CLASS QUESTIONNAIRE
I recently interviewed a few casting agents, one producer-director of audio books and a producer-director of video games and asked them key questions about demos, changes in the voice-over world, et al. They were quite generous with their time and answers. Read on, and learn.
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FROM: An Audio-Book/Gaming producer/director at Cedar House Audio
What’s the biggest mistake actors make when auditioning?
Unprepared. Not following direction
What elements or qualities do you feel that voice actors need to possess in order to be successful?
Must be able to read “long-form” copy from a book, “letter perfect” and keep characters consistent. Not enough to have a lot of characters. You must be able to read a lot of copy “letter perfectly”
What else?
• Versatility
• East to work with
•The ability to FOLLOW direction!
What makes a strong audio books actress/actor?
The ability to keep characters straight. For instance, a recurring central character should be able to stay consistent throughout book. The ability to read fluently and word perfect.
What are the keys to a successful Audio book demo?
AIUDIO-BOOKS:
Do your BEST book genre style: drama and style
3-5 minutes
3 different characters
GAMES:
Do your BEST voice. Don’t include EVERY voice that you can do, just your strongest.
What are the biggest changes you’ve seen in the voice-over industry or the books-on-tape in the past few years?
Technology changes.
Changes in audio-book packaging effect price since they’re being downloaded.
Same amount of time to record and produce but everyone’s making LESS money.
Since a lot of audio books are done remotely, no direction can be given.
How do you feel that voice over actors have kept up with these changes?
Actors with home studios
Which changes in the industry have voice actors neglected to keep up with?
They’ve kept up with most of them. Actors are innovative.
Should a voice actor do two or more reads on an audition when they’re not asked (this applies to auditioning at home)?
On gaming auditions? Yes. No more than two, otherwise.
No long intros.
Time is money. If it makes sense, do it. But don’t take up much of a producer’s time.
What do you feel actors should and shouldn’t say to a casting person (this applies to auditioning in person)?
DO RESEARCH, on genre, company and story. Research is impressive.
Feel free to ask questions if you have BUT don’t make them up!
NOTE:
If you want to a career in audio books, read a book out loud to yourself while keeping it letter perfect and all the characters consistent. If you do this without too many mistakes and enjoyed it, you may be right for audio books.
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From: A Seattle Talent agent:
What’s the biggest mistake actors make when auditioning?
The slate is way too long. Talent should simply say ‘I’m so and so’ and go!
What elements or qualities, do you feel that voice actors need to possess in order to be successful?
A good sound and ’realness’ to their delivery. A thick skin is valuable too.:)
What are the biggest changes you’ve seen in the voice-over industry in the past few years?
Geography has become irrelevant. Talent can now audition for projects happening anywhere in the country.
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FROM: A Talent Agent from the Pastorini-Bobsy Talent agency. Texas
What’s the biggest mistake actors make when auditioning?
Probably not taking the time to thoroughly read the specs and deliver accordingly. If something is not clear on the specs, pick up the phone or email your agent and ask for clarification.
What elements or qualities, do you feel that voice actors need to possess in order to be successful?
1) Professionalism. No one cares how good you are if you can’t be professional.
2) Flexibility. This business is ever changing and staying on top of the changes is necessary.
3) Patience. Often times this is a numbers game. Don’t think you are going to land everything you audition for or even ½ of what you audition for.
What are the biggest changes you’ve seen in the voice-over industry in the past few years?
Technology is the biggest game changer. On one hand, technology allows us to have a larger playing field and more far-reaching opportunities. On the other hand, technology has allowed more inexperienced voices to saturate the market and declare themselves experts. With this unfortunate change comes lower rates (if the talent does not have an agent and does not know what a job is worth $) and an idea perpetuated with producers that quantity trumps quality in the audition process.
How do you feel that voice over actors have kept up with these changes?
