The Art of Voice Acting: the art and business of performing for voice over (54 page)

Onsite live auditions can be held anywhere. Some ad agencies have a recording booth for handling voice auditions. Sometimes auditions are held at a recording studio, the client’s office, a radio or TV station, or even at a hotel conference room. In Los Angeles, many agents ask their talent to
record auditions at the agency. In this way the agent has some degree of control over the quality of the audition for the talent they are representing.

You will be given a time and location for your audition, but usually you will not be asked when you are available, although you often can arrange a mutually agreeable time. Auditions are generally scheduled over one or two days, every 10 to 20 minutes and, depending on the scope of the project, there may be dozens of performers auditioning for the same roles.

You may or may not be told something about the project, and you may or may not receive the copy ahead of time. I’ve actually done auditions while on my cell phone after the casting person dictated the copy.

Once scheduled for an audition it is your responsibility to arrive at, or prior to, your scheduled time, prepared to perform. Only if you absolutely cannot make the scheduled appointment should you call the casting agent to let him or her know. The agent may, or may not, be able to reschedule you.

In this day of electronic communication, a variety of other types of auditions are becoming popular. You might receive a script by email or fax with instructions to call a phone number to leave your audition. Or, if you have your own recording equipment, you might be asked to record your audition and email it as an MP3 file.

The Internet has spawned a number of specialized websites that exist for the sole purpose of providing talent buyers the opportunity to reach hundreds of voice talent for auditions, and talent the opportunity to audition for hundreds of talent buyers.

There are currently four types of websites where voice talent can post their information and demos in the search for voiceover work. The first is a website operated by an Internet talent agent or casting agent. To be listed on these sites, a voice actor must be accepted by the talent agency for representation. These online agents operate like any other talent agent—it’s just that their talent pool is spread across the Internet.

The second is a free listing site that will usually offer to post the talent’s name, a brief description of the talent’s services, and a link to the talent’s own website. As with most things in life, you get what you pay for, so these free listing sites are often not very well promoted and don’t result in much work—if any. The real benefit of listing on these free sites is not in the listing, because there simply won’t be that may people visiting the site. The benefit is the fact that Internet search engines are constantly scanning websites to catalog names and links. The more frequently your name is found by these search engines, the easier it will be for someone to find you.

The third type of listing website is one where voice talent can receive requests to submit auditions for a fee. These sites are very clear in stating that they do not act as a talent agent, but instead, serve as an intermediary between the voiceover talent and those seeking voiceover performers. They do not take a commission for work obtained by the talent, but they do
charge a membership fee for voice talent to gain access to audition requests. Many voiceover professionals refer to these as
pay-to-play
sites.

A fourth type of online audition site has begun to appear over the past few years. These sites are usually operated by legitimate talent agents and, although they operate in a similar manner to the other online audition sites in that they charge a fee for audition delivery services, these sites will also take a commission from any work obtained through the agency. Although some of these sites are quite popular and can produce impressive results for their members, the fact that they are both charging a fee and taking a commission may put the ethics of their business model in question.

This act of taking two income streams from the same source is commonly known as
double-dipping
, and is illegal in many States. Owners of these sites will say that the membership fee they charge is for services that are in addition to representation, such as web pages, consultation services, and management services. However, most of these services have traditionally been considered a cost of doing business for an agent and many of the online talent agents do include these services as part of their representation. The fact that an online agent might charge a membership fee for services beyond those of representing their clients should not be taken as an implication that they are operating illegally. It is only mentioned here so you are aware of how online agents and audition services operate so you can make an educated decision when considering their services.

The vast majority of membership audition websites are legitimate, do not act as a talent agent, and truly do their keep their promise to market and promote the website (and thus the talent) to producers, ad agencies, and other talent buyers. Two of the largest voiceover membership sites in the U.S. and Canada are
www.voices.com
and
www.voice123.com
. At the time of this writing, the main European counterpart is
www.bodalgo.com
.

