least is to have an attitude of gratitude. Any number of voice actors were talented enough to do what you’re doing, but for some reason, your audition was chosen. Be grateful.
Understanding expectations
A clear understanding of your goals and how you reach them together should be set. Fewer if any issues arise when everyone knows what’s expected of them. Items that may require special attention in this regard are
Creative direction
Communicating the script properly
The cost
When the client needs the audio
Not knowing what’s expected of you can cause an enormous amount of stress and confusion, so if you have any questions or something doesn’t seem very clear to you, ask for clarification early on and pick up the phone if you have to.
Keeping lines of communication open
Keeping in contact regularly with the client after your job is over helps open lines of communication. While you don’t need to send annual gifts marking your first business deal, you should be considerate of all you’ve worked to build and let your partners know that you appreciate them. Ways you may communicate with your client include
Email
Internal messaging
Telephone
Skype
Reviewing the Full and Final Script
Before you take the leap to record, review the final script to make sure that there haven’t been any changes or additional text added for you to record. In this section, we cover going over the script, figuring how much work there is, and how long it may take you to record the voice-over and make any edits.
Evaluating the script
Typically, you’ll have the full script before agreeing to do a voice-over job, but in the case of some projects, such as an audiobook, for instance, you may receive that script after you’ve already committed to being its narrator. In rare cases, you may be in for a surprise or two depending on how forthright the client was with the amount of work required or the contents of a script. If those issues exist, you need to discuss them with your client preferably before the recording process starts. You may need to submit a new quote for the work or ask that a word here and there that you take offense to (such as a swear word) be changed in the script.
If everything looks great to you, it’s time to dig into the script. Ask yourself the same questions found in Chapter 5 having to do with analyzing a script and developing your character. You also need to gain an understanding of context so far as it relates to your role(s). Marking up your script is another way that you can document your findings.
Determining how much work there is
How long will it take to get through a script? Knowing this is important because time is money. Remember also that it takes twice as long to edit a voice-over as it did to record it in the first place. Our friends at Edge Studio, a voice-over education and production facility with coaches around the United States, provided this resource to our community for helping voice actors better gauge how much work there is in a given script.
This chart is based on: 12 point Arial, double-spaced, margin-to-margin.
Speech count
•Average person reads three words per second (range is two to four)
•Average person reads 88 words per half-minute (range is 60 to 120)
•Average person reads 170 words per minute (range is 135 to 215)
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�Average person reads 10,320 words per hour (range is 8,625 to 12,030)
Line count
•Average number of lines per page: 21
•Average number of lines per 30-second spot: 7.5
•Average number of lines per 60-second spot: 15
Word count
•Average words per line: 13 (range is 8 to 18)
•Average words per page: 273 (range is 168 to 378)
Reading time
•Average reading time per line: 4 seconds
•Average reading time per page: 85 seconds
The preceding list breaks down the information a number of ways to help you figure out the script’s length and how long it may take for you to voice. The first category, speech count, tells you how many words an average person is able to read on a word per second, word per minute, and word per hour basis. This information is particularly helpful if you have a large word count and don’t know how long it will take for you to record the script. Line counts are also helpful, as are word counts and reading time. Knowing how long it will take you to voice a given script can help you to quote for projects faster and more easily. To discover more about quoting and getting paid for your work, flip to Chapter 15.
Should you charge for audio editing?
Shorter recordings, such as voice mails or commercials, may not be of much consequence editing-wise where your time is concerned, but what if you were requested to edit longer projects? Shouldn’t there be a fee for editing levied, too? Indeed there should! Think about the time you need to record the script and then double that time to gain an appreciation for the length of the editing process.
Although the answer may seem obvious, many voice actors working today have adopted the mindset that the recording of a voice-over and the editing of that voice-over are one in the same. This is simply not the case, and if you were to believe that, you’d be doing a lot of work for free! Review Chapter 16 for more information on quoting for your work.
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