This business has a unique way of weeding out those that are not fit to deal with the changes. The ones who don’t have what’s needed to stay on top will slowly start to move on to something else. The ones that have staying power are doing beautifully and will continue to do so.
Which changes in the industry have voice actors neglected to keep up with?
The speed at which this business moves. Long gone are the days where you had 3 or 4 days to send in your audition. Producers are searching far and wide and it’s true, if you are audition number 400 that day, you may have missed your chance. Check your emails and phone calls regularly to give yourself the most time possible to turn in a good read.
Should a voice actor do two or more reads on an audition when they’re not asked (this applies to auditioning at home)?
This is something you may want to ask your agent if it’s not specified. We always think that you should give them a good selection. They can always hit “stop” on the player when they’ve heard enough J
What do you feel actors should and shouldn’t say to a casting person (this applies to auditioning in person)?
We don’t have a lot of in person voice auditions, but in the ones that we’ve done in the past, the talent was being called in to evaluate how they would be to work with on an on-going basis. Being seen in person was about talent, the ability to take direction and personality. You are being interviewed from the moment you walk in the door. Can you deliver that they are asking for and be someone they can count on?
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An Agent at Heyman Talent
infocolumbus@heymantalent.com.
COLUMBUS, OHIO
What’s the biggest mistake actors make when auditioning?
Not reading the audition instructions carefully and formatting to their client’s specifications. Sometimes there will be notes regarding tone, inflection, number of takes, where to put the slate, etc. Simply not reading thoroughly gets many talent disqualified before even being considered.
What elements or qualities, do you feel that voice actors need to possess in order to be successful?
Basic home studio equipment, at least 3-5 high quality professional demos for commercial market work, good representation and web marketing. Excellent editing skills **this is where you may make your extra money by acting as engineer for your client
What are the biggest changes you’ve seen in the voice-over industry in the past few years?
Many clients bypass a professional voice over artist to save money on a budget and hire internally or take on a volunteer or a commercial actor instead of a voice actor. In the end, they or their ultimate client ends up increasing their budget because of tremendous editing or needing to replace the voice entirely.
Today, there is fierce competition in the voice over world. Many actors think of voice over as a quick way to make some extra money here and there. Plus, it’s fairly easy and inexpensive to create a “crash” or home studio that is basic and just pumps out nice sounding auditions for clients.
How do you feel that voice over actors have kept up with these changes?
Voice over will always be special because you simply cannot create that perfect voice. It’s such an ever changing market! Lots of textbook companies are revamping text to web ready and mobile ready dynamic files. This is VERY exciting for VO’s. To stick with the times, most professional voice over artists work from home, have great websites, edit and engineer.
Which changes in the industry have voice actors neglected to keep up with?
Some voice actors attempt to go about booking voice over work without proper contracts and representation in place to handle these contracts. They do the work and never get paid. That’s an unfortunate part of this industry. Be safe with your career!
Should a voice actor do two or more reads on an audition when they’re not asked (this applies to auditioning at home)?
I would say two reads is never a problem if it’s no more than :30 of copy. If it’s an entire paragraph or portion of a long form script, I would not recommend more than one take- the client is likely to listen to the first :30-:60 of demo period.
What do you feel actors should and shouldn’t say to a casting person (this applies to auditioning in person)?
Never say:
- ‘This is my first audition!’
- ‘I don’t like x-y-z thing about this client, product, copy, etc.’
- ‘How much money will I make doing this?’
Be smiley, upbeat, friendly and professional. Wait quietly, audition, give your resume/headshot/etc. Thank them, shake hands, and go 🙂
YOU WILL LIKELY NOT HEAR FROM THEM IF YOU ARE NOT CAST. THIS IS COMMON INDUSTRY PRACTICE!
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FROM: S. Neal, a southeast agent. Atlanta, Georgia
What’s the biggest mistake actors make when auditioning?
Forgetting that they are acting and just reading the copy…. you need to tell a story.
What elements or qualities, do you feel that voice actors need to possess in order to be successful?