On many of these sites a voice actor can, as part of their membership, receive a personalized web page with their bio, performing styles, and several demos ready to be heard. Members also receive a continuous stream of audition requests. The web page is a huge benefit for a beginner who doesn’t have a site of their own. A website is a powerful marketing tool, and this feature alone may make a membership worth the price, but for an experienced voice actor who has their own site, this may be of little value, primarily because the web page is actually a
sub domain
of the hosting site with little or no direct marketing value for the member.

Another benefit for beginning voice talent is the constant stream of audition requests. Each audition is an opportunity to practice performing skills and experiment with voiceover technique with real-world copy without risking anything. For this reason alone, it can be well worth the membership fee just to get access to a wide variety of scripts. Experienced voiceover performers don’t need the practice, and dealing with the vast number of unqualified auditions can be very time consuming.

Although most online audition sites truly have the best interests of their members in mind, there are some that seem to cater to the talent buyers who
do not pay for the service, rather than to their voice talent members who pay a fee. This has created a great deal of controversy in the voiceover community primarily due to the large quantity of low-end, inexperienced talent buyers; poorly written copy; and low-ball talent fees.

Some audition requests are submitted by experienced producers who know what it takes to be a qualified voice actor; and who appreciate the time, energy, and money that a serious voice talent has spent developing their skills and business. Their audition requests are clear, specific, and informative. They know what the work will entails, what it is worth, and they offer a reasonable fee, expecting professional results.

Then there are the talent buyers who don’t know what they’re doing, or who simply want the most work for the lowest price. These producers do not appear to have even the slightest comprehension of what it takes to create a voiceover performance that will actually get the desired results. Their auditions are often fragmented, incomplete, or excessively demanding and unrealistic. Here’s an example of a typical “low-ball” audition request:

One major problem with audition requests like this is that the talent buyer is obviously looking for the lowest price he can get for a lot of work. This places the auditioning voice actor in a position of trying to come up with the lowest bid for the best performance, which can only serve to lower the voice actor’s credibility. This producer is probably inexperienced and knows very little, if anything, about what it takes to record a high-quality voiceover performance, let alone one that has music and sound effects.

One of my students submitted an audition through one of these member sites and was awarded a job to provide the voiceover work for a radio commercial. It was only after she was hired, and had committed to a fee, that the producer told her they also needed music and sound effects for a completely produced commercial. She was not prepared for this, she is not a production engineer, and she did not have access to the music and sound effects libraries she needed. Yet, she was under contract to provide her services, and because she was eager to please her new client, she was placed in the very uncomfortable position of having to deliver a complex job for a minimal fee. Had she only recorded and delivered the voice track that she had originally agreed to provide, she considered her compensation would have been adequate, because this was one of her first jobs. However, by the time she completed the production, she had put in many hours more than necessary and had to spend her own money for production elements, all of
which resulted in her actual compensation equaling far less than minimum wage. Her mistake was that she agreed to the additional demands of the client, and did not have a clear agreement about what she would provide. At her choice, she will never work with that client again.

Many experienced voice talent have commented that it appears as though some of these online audition website operators do not screen audition requests, and that they provide no education or training to those seeking voiceover talent or to their voice talent members. Although the site operators may truly be attempting to serve their paid members by providing some form of ongoing training through podcasts, articles, and webinars, the outward appearance is that they really don’t care—or worse, that they care more about the free-riding talent buyers than their paying members.

Some pay-to-play audition sites may actually put members in a bidding war by requiring them to state what they would charge for their work, often without having enough information from which to make an intelligent estimate. The result of this is that the experienced voice talent will not submit auditions, and the beginning voice talent end up setting their talent fees to unrealistically low levels. This does a disservice to everyone concerned. The talent are not fairly compensated for their work, and the client ends up receiving a voice track that, although it might fit his budget, is less than ideal or effective. Do your research and ask for comments from current members before joining any pay-to-play audition site.

Internet audition websites can, however, be a useful resource and a valuable tool for obtaining work for both beginners and professionals. It may take some time, but it is quite possible to land a single job that could pay for several years of membership. If your performing skills are good enough; if your recording quality meets the standards of the producer; if your talent fee is comfortable for both you and the producer; and if you don’t mind submitting at least 40 to 60 auditions, or more, before you get a good lead, joining a membership audition website may be a good choice for developing your skills and marketing your talent.