Be confident, show range and take direction perfectly.
What are the biggest changes you’ve seen in the voice-over industry in the past few years?
You are competing against people all over the country and sometimes the world.
How do you feel that voice over actors have kept up with these changes?
Erroneously they have put too much faith in the internet and not enough in their agents (smile)…..
Which changes in the industry have voice actors neglected to keep up with?
The non-announcer read classes. Everyone always needs legit classes to keep up with what others are doing.
Should a voice actor do two or more reads on an audition when they’re not asked (this applies to auditioning at home)?
If the read is a short piece (i.e. couple lines), give a couple reads.
What do you feel actors should and shouldn’t say to a casting person (this applies to auditioning in person)?
Hire me.
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FROM: Bill
—A producer/director at Valve Software
What’s the biggest mistake actors make when auditioning?
– Probably the biggest mistake is not ‘selling’ the character and performance. You don’t want to hear them reading, you want to hear the character doing something like what the writers intended.
What elements or qualities do you feel that voice actors need to possess in order to be successful?
– First and foremost, the actor has to be good at acting. I know this sounds silly, but a lot of auditions that we get don’t sound very skilled in this area. Also, there is a real skill to creating a performance with just your voice, which carries all of the nuance, emotion, urgency, concern, fear, and humor –whatever – that can stand alone without the help of gestures, postures or facial expressions. You can see this a lot in animated cartoons, where some actors excel in the medium and their voices can really project all of the necessary extremes and nuance of the medium, and some actors just sound flat.
What makes a strong gaming actress/actor?
– There are a couple of skills that are particularly useful for gaming, though for the most part any actor who can excel in animation or radio drama work should be able to do well with games. A large percentage of games are action-oriented and the performances need a lot of urgency, intensity and projection; for this kind of work, actors really need to know their instruments and develop enough control to be able to deliver the necessary lines without blowing the voice out. The other kind of work that is somewhat unique is the more character-design oriented work, where the actor can manipulate his tone and create a solid persona who is unique and has an organic consistency throughout the range of required performances. Also, it really, really helps if actors interested in game acting work have some experience with playing different types of games and familiarity with the conventions and culture.
What are the keys to a successful Gaming audio demo?
– As with demos for pretty much any skill, the best demos are at a quality level where the listener has complete confidence that he could use this person, these skills, and that it would solve problems for him and make his product better. We like to work with people who we actually learn from – people who take our script and direction as a starting point and make it better – as opposed to people who we’re trying to drag up to the level of what we’re hearing in our heads. So, when putting together a reel, focus on your strengths, don’t include anything that needs excuses or explanations. If you haven’t been paid to do the kind of characters or situations that really excite you, get into a studio and record some examples of the type of thing you aspire to get hired for.
What are the biggest changes you’ve seen in the voice-over industry or the gaming industry in the past few years?
– A lot more actors are tech-savvy and aware of games – many even play them. Back in the late ‘90s many actors didn’t even have email, let alone play any games. Now sometimes we hire actors who are already ‘fans’ of some of our games, so that brings a level of experience and enthusiasm that really helps. Also, we no longer get VHS demo reels. Or faxes.
– I think that the new era of actors with home studios and ISDN connections and networked, non-regional representation is quite new as well. We used to either cast locally or in LA/NY, but now some agencies field auditions from all over the place, and we work out the recording logistics when we find someone we want to work with.
How do you feel that voice over actors have kept up with these changes?
Overall, I feel like our talent keeps getting better. And I think, in general, actors are more enthusiastic and are ‘bringing it’ with a little more commitment and authority to game work.
Should a voice actor do two or more reads on an audition when they’re not asked (this applies to auditioning at home)?
– This is something we usually find helpful, but s/he should only do this if s/he has two or more strong, holistic ideas or approaches for the character or scene. It erodes confidence when you hear 2 reads that don’t seem to have any principle or intentional difference.